Writing is a tool to communicate, learn, process, discover, resist, imagine, develop compassion, take action, and build community. From year to year, students’ writing experiences will vary as they explore genres, purposes of writing, and modalities of writing. Students deserve a writing experience in which they truly have the space to author their own world as the way they see themselves. NCTE’s Position Statement on Writing Instruction in School (2022) advocates for writing instruction to “cultivate authentic and culturally sustaining” writing experiences with “instruction that builds on students’ strengths, that values their many ways of using language, that promotes a broad view of what constitutes ‘text’ and that promotes young people’s voices and purposes for writing within authentic contexts.”
The National Day on Writing® can be a place where we as writing teachers can continue to collectively learn from and celebrate young writers’ journeys by centering voices of young writers. Together we will explore diverse perspectives—social, cultural, and linguistic experiences that will be the foundation to create new pathways in the teaching of writing. We will consider guiding questions such as:
- How do student writers describe their experiences?
- What experiences do student writers want to share?
- How can student perspectives on writing cultivate growth within communities?
One way to celebrate the National Day on Writing is by creating space for students to explore and share their writing experiences through letters, art, songs, poetry, essays, or videos by reflecting upon the following themes:
- Community
- What does it mean to you to write in community?
- How do you feel when you write within a community?
- How can fellow writers write in community more?
- Freedom
- What does it mean to write with freedom?
- How and when do you write with freedom?
- How does it feel when you can write with freedom?
- How can fellow writers write with freedom?
- Power
- What makes writing powerful?
- What makes your writing powerful?
- How do you feel about the power of writing?
- Inspiration
- Who inspires your writing? Why? How do you use it in your writing?
- What inspires your writing? How do you use it in your writing?
- Is there a place where you feel most inspired to write? Where is it? Why does this inspire you?
- Process
- What is important about having a writing process?
- How do you feel about your writing process?
- What advice would you give to fellow writers about their writing process?
Permission forms for student work can be found here in English and Spanish.
Students Talking Writing: Reflections and Perspectives
We’d love to invite you to submit student writing that speaks to any of the above ideas. We are hoping to collect a variety of samples that we can then publish in some form. We know that student writers talking to other student writers is powerful, so our goal is to collect and publish pieces that writing teachers can use in their classrooms.