Tag Archives: National Day on Writing

Reflections on Writing: #whyiwrite

Each year on October 20th people from all over are invited to write, to share their writing, and to consider the prompt: #whyiwrite. I appreciate a National Day on Writing, a day to celebrate this often unexamined practice that most of us engage in daily. Sometimes we are confused by the word writing, considering only the writing that appears in bookstores, in magazines, or in prestigious online spaces as “real” writing.

Whatever writing we do is real. But fear can keep us from getting those words out of our heads and onto a page. I often find myself writing as I walk, starting a narrative or poem in my head, sparked by something I noticed, overheard, observed. These words are easily lost, blown into the sea breeze if I don’t make a conscious effort to remember long enough to get them written or somehow recorded for later writing and elaboration.

I find that my words take flight when I turn off that internal censor. When I stop worrying about writing the perfect essay, saying the “just right” thing that will dazzle and impress someone else.

But why do I write? I started blogging to hold myself accountable to regular writing. But all I write isn’t reflected in this public space. This space, though, offers me the opportunity to connect, to reflect on my writing, teaching, photography, and life in general. It lets me start small as I wonder and wander through the ideas in my mind.

A writing project meeting yesterday led us to a new room on campus, where this quote was prominent on the walls. I don’t know that it is perfectly true for me, but I like the sentiment. That risk-taking matters. Sometimes we have to approach an old problem in a new way to figure out a solution. I’ve been thinking about that a lot when it comes to teaching. There’s so much talk about how kids are different these days, how they struggle to pay attention (often blamed on our screen-centered society), and how we need to prepare them for jobs that don’t yet exist. Most of these comments are posed as problems, difficulties to overcome instead of aspirations to reach for. Why would we teach students today the same content in the same ways as we taught that class ten years ago? Why is curriculum more similar to than different from what it was when I was a child oh-so-many year ago? Is this student problem really a teaching problem (or a structures around teaching problem)? It might just be an assessment problem, since the content that is tested is certainly prioritized in our schools!

That ever-moving target can sometimes make us all feel like failures. We keep reaching for THE solution, instead of enjoying each wave as we ride it. Watching surfers from the San Clemente pier yesterday reminds me of the importance of patience, playfulness, and persistence. (And those same traits might just apply to the photographer as well!) I’m sure each surfer out there in the cool, salty water in the slant of light on a late fall afternoon was in search of the perfect wave, the great ride, the most fun… What I loved as I watched was noticing the surfers spot potential waves, start and stop–sometimes bailing out of a waves at the last possible moment; lining themselves up to catch the upcoming wave–paddling, turning, jockeying with other surfers for position; playing with waves that turned out to be less than–swan-diving backwards out of the ride. I’m reminded that there is learning and joy in the process, not just the end product. How do we help students (and teachers and parents and the public) see the learning that happens in the trying rather than in the exam or “final product?”

So why do I write? I write to play with words and ideas. I write to problem-solve, to follow a line of thinking to a place where I can grapple with it. I write to pay attention to the world around me, to inhale the joy and exhale the heaviness. And I persist in writing even when it feels too hard, too time consuming, too frustrating, too messy. Writing matters, each one of us has to find all the reasons why for ourselves (we just may need a little nudge from our friends, teachers, lovers, mentors). Thanks for the nudge National Day on Writing!

Now it’s your turn, why do you write?

Things and Places: #writeout

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An email subscription led me to a podcast called Everything is Alive, where inanimate objects are interviewed. (Full disclosure, I only listened to a few minutes of one podcast–but did read the transcript linked above.) But, this idea of the personality and alive-ness of inanimate objects got me thinking about inspiration for writing. And, in the serendipity sort of way I often experience when thinking and writing and lesson planning, I came across an old favorite poem I have used with students called Pencils by Barbara Esbensen. (You can read Esbensen’s poem linked above.)

