A Teacher’s Plan to Keep Writing Going in the Summer
Find your purpose. Find your crew. Find your sunrise. Write.
Find your purpose. Find your crew. Find your sunrise. Write.
Notice stories as they flicker around you. Share them here. It’s SOL Tuesday!
Read some slices, get inspired, write your own! It’s SOL Tuesday.
Not every kid is born with a positive attitude towards writing. Here are six low-stress ways to develop a writer at home (some of which don’t even include putting a pen to paper)!
Don’t let those self-doubting dialogues, “There is no way I can write for 31 days, what am I thinking,” creep into your brain! But, in case you need a prize more tangible than the rewards of writing every day, we’ve sweetened the deal with a prize reveal. You cannot possibly consider turning back now!
How can we nurture our own writing lives once the school year begins? 5 ways to help us keep writing.
When I think about what I first want my students to know, what matters most to me as a teacher of writing, more than capital letters or topic sentences or punctuation, I want them to believe they have ideas worth sharing and stories worth telling. I want them to know their voice matters and their words can make a difference. I want them to believe they are writers, right now, whatever their reading proficiency, whatever their language background, whatever their home circumstances. WE ARE WRITERS HERE. We all matter, we all belong, we all can and should write.
I’ve been thinking about why young writers struggle with personal narrative and realistic fiction writing.
Have you lost your muse? Create Now is the kind of book you need to help you transform your creative process and get you inspired to write.
Making my writing thinking visible to my students has given them another tool to “get unstuck”…
Our workshop was feeling forced, unnatural, and just rushed! We struggled to fit it all in and share time (the most valued time) was cut short with only 1 or 2 writers sharing each day. Something had to give. Writers weren’t growing, I wasn’t conferring, and it just didn’t feel calm and productive. I reflected on our workshop, the work of the writers, and the choices I was making, but I couldn’t figure out what was making me feel so unsettled.
This year, I’m reaching back into habits of old and carving out time to write during that first day. Here are some things I will keep in mind…
When I visit a classroom, one of the first things I often say to kids is, “Today, please don’t erase. I want to see ALL the great work you are doing as a writer. When you erase, your work disappears!” Often, this is what kids are accustomed to and they continue working away. But sometimes, kids stare at me as if I’ve got two heads.
Do you need help sustaining a writing habit? Take a lesson from Jerry Seinfeld & “don’t break the chain.”
Glue your butt to the chair, every day, or at least once a week, and you will not only become a better writer–you’ll become a better teacher of writing.
I’ve learned a few things about myself as a writer and a group member by being part of a writing critique group for the past nine months.