Writing isn't simply desk work, it is also life work. Writing is not just a matter of making lists and drafting entries and turning details into drafts, it is also a matter of keeping ducks in a city apartment, of watching a shaft of sunlight turn a bale of hay into gold, of remembering recess games and taunts. When we teach writing, we teach young people to live differently because they write.
- Lucy Calkins with Shelley Harwayne, Living Between the Lines