Teachers Write! Weekly Check In #4

It’s week four and the end of Teachers Write and our summer of poetry and play!

It took me all week to get back into the swing of things. Not only was I transitioning out of vacation mode but I was also starting to get back into school mode. Not a lot, I do my best to enjoy my summer time because I know once school starts, I’ll be all in. But this week was August and I felt the call to start thinking about school again.

Here are a couple of pictures of some really peaceful moments: I rode my Vespa to early morning yoga classes and went for walks in nature. These times to connect with ourselves and to explore what that feels like are so important. 

While I was busy holding on to summer, I loved Nikki Grimes suggestion to pay attention to word choice and Margarita Engle’s offer to think about line breaks. My Teachers Write writing has been inspired from the guest authors so I decided to play with the paragraph above with Nikki and Margarita’s advice in mind. 

The Summer Switch

August hits and

it’s time

to get back 

into the swing of things

out of vacation mode 

back 

into school mode

I know 

once school starts

I’ll be all in 

I’ll enjoy the time I still have as much as I can

but I can’t ignore

it’s August and 

it’s time

to start thinking about school again

That’s what I accomplished this week! It feels really good to be able to write about what I’m feeling and then to flex my creativity and turn it into a poem. I know how important it is to be a teacher who writes but I also truly love how powerful it is to be a human who writes. I have a feeling you feel it too. Isn’t it awesome?!

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:

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: I had high hopes for this week but I didn’t add words to my work in progress. I’m not sure what this means other than I took time to care for myself and that was important. I love writing and I wrote everyday, I just didn’t work on adding words to my manuscript. It’s there. I know it’s waiting for me. I know it knows I love it. What I needed most this week was to get back to my morning pages and my daily writing practice for me, as a way to connect with myself. I had take a little break from morning pages but it really is a lovely practice that I enjoy so I made sure to sit and spend time with my thoughts everyday this week and it was really lovely. I feel grounded and grateful and ready to start to shift back into schoo mode. I think because I know it is going to get really real here soon, I needed to really take time for myself this week so I’m glad I did. I often will write and pull cards to see what message comes up and that was really powerful for me this week. 

The best part of the week were those moments when I really let my thoughts flow. I felt connected to myself and like I could really hear what my inner being had to say and that was really lovely. I’m bummed I didn’t work on my work in progress but quite honestly, the week moved so fast and all of a sudden it was Friday and time to work on this recap. So I guess it’s good that I wasn’t hard on myself for not working on my ms, it just sort of went that way!

Thank you for joining in on the Teachers Write fun! And for stopping by to check in and share your writing life with me and other Teachers Write participants. Being part of this community has truly been life changing for me and I’m so grateful to have gotten to be part of Teachers Write for all these years! 

Teachers Write! Weekly Check In #3

Welcome to week three of Teachers Write: Poetry and Play! As I mentioned last week, I was in Costa Rica all week. It was absolutely gorgeous and I’ had a great time.  

I wasn’t sure what my schedule would be and I wanted to leave my technology behind (besides my phone for pictures! (and calling home)) BUT I did want to make sure I still played with poetry this week. On the plane home, I looked at the prompts and decided to write a poem using the exercise KA Holt shared.

Here is my trusty little Nalgene water bottle from REI that I took on my trip with me.

Here are the taboo words I came up with:

And then here is the poem I wrote:

Now it’s your turn to share! Did you try one of the exercises or go in your own direction?

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:

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: I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make progress towards adding words to my WIP this week but I also knew I was going to make some awesome memories. In my workshops and coaching with Story Exploratory, I talk a lot about writers exploring. We need to get out and explore, to try new things and experience life, so we have things to write about. Trips like this give me a lot to think about and write about - like a blue clay mask, a catamaran sunset tour, a drum circle, and a cactus labyrinth. I had a great time gathering up words in my writer’s notebook that I can incorporate into my writing. 

We have one more week of Teachers Write! My goal for this week is to really zone in on my WIP and add words again. If I could at least double my word count from week two and add at least 1,200 words, that would be great. Let’s see if I can do that…or more!

Honestly, it makes me feel so great to know there are teacher writers out there! Thank you for sharing your writing life with me and other Teachers Write campers. I love that we make time to write. It truly matters. Not only are you nurturing your own writing life, you are better equipped to nurture the student writers you work with. That’s pretty awesome. 

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!

Teachers Write! Weekly Check In #1

Welcome to Teachers Write 2023 and the Weekly Check-In! I'm Jen Vincent and writing is my jam! Teachers who write make the very best teachers of writing and Teachers Write has been a huge part of my journey as a writer.

If you’re here, you get it! Whether you already write consistently or you are here to dust off your notebook or you have an inkling that this will be a game changer, you understand that being able to walk the walk matters when it comes to writing instruction.

