Greg Rivers said that he is really excited to teach the creative writing class this spring at Norwalk High School.

“It’s an elective so the students in it want to be in it, which means the students that are there want to be in it,” said Rivers, who teaches creative writing along with English for ninth through 11th grade. “It’s a different course every time you take it.”

Rivers used to be a journalist but now he teaches at Norwalk High School. He has been teaching at Norwalk for 15 years out of his 24 years of teaching. Even after all those years, RIvers still writes himself.

“To be a good writer, the best thing you can do is be a good reader,” Rivers said. He said that reading leads you to be a good writer as you make your own voice as you read. You take the things you like and make them your own. You take scenes from books, change them up, use your own voice and imagination, and create something beautiful.

“The more you’ve read, the more you’re likely to throw in your own personality and make the writing yours instead of just writing,” Rivers said.

Rivers said he tries to teach kids how to write and find their voices.

“Take what they are visualizing and get it down on paper, so it looks in other people’s heads the same way as they have it in theirs,” Rivers said. I’m teaching them how to get better at writing, the process of doing it and being able to edit their own stuff and then being able to edit other people’s stuff. But the biggest thing is trying to help them get from what they see in their head to what’s on the paper.”