Words to grow on

My Own Words

The eighth grade students cleaned out their folders, choosing the best reading and writing work for the portfolio that follows them to high school. They giggled and shared writings from four years of writing class, reliving memories crafted into assignments. I noticed that as they left class, the one thing most kept was the writing journal, the part of class written for their own purposes.

Those journals represent so much more than any test; they are the purpose and and impetus for writing for life. Under the arms of future authors, the journals continue personal journeys of poems, tales, truths, and dreams.

Be watching for their writing in the future.