Here it is again. The annual event that began back in 2008. Why my students write. Every year they leave me breathless and so thankful that I have the job of teaching them. I like what I was inspired to write in year two: Why they write...is why I teach.
If you're interested:
Year ONE
Year TWO
Year THREE
And here is year FOUR:
I write because…
- it’s a way to express feelings without saying it out loud
- I want to be better at writing
- You can write what you feel without anyone judging you
- you can express yourself without people interrupting you.
- I can improve in writing if I practice
- my notebook will never judge me
- to tell things I don’t want to say out loud
- I can express my feelings
- I can tell secrets that no one will ever figure out
- it helps me make decisions
- I’m better at telling my feelings than showing them
- I’m bored
- I want someone to hear what I’m saying
- I secretly want someone to read it
- it clears my mind
- it opens my mind
- I learn things about myself
- my thoughts have meaning
- I can be heard
- I can’t be interrupted
- I’m busy
- I want to
- it’s easy
- I have something to say
- I’m good at it
- it is how I can communicate
- I feel shy and lonely
- it inspires me to do more things
- it makes me say stuff no one cares about but I do
- I can feel happy and sad or maybe both at the same time
- there’s only one voice that can be heard in the story
- no one else can have a say
- I have freedom to say what I want
- no one can change what I have down and say “that’s stupid”
- no one else feels the way I do
- it’s getting all the emotions out that I have inside
- no one can push me down
- it makes me feel strong
- I have my own say
- it makes me excited
- there’s things my parents will never know
- some words are too mean to be said out loud
- there’s too many thoughts to have in my head
- I get scared
- I feel like I get beaten down
- I hurt and writing makes it better
- no one sees the real me
- I can try to understand what I’m thinking
- Only I can tell people how I feel and when there’s no time to say it, then there must be time to read it
- One day I will show my mom how I feel and if it’s too hard to say maybe she will read it
- I don’t have the courage to say it
- there is no one to listen
- I have deeper feeling then what’s on the surface
- I can’t cry so I let my tears become the lead I engrave into the paper
- someday someone will find what I’ve written and will hear me
- I believe in myself if no one else does
- I want to explain myself
- I need room to air out my ideas
- I have a story inside of me
- I can’t keep track of my memories
- when I talk I hold back on what really needs to be said
- I hate being interrupted
- someday when someone finally reads this I can actually be heard
- because I’m lost and confused
- I’m afraid my words just aren’t enough
- I’m misunderstood
- I’m angry
- I want to make my dad proud
- it allows me to let out my emotions
- I don’t show emotion
- one day someone will understand
- no one tries to get to know me—they just make assumptions
- I may be different outside of school and I want to show teachers that
- it allows me to say what I need to say
- I am me
- people don’t give me a chance
- I need to say this stuff before going to the army
- I want to make my own choices instead of people telling me my choices
- I’m a jerk
- I want to be heard
- I get to speak my mind
- it brings me peace
- life is unfair
- my mother left me
- my father stayed
- I want to be remembered
- I want people to hear the real me
- it brings me clarity
- I can let others know they’re not alone in their troubles
- it gives me power
- I want to remember
- I’m not afraid to write
- my story has the right to be told
- writing is a joy
- of what I want to say
- it makes me stronger
- it makes me a better writer
- it takes whatever is on my mind, off of it
- it makes me feel free
- it makes me smarter
- I can bring anything I want to life
- all the pain feels better when I get it out of my system
- deep down I want to be a good writer and student but it never comes out the way I want and I want to get better
- I can express myself freely
- someday I won’t be who I am today and I might want to come find myself
- it is like breathing
- it is me, and I can make it my own
- it I’m falling I can give myself a paper ledge to cling to
- I never want to lose myself
- I’m lonely
- I love my nieces and nephews
- I want to be heard
- it is necessary
- if I’m pushed down I can use the notebook as a shield before I’m kicked
- I don’t know how not to
- not everyone can
- stories need to be told, even if there is no one to hear them
- there are things I can put on paper that I wouldn’t dare say out loud
- it sets off my imagination as if I were myself as a kid again
- it’s a good way to remember things
- on the inside I’m an emotional girl dying to let things out but knowing I’ve got to keep a tough exterior
- it takes my mind to a whole different place I never knew existed
- sometimes it’s like talking to myself
- my pencil and heart communicate writing things my brain can’t comprehend
- I choose who can see the writing and I’m not judged for it
- writing can’t be twisted around for rumors—it’s set in stone.
