Living a Writing Life #TWTBlog #EDtime2wrt

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After reading Kathleen's post entitled Should Educators Be Writers? multiple times, I knew that I had to share it with my colleagues full well knowing that it may make many teachers ... well, uncomfortable.   It is scary to put yourself out there. To put your words to the page. To hit the orange publish button. Without regret.  Or fear.  Actually living that writing life.  I know.  I have been there.  I'm still living it now.

I composed the following email today to share in the joy of being a teacher-writer and walking the walk that we expect our students to walk.  We want our students to be brave and grow as writers -- and we need to do the same right beside them.

Don't get me wrong ... I was nervous pressing that send button.  I read over the email once.  Delete this.  Change that.  I read it over again.  Delete that.  Change this.

I took a deep breath and clicked send ...  We'll see what happens!  Thanks Kathleen and the whole TWT team!

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Hello Teachers and Staff!

As we swim in the waters of the reading and writing workshop, I thought this was a great message to share with you and encourage you as we "just keep swimming".  At Frost, we have discussed the power of being teacher-readers, sharing our reading lives with our students, and igniting that passion for reading ... through us and the glorious books we read and share every day.

Now, let's talk about writing.  We also need to live the life of a writer to reach and teach our writers.  We need to take notice of the world around us.  Capture stories in our notebook.  Allow for a story to unfold, be told and shared -- with the world of our students and perhaps beyond!

Please take a couple minutes this week to read the blog post by Kathleen Neagle Sokoloski from the Two Writing Teachers.  Also, I encourage you to read the comments!  So motivating and encouraging!  It's hard to think of doing "one more thing," but this isn't about adding it to the to-do list.  It's about being a reader and writer -- as it was stated by many well-respected educators, "It's our job."  (I hope you also read Donalyn Miller's post as well: "Getting on the Bus".)

I am passionate about writing (a little known secret ... shhhh).  I have a blog and participate in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Writing each Tuesday.  I have been writing publicly for over five years -- just little slices of my life at home and at school to practice and live the life of a writer.  Yes, it scary. Yes, some of it is crap.  Yes, I continue to write.  Many colleagues have already joined me in this writing endeavor -- even my Mom blogs!  

If you are interested in learning more about the Slice of Life or starting a blog and living the life of a writer, let me know!  Yes, writing feels like it should be private, but it is so much more gratifying when your stories are shared and you grow in your confidence as a writer.  The Two Writing Teachers Team have created a welcoming community of writers that meet every Tuesday online during the year and every day in March for the Slice of Life Story Challenge. They even host a Slice of Life Story Challenge for Classrooms too!  That's how habits are formed -- writing every day!  

Happy reading and writing!
Michelle

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