Day 34

Hello!

Happy Independence Day!  I hope you can enjoy today with family and friends and give thanks to those who have fought for us and this gift of independence we have.  It is easy to take for granted.

I read a blog post recently about running out of creative steam.  It compared creativity to a rain barrel. When you are creative, the water runs out. As we walk through life, we collect emotions, observations, and experiences that fill our barrel back up.  The post suggested four ways to refill your barrel.

1.  Read.  We all know that writers need to read.  When writers read, they are able to study how other authors crafted their words on the page.  Reading gives us ideas and thoughts that we can explore with writing.

2.  Reset.  The author talks about applying yourself to another craft or hobby that has nothing to do with writing.  This will allow you to give your brain a rest.  We rest in between days of weight lifting to give our muscles a chance to reset.  We need to let our brains reset as well.

3.  Relax.  I love this one.  She says, “Relax is scary because it means this:  Give yourself permission to suck.”  Scary thought for a perfectionist like me.

4.  Rest.  “Stop writing and walk away.”  I think this one is pretty clear.

Here is a link if you would like to read the post yourself.  It is definitely worth reading.  I especially like the quote from Maureen Johnson.  There is a lot of wisdom in this post that I think we would be wise to take and put into our classrooms.

http://thewritepractice.com/creative-steam/

I started out the summer saying I was going to write every day for June and July.  I am not changing that goal.  I am going to write.  I don’t know that I will be posting on this blog every day in July.  I am participating in Kate Messner’s summer writing camp that starts on Monday.  It is not too late to sign up.  Here is the link so you can check it out.

http://www.katemessner.com/blog/

She has a variety of authors that come in to share writing tips. It sounds like an amazing opportunity just to learn more strategies for how to work through getting thoughts and ideas on paper. I can’t wait to see how it works and to try it out!  It will be an perfect way to refill my creativity rain barrel.

What about you?  Will you join me in one of the four R’s today?  Will you step out of your comfort zone and join me at “writing camp” next week?  It’s going to be amazing!

Day 33

Hello!

Today is Friday and that means it is time to join the five minute friday community with the word for today.  Our word is…favorite.

Add you voice to the mix at  www.katemotaung.com

Happy writing!

Day 32

Hello!

Today I am taking Sam and his best buddy, Eli, to Six Flags as Sam’s birthday party.  His birthday was in April.  (Don’t judge me.  I’m aware it’s July.  I already know I’m out of the running for ‘Mom of the Year’.). Sam is super excited to ride roller coasters ALL.  DAY.  LONG!  He has been planning this day for months.  I do not do roller coasters.  It all started at Six Flags when I was four-years-old.

*****

We were getting ready to go to Saudi Arabia in September.  Mom and Dad had pulled me out of Kinder Care and had a girl a couple houses away from our house babysit me while they were at work.  One day, Dad decided to take my babysitter and me to Six Flags.  I’m not sure why.  As I type this, it makes absolutely no sense, but whatever.  We go, we ride all the little kid stuff.  Dad and my babysitter are dying to ride The Screaming Eagle.  But they are stuck with me.  They convince me riding The Screaming Eagle will be fun.  They convince me I am going to LOVE it!  

I screamed the whole time.  I wanted off. When I finally got off, I threw up.  All over everyone and everything.  Serves them right!  Ever since, I have hated roller coasters.  

So no roller coasters for me.  Today, I will be reading.  I am packing four books.  That should cover me from opening to closing.  

Do you have any traumatic stories from childhood?

Day 31

Hello,

Last night, my son and I were sitting together on the couch.  I was deeply engrossed in a book I was reading, Listen, Slowly, and wanted to finish it before I went to bed.  Sam was playing various games on his tablet.  After awhile he said, “I love June.  It’s my favorite month.  I hope it never ends.”  

I looked up at the clock and replied, “You have 37 minutes left in your favorite month.  You better enjoy them.  Oh wait, they added an extra second to today.  Maybe that will help stretch it out.”  

He was less than thrilled with my snarky response.  😉

With the arrival of July, I start to feel the days of summer draw to an end.  I go back to work at the end of the month, and my days of lazying around in my jammies come to a close.  I thought this might be a good time to reflect on my 5 little words of summer.

My big goal of writing every day is going well.  I have been.  Wahoo!  I see myself growing as a writer.  I signed up to participate in Kate Messner’s Teacher Write month on her blog.  It starts in July.  (I truly had never heard of it before.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered someone else and I had the same idea and relatively the same names for our idea!)

I have been reading.  I have made it through all of the 12 K-2 Units of Study Series books so far.  I just have 3-5 to go.  Another 12 books.  I have read a ton of other professional books as well, 3 completely and 5 I’m still working through.  

My garden is thriving.  I have green tomatoes, baby jalapeños, baby onions, baby carrots, and baby green beans.  The zucchini seeds I put out last week have already sprouted.  

