I Wonder

I set a timer for 20 minutes to write about what I wonder.  I wonder what I will wonder! 

I wonder what my children are doing down the street right now.  Are they using their manners?  Are they playing nicely with each other and their friends?  Are they having a fun?  Are they imagining? 

I wonder what my children will remember about this summer.  Will they remember our trips to the library?  Will they remember baseball?  Will they remember Hip Hop?  Will they remember playing Barbies, Baby Alive, house and dolls?  Will they remember planning Katie's birthday?  Will they remember going fishing with Dad?  Will they remember time spent with family and friends?  Will they remember the fighting and short tempers?  Will they remember disappointment?  Will they remember missing school? 

I wonder how much writing I will do this summer?  Will I be able to keep up with my blog and Teachers Write every day?  Will the things I rummaged out of my basement help me remember more about my own childhood and write things I am ready (and excited) to share with my students?  Will I uncover an idea for a Work In Progress?  If I decide to write fiction, will I meet a main character like myself or very different? 

I wonder about the students who will be sitting in my classroom in September.  Will they be excited to start high school/another school year?  Will they be anxious or afraid?  Will they be glad to be back in school or wish they could extend the summer?  Will they get to know me and share themselves with me?  Will they be open to reading and writing?  Will they want to speak German?  Will they believe in themselves as much as I want them to believe in themselves?  Will they know that I care about and believe in them? 

I wonder how to keep a more relaxed pace and carve out time for the important things when another crazy busy school year starts.  It takes time to get used to the downtime of summer.  I wonder why it takes no time at all to get caught up in the craziness and hectic pace of the classroom/school building. 

I wonder if my past students are enjoying the summer.  I wonder if they are growing.  I wonder if I will see their smiling faces in the halls next fall.  I wonder if they know what a difference they have made in my life--how much they truly remind me of why what I do is important in spite of how challenging my job can sometimes feel and be. 

I wonder what our long weekend in Petoskey will be like.  Will we enjoy being a family in a different, more peaceful setting?  Will we get along?  Will we fish, swim and tube?  Will the children pack half their bedrooms?  Will our cats be angry when we come home?  Will the memories we make there become a new summer tradition for our family? 

I wonder how our lives will change as Katie starts kindergarten in the fall?  Will we adjust better to her school routine, activities, and homework.  Will she begin to develop some interests and activities around her friends instead of simply around her sister?  How will I feel watching her get off the bus?  I wonder if time really does go faster as your youngest heads off to school.  Will she keep her spunk but also learn to share more and be more flexible?  Will she love learning?  Will she be good at math?  Will she lose a tooth?  Will she want to start a sport? 

I wonder how teaching ELA 9 in the fall will be different than teaching it in the spring.  Will I have less repeaters?  Will I have more challenges since students are just beginning the middle school to high school transition?  Will I enjoy being plugged in to the ELA 9 team at the beginning of the school year where everyone is remembering the growth measures/pacing/curriculum changes?  What will it be like to have a HS coach? 

I wonder how the implementation of MS German will impact me at the high school.  Will enrollment go up or down?  Will my ELA schedule change?  Will I miss or stay connected to ELA, if my ELA schedule changes.  Is it time to pursue a travel opportunity for my German students?  Would families be open to hosting?  Who did we hire at the MS level? 

I wonder if I'll get the new texts for AARI.  Will they be perceived as more "high school?"  Will my AARI students want to be better readers or will they be resistant to an intervention class?  Will parents communicate with and support me? 

I wonder if I ever stop wondering about my kids, at home and at school.  Actually, I know the answer to that one--NO. 

A White Page Day

Got up early
Ready to read and write
Prepped the coffee
Took care of morning chores
And a door opened
Feet followed
Time to feed
Time to read Berenstain Bears
Time to settle a couple of fights
Head outside
Read more Berenstain Bears
Settle a couple more fights
Head to the library
Find the superhereos
Claim the prizes
Choose new books
Books that fit just right
Play on the swings--oh, no! Too hot
Climb the slides; also too hot
Head for lunch
No spills, sat down for a few minutes between buffet trips
Home
The pair heads down the road to play with friends
Grab a water
Sit down at the computer
Begin to write
The page is no longer white...

