Building a Community of Writers

Writers are often depicted as introspective and isolated. Charles Dickens had a favorite writing desk where he finished his work and Hemingway wrote in his home in Cuba. However, as writing teachers, we do not have to promote the solitary lifestyle. As an English teacher, I have observed students more recently craving community. Students have missed interaction, conversation, play, and physical touch. God has created us for community, and writing can become an interactive and collective process which cultivates an excitement for writing.

If we look at Jesus’s life as Rabbi, we see that much of his teaching was shared with people in their communities. In the same way, as English teachers, we should share our knowledge and love for the works of leading authors. We can lead learners towards life-giving literature that inspires creativity, exploration, and imagination. You do not need to read the complete Chronicles of Narnia, but you can display your favorite books or decorate your classroom with book cover posters. You can read excerpts in your lessons, present quotations of the week or act out scenes from books like The Catcher in the Rye or The Fault in our Stars. Expressing your love for literary classics will help foster an appreciation for writing.

Jesus spoke to communities in environments where they were familiar and comfortable. He taught in crowded homes, on mountainsides and even fishing boats. Likewise, our students should recognize their role as part of the community in a classroom that is familiar and comfortable. How do you teach writing to students in a group setting? As God knows us, we also need to first know our students’ giftings, abilities, skills, and habits to know how best to form collaborative groups where each member works together as a body. For example, you may be teaching the importance of varying sentence lengths. In small groups, students can create a story. If a student has difficulties writing long sentences with elaborate details, it’s ok! Their contribution will add variety to the work while observing and learning from their peers. Are you including grammar in your lessons? How can you involve the community in learning grammar? During one lesson, my students searched for subjects and predicates hidden on papers around the room before building their own sentences. Some students wanted to work alone while others wanted to work with their friends. With either approach, the students were interacting with each other while analyzing, creating, and moving their bodies. As a teacher, you can appeal to different learning styles and abilities and still operate as a community.

When Jesus finished teaching his disciples, he did not send them away with detailed instructions. However, he sent them with an advocate as they continued the disciple-making process. Similarly, God has provided us with the Holy Spirit. It is the same Spirit who created the heavens and the earth. It is the same Spirit that guided Bezalel in the construction of the Ark of the Covenant. And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship (Exodus 35:31).[1] As teachers, we need to encourage our students towards creativity. We should provide them with opportunities to explore and create together as a community. Do you find your students doodling in class? Create a project where students can collectively complete a lifesize character analysis of Piggy from The Lord of the Flies. The artists in your class can design the image while others help research, organize, and format the facts for display. Are your students in the doldrums over writing biographies? Have them share their biographies in a living wax museum. Turn your classroom into a coffee shop and invite the greater community to a poetry reading to hear the poetry written by your students. The opportunities for creating a community that cultivates excitement will flourish with your guidance and creativity and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

You, along with each of your students, have been created by the Creator Himself, and He has designed us to work and create together. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).[2] Even in an English class, as students work in community and develop their creativity, they can experience joy in God’s gift of writing.

Jaime T.
Jaime teaches English Language Arts to students of all levels in Southeast Asia. She is passionate about seeing students experience God’s transforming work through education.