Teaching creative writing means putting ideas first. It means resisting the urge to correct the writing and focusing instead on the development of the writer. And though it may seem counter-intuitive, doing so often requires questioning, ignoring, or even breaking the rules.

“We may be too literal when we think about what it means to be a good writer,” writes educator and speaker Jordan Shapiro for Forbes. “It is not all about letters and words.” Especially when it comes to teaching children, he says, we get caught up in structure, grammar, and syntax. But these things are what make writing polished and proper, not meaningful and engaging. And unless you want to turn kids off of writing for the rest of their lives, it’s best to focus on the latter, and to make it fun.