Outside-the-box thinking gets a thumbs-up from teacher.

Japanese Twitter user @gude_chichi has a seven-year-old daughter, and that daughter had a problem. She’s currently in the first grade, and the other day her teacher gave the class an assignment to write an essay about any kind of personal experience they’d recently had.

So the kids started writing…except for @gude_chichi’s daughter, who immediately ran into writer’s block, and a case so severe that she even titled her essay “What Should I Do?”

▼ Page 1 of her essay

But even if she wasn’t sure what to write, @gude_chichi’s daughter let that agitation flow straight onto the paper, starting off with:

“Today at school we are writing essays. But I can’t think of anything to write about and don’t know what to do. Everyone else is writing. But me? I’m not. Please, teacher, help me out here. No luck? What should I do? I wonder if there’s anyone else in class who isn’t writing.

My brain isn’t thinking of anything, but it still feels like I’m spraining it. How does that happen? Third period is almost over. I don’t want to have to stay after to finish this during break. ‘What should I do?’ I don’t ever want to have to write an essay again…What should I do? Only five minutes left. Oh, wait, that’s it! I can write about this feeling for my essay! But there’s not enough time. What should I do?”

With just a few minutes left, the girl kicked her writing into high gear, filling a second page, and then most of a third, with her inner monologue.

She wraps things up with:

“The teacher just said ‘Time’s up.’ What should I do? OK, maybe I should just be honest, and say I couldn’t think of anything to write? Or maybe I should ask my friends for advice? Essays really are rough, aren’t they? OK, my friend told me ‘When you don’t know what to do, just do anything.’“

We should point out that @gude_chichi says his daughter actually does like writing assignments, and is pretty good at them too. Writing about actual experiences isn’t her favorite, though, and so for this essay she decided to mix in some creatively dramatically bits, blending imagination and her actual feelings.

So how did her teacher react? By drawing a swirly flower shape, commonly used in Japanese elementary schools to mean “Good job!” and also with a stamp saying “Nice work!” The teacher even praised her choice of words and phrasing for conveying so much emotion.

Online commenters have also quick to applaud the girl’s writing chops:

“Best essay ever!”
“So clever.”
“It can be really hard to express your feelings clearly to others, but she did a really amazing job.”
“She shows how wonderful it is to be able to honestly express yourself in writing.”
“I like her friend’s advice, and her teacher seems like a great person too.”

Ultimately, a lot of the topics that kids write about in elementary school aren’t all that important, and even when they are, their young age means that they’re probably not going to be making any sophisticatedly impactful statements about them. But helping kids become comfortable and capable with organizing and expressing their thoughts is a vital part of early education, and @gude_chichi’s daughter seems to be doing just fine in that area.

Source: Twitter/@gude_chichi via IT Media, J-Town Net
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Twitter/@gude_chichi
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