Better late than never?

Teachers Write! Weekly Reflections #1 & #2

I'm late on the suggested reflection questions for the Teachers Write! virtual camp, so I'm just posting them here, and not on Jen Vincent's blog- which should be checked out: http://www.teachmentortexts.com. I didn't realize there was a first one until the middle of the week, but have decided I should figure out my goals for participating in Teachers Write! camp so I can get the most out of the experience. I have my students set, reflect, and revise goals regularly, so why wouldn't I?

 

Reflection #1:Read more: http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2014/07/teachers-write-weekly-reflection-1.html#ixzz37RpzpIsR

These questions were meant to kick off the Teachers Write Camp: 

Why are you writing?

1. To become a better teacher of writers.
2. To get a better handle on what kind of writer I am, to improve my writing, and to determine how interested I am-and how invested I should be- in sharing my writing with others.
   

What is your goal(s) for Teachers Write this summer?

1. To write: To write to at least two-thirds of the posts and to publicly post my writing, both on the Teachers Write blogs' comments and my blog, at least one-third of the posts.
2. To learn about me as a writer: To learn about my own writing process, get a rough idea of what my own strengths & needs are in writing, improve my writing, and decide what I want to do as a writer going forward.
3. To steal: To learn about a ton of strategies, prompts, mentor texts, and teaching points I can bring back to my classroom this school year.
   

Reflection #2: Read more: http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2014/07/teachers-write-weekly-reflection-2.html#ixzz37RotfzTU

How do you track your progress? What kind of goal works for you?

 Via reflection on this blog. Some goals I set are easier to "track" than others. Though tracking minutes spent or words written sound appealing, I'm going for how many days of the week I did some writing. The other goals of learning about myself as a writer and stealing ideas are less quantitative; I think I'll add a quantity to them once I've made progress on the first writing goal.

How do you celebrate your progress?

 Celebrate by sharing the writing & progress! :-) 

How did you do this week? Did you meet your weekly goal(s)?

1. I didn't meet this goal. I wrote to two posts this week, and very writing besides those. So, new goal: Write to three posts this week, and spend 30 minutes on any further writing.
2. I am learning (Tracking this is tougher, it's not a "SMART" goal) about my process... see the pit & peak of my week below.
3. I'm finding plenty to steal. Ex: Word hoards.

What was the pit of your week? (The hardest part, the non-fun part?)

Getting to writing is hard. Actually sitting down to do it. Once the pen is down to paper, it gets easier. I'm going to pay close attention to what I'm thinking when I finally get to writing... what worked to get that pen to paper? Need to have some serious discussions about this with my students. 

 

What was the peak of your week? (The best part, the most-fun part?)

Reading others' comments on my writing is the peak this week. After the struggle to sit to write, there is a huge pay-off in the actual writing, and even more so when you have other people- strangers even!- who take the time to read what you wrote and write something in response to it... I have to remember that as I motivate myself to sit down to write this week! And I'll remember with my students how much the authentic audience matters!

 

What are you looking forward to and planning for the week ahead?

I'm looking forward to meeting my revised goals!