I have always enjoyed writing. It has had a special place in my heart. A special place that often gets neglected. Life has seemed to get in the way. Teaching. Starting a family. Responsibilities. Commitments. Graduate school. Friends. Hobbies. The list goes on. So when brainstorming a project for my graduate capstone in literacy, I came back to the thing I love; writing.
I have had my undergraduate in elementary education for a couple years. This last year I was a 1st grade teacher. I was thrilled. The littles have always had my heart (not that I don't love the maturity of 5th and 6th graders). They always seem to get excited about the smallest things that make me really appreciate the little things in life. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a brand new box of crayons?! Anyone.. okay, maybe just me.. When I began the school year, I knew I wanted it to be special. 1st grade seems to be such an important year for the littles; their first desk, their own supplies, learning to read, developing those math skills. You see a lot of growth with six year olds. I was optimistic. I had many,many, many (Thank you, Pinterest) ideas on what I wanted to do with my firsies. But then reality (and the many requirements and expectations of a school/district) came in and I realized it might be a little more difficult to incorporate the 1,380 projects I had planned. Okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but only slight :) Now believe me when I say, I REALLY tried to introduce as much writing as I could with them. But writing soon evolved into something else. Instead of encouraging the love of writing, the focus was always the conventions of writing.
"Every sentence starts with a....."
"What do we end a sentence with?"
"How big are your finger spaces...?"
Ugg... just typing it sounds so lame...
I understand that conventions are ONE writing trait but what about the many others? Word choice? Sentence fluency? Organization? Idea? Presentation? Voice?
Thus, back to the special place in my heart.. writing. I love it. I want my kids to love it. I want to instill a special place in their hearts to love writing like I do.
Sounds easy?
Hmm.. well, let's add that I have now switched grades (3rd grade!!), switched districts (wayyyy shorter commute), and am having my first child any day (a girl, named Emma :) ).
Yeah, no biggies, I have about 732 things on my plate, what's adding one more.
It's going to be hard. But I am anxious to see the outcome.
So here is the plan, the goal for me, the blog...
(1) Incorporate a Writing Workshop into my 3rd grade classroom
(2) Concentrate on the love of writing, the process, the traits (not just conventions, or standards)
(3) Write about the experience (using the blog, of course)
(4) Incorporate my students with the blog by having them share writings
(5) Keep my sanity.. very important
The journey begins...
