Gaetan Pappalardo teaches third grade in West Deptford and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. His first children's book, Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes, will be released fall 2011. Follow him on Twitter @gaetanp.

Editor's Note: Along with the National Writing Project, Figment, and The New York Times Learning Network, we are celebrating the National Day on Writing today. As part of this celebration, we're inviting writers to share the why of writing in an essay, poem or post. Please add your own thoughts in the comment section below, and/or follow the hashtag #whyiwrite on Twitter.

Gaetan Pappalardo teaches third grade in West Deptford and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. His first children's book, Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes, will be released fall 2011. Follow him on Twitter @gaetanp.

I love watching the new teachers scramble for the laminating machine and make copy after copy of bio info, homework routines, and schedules in preparation for Back to School Night. They sweat, stutter, and turn bright red. Don't get me wrong; I'm not making fun of their anxiety at all.

Gaetan Pappalardo teaches third grade in West Deptford and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. His first children's book, Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes, will be released fall 2011. Follow him on Twitter @gaetanp.

In honor of Edutopia's 20th anniversary, we're producing a series of Top 20 lists, from the practical to the sublime.

Twenty Things I Never Thought I'd Say in an Elementary Classroom

Teachers need to acclimate themselves to a whole new level of dialogue when teaching elementary students. It feels awkward, strange, and, to say the least, dreamy. However, remembering what it's like to honestly "be a kid" will help tremendously when speaking with children

Gaetan Pappalardo teaches 3rd grade in West Deptford and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. His first children's book, Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes, will be released summer/fall 2011. Follow him on Twitter @gaetanp.

Now Playing>>
Artist: Spoon
Album: Transference
Song: Mystery Zone

My school day started at 4pm. 4pm rocked my eight-year-old world. 4pm = Transformers, G.I. Joe, Voltron, Thundercats -- the best time of the day. At 4pm, unknowingly, the story elements of fiction wore a deep groove into my brain; I learned about character development, setting, story arc, problem/solution, and action.

Writers write. They never say they're "going to write." They write here, there, and everywhere. Professional writers usually stick to a schedule. But most writers write when they can, when life doesn't get in the way. Some write on napkins at the local diner or on a receipt using the steering wheel as a desk.

So, I'm sitting in a workshop on vocabulary development listening to a bunch of research as to why kids lack the language to effectively comprehend and communicate. The largest factor (found by this specific research) that determines a child’s vocabulary cache is . . . (Drum roll) . . . In-home communication between adult and child using rich language. No talking, no vocabulary -- makes sense, right? The more you hear it, the more likely you're going to use it, the more you’re going to "own" it. It’s the purest form of contextual usage. It’s life. This makes total sense to me.