"How are you guys doing it?"
I can't tell you how many times my wife and I have been asked that question in the months since Chloe's diagnosis. The answer is simple. You get up, you get going, you get the family going, and just live the day. You don't have a choice.
Actually, I've found there are two things that are making days manageable. Prayer and inspiration.
Prayer is the obvious one. However, I've found there are so many days when it is difficult to quiet my mind and heart and allow the Spirit to enter the moment. Yet it is on those days that others tell me, from seemingly out of nowhere, that they are praying for Chloe and our family. Today is was a colleague during my plan time, over the weekend a parent of one of my students told me that my student prayed for Chloe during Sunday School. Wow.
The inspiration piece is something that evolved as I was trying to expand my circle again. In an effort to get back into my PLN, I began to give myself five minutes a day to explore Flipboard containing my Twitter and Google Reader feeds. Not only did I begin to feel inspired again, I began to want to share that inspiration either through a tweet, an email, or a conversation. A daily ritual had begun. Now each day, without planning or forethought, I carve out a few minutes to be inspired or inspire someone else.
And that, possibly poorly written, is how I do it each day.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
06 October 2011
25 October 2009
Launching Writing Journals/Research Notebooks
In my district, students are working on the personal narrative mode of writing during first semester. Each year, many of my students tell me that they don't have anything to write about. For some, that's true. They don't go very far from home or have opportunities for experiences that expand their minds. For others, I believe it is a matter of not paying attention to life.
A variety of sources put the idea of a writing journal in my head. The idea goes by many different names, but essentially I wanted a place that was separate from their writing notebook that contains the material they are drafting, revising and editing in the classroom. Personally, I have used journals for about fifteen years to capture my thoughts, ponder life, and collect quotes, pictures, and other items that strike a cord with me. I wondered if developing a similar practice of paying attention would help improve my students writing.
We began our writer's workshop by reading the first dozen or so pages of Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. As we read, we made note of the advice that was offered to Eva, the main character who couldn't find anything to write about. We focused on Mr. Sim's advice (see image at the right) and began to talk about how we could pay attention to the "stage"" and the "players" using a writing journal.
I shared that I had seen a blog post the previous week at Two Writing Teachers that contained a video showing what one of the teachers includes in her writing journals. Of course they wanted to see it, so I pulled it up and we watched it together and then expanded our list of items we could include in our writing journals.
I gave them the choice of either bringing in a journal or using one of the spiral notebooks I had in class. On Friday we wrote Mr. Sim's quote on the first page and then made a short reminder list of some items to put in our writing notebooks this weekend.
I'm hoping that not only will their writing journals be a source of writing ideas, but that they will also create a spark and interest in writing that many are expressing at this point in the year.
[I'm also hoping that their writing journals will double as their research notebooks that Harvey & Daniels write about in Collaboration and Comprehension (see p. 135), but that's a post for another day.]
A variety of sources put the idea of a writing journal in my head. The idea goes by many different names, but essentially I wanted a place that was separate from their writing notebook that contains the material they are drafting, revising and editing in the classroom. Personally, I have used journals for about fifteen years to capture my thoughts, ponder life, and collect quotes, pictures, and other items that strike a cord with me. I wondered if developing a similar practice of paying attention would help improve my students writing.
We began our writer's workshop by reading the first dozen or so pages of Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. As we read, we made note of the advice that was offered to Eva, the main character who couldn't find anything to write about. We focused on Mr. Sim's advice (see image at the right) and began to talk about how we could pay attention to the "stage"" and the "players" using a writing journal.I shared that I had seen a blog post the previous week at Two Writing Teachers that contained a video showing what one of the teachers includes in her writing journals. Of course they wanted to see it, so I pulled it up and we watched it together and then expanded our list of items we could include in our writing journals.
I gave them the choice of either bringing in a journal or using one of the spiral notebooks I had in class. On Friday we wrote Mr. Sim's quote on the first page and then made a short reminder list of some items to put in our writing notebooks this weekend.
I'm hoping that not only will their writing journals be a source of writing ideas, but that they will also create a spark and interest in writing that many are expressing at this point in the year.
[I'm also hoping that their writing journals will double as their research notebooks that Harvey & Daniels write about in Collaboration and Comprehension (see p. 135), but that's a post for another day.]
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