...But Ideas Never Die

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All things written by my creative writing students.  Most of them say they hate to write--FOR SCHOOL--

At home, on their own, for fun, they write

Rap songs
Poetry
Fantasy stories
Adventure stories
Journals
Stories about their lives
Lists of their likes and dislikes
Letters
Blogs

They write when they're angry,
They write when they're sad,
They write when they're happy,
They write when they can't talk to anyone else, but things need to be said.

And they love it.

And they get better at it.

Hmmmm

As those in power are pushing for more and more testing. Pushing for writing to answer prompts. As people shove students into my class only because they need an English credit.  Because it's "easy". I want them to listen to my students.  They know they need to learn to write for school. They get that. They hate it, but they get it.

But

Here's the stuff they can't test.

"I like having control over what to write and not having someone tell me."


"When I really feel what I'm writing, it sounds better."

"People can die, civilizations can fall, books can burn, but ideas never die."


"What is a day without words?  Chaos.


"...writing is the only way I can really be myself anymore. I use writing to explain all the feelings I would otherwise have left out. It's how I express the real me, instead of the fake me that everyone see walking around these halls now. Writing seems to be my only blessing because I have lost everything else that ever meant anything to me. Writing is all I have left to show even the slightest bit of who I am.