On Bad Writing

This morning as I got ready for our day with the Columbus Area Writing Project I was reminded of the hard work we ask students to do every day.  I've appreciated having time to write each day and know this is a habit I need to hold onto after we finish our days in the project.

Knowing the day goes better if I start with a plan before I arrive, I searched for what I wanted to write.  The conversation with myself wasn't going well.

"I've written everything I can think of in the last two weeks," I commiserated.

"How will I think of something?" I whined.

"How many more days do I left?" I wondered.

During the school year, I sit down most every Saturday morning to put words in a space.  Sometimes during the week I manage a few other writing moments, but Saturday is really my writing day.  As I move into summer my writing picks up a bit, but I still choose my moments.  If I am feeling it, I sit down.  If I'm not, I don't.  (I know the problem with this, but I might as well be honest.)

Today, however, I need something to write about.

One of the best things about going through the writing project is I'm being reminded of the hard work we ask students to do every day.

Every.

Day.

As I got ready, I thought about the pieces I had completed.  Having the time each day makes me write, but it isn't always easy.  I'm sure I have some writing which would have slipped past me without making it to a page if I hadn't been given the time to sit down.  However, I also have a lot of bad writing.  A LOT of bad writing.  In two weeks, I've written a piece or two that has some possibility.  I've managed a sentence or two that might make me pause, but mostly I have a lot of bad writing.

My experience has me thinking about the expectations we have of our students.  Are they realistic?  Do real writers produce nothing but writing that gets better each day?  I doubt it.  I'll bet authors have a lot of bad writing too.  Do we allow students the time for bad writing?  Do we expect every piece to be better than the last one or do we make room for the messiness?  So when the school year begins I'll be thinking a bit more about bad writing and its significance in mining the gems that could become powerful pieces of writing.

Why Digital Writing

"The question is no longer whether we should use technology to teach writing; instead we must focus on the many ways we must use technology to teach writing." - Troy Hicks, Crafting Digital Writing

Lifting Our Voices:  Writing Beyond Our Notebooks 

The room was quiet as participants wandered from space to space surveying writing collections.  Each person had brought their “archaeological dig” to our writing project retreat.  We were each charged to find writing to share with the group from across our lives.  Everything was quiet as we moved around the room and read each other’s pieces.  Each "dig" was filled with childhood reports, paper books made by tiny fingers, journals filled with wondrous words, and collections of handwritten poems.  I was struck by the beauty of the words that surrounded me and the gifts these writers had tucked safely away in closets and drawers.  

As I was laughing over the childhood piece of a friend, one of the participants approached me about the writing in my collection.  “You still are writing a lot.  I wish I was still writing,” she confided.  “It’s been a long time since I just wrote for the joy of it.  I really only write when life requires it.”  I could hear the lament in her voice and could understand her words.  I’ve been where she is.  There have been periods where I didn’t pick up a pencil, periods where I let the busyness of life overtake my schedule, periods where I chose to remain silent. 

Her comment caught me a bit off-guard, however.  Writing has become such a part of my life that I guess I really hadn’t given it much thought lately.  I’ve become accustomed to the time for reflection, the ah-has I discover, the joys, and the struggle.  I write to dabble, to play, to discover.  

For days, her comment stayed with me.  I had stopped by her collection.  I was struck by the natural talent toward writing she had displayed since she was a small child.  Her words flowed effortlessly across the page.  They were full of truths and rhythms.  Yet I had noticed, like other writers in our group, the writing she shared in more recent years had likely been required.  For many the beautiful words, the lessons, the stories to change the world, were tucked away.

The Power of Connection

I looked closely at my own collection of artifacts.  Like others, I had my childhood pieces.  There was the terrible fourth-grade poem that my teacher had planted the suggestion that I might some day be a poet with his encouraging words.  (I’m pretty sure that poem indicated the complete opposite.)  There was the poem asking, Who Shot JR? (that takes you back --- some of you will have to Google the reference), from my middle school years.  Yep, that was worth a laugh.  There were pieces sprinkled across my high school career, and then there was a huge stage of quiet.  Lots of quiet.  I happen to know there was some required writing in those days, but that was about all I carved out of my day.  

As I looked at my collection I noticed the frequency of writing had certainly increased in the last seven years.  Why?  

Digital tools.  

Connection.  

