Why Writing Matters

Teaching the Future
What is writing?  So asks Kiley Smith, a bright and creative fifth grader with a voice all her own and a perspective worth sharing.  As teachers, we envision each of our students being able to express themselves in this way.  Their success is our success, and we strive every day to help them craft the tools they need to build a bright future.  Kiley is well on her way.  Read on . . .

Teaching the Future: Why Writing Matters
by Kiley Smith
What is writing?  Writing is a tool used by billions upon billions of people around the world.  Every single second of every single day, there are people out there, writing.  Writers, teachers, directors, artists, inventors, actors, musicians.  All of these careers and more involve writing.

I am a fifth grader with a dream of becoming an author.  Writing is my passion.  Writing helps me express myself in unique and creative ways. It helps me show how I feel: passionate, angry, exhausted, devastated, delighted.  Writing helps me tell others how I’m feeling without having to say it in a conversation.  And I’m not the only one.  Writing is an inspiration, a way to express one’s self for so many people it would be impossible to count.  Writing affects so many lives, touches so many hearts, and builds up so many minds.

A Little Coaching
What is the future?  The future is us.  The future is children with dreams.  The future is kids who believe they can do anything if they work hard.  And they can.  But who can succeed in anything without a little coaching?  Teachers need to teach their students to write.  Students can only accomplish their dreams if they are instructed and praised.

A Voice
Writing isn’t just a bunch of words on a piece of paper.  Writing is a voice; the voice of kids, the voice of the future.  A voice that is saying to the world, “You need us!”  A voice that is saying, “We need you.”  Writing is everywhere in life.  The more students learn how to write well, the more people can change the world.

Writing isn’t something to skip over.  Writing is the core of the modern world.  So let’s pick up a pencil.  Let’s pull up to a computer.  And let’s blow the world away . . . one word at a time.

Your Turn!
Kiley has already achieved her vision: she is a writer.  In fact, you can read more from Kiley at her own blog, http://icannotlivewithoutbooks.com/

We’d love to hear other student voices!  What do your students have to say about education?