Today, October 20, is the third annual National Day on Writing, according to the National Council of Teachers of English. And as of yesterday, when it passed a resolution on the matter, the U.S. Senate will recognize the day as a celebration of writing as well.
In a press release, NCTE encourages people to “compose stories, text friends, write reports, draw pictures, plan dissertation defenses, write poems, blog, start those novels they’ve been thinking about, post to Facebook, and write letters home.” People can contribute their pieces to NCTE’s National Gallery of Writing, which has more than 30,000 submissions.
Today might also be a great day to brush up on your skills as a writing instructor. Here are some of our recent articles and blog posts with advice on teaching writing:
• The Book Whisperer: Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo
• Assistive Technology: Write Answers
• Curriculum Matters: Formative Assessment Improves Writing Skills
• Writing: Not Just for Language Arts
As an aside, I do feel compelled to ask: Why National Day ON Writing? Why not National Writing Day? National Day of Writing? Or even National Day for Writing? (Anyone else see some irony in this?)
[UPDATE (Oct. 21): Millie Davis, spokeswoman for NCTE, sent me an email with this explanation for the day’s name: “The idea is that the day represents more than just a day people drop everything to write. It’s a day when we celebrate that people write in all sorts of forms daily, that they have personal and public reasons to write, and that the possibilities for ways to write and venues in which to publish are proliferating.”]