In the last few weeks, I've really had a lot of time to think about the power of connection. It is the connection to communities like the Slice of Life, Poetry Friday, and Choice Literacy. It is the connection to blogs of friends, the #amwriting and #micropoetry Twitter groups, and others who read, interact and support each other in writing. I probably wouldn't still be writing without these communities to make me think, give me pause, and support my writing. It's the writing for something, that has changed my writing life and caused me to slow down to get things down on paper or held in digital spaces. (A few other communities you might like: #Celebratelu with Ruth Ayres, Teachers Write 2016, #CLMOOC Connected Learning Mooc...please share others in comments.)

Being digital has shifted my writing.

Why Digital Writing
I often find myself thinking intentionally about questions such as these:  

• What does it mean to write digitally?  
• How is it different from other mediums for composing?  
• What are its benefits?  
• How is digital writing like writing in other mediums?  
• Why is it important to provide digital writing opportunities for young literacy learners?

There have been a lot of things happening that have put thinking about digital writing at the top of my list:  work on a digital literacy cooperative doc, conversations around digital literacy with #cyberPD, questions from friends regarding digital writing, and work with #CLMOOC.  

I suppose my participation in digital writing communities has helped me to see the many benefits of writing digitally.  In these years, I have been writing more in digital pieces.  The more I've written, the more I've realized my students need these same opportunities.  There are benefits of writing digitally:

Why Digital Writing Infographic

Most of all, digital writing gives our words a space reach out into the world.  It gives us the opportunity to see life from other perspectives, to think about things in new ways, to be affected by the stories and wondrous words of others.  

I'm hoping that before our time in Central Ohio Writing Project is over that some of the other writers in the group find their places to share their stories to let their words spill out of their notebooks.  Digital writing gives voice to each person now. 

The 2016 #cyberPD Book Is....

Whew...

It took some time for Laura Komos, Michelle Nero and I to select the title for this year's #cyberPD virtual book talk.   We spent much time pouring over book stacks in the #cyberPD Google Community.   We went back and forth for days on Voxer.  There were times I wasn't sure we were going to be able to narrow to one title.  As many of you have discovered, there are many new great books for professional reading that have recently been released (my stack for this summer is here).  #goodproblems

It's never easy to choose a book for the event.  We always try to select a book which will reach a wide range of educators, sustain thoughtful conversation, and help us grow in the work we do with children.  So, you're wondering, what's the title?

Clues
#1:  The book was in a lot of stacks posted in the Google Community.

#2:  I lost a bet with Mandy Robek (I'll be buying her ice-cream...she'll be buying a book):

@litlearningzone This is a tease! #cyberpd Wondering if it's in my stack, I never published. @CathyMere often reads my mind @LauraKomos

— Mandy Robek (@mandyrobek) June 3, 2016

@CathyMere free ice cream but I'm not sure this is fair tough to focus my TBR #cyberpd

@litlearningzone @LauraKomos pic.twitter.com/QHSqP5cwk8

— Mandy Robek (@mandyrobek) June 4, 2016

Nope --- it's not in Mandy's stack.

#3:  The person who wrote the forward for the book was one of our authors last year and is the new NCTE Vice President (Yay!!!!).

#4:  The book has a popular video series.

Yep, you've probably guessed it by now.  This year's #cyberPD title will be DIY Literacy by Kate and Maggie Roberts.  We think this book will speak to educators across grade levels and subject expertise.  We think it will support our summer community learning conversations...and we hope it will help us to envision possibilities for improving the work we do with children in the upcoming school year.  

So....we're hoping you'll join us for July's 6th Annual #cyberPD Event.  The #cyberPD community is now nearly 200 strong.  The conversation will take place across July.  Each week participants will read the featured chapters, share a reflection in the Google Community (reflect directly in the community, link personal blogs, or share other creations that demonstrate understanding...we're flexible), and finally comment on other community members' reflections.  

Week of July 3rd:  Chapters 1-2 & Bonus
Week of July 10th:  Chapters 3-4
Week of July 17th:  Chapters 5-6
Week of July 24th:  Final Twitter Chat

**Last year we added a weekly Twitter chat for participants.  This was a popular addition for many of our participants so we will continue to host a weekly chat for participants who prefer a little real-time conversation.   Stay tuned.   

We're hoping you'll join us for our global professional book talk.  It's sure to be fun!

