After I finished my first year as a 2nd grade teacher, I realized that I had failed the kids. I was a terrible teacher of writing. My students definitely did writing that year, but I failed to teach them to write. That summer, I made a promise to myself that I would do better. I immersed myself in books about writing. I read and sticky noted tons of children's books, mentor texts, so that I could use them to help teach my students. But probably the most important thing that I did that summer...I made myself become a writer. How did I do that? I opened up a notebook and started writing. Many days I wasn't a good writer and some days I stared at a blank page. Those days definitely helped me empathize with my students. For many of us the blank page or the blank screen is very intimidating. A few years ago I found a network of teachers who were committed to becoming writers so that they could be better teachers of writing for their students. It's called Teach Write. And they were kind enough to let me join them, even though I had joined "the dark side" aka administration. Sometimes they offer workshops, sometimes they do virtual open mic nights where people share their writing, but the best thing they offer is time to come together virtually...we were doing it before virtual meetings were a thing...where we simply write and hold each other accountable for devoting time to write. During the month of October, Teach Write shares a challenge with educators, Teachwriteober. We challenge each other to write every day of the month of October. It doesn't have to be much, just putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard on each of the 31 days of the month. I signed up! And I wanted to share this challenge with all of you in case anyone is interested in joining me. Here's the link to sign up! What I love about this is that there can be all kinds of writing that you do. Sometimes my writing with the group is simply writing a grocery list or writing a thank you note. Sometimes it is writing this post or writing an article. Sometimes it's writing a journal entry. Any and all writing counts as long as you are doing some sort of writing every day. And I will share a little secret with you...if a day goes by and you don't write...it's not the end of the world. When I began doing these writing challenges, there were days I missed or days when I would stay up late to try to make sure and get some sort of writing done before midnight. It didn't matter, the bigger goal was accomplished, I was writing more than I had written the previous month. And I was holding myself accountable and I had others helping to hold me accountable. I have attended lots of trainings about teaching writing. I have read numerous books about writing and about teaching writing. (I have even been trying to write my own book about teaching writing.) But I believe the most powerful thing that I have done for my students was to simply start writing. Practicing what I preach. Writing is the one area that I feel like the curriculum programs get wrong all the time. As teachers (and administrators), we are left to figure it out on our own. What often happens is we do what I did years ago with that first group of 2nd graders I taught. We do writing, we assign prompts, we tell them to write, but we fail to actually teach them how to write. By writing ourselves and by sharing the writing of others and noticing writing in mentor texts, we can do more than just assign writing to our students. We can teach them the process of writing and watch them become writers alongside us! Will you join me during Teachwriteober? Check out this great graphic about writing I discovered this weekend...love the thought of not just writing words, but writing music. I might have made a visit to my favorite place, An Unlikely Story Bookstore in Plainville. And I might have purchased some new books. Yes, it's a problem I have, but there are worst things to be addicted to! I am excited that I got the beautiful new picture book title Patchwork. The book celebrates the "endless possibilities of each child." From the dancer to the athlete to the kid who is "perpetually in time-out." Thinking I will record a read aloud of it, but you are welcome to borrow it if you want to read it to your class. I love reading memoirs and I bought one that will probably hit too close to home, but I am looking forward to a good cry as a read this one: Everything Left to Remember: My Mother, Our Memories, and a Journey Through the Rocky Mountains. And I was excited to get a book in the mail written by an educator I met on Twitter. Emily Francis write a book called If You Only Know: Letters from an Immigrant Teacher. She tells about her story of growing up in Guatemala and then journeying to the US to eventually become a teacher; she tells this story through a series of letters she writes to eight immigrant students in whom she sees pieces of herself. And check out this great infographic I found about how audio promotes literacy...we need to be reading aloud to our kids every day!
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