This semester I teach two sections of Creative Writing (yes, I’m that blessed). Daily I am showered with the brilliance of words strung together by teens free enough to do so as they will. We blindly race with pen in hand scribbling for 7 minutes at the start of each class to daily prompts that take us high and low, into darkness and light, without any time to back out. It is great fun. Here’s a slice from years ago, but you’ll get the feel of the same frilly fabulous fun.
There are some days when you just have to let your mind wander, play with sound and imagery through words, and just have fun writing. Every Monday I start each class with a 7 minute free write. These always amount to something. Something humorous or something profound, it matters not. Sometimes we are compelled to share and other times we tuck the scribblings into a private place. Regardless, we become a community of writers during those 7 minutes. Only the sound of pen hitting paper. Heads down and hands moving. Those 7 minutes fill the classroom with a thick pulsing creativity that you can feel as vividly as sunlight.
Last week, across the state, schools just about everywhere participated in Vermont Writes Day. Students and adults alike chose from several prompts and just wrote. You can be sure something profound happened in classrooms all over.
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Nine Cent Girl 