#25

A student recently asked me why I decided to do my blog challenge, and I answered by saying I wanted to challenge myself to do what I ask my students to do. Then, he followed up with another question: “What do you get when you write all 25?” That question is a little tougher to answer.

Below,  are the lessons I picked up, and also how those lessons can be transferred to teaching writing. Beware....it's a long post.




Writing is hard. There was a space of about two months where I avoided writing altogether. As with anything, it started to feel like something I had to do rather than what I wanted to do. I had to remind myself that I wanted to do this. I think part of that is in the challenge of requiring a specific number, which is why I rarely require page numbers for papers (quality over quantity). There are posts that lack quality, but help fulfill quantity.

What does this mean for students?

• Students need to see teachers struggle with writing, too. It is not some magical thing that happens when the stars align and lightning strikes. Writing is work that sometimes takes a while to be enjoyable.

Writing makes you vulnerable. When the district office decided to share my blog on the website, I scoured my posts for mistakes and worried somewhat about how others would perceive or judge what I had written. When staff members or students read it, I’d hope I didn’t sound like an idiot.  Any time we put our minds or hearts on paper, it is a bit scary to send it out into the world. 

What does this mean for students?

• Students need a supportive place where they can opt-out of sharing what they have written if they want. I need to do more to help create that environment and give students room to write things that are for their eyes only.

Even when you don't think you have anything to write about, you definitely have a lot to write about. Several times, I would sit down to write and felt like I didn't have anything newsworthy to share. Instead of turning away, I forced myself to write something, anything, and before I knew it, I wrote a post.

What does this mean for students?

• Students need space to write, both physical and mental. I respect the fact that students sometimes sit and appear to do nothing when we are writing. Sometimes, you just need to think, but sometimes you just need to put pencil to paper and see what happens.

I make a lot of mistakes. I wish I had a quality peer editor. I've told my students several times this year that it doesn't matter how many times I read my blog before hitting publish, there's always a mistake hiding in there somewhere. More importantly, I realized that I could cut at least a third from most posts to make them more readable.

What does this mean for students?

• Students need to read their writing aloud and share it with others. Ultimately, I want students to be able to give and receive feedback with the knowledge and confidence to help themselves and their peers improve. They need more modeling from me to help them get there.

Writing helped me internalize and deepen my learning. Every teacher I know, reflects on what they do in their own way. For me, writing about it helped move that reflection from, "Well, that didn't work?" to, "Why didn't that work and how can I fix it?"

What does this mean for students?

• Students should be writing a lot more. Taking five minutes to write after a lesson, activity, video clip, whatever, can been incredibly effective for improving connections to the content. I've also noticed that discussions are more effective if students have written something prior to opening their mouths. We need time to work out new ideas through writing. 

Save your idea artifacts. Even though I have 25 published posts, I have ten unpublished posts. On top of that, there are scattered pieces of papers with ideas. Some are ideas that I didn't have time to fully develop, some I didn't feel like writing about for more than a sentence or two, and some ideas I didn't like as much when I revisited them. These idea artifacts may come in handy later, so I'll hang onto them.

What does this mean for students?

• Students need to keep a journal of their writing ideas. I tried to do this somewhat more this year, but I need to find better ways to help students explore their ideas through writing rather than simply telling me what they already know.

Audience helps shape content. When I first started blogging, I realized I'd probably be just writing for myself. Then in the mix, that audience was jumbled, and as a result, the content got somewhat jumbled. My original intention was to have weekly reports of what worked and what didn't work in each class. However, I realized that a) writing a weekly post is not easy, and b) I sometimes wanted to write about other stuff, too (like my book reviews). A more clearly defined purpose and audience would have helped drive the content of my posts. 

What does this mean for students?

• Students need clearly defined, authentic audiences. Writing improves when students know someone other than me is going to be looking at it. I could also be more creative in determining audience, purpose, and format (ex. RAFT prompts).

So, back to my student's question, what do I get for writing these 25 posts? Well, I am here at the end of post #25. There are no flashing lights, confetti, and balloons to help commemorate the occasion, but it feels pretty stinkin’ good accomplish a goal. 

Several times throughout the year, if a student was struggling with writing, I was able to connect with them and share my own writing struggles. More importantly, I was able to share in an authentic way how I worked through those struggles. It’s easy sometimes to get caught up in telling students to do stuff, without truly understanding what it takes to do that stuff. This year, I could honestly say, I felt their pain but didn’t use it as an excuse to lower expectations. That ability to 'walk the talk' makes it worth it. 

Am I done blogging? I will probably post a few more blogs before the end of the year.  I will also definitely keep blogging next year, but I am already thinking about a new challenge...any ideas? :)