Be a Teacher Who Writes by Nikki Hansen

I remember sitting in my 10th grade English class. We had just read “A Modest Proposal” and my teacher, Ms. Goodman, had handed out a rubric for an assignment on a creative satire piece. A boy in the back chimed out, "Will you be writing one, too?" By now we all knew the answer. Her reply was, as usual, "No, because I'm not the one being graded."

This wasn't an unfamiliar refrain. Year after year, teacher after teacher reminded us that "they'd done their part" and finished high school. They'd "written enough in college" or "weren't the ones being graded." As students, I don't think we knew why we were asking our teachers to write. Maybe it came from a place of wanting to see them trudge through the same task as the rest of us. Maybe it is because we really wanted see their process. Either way, it never happened and we collectively felt like our teachers were copping out.

Flash forward. I'm standing in front of a group of seventh graders after finishing My Name is not Easy and I'm handing out a rubric for a memoir project. As I head to the front of the class, a boy chimes up from the back. "Are you going to write one, too, Ms. Hansen?"

I stared back at the 30 pairs of eyes watching me. I knew I had to break the cycle of excuse-giving. So, even though I had not previously planned to write alongside my classes that quarter, I made a different decision and said YES.

To this day, it is the single most rewarding unit I have ever taught.

The best part about being a teacher who writes is that it benefits teachers and students equally, and here are my top 3 favorite ways that happen:

Being a teacher who writes allows you to be human in front of your students. It immerses you as a writer in the community, offering a window into your mind, promoting risk-taking, and motivating student writers to share their own stories with less hesitation.

Even if you aren’t writing about something especially personal, it gives students a glimpse into the process of writing and takes the pressure off of creating a perfectly polish piece the first time around. They get to see that even you misspell words, get writer's block, can’t figure out how to phrase an idea, and change your mind about what you’re writing.

It opens up authentic opportunities for feedback. When you’re writing live on the screen or under a projector, it empowers students and gives them a chance to support you as a writer and share their ideas while giving you an opportunity to guide them in that process, preparing them for when they give feedback to their classmates.

You don’t have to plan a new unit to become a teacher who writes. It’s easy to do and you can start tomorrow with things you already have in place including (but obviously not limited to):

• During writing warm-ups and daily journaling
• During timed writing
• Responding to current events
• Responding to assigned or choice reading

The opportunities are really endless.  If students are writing, you can (and should) be, too. Even if it’s just for a few minutes before you start conferring. It’s time for us to be the change we want to see in our writing classroom, and we can start by simply writing with our students.

Nikki Hansen is a secondary ELA teacher, EdTech advocate, and Write About Rockstar. She is passionate about providing students (and teachers!) with authentic and exciting ways to engage with content. She can be found on Twitter at @MsHansen1213 or contacted at nikki@writeabout.com.

Growing Community Through Voice & Choice by Kelsey Corter

“It’s time for writer’s choice!”  I announce, as writers begin buzzing around the room. 

Mason carefully attaches pop up flaps to each page of his “Can you find the animals?”  book for our open-genre mini study, camouflaging the animals from the reader.  Lola scans the word wall, then asks me to add the word “went,” as it’s an important word in her narrative.  Later, she teaches the new word to the class.  Ryer races to meet Gabe, who is writing in the hallway, and they begin rereading the last page of their Pokemon book before starting the next page.  Sienna uses the document camera to share her book with a group of writers at the rug.  She asks the group, “Can you help my writing grow?”   Lovisa offers Amelia support with editing her book to make it more readable.  Violet rehearses each page of her book with Paolo, who listens intently and offers suggestions.   Lauri asks his table, “Does anyone know which letter says ahhh?”  Avigail, determined to finish her book, gets a pair of headphones  to help her concentrate amongst the productive noise. 

Writer’s choice is an added component to writing workshop in our classroom, in which writers make a decision to continue independent writing projects, collaborate with a partner, or share writing and receive feedback.

Writer’s choice was created by my reflective and joyful community of kindergarten writers, who desired daily opportunities to write longer, write together, teach each other, and share work.  The writing community we have grown, in which voice and choice are nurtured, was inspired by my own reflections after joining a writing community last summer.

Growing a Joyful Community of Writers Through Voice and Choice in Writing Workshop

A community of writers talks about writing.
Writing is both a social and private practice.  Headphones and quiet nooks in the classroom or in the hallway offer students silent spaces to write.

A community of writers support each other.
Making student experts and individual goals visible helps students see that mentors live beyond the books in our library. 

A community of writers write together.
Partner writing offers many of the same benefits as shared and interactive writing.  Partners plan, oral rehearse, and share the pen -- naturally modeling skills for each other.

A community of writers shares, listens to, and is inspired by each other’s writing.
There’s no bigger compliment to a writer than when someone asks, “Can I have a copy of that book?” 

A community of writers offers kind and specific feedback.
Lots of guided practice, and visible skills and genre-specific charts are essential to this practice.

