If you have doubts about your ability to write creatively, READ THIS.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

During my elementary days, writing, for me, was one of the hardest skills to acquire. I struggled much on answering literary questions, writing essays, and making themes. I entered high school and it was not that easy the way I’ve thought it to be. I doubted myself when it comes to writing. There was also a time when I told myself that I was not born to be a writer, and because of the “self-doubt”, I dared to challenge myself. I reached college and enrolled in a program wherein writing is one of the primary skills needed. I read. I practiced. I wrote. I mean l lot! Then, I was surprised waking up one morning realizing that I survived my fear a decade ago. Thus, I was right when I said that I wasn’t born to be a writer, because writing as a skill is acquired not born. I may not be an expert when it comes to writing, but I’m still grateful to have acquired this kind of skill. Being an English teacher requires a lot of effort to learn how to write creatively.

As a newbie in the field of teaching, I found creative writing as a powerful tool in teaching literature. I started my sojourn in the world of teaching with the youngest learners in the high school department. Knowing the nature of young students who had just begun exploring their little world of imagination, I became their brain stimulator. As a literature teacher, I had to let them experience what the characters feel in the stories we tackle. I had to know what they are thinking and feeling towards the poems we are reciting. I had to make them imagine the very climax of the stories we are reading. How? By simply letting them write their thoughts, CREATIVELY. Thus, after a year of being with those students, I feel the need to help other young learners to learn the art of creative writing. We can see the importance of creative writing from all walks of life. But I guess, from a teacher’s perspective, the best way to see the relevance of creative writing is to teach it. The dilemma now is HOW? I learned from a certain blog that the best way to help the students discover their colorful world is through their senses, and by creating a rainbow in the class. Thus, to achieve this, one must realize that creativity and education go hand in hand. Self-expression, curiosity, exploration and experimentation, imagination, open-ended thinking, all the natural elements in creativity are important in young learners’ development. "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man."

Thanks for reading!