I have this idea that students will pick an object that matters to them and create their own inanimate object poetry inspired by Pencils. Should I have them write about pencils? No…let them choose something that matters to each of them. What would I pick? My camera, of course. So, here’s my try:

Cameras

The rooms in a camera

are a tight fit

but forests seascapes classrooms

crowd right in

In a camera

nature’s colors riot, drawing your eye

and dim light shifts the world

to black and white

From a photographer (experienced or not)

an unexplained photo may emerge

framed by the untold story

living in the stillness, frozen in time

Every image in your camera

is ready to

dance on rays of light

ready

to focus and expose

ready to come right out

and save that moment

so that you can explore

and experience it again and again

®Douillard

Will my third graders be able to animate their inanimate objects? I think so…and I also think that the objects will connect them to places they love and spend time at…so #writeout it is! I’ll share the results later in the week!

Here are some of my favorite places that crowd right into the rooms in my camera!

sand art

A Place I Love: #writeout

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When I learned that the National Day on Writing, the National Park Service, and the National Writing Project would join forces to celebrate writing through #writeout in October, I was all in. #writeout is meant to help writers focus on stories of place…particularly if there is a national park nearby. I don’t happen to live near a national park, but I do live by spectacular outdoor spaces where I spend lots of time walking…and that inspire my writing.

As October began, students read and studied the poem, City I Love by Lee Bennett Hopkins. The rhythms and patterns of the poem were friendly to students, they were able to notice many techniques Hopkins employed. And better yet, they were eager and ready to write their own versions using this poem as their mentor text.

City I Love by Lee Bennett Hopkins

In the city

I live in—

city I love—

mornings wake

to swishes, swashes,

sputters

of sweepers

swooshing litter

from gutters.

In the city

I live in—

city I love—

afternoons pulse

with people hurrying,

scurrying—

races of faces

pacing to

must-get-there

places.

In the city

I live in—

city I love—

nights shimmer

with lights

competing

with stars

above

unknown heights.

In the city

I live in—

city I love—

as dreams

start to creep

my city

of senses

lulls

sleep.

With this poem as a mentor text, I wrote my own version, focusing on a favorite place of mine. Of course, I had to write about walking on the beach!

Beach I Love

At the beach

I walk on

The beach I love

Seagulls hover

Squawking and flapping

Searching for treats

In unattended

Beach bags.

At the beach

I walk on

The beach I love

Salty waves

Curl and break

Tossing swimmers

And tempting surfers

Into the cool, refreshing

Depths.

At the beach

I walk on

The beach I love

Squishy sand

Sucks at my toes

Tiny grains sanding

My soles smooth

And sheltering

Tiny frisky crabs and

Multitudes of bean clams.

At the beach

I walk on

The beach I love

Rhythmic seas

Slow my breath

Warm my heart

And clear my mind.

Kim Douillard

So in honor of the National Day on Writing and #writeout, I let the outdoors inspire my writing. I will include my students’ writing in days to come!

#whyiwrite: October 20, 2018

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I should probably title this post, All the Reasons I Don’t Write, instead of using the National Day on Writing hashtag #whyiwrite. But instead of enumerating a list of excuses, I will use this occasion as an opportunity to write.

I’ve established a regular walking practice. I’ve learned to carry my walking shoes (and my flip flops) with me in my car, leaving me ready for unexpected opportunities–and no excuses for not walking because I don’t have the right shoes. My camera is also a motivator for my walking–I love to take those daily photos and walking gets me to interesting locations where I find the fodder for my photography habit.

My writing practice fares better when I have an external expectation keeping me on track. I wrote and posted daily during the month of April when my students and I took on a 30-day poetry challenge. And I posted weekly photography challenges for years when the iAnthology was my audience. So now, I know I need to create some reasons for establishing a regular writing practice–one that takes me beyond the more work-related writing that always happens–you know, the lesson plans, the emails, the proposals and reports.

So I will begin today with some thoughts about birds. If you’ve visited here before, you have probably noticed my obsessions with egrets, including the post I wrote about the egret being my spirit animal. But yesterday and today, it was a different kind of bird that was called to my attention.

Birds of prey are difficult to photograph–and even to get a close look at without a camera. They tend to soar high above our heads, their sharp eyes on the lookout for prey. Yesterday I spied a hawk perched on a sign along the beach-side cliff. It sat, overseeing the beach and was not at all bothered by me approaching from below to photograph. Somehow it seemed appropriate that the sign it was perched on said, “Pack Your Trash!” While I’m not entirely sure, I’m thinking it’s either a red tailed hawk or a red shouldered hawk. I thought at first it might have been an osprey–I’ve seen them before in this area, but this was clearly a hawk of some sort.

