A Quick Write

Aha...now that we have those lovely journals let's begin the process of getting them filled up. Remember, this is a place to play, experiment and have fun with words. It can also be a place where you store ideas that might inform your teaching, things you notice, things you are wondering about.
Find a line from your notebook, post it and then write to it. Here is my attempt at doing this!

"Your choices will change the world."

These were the words that came to me on my tea tag one day. As I sat sipping, reading the book, The Alchemist, I realized how connected these words were to the ones I was reading. And so I wrote them in my Writer's Notebook. I love this idea. I love that the idea that choice, something I believe in so strongly, has the power to "change the world" and yet I see this in action all of the time, especially when it comes to the teaching of writing. I was working with a teacher and she was so excited one day because her students, when given the choice, had discovered these incredible writing voices from within. These particular kids, see her for remedial (if you will) help and her days are filled with helping them identify words and well...you know the drill. But, one day she was just so tired of teaching this way that she chose to do something completely different with them. She found a picture of the desert, put it up on the chart and asked her kids to describe it. She listed everything they said on the chart next to the picture. Next, she noticed that all of their descriptions were visual, so she asked them to imagine what this place would sound like, feel like and even taste like. The list grew. After this group brainstorming she asked them to write about the picture. What came out of one of the boys was truly profound. I will get a copy of it and share it with you at our next class.

This teacher was so excited. The energy in her voice was infectious. And so, there it was, with one small choice that teacher made on that given day she did change the world. The world as she knew it, as her students knew it and as the energy around her knew it. She was energized by her choice and all that came with it! She reconnected to the reason she went into teaching and in the process, she helped four students begin to find their authentic writing voices. Now THAT is powerful!!

You see...I had no idea where I was going when I sat down to write this. In fact, I am very surprised that this is where I ended up! As Don Murray would say, writing is about the surprises you find along the way!! What surprises will you find today? Don't judge yourself, just let whatever happens happen! And then you can copy your entry into a word document, print it out and even add this to your writer's notebook. The possibilities are endless!!

Reading, Rereading and Reflecting...

This week I am asking that you take some time to navigate your way through the blog and do some reading, some rereading and some reflecting. If you click on each post, all of the comments will be listed below it. Take this time to go back through the different posts to see what people have written before you and after you. Notice how the conversations take twists and turns. Feel free to comment again after a certain section or not! If you have missed a post, then take the time to weigh in now! Remember, this is our place to continue our conversations, to ask questions, to ponder and make sense of our teaching in this crazy culture that we call education!

Your Writer's Notebook

Take some time to tell us all about your writer's notebook. What does it look like? Where did you get it? How did you decide upon your selection? Does it have lines? No lines? Have you written anything in it yet? Did you decorate it on your own? What size is it? Is is something you feel comfortable holding and writing in? Did you dig it out from somewhere or make a special shopping trip? We will put these out at our next class and see if we can guess whose is whose! So, describe it as well as you can!
I got mine at the NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) conference in New York City. I knew I was in the market for a new one, but I am always searching for that perfect one of the time! I spied it from far away. It was at a booth in the vendor's section. It was wildly colorful with funny faces mocking famous authors and artists. On my first glance I could not tell who was who, but thoroughly enjoyed looking and seeing who was who! I liked the smooth feel of the cover and how it felt cradles in my arms. It fulfilled the needs I knew to be essential of having blank pages and a spiral binding. What I was not sure about was the direction that the book opened. In the end, I went for it, relieved that I would not have to decorate this one..as my creativity seemed to be waning in this area as of late. And so I bought it, on the spot and just recently have started filling it with goodies. So far, so good. I like how it starts out with my travels, one of my goals for the year! I like carrying it and using it...although I am still not wild about how it opens, I am pretty much loving it. Do you think you will be able to pick mine out?