History of the National Day on Writing
The National Day on Writing was establisehd by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 2009. As noted on its About Us page, NCTE is a professional organization for teachers of English and is “devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.” Because writing is an integral part of language use, it is fitting that NCTE should have founded this initiative.
Over the years, in places around the country, participants in the National Day on Writing have engaged in a variety of writing-related activities, a sampling of which are listed in a toolkit developed by NCTE. Additionally, a 2020 blog post by NCTE staff member Lisa Fink reveals that the US Senate “has passed resolutions declaring October 20 the National Day on Writing” in support of the initiative. And, as NCTE explains on its National Day on Writing website, since the first National Day on Writing in 2009, the organization has used the hashtag #WhyIWrite to draw attention to the initiative on social media.
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An information sheet about the National Day on Writing. (National
Day on Writing Toolkit/NCTE) |
As NCTE explains on its website dedicated to the National Day on Writing, the event is meant to “draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing Americans engage in.” I’ve compiled a list of several of these types of writing that I can think of off the top of my head:
- to-do lists
- shopping lists
- lists of questions to ask your doctor at an appointment
- listicles
- text messages
- emails
- notes in holiday/birthday/thank you cards
- public service announcements
- memos
- briefs
- flyers
- brochures
- blog posts
- calls for proposals
- proposals
- reports
- manuals
- guidelines
- journal articles
- book chapters
- books
- poems
My Involvement With the National Day on Writing
I first became involved with the National Day on Writing in 2010 when I started working at North Dakota State University. Prior to my arrival, the day was observed by one faculty member in the Department of English who had her students write on the sidewalks with chalk in response to the #WhyIWrite hashtag. By the time I left NDSU, I had led seven campus-wide observances of the National Day on Writing, in which more than 10 offices and departments participated. I spearheaded several of the events myself, and I assisted others in organizing their events as well. The events that were held over the years included the following:
- writing retreat
- information table with word games and writing activities
- rotating story, aka “exquisite corpse,” on Facebook
- dissertation writing and thesis defense information session
- presentation on workplace writing by a guest speaker from a local company
- display of library resources related to writing
- writing center open house
- calligraphy lesson
- activity on the intersection of art and writing
- presentation on open access publishing
- found poetry activity on Facebook
- help desk on library resources for citations
- author book talk
- pictures of writing in action posted to social media
- multi-language sidewalk chalking and social media posting about the power of words
- grant writing help desk
- e-publishing workshop
- infographics workshop
- thesis formatting workshop
- writing to learn activities workshop
- open access publishing panel discussion
- free verse poetry activity and display
- letters to the President write-in
- 6-word story writing
- Prezi presentations workshop
- literature review workshop
- breaking writer’s block workshop
- PowerPoint posters workshop
- writing game prize drawing