How I Became a Writer

From very early on, I was always considered a good student. I learned to read quickly, I was responsible, I got good grades, but I must say, writing is a skill that I had great difficulty developing as a student. Reflecting on elementary school, junior high, and high school, I cannot recall a time when a teacher provided me with writing instruction, or even made writing sound fun. I know that I could write. I was an excellent speller, and a master at identifying parts of speech (sentence diagrams were my favorite). Those were really the only two components of writing I really remember enjoying. However, there are a few writing assignments throughout my school that jump out at me.

My earliest writing memory comes from my 3rd or 4th grade classroom (I can’t remember which, because I had the same teacher both grades). We were learning about mammals in science, and every student in the class got to pick one of their favorite mammals to write about. This was to be an expository piece informing our classmates about our favorite mammal. Mine was the leopard, because I liked the way it was spelled. This was probably the easiest writing assignment I ever received. Provide information about something. Where does one find information? The encyclopedia of course. What easier than to grab the “L” encyclopedia, and write down everything about leopards.

Perhaps now would be a good time to mention that this was also my first lesson on plagiarism. Shortly after I handed my paper in, I was held back from recess to learn about the legal repercussions of my actions. In doing this, the teacher accomplished her goal of keeping me from plagiarizing, but simultaneously discouraged me from wanting to continue writing. No real action was taken to help me correct what I had done.

After an experience like this, it comes as no surprise to me that I cannot recollect another writing experience until my sophomore year of high school. My English teacher approached us with an assignment that was sure to be engaging to most of the students in my class. We were to choose a celebrity to write about including childhood, career, successes, failures, and so on. It seems that this category appealed to quite a few of my classmates, but what about the handful of us that weren’t interested in celebrities? Was there another category of person we could have chosen so that we could learn about how biographies are written? If only I had known to ask that question back then. Instead, I ended up disinterested, and with a mediocre report.

Sadly, it wasn’t until my college years that writing finally clicked with me. After falling on my face with a few writing assignments (which I definitely wasn’t used to), I sought out the support of professors and peers to help me out.

I have some speculations about why I may have had difficulty learning to write through my K-12 schooling. As an adult, I can recognize that my personality plays a role in my learning style. I was a student who was intimidated by thinking out of the box, and challenged by assignments that seemed to have no formula or process. To my memory, none of my teachers helped fit writing lessons into my learning style. I was told, “Write about this,” and then reprimanded when it wasn’t correct.

Now, as a teacher, I can reflect on my writing experiences to help guide as I try to teach students how to write. Because of the experiences I had, I am sensitive to students when they are frustrated with writing. It is important to acknowledge when a student communicates frustration, and to work with them to help alleviate that frustration. Also, teachers need to engage students when it comes to writing. Allowing students to choose what they write about often can help students understand the processes of writing at a more meaningful level.