Paley summarized her view of teaching during a symposium on "Educating the Imagination" sponsored by the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in 1996: "Our idea," Paley said, "was that children—by writing, by putting down words, by reading, by beginning to love literature, by the inventiveness of listening to one another—could begin to understand the world better and to make a better world for themselves.
Paley resumiu a súa idea do ensino durante un simposio titulado "Educating the Imagination" ("A educación da imaxinación") organizado por "Teachers & Writers Collaborative", que ela contribuíra a fundar, en 1996: "A nosa idea," dixo Paley, "era que as crianzas — ao escribir, ler, empezar a querer a literatura, por medio da inventiva de escoitarse uns aos outros - puideran empezar a entender mellor o mundo e construír un mundo mellor para eles mesmos.