A Lesson Learned Today

For one of my last projects in my masters class I had to write something new. New being a genre or style that I hadn’t written in some time or ever before. I sat for quite some time on this assignment just thinking about what that something might end up being. Beginning my journey into writing something new I felt much like my students would, I was going into an area of writing that I was unfamiliar with practicing. As a teacher and journalist, I’m so used to writing in certain sets of genre that I rarely take the time outside of them to explore other opportunities personally. However, with this assignment I finally had the ability to push myself into areas unexplored in quite some time. As a memoir, my writing focused on areas of my life that I had long wanted to write about and share with others. Through this process of writing I was able to reconnect with myself as a writer and think in new terms of what actually makes people write. Are we more motivated by what we know, the ability to share with others, the need to share a good story…what is it that makes us as writers tick? And what makes a writer a writer? For me, all of these questions were answered. When we think about it, and really in the most simplistic of forms, we write because there is a driving force behind us to do it. Whenever we pick up a pen, pencil, computer, phone, whatever the method we are using to write with, we are doing it because of the overwhelming need to communicate with each other and because communication, both written and read, is at the heart of beings. For me this communication was sharing my life story with others. In doing this, I opened up very personal aspects of my life, traveled territories that had been left unchartered, and in the end felt satisfied with the journey. Would I say the piece I turned in is a work of art that the whole world will want to read? Probably not, but with the few people I shared it with I was bearing my soul and that was enough for me. To get feedback and feel that someone connected with me was worth it.
So when I think about this writing assignment, and the ones I give my students, I do so now with the understanding of how truly personal writing really is, no matter the form. We throw ourselves out there, whether it be our typical persuasive essay or narrative, with ideas and thoughts that we have taken from our personal beliefs. We share them and write in certain forms so that our ideas and thoughts are conveyed in the best manner possible. We do this time and time again, each time getting a little bit better than the last. And sometimes we are asked to write in ways we don’t understand, and that’s okay too, because in the end we learn from our mistakes. Either way, we can’t stop writing and expressing ourselves. We can’t draw the line at one particular genre or style, we must continue to evolve. We must continue to push the limits and see the lengths we will go to get it right. How easy that is to forget sometimes, teaching the same things day in and out. A lesson learned today. How very grateful to have this brought to my attention once again, after all, it’s what drove me to become an English teacher.