Hawk_packyourtrash

And today, not far from this same spot along the cliffside, I noticed a man looking intently high up on the cliff. When I looked up, he drew my attention to the large bird of prey sitting on some bare branches above us. I knew immediately that it was an osprey (I had done a bit of research when I got home yesterday). He pointed out the fish beneath the bird, which he had been watching for a bit. I stood under the branch, trying to capture a photo of this beautiful bird. Other people came by, commenting on the beauty of this elegant sea eagle.

osprey lunch

I found myself thinking about this coincidence of spotting two birds of prey on my walks on two consecutive days. When I watch egrets, I think of their patience, their calm and regal manner as they stand knee-deep in the ocean water. They seem solitary–in great contrast to the seagulls and smaller shore birds that ofter hang out in groups, running with the tide. When I think of birds of prey, I think of fierceness and independence. They seem to take control of their environment, taking the long view of the resources below. They are brutal and efficient, moving sharply as they take their prey, gripping firmly with sharp talons and sharper beaks.

Do I have something to learn from birds of prey right now? Is this a call to be more decisive, to be more fierce and determined? I know these beautiful birds have me thinking…and writing.

I know that I write to think, to better understand myself and the world around me. I write to reflect and to express, to slow down and pay attention. On this National Day on Writing I renew my commitment to daily writing…and to more frequent posting here. How will you celebrate the National Day on Writing? Why do you write?

On the National Day on Writing

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Today is the National Day on Writing–a day to celebrate all that writing offers. My students were excited this morning at the thought that they would get to write today. In fact, they were already excited about the writing they had done last night in their Learning at Home notebooks. We started the day listening to a short story by a student about a leaf, a leaf personified, who travels from a tree branch to a construction site and eventually back to a leaf pile with the help of the leaf blower. We could have spent the entire morning listening to stories written by students…but we had writing to do!

Inspired by Red Sings from the Treetops by Joyce Sidman, we began writing our own color-inspired poetry earlier this week. Today we took those bits and starts and worked to craft them into a whole piece. Some students were spectacularly successful, some had moments of brilliance, and others veered away from color and still wrote some interesting accounts of things they are interested in. They wrote, read to a partner, and eventually created a short video of themselves reading their poem on Flipgrid. And while their first attempts are not ready for “prime time,” I am proud of all they accomplished today and their enthusiastic and creative approach to our day.

Here are a few glimpses:

In winter, yellow sighs, I’m done. None of my sunlight can peek through clouds as dark as the oceans’ most shadowy blue places. It’s time white takes his place..

(Third grade boy)

In summer yellow shines from the sky while blue splashes . Colorful plants explode with power and beauty. In summer blue wraps around my ankles. Red rises from green…

(Third grade girl)

In the morning gold wakes me up with his paws and barking, “I’m hungry.” And with his pink tongue, gold wets my face…

(Third grade boy)

At the beach, green is sly. It slithers by surfboards, sneaks by me and ties a slippery knot around my legs…

(Third grade girl)

Students left today wanting more…begging for more opportunities to write and share. My students remind me that writing can be playful and creative, an opportunity for social interaction and experimentation. They remind me that there are lots of reasons #whyiwrite!

Paying Attention: #whyiwrite 2017

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Fall is subtle in San Diego. Instead of a riotous celebration of trees dressed in their best fall colors I notice that the lifeguard towers have been moved from their strategic summer shoreline positions to a collection near the road. Instead of grabbing a sweater and drinking warm apple cider, we scan the horizon for evidence of wildfires as hot winds gust and whip the dry grasses and dust into a frenzy.

lifeguard towers

But in spite of these easy to miss markers of fall, there are seasons in San Diego. Not the two (spring and summer) that so many use to describe our temperate climate, but four distinct seasons that you might only recognize if you take the time to notice, document, and reflect.

fall colors on the ocean

It’s like that in my classroom too. As teachers (and maybe as parents and learners too) we all wish that learning came with recognizable markers of growth. That we could watch the leaves of learning change from green to yellow to brilliant crimson, celebrating new knowledge, expertise and confidence. We’d love for snowplows to mark the new pathways that allow for connections between new concepts and older understandings. But learning is often subtle. It is incremental, sneaking its way into our synapses and those of our students without fanfare.

