I Need My Students to Write by Erica Johnson

I used to be dismissive of the idea of completing the writing assignments my students were tasked with, but in the past few years I realized that there is a benefit.  Writing with your students helps you better understand them and their struggles.  In order to truly be a teacher of writing, shouldn’t I also continue to work at a craft we are constantly telling students is never truly perfect? 

It’s September and we’ve finally arrived at their first major paper assignment for my class and it’s enough to paralyze most of them.  While they grapple with where to begin, I sit at the front of the room typing on the computer screen they can all see.  They can see me writing.

Before I started writing with students, I had always advised them that talking about their writing could help work through ideas.  It was time to live up to my own advice.  I move away from my desk, pull a chair up next to one of the tables, and join a group of students.

“Hey.  I saw you were stuck.  Would you mind helping me and then maybe I could give you some feedback too.” 

“You’re such a good writer,” a student tells me after reading the personal narrative I had been working on.  I don’t always believe that, but from my students, I’m pretty sure it’s sincere.

“The thing is,” I tell her, “that’s not entirely true.”

 The fact of the matter is that I’ve just been writing for a longer time.  If you keep writing and working on your paper, your writing can be just as good.  I’m not sure if they believe me when I tell them this, but I can see at least a little reassurance and relief. 

It’s funny really.  I had an idea once that I would become a published writer and abandon teaching for that idea.  I think now the opposite is true.  If I’m to be a writer, I need my students to do it.  I’m only a writer when I am writing with my students.



Erica Johnson has been teaching for seven years in central Arkansas and currently works with juniors and seniors at Vilonia High School.  She spent the past summer transforming her teaching philosophy at the Teaching Shakespeare Institute in Washington, D.C.  When she isn’t spending time with her dog, she is visiting with her family and their latest addition: her niece Ivey.  She just started blogging recently with Teacher Captain’s (B)log and tries to post semi-regularly, but you can catch her more reliably on twitter @teachercap_e.