A Letter to My Readers: On Writing, Becoming, and Beginning Again

October 20, 2026 | National Day on Writing

Dear friends,

It has been a while.

A while since I last sat down to write in this little corner of the world I once created and named Listening & Learning: A Teaching and Coaching Life.

And yet, despite the silence here, there has been so much listening, so much learning, and perhaps most importantly, so much becoming.

Today, on the National Day on Writing, celebrated each year by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), I find myself returning to this space with a renewed sense of purpose. There seems to be no better day to begin again than one that invites us to consider a beautifully simple yet profound question: Why do I write?

I have been sitting with that question.

So much has happened since my last post. I began a PhD in Equity and Multicultural Studies in Education, an intellectual journey that has challenged me to think more deeply about the relationships among education, identity, culture, language, and justice. I have spent countless hours reading, questioning, researching, and writing. I have encountered scholars whose words have unsettled my thinking, opened new possibilities, and invited me to reconsider what I thought I knew.

And somewhere along the way, I had the honor of being a co-author with the extraordinary Katie Wood Ray on the reimagined edition of the beloved Wondrous Words (2025).

A year later, I wrote my first solo book Tell Me More: Conferring with Artists, Writers, and Storytellers. This is my heart book.

Writing those words feels a little surreal. These books represent a journey.

Books that grew from years of being alongside children and teachers. Books shaped by the stories, conversations, questions, and relationships that have accompanied my life as an educator. Books that remind me that our most meaningful ideas rarely emerge in isolation. They are born in community, through the generosity of others who invite us to see the world differently.

But perhaps what matters most is not simply what I have accomplished during these years. It is how these experiences have changed me.

I am still a teacher. Still a learner. Still someone who believes deeply in the wisdom of children, the intellectual lives of educators, and the transformative possibilities of listening carefully to one another.

But I am also learning to live with more questions than answers.

My doctoral studies have invited me to examine the complexities of teaching within educational systems that do not always honor the knowledge, histories, and professional commitments educators bring to their classrooms. They have deepened my curiosity about the spaces teachers create to think together, resist narrow definitions of teaching, and imagine more humanizing possibilities for education.

And through it all, I keep returning to the same commitments that inspired this website many years ago: listening, learning, storytelling, and the belief that education is, at its heart, a deeply relational endeavor.

Perhaps that is why I am writing again.

Not because I have everything figured out. Quite the opposite.

I write because I am still becoming.

I write to make sense of the world. To hold on to moments that might otherwise disappear. To document the beauty and complexity of teaching. To ask questions that do not always have easy answers. To remember the words of children, the wisdom of teachers, and the countless encounters that continue to shape who I am.

I write because writing itself is a form of listening.

Listening to our experiences. To our memories. To the ideas that have not yet found their way into words. To the voices of others that live within our own thinking.

And sometimes, writing is also an act of courage. An invitation to make our thinking visible, unfinished and imperfect as it may be, and offer it to the world.

So today, I am reopening this space.

I imagine Listening & Learning continuing to be a place where I share stories from classrooms, reflections on teaching and learning, questions emerging from my doctoral studies, encounters with children's thinking, and ideas about literacy, identity, and education. A place where the worlds of teaching, coaching, writing, and research can meet and speak to one another.

I do not know exactly what this next chapter will look like. And perhaps that is part of its beauty.

What I do know is that I want to continue writing in conversation with others. I want this space to remain one of curiosity, possibility, and connection.

If you have been here before, thank you for finding your way back.

If you are new here, welcome. I am glad our paths have crossed.

And on this National Day on Writing, I leave you with the question that has brought me back to this page:

Why do you write?

Perhaps, like me, you write to remember, to question, to understand, to connect, or simply to discover what you are thinking.

Whatever your reasons, I hope you keep writing.

There are stories worth telling. Questions worth asking. And so much more listening and learning ahead.

With gratitude and curiosity,

Stella

Still listening. Still learning. Still becoming.

#WhyIWrite #NationalDayOnWriting

Photography by Taylor Kiehl