Redefining the Writing Process in Our Classrooms

Rumor has it that Dan Brown, famous author of the Da Vinci Code, liked to hang upside down to cure his writers block.

And then there’s Agatha Christie, who liked to explore her mystery plots while in the tub eating apples.

But what about Jack Kerouac, who taped together seemingly unending pages of prose and wrote as quickly as possible with little editing, even after decades of trying it the old-fashioned way?

What do these writers have in common? They prove that the art of writing can be strikingly… different than we expect. Instead of perfectly crafted sentences, written without effort, we find something altogether more interesting…

The world is populated with writers of every age, color, creed, gender, and nationality, and for many of them, it’s an endeavor to find the best ways to stimulate their creativity, build their confidence, and capture their thoughts in written form. Sometimes it’s messy; sometimes it’s even chaotic.

That’s what makes it absolutely electric, and our jobs as educators enormously exciting. After all, we get to help young minds capture that energy to call their own.