Reluctant Writer

Every day as my students enter my classroom, they grab their writing journals and become writers. Often we write about our weekends, things that we enjoy, and things we are looking forward to. For the most part, my students seem to enjoy it. I have some students who are writing books- and other who write about the way the letter “J” looks in the Journal Prompt. Regardless, they are writing.

As the bell rings at 2 pm, my 4th block starts. Pencils begin to make words on the page.. all but one. One of my students, a sweet, quiet- yet energetic girl never seems to want to write. She claims that she doesn’t know how to begin, what to write next, or have anything to say. We have been working together in her journal- often struggling to write more than a sentence. I even began scribbling what she was saying into her journal as she spoke her creative, imaginative ideas to me. She is a bright girl with a lot to say but that translation to print is missing.

Everything changed yesterday. After talking to an experienced teacher, who loves to write, I decided to use one of her journal prompts in my class. Write about the word, Laugh. Laugh. One word. It seemed so simple but something I haven’t thought of yet. I didn’t think that by using this journal entry I would see something new come out of her… but I did. I thought that this would just be another addition to my classroom from a peer.

She wrote an entire paragraph by herself! She even added an illustration.  Her eyes gleamed as I mentioned the word laugh. I could not be more thankful that I found something to get her to start writing. She has GREAT ideas and now I am happy that she is able to express herself!