Teachers Write 2020 - Sunday Check-In #4 AKA The End

This is our fourth and final Sunday Check-In for Teachers Write 2020! The month flew by but I'm glad you stopped in to talk about writing and to share your writing life with me. I love connecting with other writers, especially other teacher writers.

To be honest, I didn't to much writing this week. Instead, I focused a lot on reading this week. I had a bunch of books from the library since the end of February...three bags full of books. I went through them all and read with a writer's eye. I was looking for short excerpts to share with students as mentor texts for writing this year. I've found that right now, I do better with short texts that I can read and finish in a short amount of time. This seemed to be something that most of my students needed when it came to reading as well last year. While I don't know my students yet for this upcoming school year, I do anticipate having shorter texts for us to look at together will be a great way to start the school year. Then I can figure out where to go from there. 

My district announced last week that we will start with all remote learning so I also think using short texts will make it easier to share with students discuss. So I looked through lots of books and took pictures of excerpts that stood out to me. I love what Kate shared with us this week about writing a scene with action. Jason Reynolds has a story called "Eraser Tattoo" in Fresh Ink which is a collection of short stories from different author edited by Lamar Giles. I really enjoyed these stories and recommend this anthology! (I'd say it's for 8th grade and up.)

I found a small part of "Eraser Tattoo" where the main character describes helping his girlfriend's family move. It was interesting to me how the act of moving requires so much moving! I love how he described it but at the same time, moving usually brings up some feelings of nostalgia and he showed that too. 

So while I didn't do much of my own writing this week, I did soak up some great writing and I invite you to remember the power of mentor texts for your own writing and to share with students. 

Thanks for stopping by to chat and share your writing life with me! If you don't get my newsletter yet, please click here to sign up for it because I send stories and updates. I'm going to offer free writing workshops just for teachers soon because we have A LOT going on and getting together with other teachers and having some time to write is something I can offer the world right now. 

I'd love to hear how your week went and how you are thinking of continuing your writing life after our summer with Teachers Write. Thanks again! xoxo

Teachers Write Sunday Check-In Agreements:

1. We respect each other and the type of writing we each do do.

2. We are positive and encourage each other at all times.

3. We recognize and maintain this as a safe, 
inclusive environment for all.

4. We have fun!

**I reserve every right to put the smackdown
on anyone who messes with our positive energy.**

Ideas for today in the comments section:

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

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

What are some ways you'll continue writing during the school year?