How I went from never thinking about writing to thinking too much about writing.

I went to high school a very long time ago… Like 15 years ago long.

Directly after high school, I went to college for liberal arts, dropped out, re-registered, dropped out, re-registered (solely to go on the Disney College Program), then tried to continue school but couldn’t re-adjust to that life yet again and guess what I did?

Dropped out.

Finally, after years of wasting time not actually learning anything, I went back to school to finish my associates in theater, which I was successful in and eventually graduated.

I spent the next 6 years working as a restaurant manager and a drag performer, both things were fulfilling, and I was very happy. I had moved to Queens and dated someone who made me very happy… until he developed a drug problem and caused me to get kicked out of my apartment. I had called my parents in a severe depression and instead of telling them the truth of the situation (which was that my drug addicted ex ruined my life), I had told them I was inspired to go back to school and would need to move back home to make that a possibility.

Yes, I’m going to school and pursuing a degree in adolescent education in English because of a lie I had told my parents.

The weirdest part of the whole thing is that I honestly couldn’t be happier doing it and I think that all that heartbreak was leading me towards something incredible.

Now, why did I tell you my whole life story starting from the year 2005? Well, because, to be completely honest with all the things that I had mentioned above, not once in any of those times had I even thought about thinking about writing (or teaching writing for that matter). Writing is something I haven’t actively thought about in nearly 15 years.

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I can’t recall how I learned to write; I can’t recall learning to write at all. I’ve always liked writing, but to try to remember any kind of preconceived notions I had about writing before would be impossible, nearly everything I’ve learned about teaching writing has been a “new experience” for me.
With all of that said, the idea that’s been explored in my texts and classes that has really captured my attention as a future teacher of English and writing is the idea of “authentic writing” assignments.

What is an authentic writing assignment you may ask?

According to the text “Continuing the Journey 2”, “In an authentic writing assignment, students write to a real audience for a real purpose in a real forum” (33).

Students learn best by doing, this is a concept you probably don’t need a teaching degree or vast knowledge of pedagogy to understand. Students need to engage in activities where there are tangible results and genuine feedback.

Authentic writing also prepares students for life beyond the classroom. Now more than ever, students are becoming activists and champions of social justice, protesters of climate change, and using writing to make a real difference in the world around them. On a much smaller scale, students are now immersed in a world of social media, where they are implementing authentic writing to reach audiences around the globe and they may not even realize the impact they are having.

Or maybe they do realize it?
As Evelyn T. Pineiro says “In their own ways, they understand the concept of audience better than we do. Everything is public for them on YouTube and Instagram.” (37)

There are multiple ways for us to teach authentic writing to our students, as they are already doing it in their everyday life. It is our jobs as teachers of writing to make sure these students find their voices and show them exactly how far those voices can go in a world vastly different from the one we once knew.