Since I started school 15 years ago, I have heard again and again why writing is such an important skill to learn. It was never a problem for me; I love writing. I love using words on a page to tell people what I think, spin a story, or show them a picture of something I've seen with my eyes or my mind. And my teachers and textbooks were right. Writing is one of the most important skills a student can develop. Communicating with the spoken word is great, and it's an area I wish I was stronger in, but the written word can reach people you will never be able to speak to in person, or even through a video.

The problem with the way we teach kids to write is that we only teach them the rules. When I was in grade school, I was taught how to write with perfect grammar. I learned why I couldn't let a dependent clause stand alone, how the spelling of "weird" was an exception to the rule I'd followed since first grade, and that the Oxford comma is the most magnificent grammatical invention in the history of the English language. Grammar is important, kids. It could be the difference between eating Grandma and eating with Grandma. But there's something even more critical to good writing that I was never taught, and that's word choice. I learned (the hard way) that you can never be too specific when you write for school. However, I had to teach myself how to be specific. I didn't realize until years later than I should have that word choice is arguably the most important part of writing to clearly communicate a point. And I didn't learn this in a writing class. I learned this through studying poetry.

Every word in poetry is so intentional. You only have a few lines to tell a story or paint a picture, and each phrase has to count. I didn't realize how important carefully chosen wording was until I started habitually reading poetry during my sophomore year of high school. Then I began to write it -- more to practice specific word choice than because I enjoy it. Now, I love writing poetry because of the struggle to find just the right word, but that love didn't come until I'd spent years slowly recognizing how valuable poetry is. Writing poetry taught me how to write better prose (before I even began writing better poetry). It helped me develop a habit of being selective about the words I use to convey each thought.