Will You Become a Writing Advocate? by Jennifer Laffin

Welcome to October, #TeachWrite friends!

There's a big holiday coming up this month!

Can you guess what it is?

If you said Halloween, good guess. But that's not it.

It's the National Day on Writing on October 20th!

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) began the National Day on Writing in 2009 as a way to "to draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in, and to help writers from all walks of life recognize how important writing is to their lives."

To celebrate, teacher-writers can share their reasons for writing on social media using the hashtag #whyIwrite.

We here at the #TeachWrite Chat Blog felt that this was an excellent opportunity to ask our audience of teacher-writers/guest bloggers to write about what inspires their writing life and let me tell you -- they responded with some GREAT posts that you will read throughout the month!

Looking to do a little reflection yourself? Consider the following questions:

•  How does writing enrich your teaching and/or personal life?
• What are you most proud of in your writing life?
• What advice do you have for others who would like to begin a writing habit?
• What are some ways you are challenging yourself with your writing?
• What are your ‘big dreams’ in regards to writing?
• How does writing for an audience affect you as a writer? 
• How do you push past your writing struggles?
• What motivates/inspires you to write?

Perhaps these prompts would make a good blog post for you.

Perhaps they would be good questions to sprinkle throughout your staff lounge.

Perhaps they are good questions to ask your students to answer.

Perhaps they would make a thought-provoking conversation starter at a PLC meeting.

Perhaps these prompts will help you determine some next steps for your writing and teaching life.

The more we think, talk, and take action on behalf of writing, the more others see the important role that writing plays in our lives. We become writing advocates.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the National Day on Writing this month and always!

Jennifer Laffin is a teacher of teachers, the owner of Teach Write LLC, and a co-moderator of the #TeachWrite Twitter Chat. She is committed to helping teachers and their students grow as writers because she has seen how writing can transform you both personally and professionally. You can find her learning with others on Twitter at @laffinteach and @TeachWriteEDU or at www.teachwrite.org.

Want to write for a future series for this #TeachWrite Chat Blog? We are always looking for teacher-writers who would like to write for us. More information can be found here.