We officially went back to school on Monday after a full two-week break, but because of an unpredictable weather system, we dismissed early, so I did not see all of my students. In a way I wasn’t ready for a full day. The early release helped me get a grip on what I need to get done this week. It was as though the train I was on came to a full stop in the middle of the journey. Pause. Think. Plan.
I made the decision to lean back on a reliable and time proven way to start our class: 100 Days of Notebooking. I recall a few years ago after attending NCTE, I received the gift of this idea from Michelle Haseltine. I still follow her on Instagram, and she is still notebooking. With my first group of kids on Monday, I introduced the idea.
I leaned back on William Stafford’s writing habit with these 4 steps:
- Date
- Quote of the Day
- What’s up?
- Poem-ish
That’s it, a simple format that seems to work every time. I set the timer for 10 minutes and we write…together. Creative freedom is my only goal. I hope getting back to this practice gives me, as well as my students, time to express themselves, a time for pause and peace (my OLW).
For my poem-ish, I wrote an elfchen. These are so fun to write. See the process here.
“When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” Paulo Coelho
Yes
Margaret Simon, draft
makes sound
like the ocean
drawing me to love
Myself.
Reflections on the Teche 