Writer’s Choice adds 10-15 minutes to writing workshop each day.  That extra time means more possibilities  to confer, work with small groups, and longer writing time for my eager authors.  What are your writers seeking more of in their writing lives?  What could Writer’s Choice look like in your community?


Kelsey Corter calls K-313 at PS 59 in Manhattan home.  She loves to read, write, and romp in Fort Greene park with her two-legged and four-legged family.  You can read more of Kelsey’s posts at http://smallsteps.blog, on Twitter at @kelsey_corter, or on Instagram at @theorganicclassroom

Where to find a Writing Community? by Georgia Parker

The best way to combat my students’, and my own revision woes, is to form a writing community or group. Writing communities can provide support and constructive criticism for burgeoning writers. Although writing is a solitary task, and often a very personal one, eventually you will need someone else with a discerning eye and kind heart to tell you what is working and what just isn’t.

Finding a trusted writing partner or group is essential in order to grow as a writer. Many writers meet face-to-face on a weekly or monthly basis at the local library or Starbucks, but just as many utilize online writing groups such as Scribophile, The Loft, or Critique Circle. A great resource to find an online, or live group, is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) or through the Association of Writers and Publishers (AWP). Both of these organizations have local, state, and national conferences that connect writers and help them find their people.

There are groups on Twitter such as Writing.com and NaNoWriMo, and on Facebook there are groups for any specific writing genre you could want. These groups can provide inspiration, support, and even a critique partner or two. Don’t get discouraged! The first group I reached out to was full. Be persistent! A constructive critique of your writing is invaluable. Once you find a partner or small group, remember to provide the kind of feedback you would like to receive - some praise and some suggestions. As writers we want to nurture one another as we hone our craft just as we do with our students.


Georgia Parker has taught English in grades 6-9 at various times in her career. She has spent the last 23 years teaching English at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, FL. For the last 20 years she has taught English 8, and in the last six years has added YA Lit. Parker is a member of NCTE and ALAN, serves as a state representative for ALAN, and has presented at numerous conferences. She is  also the Co-Director of the Trinity Prep Author Fest and is the current Diane & Michael Mayer Endowed Chair of English at Trinity Preparatory School. Find her on Twitter at @gksparker.

A Tribe of Weirdos by Cristi Julsrud

I graduated high school in 1996. My school experience was forgettable. I was a fair student. I was kind of a weirdo; all of my friends were. We read together, and discussed poetry together, and eventually we decided that we should write poetry together too. Thus the Literary Society of West Iredell High School was born.

That’s yours truly in the back row with the 1970s paisley caftan on. Did I mention I was pretty strange?

The Literary Society quickly became one of my favorite places to be, and some of the friendships I formed there have lasted to this day. It was my first writing community, and in spite of the fact that we were mostly writing terrible rip-offs of Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, it was the first time I felt like a writer. We met to share work, write together, and support each other.  And even though we never got around to publishing that book of our writing, we did start participating in open mic poetry night at the coffee house downtown, and some of us got together and self-published a zine called The Mad Hatter, with a poetry section titled Vineyard Psalms (ah, the 90s...when any teen with an ink pen and access to a copier could publish).

I cringe now when I look back at some of the poetry I wrote during those afternoons in Ms. Fox’s classroom. But that first writing community gave me the confidence to read at open mic night, which gave me the confidence to take creative writing in college, which gave me the courage to send in poetry for publication, which gave me the courage to join new writing communities, and so on and so forth until here I am today, finding the courage to share my voice with the good people at the Teach Write community.

Sometimes I am still afraid that I don’t have anything valuable to say. And that’s where writing communities are most valuable, to convince you that your voice does matter. It’s never too late to find one; you only need to find your own tribe of weirdos, and make space for yourselves to share your voices with the world. Students need that too, so when you find a little group of kids who want to stay after school and write bad poetry, let them.

You just might help another writer find her voice.


Cristi Julsrud is a National Board certified Language Arts teacher at East Alexander Middle School in Hiddenite, North Carolina. She has taught at the elementary and middle school level, but loves teaching 8th graders the most, and has been doing so for fifteen years. Her primary goal is to create readers and writers and students who are comfortable speaking out and advocating for themselves. She has piloted and implemented a feedback-only, gradeless classroom over the past three years. If you are interested in learning more about Cristi's teaching life or about implementing a gradeless readers/writers workshop, you can read more at her blog at The Literate Teacher's Manifesto (http://litmanifesto.blogspot.com). You can also find her on Twitter (@Mrs_J_of_EAMS) or on Facebook (Cristi Lackey Julsrud).

“Unconferencing” Our Way to Community by Dana Clark

We all long for community.  The sense of belonging gives us gifts of kinship, acceptance, safety, and comfort.  That’s why we spend so much of our teaching lives searching for ways to build a community in our classrooms. We know that when we have a strong community, we have created a place where kids can be both vulnerable and joyful. 

