Learning to Love Writing
Volunteering at a school writing workshop.
I am not the “involved” parent at school. I am not part of the PTA. I don’t volunteer in my kids’ classrooms. I don’t go on field trips. I love and appreciate their school dearly, and all of the dedicated staff. I make sure homework gets done, encourage reading, and show up when my kids want to attend some school-sponsored event. But the school never seems to lack for parental involvement, so I am happy to otherwise sit back.
Except for one thing. Once a month, I go to the school for two hours for a Writer’s Workshop. Grade-school kids can sign up to bring a writing project and work with a parent volunteer on anything: brainstorming ideas, editing, adding more details, word choice, etc. Once the story is polished, they can submit the story for “publication” and it is bound and placed in the library. Then late in the year, there is an event where kids can read their published stories aloud.
I am one of those parent volunteers. I don’t particularly love it. I don’t think I am great with kids (teachers — I love you). I am impatient and sometimes bored as kids painstakingly write out their sentences. But I continue to volunteer, because I know that it is a skill set that I have.
Today was not particularly different. The kids traipsed in, with a new batch…