A quick intro to me! I’ve hosted the Weekly Check In for Teachers Write with Kate Messner since we started Teachers Write in 2012. I've written young adult novels and picture books and essays. Most recently, I’m working on writing about what it looks like to live the life of a writer and how we can share this with students.

I'm a 6-8 Language Arts teacher for Bannockburn School in Bannockburn, Illinois and I’ve been in a variety of roles in my 21 years of teaching. Beyond school, I love being outdoors, hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, practicing yoga, and hanging out with my husband (also a teacher!) and our two teenage sons (yikes!).

This year, our focus is Poetry and Play and this week, I played around with how I might use Laura Ruby’s suggestion to use a hermit crab poem to write slant and share why being a teacher who writes matters.

Yesterday, I met my friend Carrie Thomas, a high school English teacher friend who writes, at a local coffee shop and I snapped a picture of the menu.

I’m passionate about supporting teachers as writers because it matters. It matters because when we write, we are better able to connect with students and confer with them from an authentic place. Living the life of a writer means navigating the ups and downs and being able to say to a student writer, “That’s happened to me before. You know what I tried?” I wondered, how could I use the menu as a mentor text to share some ways that being a teacher who writes matters?

I started with a blank page in my notepad, recreating the menu with a Teachers Write spin, playing with the words and trying out ideas.

Then I switched over to Canva and had fun designing my own Teachers Write Specialties menu. If you’d like a PDF version to print, you can find it here.

I’m absolutely thrilled that you are here and looking forward to hearing how your first week of Teachers Write: Poetry and Play went! 

Here’s how the Weekly Check In goes. I share a bit of my writing life and I invite you to reflect on your writing life this week and share the ups and downs in the comments. It’s been pretty much the same since 2012 when we first started and if you’d like to see the resources I’ve shared over the years, this link will take you to all my previous Teachers Write posts, starting with the most recent first.

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 Teachers Write this year are to follow along with the prompts from Kate and our fabulous guest authors and to let myself play and explore. I do have a WIP (work in progress) that is currently at 21,244 words and I’d love to add to my word count and possibly finish my first draft before school starts in August…but I’m giving myself a lot of grace and going with the flow. 

This week I had fun blending Kate’s idea for found poems and Laura Ruby’s hermit crab poems suggestion. BUT I did not work on my WIP until I needed to write this blog post and realized I should at least open it during week 1. Let’s see if I can get some words added by next week’s check-in!

Give yourself a huge pat on the back for being part of Teachers Write this summer! Yay you! I‘m excited to connect with you and hear how Teachers Write is going so far. If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please let me know.

Weekly Check In #4 - Teachers Write

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

I hope you have had a great time with Teachers Write this summer. I’m working on a pitch for a novel idea I’ve had to submit to America’s Next Great Author and honestly, pitches have always been a challenge for me. Kate’s prompt for the week has been helpful though. 

Here’s my original list:

This got me thinking about what things I can bring into my story. But I REALLY love the idea from Laura Ruby to write my story as a picture book to help me see the story arc and get a better understanding of what the book is about.

Sometimes the prompt that shows up is exactly what I need whether I realize it or not! I always appreciate that remind. Whenever I feel stuck, being open to trying different prompts or strategies helps me out. Oftentimes, it’s just about getting some momentum going and then I find a way to move ahead.

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?)

How was your overall Teachers Write experience?

My Weekly Check-In: I love Teachers Write. Thank you for being a teacher who writes! I’m so glad to be amongst great company. It truly does make a difference. I love how my writing has evolved over time and how I have changed as a writer. While I didn’t have one specific project I was working on this summer, I still got exactly what I needed from the prompts and I have ideas to share with students. 

I’m looking forward to hearing how Teachers Write is going for you and how you might take the energy from Teachers Write into your school year. If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please let me know!

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!

Weekly Check-In #2 #TeachersWrite

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

I mentioned that I’m transitioning to a new school district this year BUT the new district is right next door to where I grew up. Driving in to work on curriculum last week and this week had me reminiscing so Kate’s prompt was a great opportunity to think about place for me.

Here’s my initial brainstorming. First I did a free write and then I broke the ideas down into sensory details. I *could* have done a better job. I *could* have gotten even deeper with my writing. I might still. This is all first draft stuff. 

Here is my first try at turning my brainstorming into a poem.

And here’s what it turned into:

Life Circles Back

Twenty years have passed (!)

But life circles back

So here I am again

Far from

Running barefoot in the grass

The squeal of laughter on my lips

The warmth of my daddy’s arms

Waiting for my mama to bring lunch home on Saturdays

Drinking from the hose

Scooping up a bucket of tadpoles only to discover they were mosquitos

Riding my bike to my best friend’s house

Later driving to my best friend’s house

Birthday parties and

School projects and

Badminton meets

Twenty years have passed (!)

But life circles back

So here I am again

And now it’s time to hear from you! And if you’d like to share your writing, that would be great!