To pay attention to these subtleties, I turn to my camera. My camera has become my go-to tool for focusing my attention, allowing me to notice and document changes in my environment. Through its lens, I pay attention to changes in light and shadow, notice moods and action, and see what might otherwise be overlooked. Combined with writing, reflection becomes a daily habit with camera in hand.

black and white seagull

Writing helps me pay attention. It helps me record the small details that don’t seem to amount to much and notice how those details change, accumulate, and grow over time. And when paired with photography, writing helps me leap from concrete to abstract, considering why a photo of lifeguard towers stored for the fall and winter draws my attention to my students and their learning. Writing pushes me from the tediums of day to day, to examine the reasons I keep returning to those same topics. And even more importantly, when I write, I am reminded of the power of writing not just for myself but also for my students and that helps me search for ways to support them as they find their own reasons to write.

I write to support my students as writers, knowing that the power of the pen will open possibilities for thinking, learning, and problem solving. And when I pay close attention, I will not only learn about them but also from them. That’s why I write.

The Power of Community

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Our students are writers, but even a few short weeks ago many didn’t see themselves that way. They were worried that they didn’t know how to spell, that their writing wasn’t “right,” that others knew something that they didn’t about this mysterious practice called writing.

Like we do every year, we’ve been working to build a community of learners and writers in our multiage class of first, second and third graders. And like Margaret Simon reminds us all in her #digilit post this week, that requires practice, patience, and persistence. Margaret was talking about the use of digital tools–but I would argue, it is the same with or without the digital tools. But I want to remind us (and myself) that practice doesn’t mean drudgery. Instead it means establishing a practice, regular opportunities to write in meaningful ways. It means low stakes opportunities to explore the possibilities of writing, to play with words, to share your attempts with others who are also trying on and experimenting. And it means knowing that your first attempt is not your only attempt, that writing takes time and multiple iterations that come from layering inspiration, mentor texts, and supportive instruction.

A week ago, we were inspired by the life and poetry of e.e.cummings. (If you have not yet read the picture book biography of cummings by Matthew Burgess, Enormous Smallness–you should. It’s quite a treat!) Burgess’s description of cummings exploring the world with “his eyes on tiptoes” made an impression on our young writers. After studying love is a place by cummings along with a few other poems by various authors as mentors, our students set out to compose a poem about something they love.

They wrote these poems in layers–a little each day over the course of a week–and in a community of other poets (including their teachers) working to express their thinking and visions about something they care about. We read our works-in-progress, noting language we loved, noticing techniques we could borrow, and learning how to “fit” something into a page already full. (A major impediment to revision for young students…we continually work to show our writers how to make changes without erasing or starting over!)

The resulting poems are magical…and incredibly varied. From the one that begins, “Shall I compare winter with a magical place…” (inspired by her own knowledge of Shakespeare and her love of snow and ice) to the one that ends, “Time doesn’t exist on a boat on the ocean when fishing,” my heart swells knowing that the power of our writing community has taken hold.

And sometimes you get the piece that feels momentous, a powerful expression from a student who previously didn’t claim writing as something he even wanted to own. But he is feeling the magic of his words and wants to share them, giving me permission to share them with other writers and learners. Surrounded by a community of writers and learners and inspired by the mentor text, Trouble, Fly by Susan Marie Swanson and the story, The Waterfall by Jonathan London, B knew he had something to say about writing that is worth sharing with others.

screen-shot-2016-10-23-at-1-19-28-pm

B’s effort shows the results of practice, patience, and persistence. But this didn’t come from a single lesson. Instead, it is the result of cumulative effort now in its third year for this student. B expects to write for many reasons and in many ways on a regular basis. That’s what we do in our learning community. On Thursday, the National Day on Writing, students put some of those reasons for writing in print to express #whyiwrite to the larger community of writers on Twitter.

