How to Be a Writing Influencer: Reflective Practice

How We Got Here

Yesterday, as the March Slice of Life challenge wrapped up, I had time to reflect on all the gifts a month of daily writing gave me. Our school staff had, for the second year in a row, embarked on a journey of sharing Slices of Life as a community throughout the month; you can read more about our first year taking on this challenge here. Once again, I was reminded of the power of relationships, connections, and coming together as a community of writers. But, it has left me wondering how this work intertwines with our curriculum and the connection to our everyday work. How can we help kids see the value in being a writer beyond the curriculum?

The greatest joy I received in March this year was helping others see that they have stories to tell and encouraging them to envision their own small moments coming to life on the page. A teacher would be relaying a weekend adventure or a success with a child, and I would say something like, “That’s a slice!” Later, it was rewarding to see these moments written and shared on our school blog. Several times, people who had not even signed up to share a story submitted something after an idea was pointed out to them and a little nudge was given. They had taken the bait.

I’ve been a teacher, a teacher who writes for 19 years. I believe being a teacher who writes influences how curriculum is delivered. I’ve decided that Writing Influencer would be my dream job. I could go through life helping others discover that they have stories worth telling. Part of the training for this job involves being a writer, knowing where stories lie, and seeing the potential in a tiny snippet or a line of shared dialogue. 

But, I paused, thought, and realized that I was already living my dream. I am a writing teacher and a writing influencer.

The Impact

As a teacher (or parent, for that matter), there is great power and beauty in supporting children in finding their stories. These opportunities live throughout the school day as children navigate the school building, discover they can do hard things during math or PE, or help a friend clean up a mess in the cafeteria. Helping children to see the opportunities for their lived experiences to become their written stories is the catalyst for kids seeing themselves as writers and learning how to live like a writer. Imagine the energy students would bring to writing workshop, if they already viewed themselves as writers before encountering the curriculum. It is also the spark for igniting the intrinsic motivation and energy that can exist within writing workshop and a writing curriculum. We are better equipped to coach this kind of existence by writing ourselves.