Ten Texts That Will Get Teachers Writing by Shawna Coppola

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: the best teachers of writing are also writers themselves.

What I don’t mean by this:

• Any ol’ writer can teach students to write.
• By “writers,” I mean professional, published authors.
• If you don’t write, you can’t teach students to write.

What I do mean is this: teachers who themselves enjoy a semi-regular habit of writing (and I use the term “enjoy” loosely) understand what writers go through on a regular basis. They understand the challenges writers face, the myriad of processes they have, the exhilaration felt upon composing one–just one!– amazing line. They understand both the pain and the joy of writing.

They understand, too, that writers generate ideas for their work a thousand different ways. Read a dozen interviews with authors (and illustrators, too), and you will hear a dozen different answers to the question, “How did…