David McCullough in an interview with Bruce Cole, Chairman of NEH, said, "Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly" and William Safire states, "By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking."
To read is to empower
To empower is to write
To write is to influence
To influence is to change
To change is to live.
--Jane Evershed--
More than a Tea Party
According to McCullough there is something about the pen that focuses the brain in a way that nothing else does. Francis Bacon suggests, "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."
Writing can be especially power for our diverse learners. Elie Wiesel has said, "Write only what you alone can write." Each diverse learner has a story to tell that only he or she can write.
We must encourage that story to be told. Often that will mean allowing the student to tell that story in his/her home language.
Learning English
In Cool Salsa
Translated by Lori M. Carlson
Life
To understand me
You have to know Spanish
Feel it in the blood of your soul.
If I speak another language
And use different words
For feelings that will always stay the same
I don't know
If I'll continue being
the same person.
Martin Espada, a famed poet, is convinced that giving diverse learners a voice through poetry will make a difference for them. He feels that young people have a hope regardless of their life's circumstances and in spite of the millions of people in the U.S. who are prejudiced against them and feel they don't belong here. Most young people feel that if they can make their voices heard, things will change. Therefore, Espada wants to help them find the poetry in their own experience.
Espada feels that poetry will help our diverse learners maintain their dignity and sense of self-respect...and therefore, be better suited to defend themselves against the world. Plus, poetry humanizes---and makes the invisible visible. In this way, their voices through their poetry can be a political tool.
After all, "The pen is mightier than the sword."
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
