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?

Permission for Writing Projects

Here's my writing in response to today's Teachers Write virtual camp! I replied to both blogs :-D

Mini-Lesson Monday 

Great prompt to start out the week. Check out guest author Donna Gephart's inspiration for the day: http://www.katemessner.com/teachers-write-71414-mini-lesson-monday/ and check out her blog as well: http://www.donnagephart.com/.

My Writing Projects: 

1. Non-Fiction, Memoirish. A collection of short stories about my mom and dad. Their stories interspersed w/my experiences w/them. Juxtaposition time, countries, gender, age...
2. Latina girl. Realistic fiction told in poems. Trio of main characters- Catholic Latina girl, gay Jewish Republic, and African-American communist vegetarian. Considering switching btwn the POVs-- which would require some help or at least intense research w/friends! Navigating identity in different worlds. Cultural clashes. Friendship.
3. Latina girl. Sci-Fi. Space/Time Travel. Travel. Art. Starts w/trip to NYC, steal a painting in journal writing
4. Dark humor, picture book/illustrated poem, about the ways a teacher might die in her classroom... (this sounds much more morbid than it is... stems from an ongoing joke with one class who kept witnessing classroom accidents!) describing the dangers that lurk in pencils, printers, and paper!
5. More to come when I look over my past Writer's Notebooks... 

Dedication for #4---
To the Zapata Academy Class of 2014 Homeroom 210: Your willingness to take risks, laughter and sarcasm, pain and hope inspired me every day you shared your worldly words with me.

Monday Morning Warm Up: "But Underneath That..."

Prompt thanks to Jo Knowles, check it out: http://jbknowles.livejournal.com/482797.html
All these explanations correspond to the writing projects above:

1.  This is a story about a girl who wants to go to school and do well, please her friends/teachers/family- which requires her to navigate the sometimes conflicting wishes of her mother, father, and friends. But underneath that, it's about a girl who really wants to understand where she comes from to figure out who she is.

2. This is a story about an introverted, slightly sheltered girl who feels out of place and wants to make friends. But underneath that, it's about a girl who really wants to be understood.(<--- this still needs a lot of work!)
3. This is a story about a boy/girl who wants to see the world and have beautiful things. But underneath that, it's about a boy/girl who really wants to be seen for who she is, a beautiful person. (<-- not sure how much this one make sense)

4.  This is a story about a teacher who is afraid of the dangers of her classroom: the accidents and mishaps possible in her classroom.  But underneath that, it's about a teacher who is really afraid of not being able to stop the pain her students share.
This is a story about a teacher who wants to stop the accident and mishaps in her classroom.
OR But underneath that, it's about a teacher who really wants to create a safe and inviting classroom for all her students.

SuperShort Reflection: Today was fun! But it took me all day, thinking and jotting. Jo Knowles uses a 25 minute revision goal. I may want to consider a time limit... it's what I recommend to students when they're having trouble...

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.

Day 1 of Teachers Write! Camp: The View

Here's my first day of writing for Kate Messner's Teachers Write! virtual summer writing camp!
http://www.katemessner.com/teachers-write-7714-mini-lesson-monday-you-come-too/

The View

The view from my spot on the porch may seem unremarkable at first. The world is still a bit hazy from the humid day in the 80s. The breeze picks up. The slightly cooler air focuses my attention. Across the mostly cement yard, my mom’s building seems rundown. Slight eastward tilt of the window sill, peeling paint, and rusty nails on the uneven floorboards of the porch don’t show the facelift the front-side of brick building just received, though the tell-tale red brick dust stains the path to my staircase. From this angle, you can’t see the roof work just completed, though the clean, green gutters silver-line this cloud of a building. Each renovation paid by thousands, scraped together quarters and dimes, by my two-job working mom. She can’t help but love the building, despite its flaws, betrayals, and seeming indifference. She’ll keep putting money and care into it, though it will never repay her love. This twenty-seven year old family member has been in our world as long as my brother. Unremarkable view, except if you know where to look: the blinds on the kitchen window shift ever so slightly as my mom peeks out to make sure we’re all ok. 

 Reflection: It was tough to sit down and write. I read the blog post and loved it, at 8am when I woke up this morning... but I didn't sit down to write until 7:30pmish! I haven't stopped writing or typing since, as evidenced by the couple blog posts. I know it, but it's hard to live it: Just write! Tomorrow will be better :-)