Today is the National Day on Writing, a tribute founded by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2009 “to celebrate composition in all its forms.” This year, the virtual community on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram are celebrating the day by discussing how people use writing to connect—both their ideas and with one another. The conversation, hosted by several groups including the National Writing Project, is being held under the hashtag #write2connect and is open to anyone.
There will be plenty of local celebrations for the National Day on Writing as well. Here are a few highlights:
- In Maryland, Montgomery College is hosting events at the Germantown Writing Center, as well as poetry and “status story” contests on its Facebook page. It has also invited Korean Calligrapher Myoung Won Kwon to demonstrate Korean calligraphy and it is showcasing an exhibit on the history of writing instruments.
- In Kentucky, the Morehead Writing Project and Morehead State University are hosting a five-day celebration with a daily writing prompt available on social media.
- The North Dakota State University English Department is posting hourly story starters on its Facebook page, to which students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members can contribute.
NCTE will wrap up the day’s events at 7 p.m. ET with #engchat, an ongoing Twitter discussion among English teachers. Tonight’s chat will be moderated by Sarah Mulhern Gross (@thereadingzone) and Education Week Teacher contributor Meenoo Rami (@meenoorami).
Teachers, are you doing something to celebrate the National Day on Writing in your classroom?