Patricia Grisafi
11.
“I had a student write an amazing argumentative essay. He was a shy kid, and we had been working on building his confidence and taking risks in his writing. I get to the end of the paper and he notes: *I always wanted to include this argument, but I just wasn’t sure. He leaves a citation. I go to his works cited and see a proper citation along with a hyperlink. I click it. Rick Astley begins to sing. I wipe away a tear. Well done, kid. Well done.” — saint_sagan
12.
“I worked at a bookstore that had a spooky story contest for Halloween and I had to read a lot of stories by elementary students. They were stories by elementary students. But there was this one. On the first pass I guess I didn’t like it, but when it came back from another reviewer I happened to read it again. The plot wasn’t astounding. It was actually kind of a bad story as far as that goes. What was amazing was that the student changed her vernacular depending on whether the speech was spoken by a character or part of the narration. This is not elementary stuff. It was really incredible and such a small thing that I was so surprised that I even noticed it. It is literally a technique that was considered groundbreaking when Zora Neale Hurston did it and she’s one of the greatest American writers ever. There’s no way this little fourth grade girl knew about Hurston. She was just doing it naturally. I was blown away. I tried my best to advocate for that story—even suggested a special prize. My boss would not give. I hope that little girl is still writing.” — SunnyOnTheFarm
13.
“I once had an elementary student write a story where John Cena randomly busted in to the house about 3/4 of the way in to the story.” — wolverine20160
14.
“When I was a teacher’s aide in HS English one of the best things I ever graded was this amazing poem about a ‘tiny dancer,’ the writer’s little girl. But he was 17 and didn’t have any kids. The assignment was to take a popular song and write about it. I still have a copy because I legit cried when I read it. I never knew he had such depths inside him. Charlie, if you see this, you are a brilliant bastard!” — littleazmama
15.
“I teach English Honors and one story really stuck with me. It was written by a quiet Asian kid back in 2006. The story was told in first person and the way the atmosphere, setting, and imagery was conveyed made you feel demoralized, lonely, saddened, etc. One sentence went something like, ‘October wind encapsulates my body as if searching for the last trace of warmth.’ At this point,I began to worry that this story was sort of cry for help. But it was in the last sentence that captured the moment and twist. Despite the depressing setting, he was actually writing the slow and agonizing moments of which your inner child no longer becomes a part of you but only a memory.” — AmielJohn
