To Write Is To Know

The hardest thing about writing is writing. Even writing this chapter fills me with anxiety, loss of confidence, and fear of people reading my words and judging my intelligence by them. If, after all these years, these emotions still occur, then imagine what our students must feel like. Yet I also have a deep love for writing. It is this love that I try to pass along to my students.

My passion for writing started at a very early stage. Growing up on a small farm did not allow for many neighborhood games or social groups. Mixing up potions from wild plants, playing with kittens, building tree houses and various forts, and reading books provided my entertainment. Some of my earliest memories are of heading to the local library to check out the “read along” books that came in scratched up Ziploc bags with cassette tapes. I learned to read through those books (very whole language), and I learned how to get lost in the story. It was that time in my life that I came to appreciate a story as a method of escape, adventure, and excitement.