Today I will finish remodeling Sam’s room.  We bought him a new bed and that meant a room overhaul.  The bed comes this afternoon.   (I love Amazon Prime!). And tomorrow I take him and his best buddy Eli to Six Flags for the day.  Next week, we leave for Florida.

I have been walking.  I would say I am averaging 6 days a week.  Yay, me.
And the ukeulele.  I’m sure you are dying to know how that little project is going.  Well, you will just have to wait for Max to come home from camp.  When he returns next week, then I will be able to share an update with you.  😀

How are you doing on your 5 words of summer?

Day 30

Hello,

It is Tuesday and time for Slice of Life.  Add your slice to the community.

https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/tuesday-slice-of-life-story-challenge-6/

Here is a link to mine if you need inspiration.

Walk

Happy Writing!

Day 29

Hello!

Can you believe June is almost over?  I’m in shock!  June has been a fabulous month.  Lots of sleeping, reading, and doing nothing.  How perfect is that?

I went to the mailbox today, and this little poem developed in my head.

Mailbox

Open wide

Let me check

Has he brought me anything yet?

Ah-ha, there are gifts waiting for me,

Hmm… what have we here?

A bill,

Yuck.

Another bill,

Yuck. Yuck.

And still, another bill.

Yuck. Yuck.  Yuck.

No, I do not need any furniture.

Chuck.

No, I am not interested.

Chuck.

No, I do not like your restaurants.

Chuck.

Where are the cards from far away?

Where are the letters from old friends?

Where are the “Hello, I’m thinking of you” notes

Jotted on pretty paper?

The magazines,

The catalogs,

The dream creators?

Where are these?

This was a disappointing walk.

What ordinary task can you capture in words today?

Day 28

Hello!

It is Sunday, and if you haven’t added your “celebration” to Ruth Ayres’ blog, it isn’t too late.

http://www.ruthayreswrites.com/2015/06/celebrate-this-week-lxxxviii-85/

Here is mine, in case you are interested.  🙂

Bearing Fruit

Happy writing!

Day 27

Hello!

This is late.  Sorry.  I thought I would go out and pull weeds in my river bed this morning while it was cool.  I had done over half of it a couple of weeks ago. How long could the rest take?  Two hours later, I came in.  I took a shower and a nap!   Then, we went to eat.  Then, we went shopping.  Then, I came home and took another nap.  (Yes, two naps in one day.  Quite remarkable, huh?)  Then, we went to church.  Then, we met some friends for fro-yo.  Then, we went and played at the park.  Now I am home and sitting down to blog.  (Yes, my repetitive sentence structure was intentional.  🙂  Thanks for noticing!)

In between naps, I checked my email.  I found a gem of a quote I want to share with you. I’ve been turning it around in my mind since I read it.  Here it is…

No one is born a writer. You must become a writer. In fact, you never cease to become, because you never stop learning how to write. Even now, I am becoming a writer. And so are you.–Joe Bunting on The Write Practice, June 27, 2015

I think what is speaking most loudly to me in this quote is that becoming a writer is a journey we never finish.  We will keep “becoming writers” until the end of our days. There is always room for improvement.  Always ways to refine what I do with my words.

I wonder how our students would feel about these words?  Would these words change their perception of writing?  Would these words help them to see that writing is something they will constantly grow and develop for the rest of their life?  Would these words cause them to take writing more seriously?  Would these words allow them to become more willing to play with their own writing more?

What about you?  What do these words say to you?  How do they change your perceptions of this subject we have to teach?  Do they help you realize you don’t have to “know it all” to be a writing teacher? What are you thinking now?

Day 26

Hello!

Happy Friday!  Time for five minute friday over on Kate Motaung’s blog.  Our word of the day is…dreams.

five minute friday :: dream

Here is my writing from the word.

Dreams

Happy Writing!

Day 25

Hello!

I got a new laptop yesterday.  My old one was on its last legs and I didn’t want it to die during the school year.  It takes me awhile to get used to new keyboards and new operating systems.  I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening installing programs, learning Windows 8, and installing some of my stuff to make my new laptop feel like home.  I noticed my new laptop had a really loud fan.  I kept thinking I could live with it.  By the end of the night I decided I couldn’t.  It was driving me insane.  I took the thing back to Best Buy this morning with the hopes they could fix it.  They could not. They offered to trade me for another new one.

I have spent the day redoing all that I did yesterday.  UGH!  I do not like redoing work I have already done.  It seems like a waste of time.  I was, however, able to come up with a lovely comparison to writing. (You had to know this was going somewhere.)

When I was in school, publishing consisted of copying the entire piece over again and correcting all the red marked errors the teacher had “edited” for.  Now we teach kids to publish for a purpose, to write for a real person.  We teach them that we revise and edit because we care about our reader and we publish so we can finally get our thinking to them.  Publishing in today’s classroom actually has a purpose.  It is not just simply “recopying”.  Thank heavens times have changed!

Think about how you help students publish in your classroom without it being a “copy over” task. How do you get kids to buy in and get excited to the publishing phase of the writing process?

Happy writing!