While we all work hard to create a writing community in our classrooms, I sometimes wonder if we are using our communities to truly lift the level of student writing.  Many teachers plan grand celebrations for each unit, serving snacks and inviting others to experience or read student work.  But is celebration enough?  While honoring and sharing the work are certainly important, I think another important aspect of a writing community is to create a culture of writer-to-writer feedback. 

One fun way to try out this work is to schedule a writer’s unconference in your classroom.  Unconferences are opportunities for learners to gather and explore an idea with people who are interested in the same topic.  Because there is no set leader, everyone contributes by sharing questions, knowledge, and experience.  With four or five groups huddled together discussing their work during a classroom unconference, the room is abuzz with engaged writers. Here’s how you might tap into the power of your student writing community with a writer’s unconference:

Prep work:

• Choose a date that lands mid-unit so that the students have explored, written quite a bit, and will be ready for some advice.
• Right before the unconference date, ask your students to reflect on some things that they’d like explore with other writers.  Try questions like, “What do I need help with?” and  “What parts of my writing are strong?” 
• Create a list of topics. (I like to have two session times slots.) Then, invite kids to think about a session they’d like to attend for advice and a session where they’d be able to offer support.  

Advice for the big day:

• Try to get a feel for the needs of the room to make sure all of the students aren’t going to one or two spots.  (Some teachers like kids to sign up prior to the sessions.)
• Have students bring writing tools and resources that you’ve taught into like post-its, mentor texts, checklists, progressions, and revising pens to their sessions.
• Schedule sessions for 20-30 minutes and be sure that kids have some time to go back and try out some of the new ideas they learned from their peers!

Happy Writing!

Dana Clark is a literacy coach by day, mom by night, and reader in any spare minute she can find.  You can find her on Twitter @dana_dclark or follow her blog http://litlife.blog.

The Teachers Who Inspired My Passion for Writing by Tynea Lewis

My favorite and most memorable years during elementary school are years that I have vivid memories writing.

Honestly, I never thought about that until now. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but maybe it’s much more than that.

I was inspired to write because that flame inside of me was fanned before I even knew the flame existed.

In second grade, one of my friends and I would create a variety of stories. We authored and illustrated them together, and then our teacher bound them (you know, that black spiral binding found in the primary grades).

In fifth grade, I wrote a short story, “The Smallest of Lives,” probably loosely inspired by Honey I Shrunk the Kids. That was the first year I remember typing up writing pieces on computers. Wow, does that make me feel old. My story was so long that my teacher offered to take it home and type it on her computer.

In sixth grade, we wrote historical fiction stories. As the deadline approached, my teacher saw that I had a lot left to complete. I was furiously trying to finish, but she graciously extended the deadline because she didn’t want me to rush. By the end, a one subject notebook had been filled with a story I created about a girl during the Civil War.

In each of those years, I had teachers who encouraged my writing. What they did or the comments they made left a lasting impact. My writing had value. I had value. That’s what their actions told me. They might not even know the impact they had. They were just being encouraging teachers.

We all need someone to encourage us.

We need people who believe in us.

As a teacher, I remember being very intentional about encouraging sparks of writing I saw within my students. Who knows, maybe one of them will touch the world with their words? I know I won’t be the only teacher to have impacted them, but maybe one day they’ll look back on their year with me and smile when they think of how I gave them opportunities to write.

In the end, that’s what we need.

We need to give ourselves opportunities to write. My writing from elementary school wasn’t of publishable quality, but it still mattered because every piece of writing helps us discover who we are and what matters to us.

It’s a chance to unearth something hidden inside our hearts, and that is magical.


Tynea Lewis is a former Title I teacher from Pennsylvania. She was named a 30 Under 30 honoree by the International Literacy Association in 2016 for her work with LitPick Student Book Reviews, an online reading and writing program. When she’s not busy overseeing the program, she loves to spend time with her husband and young daughters, write for a variety of audiences, and escape to the quietness of the mountains. You can connect with her on Twitter and Instagram at @TyneaLewis or on her blog at tynealewis.com. 

In Search of My Community by Michelle Olson

When I hear the phrase “a community of writers”, I instantly think of the students in the classrooms in which I work. I am always amazed at how quickly this community grows when fostered by the teacher.

When I completed my dissertation work, I saw this first hand. I utilized a Writer’s Workshop format and allowed the students to talk as they wrote. When conducting observations, I noticed several different conversation types including conversations related to idea generation and development, peer feedback, and sometimes even conversations unrelated to their writing. But what I did find, that for the most part, these students had created a community of writers in which they felt comfortable asking for help and receiving feedback.

How amazing is that? As an adult, I still cringe when I think about someone reading my writing and giving me feedback. Maybe I just need a community of writers, people who are there to support me, encourage me, offer me feedback, and help me on my way with my writing. So I am on the search for my community of writers!

Happy writing!


Michelle Olson is a reading specialist by day and wife, mom, and Usborne book lady by night! She recently earned my doctorate and focused on students’ attitudes towards themselves as writers and their own writing. Follow Michelle on Twitter at @molson414.