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:

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: This week I went into school for two full days of curriculum planning with a coach but I made time for morning writing and even some writing in the evening. I wrote an introduction for a project I’m working on so I’d like to add more to that and see where it takes me. 

I enjoyed the prompt and I love that it aligned in such a timely way. Place is a fascinating thing to explore when it comes to writing. 

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!

Weekly Check-In #1 #TeachersWrite 2022

Welcome to Teachers Write 2022 and the Weekly Check-In! I'm Jen Vincent and I am a teacher who writes. Writing with young people brings me so much joy and it has gotten more and more fun the more I explore my own writing.

I've been part of Teachers Write with Kate Messner since 2012. I've written novels and picture books and essays. Whether you are new to Teachers Write or have joined us before, I'm so glad you are here! This school year was A LOT. A lot a lot. Bravo to you for getting through and for showing up here.

I'm a 6-8 Language Arts teacher for Bannockburn School in Bannockburn, Illinois. Beyond school, I love being outdoors, practicing yoga, taking care of my plants, and crafting...but I also love to read and write. Here on the left is me at the end of the year in my classroom finishing year 20 and on the right is after outdoor yoga at a local forest preserve.

While participating in Teachers Write can be a sort of professional development and I believe it truly does impact our work with young writers...I see writing as the very best self care. This is writing you can do just for you. You get ideas and prompts from Kate and cheerleading and camaraderie from me and other participants here. You can make Teachers Write what you want to make it. Write once a week, write everyday, do the prompts, do your own exercises. Ultimately, this is all about you!

So let's get to the Weekly Check-In! 

Here’s how the it goes. I share a bit of my writing life and I invite you to reflect on your writing life this week and share the ups and downs in the comments. It’s been pretty much the same since 2012 when we first started and if you’re at all interested in the resources I’ve shared over the years, this link will take you to all my previous Teachers Write posts, starting with the most recent first.

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:

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 summer has been a slow-down summer. I have taken time to embrace active slowness which means I've been reading again, like sitting down and reading a book and that seems simple but I honestly hadn't been making time to do that during the school year.  I have some different types of texts that I've been exploring and I've been taking notes and letting ideas simmer.

My goal for Teachers Write is to try some of the prompts and to let myself see where the ideas take me. The prompt this week had me thinking about two rituals. One is brushing my teeth. It is one thing I can say I do consistently everyday and have all my life. And the other ritual is showing up to the yoga mat. And then that led me to thinking about what rituals I want to nurture in my classroom...I can't help it!

I can't wait to hear how Teachers Write is going for you! If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please let me know!

#TeachersWrite Weekly Check-In #4 2021!

Welcome to our fourth and last Weekly Check-In! It's the end already!

I've been in PD this week and didn't spend time with my novel this week. BUT I have been thinking a lot about identity and what it means to live with integrity as part of a community/communities. We're starting the year launching reader's and writer's workshop and writing poetry related to who we are and how we show up in our classroom community and other communities.

Here's my thinking:

And here I was exploring essential questions:

Kate asked us to capture one small moment and I've been collecting resources for students to think about how to capture a small moment as we co-create our workshop space together this year. 

Yesterday I went home and crawled into bed (yes at 4:00 in the afternoon after two full days of curriculum writing...) and I grabbed Counting Descent by Clint Smith and started reading. It's exactly what I needed and exactly the mentor text to help me as I reflect back and think forward. 

I'm so glad you joined us this summer and I'd love to hear what your next steps are now that our official summer of Teachers Write is over.

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:

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 you hoping your writing life will look like beyond summer?

I can't wait to hear how this summer's Teachers Write experience was for you! Thanks for writing with us!

#TeachersWrite Weekly Check-In #3 2021!

Welcome to our third Weekly Check-In! On Monday, Kate shared a video for us to try some play in our writing. I'm obsessed with play right now so this was perfect! I've been exploring ideas for play and just shared some of my exploration on Instagram. 

I decided I'd take Kate's three-column idea and try it with characters from the YA novel I'm drafting. I may have made it easy on myself and added a panadería for setting and jealousy for a mood because that's exactly the scene I needed to happen next. Actually, I didn't see the story headed this direction but it's perfect!

Here's what my notebook entry looked like for this exercise:

After I had the idea for the scene, I wrote it out in my notebook.

If you did the prompt from Monday, I'd love to hear how it went for you! What stories came up? Please share in the comments!

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:

What character, setting, and mood/big idea did you play with this week?

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 actually worked more on writing I'm doing about teaching and it was really cathartic. I looked over notes and anecdotes I collected throughout the year and saw a big theme emerge. I started to write about that and explored a couple of ways into what I'm writing about. It's neat to see how sometimes I need to write things a certain way to then see a different way to start.

I loved how the playful exercise from Kate helped me move forward in my YA novel. This is why it's so important! I'm very much practicing not taking myself so seriously. This might just mean I'm missing being around tons of kids all day. :)

I can't wait to hear how Teachers Write is going for you! If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please let me know!