Writing For the World

6th grade students have started the daunting process of memoir. Through writing about past experiences and emotions, students are processing and structuring their world. The writing process is messy and frustrating. It is exhausting. It is hard. It is also cathartic. We have made timelines, written letters to our past selves, and written letters of hope to our future selves. 

Middle school students are thinking about so many questions -- Who am I? How has my past shaped who I am today? How will it shape my future? Writing is where the answers to these questions often make themselves known. Through processing and structuring their experiences and emotions, 6th grade writers are wrestling with questions of identity, interpretation, and voice. However, at the end of the process, they are able to stand confidently and say: "Here I am. I have a story to tell and it is an important one."

The beauty of this structure is that it continues in 7th and 8th grade, where students work to interpret the world around them. Through multiple exhibitions, students are able to stand firm in their own identity and do research about topics that are complex, challenging, and even controversial. Once they have begun to answer questions about identity, students are well equipped to interpret the world around them. They are also thinking about important questions -- How has our society evolved? What do these events in history mean for us today? What themes do I see in the events of the past? What does this mean for our future? What is my role in the world?

As students work through three years of writing at Mustard Seed, they work to voice their own stories, learn from the stories that surround them, and challenge themselves to live a meaningful story. As they leave, students are challenged to think about how they will continue to live and share their stories. In light of what they know about themselves and the world around them, what story are they now called to live?