Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do the thing that scares you.” Armed with years of experience and a strong conviction that writing teachers should write, I did the thing that most scares me…teaching teachers.
I led a weeklong teachers writing institute. In March I set up a meeting with the curriculum coordinator for elementary schools in our district. I pitched my idea. While she was enthusiastic, I never heard back from her. So I got the guts to send an email inquiry. Yes, she was still interested, but I needed to meet with the middle school coordinator. Nearing the end of the school year, I had approval and sent out the flyer. Surprising to me, the workshop filled quickly.
Since today is about celebrating, I will not go into my disappointments. I just want to capture the shining stars and bask a bit in their glow.
- A new teacher, second career, only man in the class said his 17 year old daughter waited each day to read what he wrote. His father told him to submit his essay to Reader’s Digest. He is entering his first year of teaching confident that he is a writer.
- A colleague from the gifted program told me I was a natural. She said, “You seem so relaxed. You make us feel comfortable.” She could not see or feel the nerves churning inside.
- Following Katherine Bomer’s book, The Journey is Everything, became a guidebook to writing a final essay. Most teachers wrote an essay they were proud of. We read and celebrated the writers we had found together.
- Catherine Flynn joined us by Skype to teach us about visual literacy. (The idea to connect with her came from this post.) Teachers took notes and talked about ways they could use art with their students. Thanks, Catherine.
- On the last day, tears were shed as we got into the deep trenches that writing can take us. Sharing your own words is an act of faith. We had become a community of writers.
Writing and sharing on our writing marathon in downtown New Iberia.
I gathered words and phrases from our writing marathon into a collaborative poem.
Reflections on the Teche 