WIP Decision

I think I've made a decision on what Work In Progress I want to stick with for the next month, I'm going to refer to it as MiraMira for now. I've often said to students that I wish I had more novels, short stories, and poems written by Latino/a authors, starring Latino/a protagonists to share with them. I've encouraged them, when they express the same sentiment of wanting to see themselves in a book, to write it!

Well, I've struggled to find the idea to use to follow my own advice into a good story.... until Monday's Teacher Writing Group. We wrote to a prompt from last week, Thursday from Kate Messner's Teachers Write! blog.

What was thinking---
My protagonist- Amira, nicknamed Mira, Mexican-American, loves Madrid
Diverse friends with diverse views in school- what brings them together? They want to travel, but as they are of low socio-economic status they've resigned themselves to just dream of traveling someday, hopefully together.
-Emma- @EmNew, African-American, positive outlook, incredibly friendly, except w/ppl who suck, loves NYC
-Daniel- @LonDan, Polish, Jewish, loves London
- ?? -He's Puerto Rican, loves Paris

There's a "bully" at school, Mabel, also Mexican-American, second generation, who thinks this group of friends is too lofty and uppity in their ambitions... she's jealous of the group for many reasons, and she's got a secret she's keeping hidden from everyone.

The usual everyday workings of the school are interrupted when a new student arrives a month into the school year- still brainstorming on her name- and she's the first white student to join their middle school class. Nobody knows how to react, and everyone seems to react the wrong way.

That's what I'm thinking so far... I'm not sure if I want to keep this so realistic fiction. I'm not sure what complications I want to add to the plot. Is the ideas of friendships, betrayal, jealousy, and home juxtapositioned with the intensity of race, gender roles and identity, and gentrification issues too much or not enough?

Summer 2015 #WriteAway with us!

I'm trying Kate Messner's Teacher Write! Camp on her blog again this summer. Today: Teachers Write! Minilesson Monday.

The Zapata Teacher Writing Group will be writing together every week in a different coffeeshop in Chicago all summer. I'm so grateful for the chance to sit and write with other teachers! We'll be trying to recruit more teachers to join us this summer. Know anyone who is interested? Please let me know! We'll be at CC Ferns Coffee Bar & Spirits 2806 W Augusta Blvd, Chicago, IL on Monday, July 13th. #WriteAway with us this summer!

Here's my work from sitting with a couple of teacher colleagues today at Jackalope. I found the courage to post on the blog today for the kick-off... but it wouldn't let me post the hashtag about #2 in the blog. This is the unedited version below.
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I'm a middle school teacher in Chicago Public Schools and this is my second summer attempting to do Teachers Write! Loved it last year, and hope I can overcome any nerves in order to post regularly!

I wonder...
1. how do people overcome the influence of controlling parents? (can you tell I work with adolescents?)
2. about female scientists' contributions and challenges throughout the years (especially in light of recent comments about #distractinglysexy women in the lab- if you haven't looked up the hashtag, please do!).
3. about my neighborhood-- the history, the people now and in my childhood, and gentrification
4. how people turn a disability into an advantage?
5. about the path of the margarita... how did it get to be what it is today? How has it evolved?
I have many more on my list but these were the ones I'm still wondering about hours later! Quite the range :-)
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Thanks for reading,
Eliza

Summer Writing w/Colleagues Begins

Day 2 of Teachers Write! Camp & 1st Day of Summer Writing with Colleagues

Today, I did a quick write with two wonderful colleagues at my favorite coffeeshop, Star Lounge. Esther and I had the great idea of motivating ourselves and our colleagues to write during the summer, so we took our Teacher Writing Group on the road! We are meeting in coffeeshops in the city on  handful of dates to write, inviting our colleagues to join us. Only one colleague was able to join us this first time, but I'm hopeful more will come after summer school draws to a close.

Unlike our school-based meetings, we don't have an agenda. This time we just showed up ready to write.  I shared the virtual Writing Camp I joined, Kate Messner's Teachers Write! www.katemessner.com/teachers-write/ and they enjoyed using yesterday and today's prompts as motivation today. Here's my new work:

Race to Safety

Her stomach felt like it was about to burst. She looked at her brother, Danny, and could tell he was feeling the same thing.

“Race you,” he said, and then started running down the block.

“Nooo…” Aime said, but she couldn’t NOT join in, so she ran after him. “No fair, “ she shouted at his back.

Their parents just laughed as they kept up their walking pace behind them.

Some kid with a hoodie ran out of nowhere across their race path.  Aime dodged out of his way without slowing down. Danny arrived at their front door a full six seconds before Aime did. “That was not fair,” she said, out of breath.

“I win!” he danced around his sister.

A second guy, wearing no shirt, with bright tattoos, came racing by, almost knocking Danny down, gun in hand, shouting, “Out the way!”

The dance is dead.

“Mijo, inside,” yells Aime’s Ma, rushing to her children.

“Mija, get inside!” yells Aime’s Pa, who has somehow managed to be immediately at the door.

They all run into the crowded little alcove as Pa takes out the keys. He’s shaken though, and the keys fall to the floor. Ma has to step back outside to provide some room for Danny to bend down, then hand the keys to dad. The inner door is finally opened, the family pushes through, Ma closes the door as three more shouting guys run past.

“Who are they chasing? Where are they headed? Are we safe?” wonders Aime, her heart still racing.

Reflection: We noticed we couldn't help but catch up and touch base with each other personally before, during, and after writing. Of course, we also talked about our writing and reflected on our process. In fact, the social aspect of our writing time served to deepen my learning as well as to motivate me to write more. Thinking about our students, we know they are social beings, too! They need time to check in socially and the social aspects we can weave into the writing process may even motivate and even improve their writing.

 I was also thinking about what was challenging for me in turning an emotional memory into a fictional moment... it was the names of the characters that had be stuck and hesitating! I followed advice I'd given to students in the past: just leave a blank space or write an X there and come back to it later! But it did take a few minutes for me to recall that advice, which made me really empathize with specific students I called up in my mind. I named my characters something personal in the revision, as I couldn't remove myself too much from them. Hm.