The following is adapted from Poems are Teachers: How Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Many texts grow from idea-and-belief-soil. Writers write about what they believe is important, what they believe is wrong, what they long to preserve. Editorial writers, reviewers, and cartoonists lay their beliefs bare on newsprint, greeting sleepy morning readers with coffee and opinion: Where is the hottest new restaurant in town? For whom should I vote? What’s up with concussions in youth sports?
National Public Radio featured a show titled This I Believe for many years, and at the website thisibelieve.org, you will find hundreds of belief essays by people of all ages and walks of life, essays about everything from attending funerals to being kind to the pizza dude.
In her book Writing to Change the World (2007), Mary Pipher asserts, “Writers can inspire a kinder, fairer, more beautiful world, or incite selfishness, stereotyping, and violence. Writers can unite people or divide them”
When we write, we nudge change, and it is our responsibility to think about what kind of writing change agents we wish to be. Which beliefs do we hold dear enough to share?
Your students will feel comfortable writing about feelings and beliefs if your classroom is a safe place where you model being vulnerable. Wiping tears during a read-aloud and stopping to say, “Let’s take out our notebooks. I need to write,” shows how feelings overflow from hearts onto notebook pages.
To help students think about their beliefs and feelings, read poems and books and ask, “What do you think this poet feels? What do the author’s words make you believe?” Stop to write during a read-aloud or in the midst of a heated discussion. Read a quote or listen to a piece of music or share a statistic, and then write together: poetry, notebook entries, stories.
Or invite students to list feelings—happy, sad, fearful, embarrassed, furious, excited—and write from them. What beliefs do these feelings inspire? My feeling of peace while camping, for example, makes me believe that camping is mentally, spiritually, and physically healthy. I could write about that.
Regularly remind students that writing inspired by feelings and beliefs can nourish and impact readers—and our world.