The other day I was asked whether or not Writer’s Walk meets the “Kansas Core Curriculum Standards of Increasing English Language Arts course vigor.” It didn’t take me even a second to crack a giggle inside as I knew for sure my thoughts on this topic.

Why wouldn’t it meet this so called Kansas Core Curriculum vigor thing? As a junior or senior (grades 11-12) it’s said that we, as students, need to be able to do certain tasks with our reading and writing like interpret figures of speech in context, analyze the figure of speech’s role in context, and be able to comprehend what we’re reading or hearing to a greater level than when our squirmy selves were all sat in a kindergarten room trying to interpret what was being told to us. Along with these requirements come the more so called “difficult” tasks like being able to demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary. Which means not solely relying on dictionary.com to get every word which, I’m sure, isn’t a problem for anyone who performs at Writer’s Walk.

Writer’s Walk is like the production site of all of these “requirements.” Readings after readings, my ears were constantly filled with all of these requirements, in a unique way.

Just because students aren’t sitting in their desks for that hour long class where it seems like class proceeds, but the clock doesn’t, doesn’t mean our wandering minds have completely drifted out of the English world. Writer’s Walk allows Writer’s Workshop students to show the creative side of writing. It’s more than an event outside of English class, but an inspiration platform and a chance for others to experience the magic Writer’s Workshop students have to offer.