I’m not sure if my recollection is a true picture of what I actually experienced because I’m sure my teachers had me practice all types of writing, but I just remember a lot of storytelling. Reflection and journal-based exercises were the foundation of my youth and still are today. The big shift against the more creative side of writing came during high school. In high school, I remember a lot of memorization, spelling tests, vocab tests on Fridays, and most of all, grammar impacting my grade/success more than my ideas. I have never been a strong test-taker and I now understand that all of the spelling, vocab, and grammar taught in isolation would have never clicked for me no matter how much I studied. It never improved my reading or writing skills and this is a well-known fact about learning now; writing skills in isolation do not help students become better writers.

Research Writing and Speech also stand out in my mind. I can’t decide if it was so dreadful because I was the shyest person in the room and thought speaking in front of others was quite literally going to kill me or if it suppressed too much of my creativity. Time spent in such black-and white spaces was never enjoyable.

I did take both of the Creative Writing courses my high school offered. My confidence in writing poetry during that time grew and one of my most memorable writing projects was when I paired it with photographs I captured.

I’ve always enjoyed writing. I also love to hear what others think of my writing, but I never respected when teachers cold-called on me to share a piece that was personal especially poetry. I was always a learner who needed any class time and then my own time to make it “perfect” before anyone else could be invited in. I also enjoyed journaling on my own and there were a few years where you couldn’t get me to put books down. I read all through Christmas day one year.

I love how much you learn about yourself when you sit down to write. I have found myself in so many writing sessions where I didn’t realize how I actually felt about something until I put pen to paper. Experiences like this make me grateful I never gave up writing and keep me motivated to keep writing.