Celebrate - I Am A Writer

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 was the NCTE's 7th Annual National Day on Writing. I happily shared this VIDEO by Lucy Calkins with my students. Lucy starts, "Writers, I'm talking to you today because you are writers. Because you do what writers the world over do - You live like writers."

Today I celebrate that I AM A WRITER.

I know I live like a writer because:
1. I now always carry a notebook and something to write with in my purse. It comes out when I hear something I want to remember or when I need to jot down a To Do list or when I just want to clear my head so I put my thoughts on a page.

2. I get excited to learn from real writers. For example, on Oct. 15th, I had my class watch author, Kate DiCamillo giving a live broadcast on the Anniversary of Mercy Watson's 10th birthday. I would not have missed this free opportunity to hear the Children's Ambassador speak! And I took notes to hold onto her ideas (in my notebooks!). She said, "I write 2 pages a day" so now I've been saying to my students at the end of the Writing Workshop mini-lesson "Let's be like Kate and try to write 2 pages today."!! I love learning from published authors.

3. I make a date to BLOG every Saturday morning and sometime during the day on Tuesdays. Thanks to Ruth Ayers' invitation to Celebrate, I am usually at Starbucks each Saturday morning blogging about one thing I can celebrate after reflecting back on my week and posting to her blog. Thanks to the Two Writing Teachers, I tried the Slice of Life Challenge during March, 2014 and again in 2015. Then this habit of sharing a small moment and reading and responding to other writers became my habit. Now I blog a Slice of Life EVERY TUESDAY and I am looking forward to March, 2016!

4. I read like a writer. I read lots! I read picture books and YA novels the most. I read the Washington Post newspaper daily.As I read, I notice genres now. I notice structural moves. I notice craft moves. I share, as mentor text, a variety of reading that I do with my students. I now get why writers always say the thing they do to get better at writing is to read!

5. I celebrate published writing. With my students, I plan publishing parties and then guide the class though the writing process so our final product is something we have worked on and can really celebrate at the publishing party. At school, I hang up our writing in the hallway for all to see. Personally, I get energy when I receive a reply to one of my blog posts I have published. It is always a risk to make writing public but definitely worth it and definitely something to celebrate!

Today I celebrate - I AM A WRITER!