Retiree News

Throughout her career as an educator, Elizabeth Green noticed a universal truth: Every child has a story to tell.
Working as an elementary school reading specialist, instructional specialist and gifted resource teacher with Norfolk City Public Schools, she saw firsthand how children’s lives could be enriched by helping them develop their reading, writing and communications skills. As she monitored literacy instruction, she noticed that students could have a dialogue, but didn’t know how to begin the writing process.

Now in retirement, Green continues this mission through a nonprofit that she founded to support child authorship, Kidz Write For Kidz Inc.

“I looked back at my career and saw the things that I had a passion for—I saw the need that children had and the need that the teachers had,” Green says. “I see that our kids need to be inspired.”

Kidz Write For Kidz is currently based in the Suffolk area, where Green resides, and offers services free of cost to parents. It received its first state-level mini grant earlier this year, which provided gift certificates for 25 participating kids. The first issue of the Kidz Write For Kidz newsletter was also published.

As part of the grant, kids started with a writing prompt prepared by Green, which was shared through Suffolk City Title I elementary schools and posted on the Suffolk City Public Schools website. Children volunteered for the writing prompts with support from parents, teachers and school administrators. From there, they wrote, edited, developed vocabulary and illustrated their own stories.

“I’m the coach right now, but the goal is to bring in some other writers from the community to coach the kids,” Green says.

She says she appreciates the community support she’s received through organizations that have provided resources such as a location to hold summer camp. Ultimately, Green hopes to open a dedicated location for a writing center where she can also hold Kidz Summer Literacy Camp.

Green says that over the years she’s seen the full spectrum of what children choose to write about. Many stories are fun, joyful and describe exciting childhood experiences that kids enjoy sharing with each other. Sometimes, however, children write about difficult topics and adversity they have faced.

“It can be healing,” Green says. “You can teach forgiveness and a lot of things from children’s real-life situations. Then we can mentor kids going through traumatic experiences.”

Green believes that many kids crave more one-on-one time and attention than they may receive in a typical classroom environment. To help address this issue, Green works with children from around her Suffolk community to offer them individual attention with their reading skills.

Sometimes all it takes is sitting and reading with a child on her ome’s backstep—a concept she calls “Driveway Literacy,” or “Driveway Lit” for short. According to Green, she’s seen many success stories, including a young boy who went from falling behind to getting a place on the honor roll after only a semester of tutoring.

“I still have the passion of working with children and their families,” Green says. “My heart is still with children.”

Green is also an author in her own right, having published two children’s book titles in recent years: “Candy Girl” and “Seven Days and Seven Prayers: A Prayer Book and Journal for Children.”

She wants to continue helping children as much as she can in retirement— through growing Kidz Write For Kidz, establishing partnerships with the program and ultimately offering scholarships.

“I’ve created an avenue for children to give of themselves to others,” Green says. “As they learn this principle early in life, they will gain truthful identity, build their character, empower their learning and discover creative ways to serve.”

For more information about Green’s program, visit KidzWriteForKidz.com.