When Students Raise YOU up

Little gems like these arise from time to time--this student has no idea how much this reinvigorates me as a teacher. It makes me want to keep learning, keep getting better, and to keep writing myself.

It reaffirms the shared inspirations with the NWP and everything we read and discuss together. It underscore Fletcher, Atwell, Murray, Graves, Eood Ray, Bomer (and Bomer!)...and the list goes on.

In honor of all that is good about teaching writing, I am sharing something written yesterday by one of my 8th grade students on their final exam:


"This year in CW [creative writing] might have been one of my better years in English. I like how we weren't strapped down to worksheets and projects of research. I appreciated your kindness and willingness to let students discuss their writing with you. I also appreciate the amount of opportunities you gave us as students to be able to send our work out for publication. I think I grew as a person and a writer because you didn't constantly tell me or other students what was wrong with our writing but you told us what we could do to fix it and you showed us ways to bend the rules. I think the things learned and discussed in class this year will stick for many years to come. If not, I'm sure something will happen and it will all come crashing in like waves. It will all surround me and I won't be able to forget it."