Today I was working in a grade eight class and ended up sitting next to a young man who was quick to tell me that he couldn't write, just wasn't any good at it. And true enough if I were to judge his ability to write by the words that were actually down on the page I would have agreed with him. His page was blank, and the reason he'd attracted my attention in the first place was the manner in which he was using an electric fan to sharpen his pencil. (Don't try this at home, it really doesn't work that well!)

Fortunately, I know myself that getting going can be one of the most difficult aspects of writing. Today, in his case, he'd been given a prompt,  the same prompt given to all of the eighth grade English classes.  The prompt went something along these lines- How do you believe you will be remembered by the school community when you leave this school? 

I made him a deal, if he'd speak the words I'd write them down. As long as he kept talking and thinking about the prompt, I'd keep writing.The piece of writing was not to be marked for punctuation. 

And so we began. Within a couple of sentences I realized that this young guy had a wonderful ability to hold the concept of the prompt in his head and tell me what he felt he brought to the school. It was a very good piece of writing. Some parts were humourous, other parts were thought provoking, and overall it was inspiring. Some of you may be wondering what made it such a good piece of writing. For me it was the way in which he put himself on the page. He shared the basic truths of what it was that represented his three years in the school. There weren't any phenomenal vocabulary choices, nor had he been a standout student or athlete. He was, I suspect, a pretty ordinary kid. But the truth is that ordinary people do have something to say, and they do often think quite deeply, and they do have opinions and ideas, but we often think that unless we are fantastic at something that we aren't any good all.