In addition to the start of Digital Citizenship Week, last Monday was also the National Day on Writing. So besides working on a digital footprint project and related writing activities, I also posed the following question to my Language Arts students: Why do we have to write?

Sounds like the type of question students would ask their teacher, right? Well, imagine the looks on their faces when I explained this writing assignment! Priceless! Yep, that’s what I call turning the tables!

In any event, here are some of the encouraging and witty answers I received:

To express our feelings and thoughts… To explain our life… To show our individuality… To get things out of our minds… To talk to people without wasting our voice… To communicate with each other… To tell stories… To show what we feel… To let our feelings out… To record our thoughts…

To remember dates and events in history… To learn vocabulary and spelling… To set our imagination, mind and thoughts free… To talk to other people without moving  your lips… To understand things more… To tell people what we know… To write a note to someone… To figure out a problem you have… To express ourselves… To tell reports of things… To tell the story of our lives…  To remember… To make our hands hurt…

Following the posting of their answers via sticky notes, my students and I had an awesome discussion regarding the importance of developing writing skills and how they will be useful in the real world.

Classroom Connection:

So, why do you write? I’m sure you have your reasons—and so do your students! That said, why not ask them this question, have them post their answers via a digital tool such as Padlet or just do it the old-fashioned way. Regardless of the display, I’m sure you will be impressed with their responses—just like I was!

And then, of course, use these answers to remind students why we have to write today—and every day!

A huge shout out to Edutopia for sharing the Why Do We Have to Write Today activity.

Need more writing lessons and ideas, check out the Five-Minute Film Festival: National Day on Writing page which includes tons of videos and other resources to engage students in the writing process.