Why Write?

Beginning in the early years of life, most learn to write. One of the very first things children learn to write is their name and signature; the key element to their identity. As we progress as writers through elementary and secondary schooling, for some, writing becomes an excessive amount of unnecessary work given by teachers; while for others, it becomes an outlet for expression and creativity.  It has always been of interest to me why people choose to write and what leads me and others into the profession of teaching writing.

Thinking back to my own experience with writing in elementary and high school, I used to look at it as a chore. I remember always trying to fill the length requirements with longer words or unnecessary “fillers.”  In the back of my head, I knew I loved writing, having kept a journal and enjoying writing letters to family and friends;  so why had school given me such a negative connotation with writing? The dreaded writing assignments and language exercises were driving me further and further away from what I thought was my favorite subject. It became quite an annoyance to have so many rules and regulations when it came to writing.

Entering college, I knew I had already decided that I was going to become a high school English teacher and was determined to find a deeper meaning and better understanding of myself as a writer, writing in general and my future of becoming a teacher of writing. It was in my nonfiction writing class, as a freshman in college, where I found my passion for writing. This class along with my amazing professor threw away all of my previous negative experiences with writing. I was also encouraged to explore writing in my own way and to throw away the usual or expected “rules” of writing. Once I had accepted that writing contained no boundaries, it allowed me to experiment with free-writing, ultimately leading me to find my own voice as a writer.

Teaching writing is something that is extremely exhilarating to me and is in my near future. The flexibility that writing allows for is something that no other subject/content area can compete with. Allowing my students to find their own voices as writers will help writing become less of a chore and more of a self-awareness activity that is important in the lives of my students. Throwing away all of the general “rules” of writing is going to be a theme that I introduce in my classroom from day one, in hopes to inspire students to think more about the meaning behind their writings instead of following the rules and regulations that are often expected by teachers of writing in elementary and secondary schools.