Links You Might Find Helpful

• #cyberPD Home 
• #cyberPD Community (join here)  
• Growing Professional Learning Conversations with #cyberPD

DigiLit Sunday: Refresh -- What's in Your Professional Book Stack? (6th Annual #cyberPD)

Today's post is part of the #digilit Sunday conversation hosted by Margaret Simon.  This week's topic is "refresh" --- and, Margaret, I finally managed a post.  :o)  (See below for links.) 

#cyberPD
As the school year begins to wind down, I'm beginning to feel the excitement of having a little extra time for summer learning.  One of my favorite ways to refresh in the summer is to join professional conversations around literacy --- and, of course, one of my favorites is #cyberPD.  This year will be the 6th annual #cyberPD conversation.  Each year, Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and I collaboratively host a virtual professional reading conversation across blogs.  The community has grown over the years and is now nearly 200 members strong.

Each year one professional book is chosen to be read by the #cyberPD community.  During the month of July, the book is discussed across three weeks.  Each week participants read and discuss a different section of the selected book.  Past titles have included (revisit conversations here):

• 2011 Conferring:  The Cornerstone of Reader's Workshop by Patrick Allen
• 2012 Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• 2013 Who Owns the Learning by Alan November 
• 2014 Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
• 2015 Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass
• 2016 To Be Determined 

Share Your Stack

To prepare for the event, during the month of May participants will be sharing their professional reading stacks.  Participants can share their stacks using the Twitter hashtag #cyberPD and post in our #cyberPD community under the "share your book stack" tab.  Michelle, Laura, and I will then take a look at the stacks and choose one title to be discussed by the community in July.  Though the event doesn't start until July, we like to make the selection at the beginning of summer so participants know which book to save for the conversation.  The selection announcement will be made June 4th!

As usual, my stack is way too big.  There are just so many books to be read...

Also on my list (but not on Goodreads):

I'm going to be busy!  This doesn't include the children's literature I want to read --- and I have to make time for some personal reading.  Oh my!

Join Us
What's in your stack?  I hope you'll share your professional reading plans with our community and join us in July for the conversation.

Anytime:  Join #cyberPD Google Community
By May 31st:  Share your book stack
June 4th:  #cyberPD book announced
July:  #cyberPD conversation  (3 weeks, with one reflection each week)

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

National Poetry Month: Poetry Madness Event

I'm pretty excited about the latest idea from our reading ambassadors.  Last month our reading ambassadors promoted the March Book Madness event hosted by Scott Jones and Tony Keefer in our school.  Our building focused on the Picture Book Challenge, though some students did vote in the Middle Grade Challenge as well.  The whole school was buzzing as the book brackets started to narrow to the final match-ups.  

Yesterday I stayed after school to complete our "Poetry Madness" bulletin board.  At our March meeting we began talking about what we wanted to do for our final weeks as ambassadors M said, "April we always have poetry writing.  Maybe we could do something with poetry."

"Yes, April is National Poetry Month," I added smiling. 

There was a pause and then T spoke up, "I love poetry.  Maybe we could do something like March Madness with the poetry."  

The room started to rumble as one ambassador after another jumped on board with her idea.  Before long it was determined that we would each bring a favorite poetry book if we had one to our next meeting and choose books for a "Poetry Madness" challenge for our school.

Last week students arrived with their poetry books.  Our media specialist, Jill Merkle, had collected a stack of favorites for the ambassadors to review.  Being a poetry fan myself, I brought some of my favorites to the meeting.  The first part of the meeting was spent talking about the poetry we brought and then reviewing the other books.  Toward the end of the meeting each ambassador took six post-its and began selecting their favorites.  Each post-it was one vote and ambassadors could use more than one vote on a poetry book they really liked.  We then selected the sixteen books for the competition based upon their votes.  We seeded these books for the challenge.  

Following the model of March Book Madness, voting will begin on Tuesday.  Our board is people/life poetry vs. nature/pets poetry.  I'm a little excited that one of my favorites, Forest has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, is a number one seed in the brackets.  Let's hope my favorite does a little better in this event than my favorite did in the March Madness Picture Book Challenge.  (Yes, I'm still a little sad that Wolfie the Bunny didn't win.) 

Next week, our reading ambassadors will begin to talk about the poetry books and our event with the students in their classrooms during morning meetings.  We'll be running advertisements for voting on our school news each week.  The poetry books selected have been placed on reserve in the library for students to read as they visit the media center.  During the final weeks, the ambassadors hope to read one poem from each of the remaining books to their classrooms.  What a great way to celebrate National Poetry Month!  