As I think about myself as a writer and as a photographer, I know that practice, patience and persistence also apply to me and my own learning. I wrote last week about writing with light through my photography. This morning as I walked the beach in a light rain, I wanted to capture the quality of light and feeling of expanse I experienced. As I poured over and thought about the photos I took, my mind wandered back to one of my photographic mentors, Ansel Adams. And I found myself inspired by his words…and by his use of black and white to express nature’s powerful beauty. I took my photo and used a filter to transform it from color to black and white, capturing the mood and expansiveness…and the quiet I was looking for.

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. Ansel Adams

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wonder

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Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

As I headed out my front door this morning a dew covered dandelion puff caught my eye. I was filled with wonder as I noticed the heaviness of the strands of fluff and I couldn’t wait to put my work things in my car so I could head back over to take a photo. Seeing the dew all over my car and windows, I decided to start my car, squeegee the windows and then set up my macro lens to capture that image. At that moment, as I sat in the driver’s seat and pushed the button to start my ignition, my car let out a short groan and then nothing. I tried to pull the key out to try again…but it wouldn’t release and when I tried the ignition button again…nothing.

Lucky for me, my husband was working from home this morning so I was able to head back in to see if he could help. And while he was checking out my car, I got the opportunity to attach my macro lens and snap a few shots. I love the way you can see the dandelion fluff encased in a dew drop in this shot.

(As I write this, my car is in the shop. My husband was able to take me to work and hopefully we’ll be picking my car up later today.)

Yesterday, I reveled in the wonder of my students as they took a close look at some fall leaves my teaching partner brought back from her trip to Colorado. My students had the opportunity to observe, sketch and photograph the leaves…and these will also serve as information and inspiration for some poetry and art. I found myself taking photos of students taking photos of leaves (and you can see some sketches in progress in the background).

On Monday, we celebrated the National Day on Writing (for details you can see this post) by writing collaborative poetry with the older multiage class at our other school. My students continually amaze and delight me as they embrace the wonder of words…and of collaboration. It was such fun to watch kids, from six to eleven years old, figure out how to bring their ideas together in a collaborative poem.

I spent the weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Association for Science and Technology Centers conference. Unlike a usual educational conference, this conference is mostly attended by museum professionals. My colleague from the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and I presented as part of our participation in a partnership between writing projects and science centers. Since we have been exploring ways to transform field trip experiences for students, we included a mini field trip “exhibit” as part of our presentation. It was such fun to catch the wonder and delight on the face of adults as they explored with a science “toy.”

I also had the opportunity to explore the North Caroline Museum of Natural Sciences (I wrote more about it here). This museum is quite unusual and includes many unique features. I got to watch these veterinarians work with this snake, including using a “trach” tube. We got to listen to the snake’s respirations and ask the vets questions about the procedure. You’ll notice that they are also projected onto the screen on the right hand side of the photo. I can only imagine the wonder children will experience as they watch these animal doctors at work!

And in the more traditional part of the museum I happened to look up with a bit of surprise and wonder as I noticed these pterodactyls above my head. You can also see the lights of the city through this windowed dome where the pterodactyls flew.

And sometimes it is the simple things that fill me with wonder. Raleigh is known for its oak trees. While they were not experiencing full blown colorful fall leaves, there were leaves and acorns falling here and there. I love the simplicity of this leaf on the brick walkway.

What fills you with wonder? Is it the simplicity and beauty of nature or watching students at work? Did you catch a scientific wonder (like today’s partial solar eclipse) or revel in the intricacies of man-made structures?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #wonder for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Open your eyes and heart and pay attention to what fills you with wonder. Breathe in and take that photo, not so much to make art, but to capture the moment for further reflection. I can’t wait to see those wonder-full moments through your lens!

Write My Community

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We are writers…and today we celebrated writing.

I teach in a pretty unique situation, in a multiage class of first, second, and third graders. I co-teach this class with another amazing teacher and we keep our students for three years. We are not merely teachers and students, we are a learning community. We support each other, challenge each other, learning together over an extended period of time.

