Let’s Keep Writing!

March 31, 2015 by margaretsmn

SOL #31

Here I am on the last day of March! I wrote 31 slices of life and joined a community of teacher writers at Two Writing Teachers. What a wonderful month of writing!

My students wrote daily, too. Together we learned:

Writing daily connects you to your life. You see things differently.
Writing daily can be fun!
Writing daily can be hard!
Writing daily leads to new understandings.
Writing daily means taking a deep breath and diving into the deep water.
Writing daily is a practice that will last your lifetime.
Writing daily gives life new meaning.
Writing daily makes a difference.

Some of us in the TWT community are not ready to stop writing daily. We are committing (but not promising) to contribute in some way to National Poetry Month through digital poetry, personal poems, student poems, writing activities, reflections on poetry, etc. We will use the hashtag #DigiPoetry on Twitter. Please join us for more fun and fabulous poetry.

I will be posting on Laura Shovan’s site, Author Amok, on April 6th for her series “What are you Wearing?” I will also add a line to Irene Latham’s Progressive Poem on April 12th. Lots going on in the Kidlitosphere in April.

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged #DigiPoetry, Irene Latham, Laura Shovan | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on March 31, 2015 at 2:54 pm | Reply blkdrama

And there’s Kim month photo/word challenge that i’m going to try this month. So many opportunities!
on March 31, 2015 at 4:02 pm | Reply jarhartz

I’m glad you set up a hashtag for this work. Simple and inspirational. I’m going to give it a go. Looking forward to learning from you.
on March 31, 2015 at 9:27 pm | Reply Tara Smith

I love that Nin quote, Margaret – that’s my attitude, too. Here’s to April – where I’ll be following all of you inventive poets.
on March 31, 2015 at 9:51 pm | Reply elsie

So much learning from writing. It’s been a great month. We’ll see what happens in April.
on March 31, 2015 at 10:24 pm | Reply Michelle Haseltine

YAY for #digipoetry!!! Continue the writing!!
on March 31, 2015 at 11:51 pm | Reply Linda Baie

This is going to be fun, Margaret. I’m in with Laura & Irene, too, but later in the month. Since it’s my break, thought I’d start thinking about Laura’s challenge already. Looking forward to what everyone does with #DigiPoetry. I’m going to write haiku or haiku-related poems all month, trying to do some additional thinking in that area. I need to! Thanks for all you shared this month, every day another inspiring post to think about!
on April 1, 2015 at 12:03 am | Reply mrssurridge

I have to admit that I have enjoyed my daily writing. Thanks for being part of the community who kept me accountable. I loved visiting your slices. I will be spending my April writing for my renewal of my National Board Certification, but will stop by once in a while to see what you are creating.
on April 1, 2015 at 12:30 am | Reply Leigh Anne

It has been a great month of writing and I look forward to April. Thanks for taking the lead and creating the hashtag
on April 1, 2015 at 1:43 am | Reply Julie Johnson

Such great reflections from your students. I am celebrating with our first graders and fourth graders later this week and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. I LOVE the Nin quote and the image you chose to go with it. It’s absolutely beautiful! I’ll be checking back for digiPoetry. Not sure if I’ll be writing poetry every day, but I will surely enjoy reading it. 🙂
on April 1, 2015 at 2:30 am | Reply Holly Mueller

It’s wonderful that there are more incentives to keep writing!
on April 1, 2015 at 3:07 am | Reply readingtothecore

I love the list of learning you and your students came up with. I feel the same way about our journey this month. Looking forward to continuing to see “things differently” and “diving into deep water” to develop new understandings throughout the month of April!
on April 1, 2015 at 3:52 am | Reply vgpratt

It was an interesting month for me. We didn’t write every day, and I missed days, too; however, I have learned a lot from this experience. I’ve learned more about being a writer and about teaching writing. I really think that doing something like this earlier in the year (when our standards have the kids working on personal narratives) could help really launch our writing workshop.

I’m really interested in #digipoetry…. I’m going to keep an eye out opportunities for my students and for me to participate. Thanks, Margaret!
- on April 1, 2015 at 12:17 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  I’d love to chat more. I do start my students early in the year. They write an SOL story every week. I think it helps to prepare them for March. It is also a way to honor their stories from the start.
  - on April 2, 2015 at 1:14 am vgpratt
    
    We learned a lot– I learned a lot about being a better writing teacher, including the fact that it isn’t as hard as I’ve been making it (or dreading it would be), and that following that good ‘ole Nike slogan, “JUST DO IT” again needs to be my mantra! Thanks for all the support. (I also got your Twitter message regarding #digipoetry– will probably get on that when we return from Easter break next Monday!)
on April 1, 2015 at 4:53 am | Reply cvarsalona

March has passed us by with a flurry of writing and now we are at the start of National Poetry Month. Hooray! I am looking forward to more word weaving with a digital flair.