Reflections on #sol16

#SOL16

Day 31

Reflections on a Month of Writing!

     I have come to enjoy the Slice of Life Challenge, because it has made me a {kind of} narrative writer.  Last year, I struggled with being a writer of slices of my life.  Reflections on school activities, or posts about reading topics have always been relatively easy for me to write.  Narrative, on the other hand, proved difficult.  I tended to write poetry as a quick solution.  I needed to practice the narrative genre as a writer.

     This year, my second attempt at Slice of Life, was much easier for me.  As soon as the month started, I started to "see" my world through more of a narrative lens.  On March 1st, I found myself looking at my windshield wipers and noticing the syncopated rhythm as they hit the windshield.  I noticed the small conversations I had with my children more, and saw the lessons they were learning. You see the world differently when you write stories.  It's a way I wish I saw the world all the time.  Close reading what matters is a gift.  

    This year, I also had the opportunity to work with students slicers in the month of March!  +Christine Flowers took on the challenge of blogging with her class every day, and I was able to work with them a few days a week as we worked on our writing.  Our slices were not always narrative slices, but they certainly increased their writing volume and voice and choice.  I worked with them on Small Moment Mondays, Finding a Story in a Picture Wednesdays, and Have an Opinion Thursdays. Mrs. Flowers blogged with them every day, and became a slicer herself in the process!  Here is her class's Kidblog!

https://kidblog.org/class/3fl-slices-of-life/posts

     What did the kids say about blogging?  We made a web of reasons we should keep blogging after April 1st, and this is what they had to say!  

     Thanks again, Two Writing Teachers, for hosting the challenge.  It was a great month for us all!