The Power of End of Workshop Sharing

Recently, as I listened to a group of first graders share their learning, I was reminded of the importance of leaving space for this time at the end of our workshops.  

The music started to play and students gathered in a circle on the carpet.  When the music finished and everyone was sitting together, the teacher called on the first student to share.  I walked over to sit in the circle and listen for a bit.  Before the share had ended, four students had been able to share their work and thinking from their learning time.  

When I had my own classroom and visitors would come to my room, I was always a little disappointed to see them leave before the share.  In my opinion, by not staying to see the share they would miss the piece that demonstrated whether the lesson had worked.  Had students been able to take what was discussed and move into the workshop to give it a try?  What did learners understand? 

We can't overlook the power of possibility in the moments we share with our learning community at the end of a lesson.  It's easy as the clock ticks to not make time for the share, but this time is essential for our learning to grow.

Share allows us to:

• Check in with students:  Though digital tools allow us to see more of the work students do during their independent learning times, talking with students about their work during workshop allows us an opportunity to hear their thinking, consider their process, and think about next steps.  
• Reinforce the learning of the focus lesson:  Having students share can give us an opportunity to allow students to share attempts at new learning with peers.  It can also provide the opportunity to clarify, reinforce, and restate points from our lesson within the context of student work.  
• Build a common understanding (and common language):  By coming together as a community to talk about our learning, we can create a common understanding and build common language around new concepts.  Students often will share with peers important discoveries that can then be used to build an inquiry.  These lessons are always more powerful and carry more weight when shared by a peer instead of directed by a teacher.  
• Stretch the lesson:  Often during independent work time students stay in their comfort zones, and don't reach for the next step.  Share time allows us to build a bridge between students' attempts and the next steps in learning.  Sharing also allows us to hear from students who are pushing past the current understanding and working to socially construct learning at a higher level of understanding than might have been possible without utilization of this time.   
• Showcase new possibility:  By allowing time to share our learning, students can see new possibilities through the work done by their peers. 
• Celebrate learning:  Share is the perfect time to celebrate new discoveries and new steps in learning.  By lifting learners who have pushed to the next level, we open the door for others learners and shine a spotlight on the importance of our time spent learning.    

Read Aloud for the Joy of It

Last Thursday night I joined #g2great Twitter chat around read aloud.  Steven Layne led the discussion in a chat hosted by Dr. Mary Howard, Jenn Hayhurst, and Amy Brennan.  Check out the #g2great team blog for In Defense of Read Aloud:  Sustaining Best Practice (7 important considerations for read aloud.  The chat has me thinking about one of my favorite things:  read aloud.  So...  

At the end of the day, I stop by Nichole Berkey's classroom to drop off information for one of our reading ambassadors.  Nichole's room is always a favorite stop at the end of the day.  When you walk in the door there is a sense of calm as students gather together on the carpet.  Nicole is perched on a stool with students surrounding her feet, a book open as she reads page after page of the current chapter book they are reading.  Her third graders hang onto every word.  Every time I walk into her room I want to just sit down on the floor and join them.

Since moving to a reading intervention position in my building, read aloud is one of the things I miss the most.  I miss starting our day with a read aloud, reading aloud after lunch (that was always my favorite), and the days when our classroom managed to end in a read aloud like Nichole's (that was always tricky).  I miss peppering in poetry.  I miss the read aloud's sprinkled across the day in the opening moments of our workshops.  I miss the community that is built around the books we experience together.

As a teacher, I found that read alouds could support many of our learning conversations and anchor our thinking.  It's a gift to be able to use the author's words to support teaching and learning, but this chat reminded me that there is also a caution:  there still should be places in our day where we just read aloud for the joy of the story.  There should be places where we just sit back, without interruption, and enjoy the book for pleasure - where the words fall off the page and into the ears of children, where we laugh, gasp, and wonder together.

The #g2great chat and follow-up post had me thinking about some of my favorite read alouds.  I decided to create a Pinterest board of favorite read alouds.  These books never let me down with a group of children.  I'll continue to grow this collection when I get back to my books at school.  (It's spring break so these are the ones I remembered.)  I hope you'll share some of your favorites in the comments below.

Follow Cathy 's board Read Aloud on Pinterest.