After I Left Teaching, the Best Writing Lesson Came from My Students
As part of our Education Week series, Purnima Mani reflects on her career as a teacher—and which lessons stayed with her when she quit to write full-time.
It’s 9:49 a.m. on a Friday in December and I’m at my kitchen table, glaring at the cursor on a blank Google doc. The deadline of my latest assignment is looming. But like so many of the students I’ve taught over the years, I’m paralyzed, unable to get a single word on the page. In my head, I start composing an apology email to my editor, inspired by some of the more creative excuses I’ve received from adolescents. “Sorry I don’t have a first draft for you to look at today. I thought I had a great essay idea, but turns out, jkjk. An extension could help, but might also make no difference. I still think you’re cool.”
Plusyou’re not doing any writing of your own right now, but helping others do it could be the perfect plan B.
Purnima Mani is a writer, teacher, parent, and a cook with a weakness for gianduja. Her essays have appeared in Romper, Catapult, Food52, and Entropy, among other places. Find her at home in Northern California and on Twitter @purnima_mani.
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