Sometimes it's the obvious question that doesn't get asked. But when it does, the results are anything but ordinary. For a professional development conference about writing for teachers in ABE and ESOL settings, Michele Sedor of SABES West wanted to include learners' voices in the day-long series of workshops and presentations, and she asked me to help out. Having student writing displayed at the conference, she decided, would achieve that goal while giving participants something to look at between workshops. When we sat down to organize the project, we hoped that at least a few sites would participate. We decided to ask teachers to pose a single, simple question to their students: "Why do I write?" They would record student responses on colorful index cards, which we'd provide. Typed, handwritten, edited or first draft—we would accept the answers any way we got them. What we didn't expect was that we'd get so many—and such a rich variety—of responses.

In the end, 11 programs participated, including ABE and ESOL learners studying in Holyoke, Springfield, Ware, and several other communities in western Mass. In addition to words on index cards, we also received photographs of learners composing their responses and cards with computer graphics and other illustrations.

"Initially, I thought it would just be 'nice' to have display boards with student writings throughout the conference site," Sedor said. But, she added, "As the 4x6 cards began to come in, in quantities greater than anticipated, I began to realize how important it was to have student voices on why they write (or don't write) at a conference for teachers on writing... As one teacher said to me, 'Some of these words pulled at my heart.'"

In retrospect, teachers said the success of the project was in its simplicity. The activity was short and easy to execute. The sample lesson plan that was distributed to teachers suggested the activity begin with a group brainstorm on the topic, "Why I Write." Once they were ready, students would compose a sentence, paragraph, or poem that began with the phrase, "I write because..." Learners and teachers were then encouraged to discuss the responses and send the finished cards off to Sedor at SABES. Typing and editing was optional. Not surprisingly, teachers adapted and modified the exercise in creative ways that best suited their learners and sites.

As the responses came in to the SABES West office, a small group arranged the colorful cards on display boards. We used bits of bright wrapping paper and origami squares to add visual appeal to the students' words. Participants from Read/Write/Now in Springfield also sent in photographs of the activity in progress, so snapshots of the students accompanied their words on the display.

While the process was simple, the results were profound. "I was moved by the depth of some of my learners' responses," said Dianne Worth, a teacher at Center for New Americans in Northampton. Among her favorites was the following, written by one of her students: "...when I write, I am putting my dreams out."

In addition to helping to plan and execute the project, I also conducted "Why I Write" lessons in the ESOL, pre-GED, and GED classes at The Care Center in Holyoke, where I teach poetry to teen mothers. Following the lesson plan we devised for programs throughout the region, I opened my classes by handing out copies of Enid Santiago Welch's poem "Why Do I Write" (See poem on page 8). After discussing Welch's poem, we brainstormed reasons we need to write in our own lives, and reasons we'd like to write more. My students said they needed to write letters to loved ones in jail, essays for the GED, lists, notes, and stories. One wanted to write a letter to the president, "to tell him off," and to write stories that would make her daughters "laugh their lungs out." Another of my students who has a creative flair and an aversion to putting words on paper wrote, "I hate words, they are like little devils that aggravate me."

Not only was the diversity of the responses an unexpected bonanza, so too were the ways that the display boards containing the learner-made index cards were used. As it turns out, the display at the SABES West conference, for which they were made, was only the beginning. Shortly after the conference, adult education partners in the region gathered with legislators for a breakfast at the Delaney House in Holyoke, and the "Why I Write" project was displayed to add a splash of color and a visual chorus of learners' voices to the proceedings. The finished boards also returned to one learning site, that had participated in the project. Teacher Lucille Fandel wanted students to see how their work had been used and to become aware of adult learners in other programs, which is one of the reasons she initially wanted learners to participate in the project. Fandel borrowed the displays after the conference and set them up in her classroom. Her students, she said, enjoyed seeing their words displayed along side the quotes from others they had never met. At The Care Center I made a second set of index cards in addition to the set I sent to SABES West, so we could display them on a bulletin board at the center. Some of the poems generated by the assignment were published in our center's literary magazine, which came out last spring. The responses are also displayed on the SABES West website: www.sabeswest.org/publications/write_project.htm

The exercise, which was meant to inspire or entertain participants at a single conference, has taken on a life of its own. Said Sedor, "When we read, 'I write because so many people take writing for granted,' or 'I write because no one will listen, maybe they'll read and see,' or 'I write because I want to help my wife write checks for the bills,' it reminds us of why we do what we do."

Tzivia Gover teaches poetry and creative writing to adults in literacy classes. She can be reached at: holyoketutor@hotmail.com