Writing Inspiration is a Two Way Street by Sandra Stiles

Inspiration can come from many places. I want to be one of those teachers who inspires students to love writing. I love hearing students who have told me they hate writing, declare that writing is fun. I have a special student who has told me how I inspire her to write. She is a fabulous writer. She often is my inspiration. She shares her writing with me daily.
           
As teachers, we must find a way to connect with students and writing. Round robin writing is one way to do this. Students are given a prompt or story starter. They begin their story and then after a few minutes, they pass their papers to their neighbor. They read their new paper and continue the story putting their own spin on it. This continues until there are ten minutes left. They get their paper back and then finish their story. 

Another thing I do is find pictures for writing prompts.  I collect them from the internet, magazines, or even their textbook. They can even mix and match the pictures to create their story.
           
For me, nature is an inspiration. Sitting in my swing, on a beach, or taking a walk in the park can give me ideas for something to write. I try taking my students to different areas around the school for writing inspiration. Even setting writing goals is inspirational.
           
Sometimes just spending some time with students discussing their writing is all it will take to inspire them to write.

Find what inspires you then write.

Sandra Stiles is a teacher at Johnson Middle School in Bradenton, FL. When not working to inspire others to write she loves to read and write. She is the author of the book ”Steps to Courage”, available on Amazon. You can connect with Sandra on Twitter @skstiles612, Facebook at SandraStiles or her website SandraStiles.com.

Write for Us!

The #TeachWrite Twitter Chat Blog is dedicated to providing a space for our community to connect and share their voices about writing and teaching writing.  We are looking for guest bloggers who would like to blog on topics related to being a teacher-writer. Educators and writers of all levels are invited to join us in this space. More information can be found here.