Teachers Write! Weekly Check In #2

I’m excited to hear how your second week of Teachers Write: Poetry and Play went! 

Our challenge this week was to look for haikus in the wild and when I think of haikus, I think of my friend Marcie Flinchum Atkins. She’s a librarian and writer in Virginia. You can check out her books here and her poetry resources here. We’ve been supporting each other as writers for years now and I’m excited to tell you why haikus make me think of her! 

Here we are in Baltimore in 2019 at the NCTE Annual Convention.

Marcie writes picture books and novels and poetry. You can sign up for her poetry postcards and she’ll send you snail mail haikus! They always make me smile when I find one in my mailbox. Here are some I’ve received from her:

Marcie and I enjoy talking about process and she’ll often share behind-the-scenes posts on her Instagram at @marciefatkins. She goes on walks and takes photos that inspire her writing. Since Kate and Loree Griffin Burns asked us to look for inspiration all around us, I went through my camera roll to see what has sparked my attention lately. 

Last Sunday, I went down to Botanical Cafe in Chicago to meet up with my Chicago Latina Writers group. I was about ten minutes away when I turned my head and spotted a huge, larger than life skeleton sitting in the parking lot of bar/restaurant. I had to see it up close so I made a u-turn and parked so I could take a picture. While most people are out in nature looking for inspiration, I put an urban twist on this week’s challenge. Here I am with the art and my Chicago Latina Writers group. 

   

Here’s the brainstorming I did:

And then I went back to Canva and here’s my picture and my haiku! If you’d like to print it, you can find it here.

I didn’t expect to use Canva this summer for Teachers Write but it’s been a super fun tool and I use it with students as well. You can get a free account or sign up for an education account. If you use Canva or try it out, you can share your creation in the comments or share a link to your creation in the comments. I’d love to see what you create!

 

And now for the Weekly Check In!

Teachers Write Weekly Check-In Agreements:

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

What are your goals for Teachers Write?

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: My goals for this week was to play with the prompts and to add some words to my current work in progress (WIP). I had fun with my urban twist on the haiku challenge! AND I opened up my WIP and actually added words. While I only added a little over 600 words, it was nice to reconnect with my manuscript and see what I have and what I can add in. 

This upcoming week I will be at a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. I’m looking forward to unwinding and relaxing and really letting myself be in the moment. I have a poetry workbook to take with me so I’ll continue to play with poetry but I’m not letting myself take my iPad so I know I won’t be adding words to my WIP. 

I hope you have a fantastic week and I can’t wait to hear all about it!