The Sunrise Story

"Every day. I will write every single day. There's a lot to say. Every single day." -I committed to writing here every day during break. How is it that it's only day three and I've already run out of ideas? I know the answer. It's easy. I'm out of practice. I believe writing takes practice. I don't believe in writer's block. Writer's block is like getting a cramp when you're running. It doesn't mean you've forgotten how to run. It doesn't mean you give up. It means you have to breathe through it. The more you run, the farther you can go. Writing is like that. I haven't been showing up to this space. I'm out of practice. If I left or gave up, it wouldn't help, in fact, it would make things harder the next time I tried.  Show up. Write. Write even when there's nothing to say. Write even when it's crummy. Just write. This is how writers work. They write through the bad times and every onc...

Yesterday was the National Day on Writing! It's my favorite holiday...well, maybe other than National Notebook Day in May. We were busy writing and celebrating writing in room 734.  We started with a read aloud. It reminded us about the importance of telling our story. The new picture book, " Malala's Magic Pencil ". I shared magic pencils with the students and we were off! Choices included graffiti wall writing about #WhyIWrite or about books about writing. Students could write with unusual tools including blocks, play-dough, magnets, or a letter board. Some students wrote stories together, some wrote poetry, some created quotes and others found their own way. We tweeted our writing like crazy! The excitement was palpable. One student said, "It's so much fun, it feels like the last day of school!"  The rest of the story will be told in pictures. There are lots of pictures. I tried to capture as much of this day as possible...

Today we will celebrate writing in room 734. We are writers. We will create new writing. We will share our writing in new and creative ways. We will celebrate ourselves as writers. Writing is powerful. Words change the world. Our time together will begin with the story of a writer who changed her world and soon the world beyond her own, Malala. The picture book, Malala and the Magic Pencil, is a perfect read aloud for this day.  I celebrate writing. I celebrate our writers.  I celebrate magic pens and pencils.  Please come back to see the results from our day of celebration. How will you celebrate today? 

The school day moves quickly. If you are a teacher, you live that life daily. At the beginning of my sixth-grade classes, we spend a few minutes every day writing in our notebooks. We call it Sacred Writing Time. (In my notebook entries, you'll see my abbreviation, SWT.) It truly is a precious time to me and my students. Here are some blurbs from my entries on Tuesday. Judge for yourself. Do you spend any time writing with your students on a daily basis? If not, I urge you to try it...it's life changing...   Here's why I wrote, "I love Jessica"... Spending the beginning moments of a class, writing together has so many benefits. 1. We live like writers. We show up to the page every single day. 2. Routine breaks down the resistance to writing. 3. We build ourselves as writers...word by word, sentence by sentence, page by page. 4. There's calm and quiet in the middle of chaos and pressure. 5. We learn to have faith that the words wi...

I've been writing since I was nine years old. I started writing because I am a rule follower. Writing was assigned in school. I wrote what the teacher wanted to read. At nine, my mom bought me my first notebook. This is where the fun began. Now, my audience was me. I didn't have to answer someone else's question or prompt. Still, my writing followed a traditional diary format. Each day I wrote about my day and not much more. I wrote poetry too. As I grew, I wrote about my dreams. College was when my writing helped me figure out problems. I'd write when I was lonely. I'd write when I was confused. Writing always helped me feel better. I remained my only audience. No one else got to see those words. As an adult, I took more risks with my writing. I tried more poetry and a little bit of fiction. Writing became a friend...ever by my side. I brought my writing, my notebook, with me wherever I went. I never felt alone again. Writing always had my back.   The North...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers . My slice today comes to you in two parts. First... Two years ago, on October 22nd , I began writing on this blog. 367 blog posts later, here I am.  I'm proud of this accomplishment. It means I have showed up every week to write. It proves that I am a writer which leads me to part two of my blog post... I will answer the question: Why I Write? Today is the National Day on Writing sponsored by NCTE . I've been thinking about this question for awhile. There are so many reasons that I write... I write to untangle my insides. I write to communicate my feelings. I write to think, to figure things out. I write to calm myself down. I write to learn. I write to explore new worlds. I write to express myself. I write ...