1:08PM.  The sequence above describes my day so far.  I had plans, as usual.  Life happened, as usual.  It is possible, though, to live each day as it comes and squeeze in some time to write.  

My Goals Summer 2015

Tomorrow starts the first official day of Teachers Write! 2015.  It looks like I made it about a week last summer before life got in my way.  I read the blogs and prompts all summer long, but after a week, my writing life stopped. 

This summer, I'm inspired and hoping to to more by many people.  Firstly, I'm inspired by my kids.  Chelsea is starting third grade this fall, and she's been bringing home drafts and finished projects for two years.  I'd love to say she's writing this summer.  And she is.  She's making lists and party invites.  Maybe my writing will  inspire her and be a model for her too.  Katie starts kindergarten this fall.  She can write her letters and copy.  She will be writing this year too. 

Secondly, I'm inspired by my students.  I've been teaching ELA 9 for five years now and Reading Acceleration for three.  I find it easy to share what I'm reading with my students and take suggestions from my students about what to read next.  I'm less willing to share my writing, though.  I'm only less willing to share my writing, because I don't regularly write, unless emails to parents and notes to my family count. 

Thirdly, I'm inspired by the large community of writers who participate in and all the hosts and guest authors of Teachers Write and my professional learning community.  This summer, our book club is reading, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, by Colleen Cruz.  This is truly a book for all teachers of writing K-12 and our group consists of teachers at each level.  One of my greatest take-aways from the book is that we should write, write, write and model writing for our students by writing about ourselves at the age of our students.  For me, this means high school.  I've rummaged through my basement to find some artifacts that survived my elementary to college life.  I'm hoping to read them, remember who I was, and focus on my high school self during Teachers Write this summer. 

I'm excited to see where the next six weeks take me! 

Teacher's Write! Week 2 Day 3

Today is a Q and A day on Teachers Write! but I wanted to spend a few minutes writing on my own blog.  This blog is public, but really, I wonder if it should be.  My responses are short and probably only make sense to me. 

At this moment, I sit in a relatively quiet house where two children still sleep.  I have half a cup of cold copy next to me, an immune booster concoction running in my diffuser and a few piles of papers and other things that didn't find a proper home yesterday evening.  My fingers type as my mind wanders.  How will Chelsea be feeling this morning?  Will we make it to church for Bible study?  Will I have to answer the "can we go to Jeepers?" question?  Should I tackle the Moodle?  Will it rain? 

Even in a quiet house, my mind is not quiet.  Deep breath, swig of coffee, off to see what others have asked. 

Teachers Write! Week 2 Day 2: Compressing

7 sentences about a character's life: 

Born in 1920 to...
Lost mother, slept in a barn overnight, discovered by school teacher that next morning
Completed a term at Danville, finished and graduated from Loudonville High
Began working at....
Completed basic training in LA....
Sent to the Middle East
Struggled with letter writing, answered a young woman who worked with his father
Returned home to meet the girl for the first time

Teachers Write! Week 2 Day 1

This morning Jo suggested we (and our students) do the following type of exercise: 

This is a story about ................................................

But underneath it's really about ......................................................

I don't have a WIP right now; in fact, I'm just warming up to the idea that I might, maybe find time and be capable of writing something could be published.  But I am inspired by some family letters I have a chance to read.  They are sparking lots of questions, both family and research questions. 

If I were to begin to work on a story around these letters, here is how the prompt would work: 

This is a story about a World War II soldier writing letters home. 

But underneath, it's really a story about the history of my family and a young man growing into himself. 

Teachers Write! Day 5: My Takeaways

I'm behind of course, but while my children are cleaning in their pajamas (their choice activity), I'm scrolling through Teacher's Write to catch up! 

From Day 5's posts, I take away that there are many ways to write and that writing your first work (which may never be published) will teach you loads about how writing works for you! 

I also really appreciated the suggestions about beginnings.  My gut would be to start with character and setting, but I can see how truly beginning to write out your problem our incident could really feed the story.