Weekly Check-In #3 - #teacherswrite

Welcome back for week two of the Teachers Write Weekly Check-In!

I spent a little time at school this week getting organized. Taking over for a woman who retired from the position means I'm inheriting an awesome classroom library but it also means merging our things. It felt good to clean and sort and get everything into it's own space and ready for kids. One of our coaches helped me which made it super fast and I'm so grateful. Here are before and after pictures: 

I still need to go back and finish my bulletin boards and put up posters and then it'll be time to really zone in on lesson design for the first few weeks. 

Kate's prompt for us this week was all about world building. While I'm not in the headspace to do world building for a novel, I am totally thinking about the "world" or space I'm creating in my classroom as an anti-racist, anti-bias educator. AND I'm also thinking about the world I wish I lived in. Sometimes we have to imagine the possibilities really clearly to be able to better turn them into reality. 

Living with integrity for me means going back again and again to what I truly believe and what I value. Here's some thinking I did about this in my notebook:

While I'm a Language Arts teacher, I'm a teacher of humans first. I know I do a great job of seeing students as humans and seeing the gifts that they are in being them as they are. Educators preach growth mindset A LOT but I believe in starting by affirming that we are already perfect just as we are and then talking about the importance of being open. Then when we have a purpose for growth, we can step into a growth mindset. 

I'm feeling a little vulnerable in sharing this because there's a voice in my head telling me I "should" already be super clear about what type of "world" I'm co-creating in my classroom but the truth is, I'm still refining it. I'm still adding ideas and adjusting and boiling it down to its essence. And I do think that it's important to reflect and incorporate my own learning as I go so I'm sharing this messy, all-over-the-place thinking I did in my notebook. 

This was how I chose to use Kate's prompts this week! Being able to make Teachers Write my own is one thing I love about it!

And now it’s time to hear from you! I'm curious to hear how you navigated this week's prompts and how your writing life is going. 

Teachers Write Weekly 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.

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

4. We have fun!

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?)

My Weekly Check-In: This week I have been doing a lot of writing as I think about where I'm going with Story Exploratory. I started it as a fun and funky writing community in 2019 and I lead monthly workshops and coach writers but it has evolved into using writing to live a life more aware, awake, and aligned so my writing lately has been about helping me see the new direction I'm taking Story Exploratory. I guess in a way, this writing is also about world building too!  

I’m looking forward to hearing how Teachers Write is going for you! If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please let me know!