A student wrote an email that broke my heart, just a little. I found them in the hallway yesterday and told them I need time to think about all the beautiful and thoughtful questions they asked before responding back.
But I still feel the need to acknowledge their words. I’m carrying this kid with me. Perhaps you recognize either yourself or another kid here. My hope is, next week, I’ll have a poem to offer in response.
Last Thursday, I got to host an online writing group with some of my students. I’m still smiling.
Today my younger son turned 22. And while tributes take many forms, this was the one my fingers told me to write.
Yesterday I presented at the NCTE-NCTM Joint Conference in Chicago with the always-amazing Leah Thomas and Sarah Valter. Our goal was to get teachers interested in and excited about becoming writers. How? Through writing, of course. Here’s my stream-of consciousness work from yesterday.
I did it! I finally crafted a work of allegorical fiction. I’ve published the first excerpt this week, and I’ll publish the next part of the story on Slice of Life Tuesdays.
It wasn’t expressly planned, but it was a very happy coincidence that the days before spring break turned out to be the days my fourth graders and I constructed the artwork for our Leo Leonni anthology. We’re still a work in progress (I mean, aren’t we all?) but I thought I’d share the latest.
Today, I asked my fifth-grade students for advice on how to move forward with my story. Boy, did they deliver!
I’ve spent some time reviewing Lynda Barry’s book, “What it Is.” Bottom line: it’s amazing! Go get it!
Today’s post features some of the exercises I did while working my way through the book. Give my experiments a peek!
A few months ago, my good friend and colleague Kurt came to me with an idea. Kurt teaches music at one of my schools, and he’s a guy who likes to take an idea and run with it. And if there’s anything I also like doing, it’s taking ideas and running with them. It is,Continue reading “Slice of Life Day 22: A Heart Swells”
Yesterday, I wrote about planning a workshop on identity writing. The goal was to explore: How can I teach young writers about the power of the “default” where it comes to writing? How can I have them realize that characters without identifying traits still get identified – as whatever the mainstream culture would have readers picture? HowContinue reading “Slice of Life Day 19: On Identity”
Soapbox: The Way I see Things