When Macks Creek teacher, Julie Morris, formed a plan to kick off her dual credit Creative Writing class with a “Why I Write” assignment, she was not anticipating an enthusiastic response from her students—they’re high schoolers, after all. But they surprised her. Looking back, Morris realizes she should have known the group of kids were capable of more than she—and often many of us adults—initially assumed.
Last year, Morris pulled from OWP resources to help construct the class. After reading through the text, she asked her students to draft a single page on the reasons why they write. Morris’s middle school kids blew away her expectations when they all responded with multiple, powerful pages featuring inspiring statements ranging from the boldly bright-eyed to the heart-achingly hopeful. Some are dramatic, yet undeniably profound. Some show signs of writers dipping their toes in flowery prose. Some get straight to the point. They’re all are unique and succinctly describe the sincere reflections of a creative journey.
Morris took many of the standout snippets from what each student had to say and scattered them across a poster called “Why I Write.” Since hanging the poster, Morris has noticed it’s a hit with visitors, “Every person that has come into my room has read it, without me asking them to, and commented on how great it was. Some assumed I made it (which I technically did physically write all of it on there), but all of the ideas came from the kids.”
“To let others know they’re not alone.”
The poster really is hard to ignore. Written in multicolored ink, many of the statements suggest deep emotional struggles students are effectively working out through their writing. One statement answers “Why I Write” with, “Because I’d rather stain paper with ink, than my wrists with blood.” Another (in orange ink) claims he or she writes “To let others know they’re not alone.” And another: “To clean out my brain.”
Morris’ retelling of the decision to effectively highlight these statements brims with energy. She’s encouraged entirely by her students and gives them all the credit. Fortunately, she thought to pass along a great idea to her colleagues at OWP, which was accepted quite happily. Simply put, Morris recognized what her students wrote as an opportunity to challenge and inspire others – ideas perfect for a poster and perfect for sharing.
Julie Morris is an English teacher at Macks Creek, where she teaches 7th and 8th grades, as well as dual credit Composition, Creative Writing, and Literature. She graduated with a bachelor’s in 2009 and her master’s in 2014, both from Missouri State University. Morris was chosen as the Missouri Association of Rural Education’s Outstanding Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2015.
Morris attended the 2012 Summer Institute and has been involved in many OWP programs since then, such as the Youth Writing Conference, Digital Writing Institute, National Writing Project Scoring Conference, and multiple Advanced Institutes, including the Advanced Institute on Argument Writing. She has been trained as an OWP Teacher Consultant.