And this is the third year where we have celebrated the National Day on Writing by joining up with our district’s other multiage class–this one of fourth and fifth graders–many who were our students. This time, the older kids joined us at our school starting with some shared play time on the playground…and lots of hugs as kids reconnected, siblings sought out their brothers and sisters, and older kids reminisced about their days as “little kids.”

And then the fun began…

As 80+ students headed into the auditorium, they each had a part of an animal picture to match to find their cross-age partner(s). After spending a few minutes getting to know one another, partners were ready to begin a collaborative writing activity.

Believing that writers write best from abundance, last week students in both our classes drafted some poetry. Our students had studied some poetry mentor texts from some of our favorite poets including Kristine O’Connell George and Valerie Worth and then, considering things they care about and know about, set off to write some poetry. Once drafted, they separated their poems into individual lines and then cut the lines apart to store in a baggie. The other class used a similar process and came to our event today with lines of poetry in a baggie as well.

After getting to know each other, students pulled three lines from their poem from the baggie to share with their partner and after reading and listening to the six lines of poetry, decided how to build on those ideas to create a collaborative poem representing the partnership. A hush fell over the room as poets set to work negotiating and collaborating, crafting poetry together.

And even though the room was full, it was if each partnership worked in a bubble of creativity and focus of their own.

And it wasn’t long before drafts were prepared…and the writers were ready to go public with their poems.

We headed out…beyond the school gate…to the sidewalk outside of our school, out into the community. And with sidewalk chalk and their drafts in hand, our writers chalked their poems onto the sidewalk for the public to see and read: a chalk-a-bration!

It was fun to watch cars slow down to see what we were doing and people with their dogs stop to admire our handiwork. Chalking their poem onto the sidewalk was not as easy as students first thought. There was the dilemma of figuring out which direction to write and how much space it would take. And then applying the right pressure to make the words readable…and even finding a comfortable position to do the writing came into play.

Students began to suggest that we post the written poems on the fence near the sidewalk, realizing that reading pencil on paper might be easier than chalk on sidewalk. We’re looking into the feasibility of the possibility.

Our celebration ended with an open mic back in the auditorium. I’m always amazed with how eager our students are to share their writing. We could have stayed for another hour listening to the poems, but had to limit ourselves to a few random poem selections…for now!

For us, the National Day on Writing is an opportunity to publicly celebrate what we do every day…write. And this year’s theme: write my community, was perfect for us. We are a community of writers that extends beyond the classroom and across age and grade levels. We write to learn, to remember, to explain, to share our knowledge, to explore, to convince, to analyze, to reflect, and to express ideas and feelings. We write for ourselves, for each other, and for the public.

We are writers.

Happy National Day on Writing!

A Writing Kind of Day

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Today was a writing kind of day.

On Friday we began celebrating the National Day on Writing with a field trip and a puzzle piece that I wrote about here.

But today was the cherry on top of the writing sundae.

Our morning began with a version of a chalk talk. My teaching partner taped white butcher paper to the wall ball court and posted a few questions for students at our school to respond to: How do you use writing to connect? Where do you like to write? and Who are your favorite authors or what are you favorite books?

With markers in hand, our students started writing.

They wrote about places they love to write: writing on couches, on the beach, and in libraries. They love Shel Silverstein, Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl, and J.K. Rowling. They write letters, texts, emails, books, notes and more.

They wrote and wrote and wrote. And when they weren’t writing, they were reading the writing of their classmates on the wall.

Our school-wide puzzle was also on display in the wall ball court today.

And students enjoyed reading what other classes at our school wrote for their puzzle piece (and finding their own and reading it again!).

And then we went on with our regular classroom activities…and more writing! Our students have been drafting a just-for-fun piece of writing about an animal of their choice. And they were applying what they have been learning about using figurative language (similes), specific and interesting verbs, and sensory imagery (sound, movement) to write a “moment” featuring their animal. Today they took some time to give their writing a “check up” (you know like the doctor does to make sure you are healthy). They reread their writing and looked for the features mentioned above…and then went back to their writing to make it even better.

And the best part of the day was that these writers enjoyed writing, sharing writing about their writing on Twitter, and even revising their writing…because they are writers. And today was all about writing.