- I’m crazy and creative
- I let my true thoughts escape my brain and express myself
- I have nothing better to do
- maybe my writing will be valuable
- it leaves something of my personality behind when I’m dead and gone
- I’m smart
- I have too many thoughts I can’t say out loud but can’t keep in my head either
- there’s many choices to what, how, when, or why to write
- I’m my own person
- it blocks out everything and everyone
- I feel like I’m nothing and I want to know who I will become
- I’m scared of my thoughts
- I feel like there is nothing I can say that will help people understand me
- I just want my ugly, black hole to go away
- Most of the time I don’t say what I really thing, but what people want to hear
- I’m scared that if I tell everyone what I’m thinking they will cower away and run as if I’m a monster
- Now I can finally breathe just a little bit more
- I can escape the crazy emotions that never stop changing
- I can let go of the anger
- if I don’t nobody will every know who I am
- it makes me feel good
- there are so many things to be said
- nothing can stop me from doing it
- there are so many thoughts in my head
- I worry
- I’m a coward and can’t say my thoughts out loud
- what I write is worth writing
- I have an opinion and ideas
- My biggest fear is forgetting
- when I’m old I want to have reminders of what it felt like to be young
- maybe I can help someone else
- my emotions are ever changing and that frightens me
- I want to be heard instead of ignored
- I want to feel relaxed and let my thoughts flow
- it’s a good way to pass the time
- it’s fun to make stories about things that will never happen in our lives
- things don’t seem to come out right when I saw them
- I’m sad and it makes me happy
- it could be my last day
- I’m embarrassed to speak in front of people
- no one likes to listen to my feelings
- I don’t have enough breath to say everything I want to
- It’s like Autumn leaves falling out of the sky, the words just fall onto the paper
- it could change someone’s life
- I want people to know I’m more than just sports
- I feel like it helps me get through the pain
- I want others to not be afraid of writing
- it helps me calm down
- what I write might be famous someday
- it’s who I am
- so I can help people who need it
- I want to be a journalist
- it’s my way to relieve stress
- people make fun of me
- it’s hard to talk to my parents
- I’m left out
- I comprehend more when it’s written
- I’m a teenager
- I’m a kid
- I want someone to congratulate me for something good I’ve done
- I hope God will write back to tell me what I should do
- no matter how much I scream, no one screams back
- some people aren’t as fortunate
- my best friend loves to write and is amazing at it, but her dad doesn’t approve
- my handwriting sucks
- it’s fun to doodle
- I want to remember everything
- to show what I am capable of doing
- I do not want to remember what has happened to me, so I change the ending to make it happy
- I feel guilty about things I have done that were wrong
- I feel bad that I can’t help someone else be happy
- My boyfriend and I are fighting and I want to think about something happier
- I want my mom to just be proud of me for once, for something, and I don’t care what it is
- it puts my fantasies, imagination, and thoughts into words
- I don’t want to be the kid that gets yelled at
- I’m slightly neurotic and this keeps me sane
- when I write, sometimes I realize things about myself
- it’s so much fun to write
- tomorrow I may not be able to
- I like being creative
- it’s peaceful
- it helps the hurt go away
- it is a part of life that is with you all the time
- I have to; no person is forcing me to, but I have to
- without writing I would never be happy
- on paper, I am a totally different person
- I once read the quote, “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”
- you don’t know me if you haven’t read everything I’ve written
- it is my escape from reality
- it is my escape from everyone else’s words
- my writing isn’t always pretty or pleasant, but neither am I
- you really want to know what I have to say, read my notebooks full of poems, song lyrics, and stories
- I love what I write about
- my life sometimes needs to be shared to make me feel important
- I have no one to talk to when I have problems
- it’s an escape route from reality and some of the bad things in life
- I think something important happens everyday
- I like to tell funny stories that have happened
- some days I have very nice handwriting and like to see it on paper
- the music makes me want to
- I can see a squirrel in the tree right now
I write…
- so that people will listen
- to give hope to those that are different
- to tell you this
- to influence not only myself, but others too
- to make it final; to make sure it stuck in this unfaithful world
- to help my mind ease even with all my problems and troubles floating around
- in hope that one day I would not disappoint someone
- to embrace others around me
- to get rid of my problems even if it’s just for a second, it’s a second my body and mind don’t take the load from all the past events that took place
- to not me like my mother yet become closer to my father
- to escape; to runaway from the world I know I’ll eventually have to face
- to discover myself, because when I’m on paper I find myself easier to read
- to tell about the past
- to make people laugh
- to make others remember what they had
- to prove myself; people don’t look inside to see the strength that I really have
- to show who I am; there is more to me than ‘the smart kid in the front row’
