writing workshop

Friday Reflections

Ruth Ayres

This week —

  • I was reminded of the lives our students endure outside of our classrooms. They are often very different than the life I lead outside of the classroom.
  • I connected with friends.
  • I believe even more in the power of story. Our experiences matter. When we teach students how to find their stories, write their stories, connect their stories to others they read or hear, and share their stories we are giving them the ability to understand the world more deeply. This is crucial for engage citizens.
  • I learned smiles make a difference.
  • I kept up with the laundry. (Yes, I think applause is appropriate.)
  • I wrote: blog posts, letters, lists, fiction, a keynote, poetry, and reflections about books.
  • I read: poetry, children’s books, young adult fiction, newsletters, news articles, blog posts, magazine articles, scripture, and stories written by my children (plus other stuff, I’m sure).

How about you — what did this week hold for you? What do you know, realize, think about that you weren’t at the beginning of the week?

Happy Friday.

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Published by Ruth Ayres

Unhurried. Finding the magic in the middle of living. Capturing a life of ridiculous grace + raw stories.

5 thoughts on “Friday Reflections”

  2. Experiences do matter and sharing those experiences with students do have an impact on writing workshop. I was reminded of this again this week. I always share about my dogs. Since I teach in so many classrooms I never really gave it a thought that the student’s really connected to my stories about my dogs. Recently one of my dogs passed away, as I was talking about this as I began workshop, one of my students said, wait, stop, Bailey died, oh no, I am so sad now, I loved hearing about that crazy dog! She remembered her name and the stories about her. Those shared experiences do matter, she connected to them! I must remember to continue to share!

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  3. I learned this week that technology when integrated into the workshop model is amazing, reading blogs helps make my instruction stronger and it is so much fun when a class in Iowa wants to Skype with my class in OH because they used my student’s writing as a mentor text from my blog post.

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  5. Your first realization resonated with me. This week I learned that one of my struggling students had been adopted, and that her pre-adoptive life had been horriffic. I wish I had learned of ths in September – but now I know that my whole approach her teacher needs to be recalibrated.

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