I remember my first experience with writing. I was in fourth grade and the teacher brought in a home-made statue (five rocks with faces painted on, four with squirrel tails glued onto the top, the fifth with a zip-tie glued on, and glued to a board) which the class aptly named the "Rocktails". Our assignment was to write and hand in a story about them, but I carried it a bit farther. I handed in a menu. (I still have my copy of the book, too.) I was so proud of myself.
In sixth grade, the teacher was able to get a poet to come in and speak to us while we were on our poetry units. He taught us that writing could be fun, but it was also a possible career. He told us of his travels, the places he'd lived, sights he'd seen, and what life was like being a poet and writer. It was at that point that I decided that I was going to find a way to become a writer. I had the talent, the creativity, and the drive so why not? One could make money at it, why not be the one doing so?
Now that I am an adult, I have come to realize that not all schools offer the opportunities that I was afforded in the schools that I went to as a child. All too often, schools stifle the child's creativity. They pass up the valuable opportunity to let their pupils know of all the opportunities that await out in the real world. Most of the time, they ignore the child's strengths and focus on their weaknesses. They pass up on teaching students the values of reading through the values of writing possibly thinking that the child who chooses to write all the time will neglect to do their math,science, and reading. But you have to be able to read in order to write. You have to do both in order to do math, science, or social studies.
My idea is this:
- Make an educational mandate specifically stating that every school must bring in a writer into each English class at every grade level some point in the year. This should start at the fourth grade level and continue until 12th grade. Each writer should be a professional in his or her area of literary expertise. start out with the simplest form of creative writing- simple poetry- and gradually, each year, move on to the harder levels until you finish with journalism.
It would even help, as well to include editors, agents, and publishers to the list of possible lecturers. this way the students can hear from the professionals what is sought after in story-form and the like. they would also get a glimpse at the other aspects of the business.
- Mandate at least one writing assignment where the teacher has to bring in something unusual for the class to write about. This would make the students use their imaginations and teach them how to create their own games and ways of having fun. It would also open up a whole new world to them. They would have absolutely no excuse for being bored. They would have all the tools they'd need to keep themselves occupied for a long time.
In conclusion, I will say that my childhood experiences were key in my choosing the life of being a writer. It would be nice to pass on that legacy to children today and open their minds to new possibilities.
