You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.

— Jodie Picoult

Welcome to my writing blog! I previously had a website that discussed children’s books, but I couldn’t edit it enough to get it to look like how I wanted it to, so I started over. This website is for the class “Teaching the Language Arts”, which has a specific focus on writing. The beginning of this class has been a little hectic, as I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Sarasota, FL preparing to attend the national DADD conference. Anyways, here’s my first blog post!

I have begun writing in my writer’s notebook that I purchased at Walmart. My goal for the semester is to try to write something at least 6 out of the 7 days of the week. Writing used to be a passion of mine, but once I entered high school, the writing became far less fun, so I stopped after a while. With this writers notebook, I hope to reignite the enjoyment that I used to get from writing. For my future students, learning to write as a way of self expression is of paramount importance to me. The mechanics and grammar can all be fixed at a later time, as the quote from Jodi Picoult states above. Writing needs to be a safe space for students with and they must feel like the purpose of writing isn’t to be criticized. One paragraph stood out to me from the book “Mentor Texts”:

A student writer is a part of a larger community. He needs to feel safe when he puts his writing out into the world. Clearly, norms must be established that the community honors. Central to “rules to live by” is the idea that a writer is never personally criticized- only the writing, and only in the spirit of moving the writer forward. Student writers must understand that they are not alone and that writing is not a solitary act. Indeed, they must be able to listen attentively and let the thinking of the community be something they consider and learn from. Noticing problem-solving strategies in writing workshop will be the key factor to success and growth in writing.

Lynne R. Dorfman & Rose Cappelli, p 14

Normally, I wouldn’t dream of putting a quote that long into a post, but I feel that every word is vitally important. I think for so many of us, we think of writing of something that we do independently (which we sometimes do, in a journal or a diary), and is something that is only ever criticized. For so many people, writing means more to us than a math test or a science lab paper. Writing is an incredibly personal experience, and that’s why so many people feel personally insulted when somebody comes in and critiques their writing. It can absolutely feel like a personal attack that needs defending. That is why, as stated above, rules need to be set up and followed when editing somebody’s writing, so we can ensure that what we are attempting to fix is only the person’s writing and not an attack on them. This is why writing notebooks exist. You can write whatever you want in a writer’s notebook without fear of it being scrutinized or judged. Having a class work in writer’s notebooks allows them to feel connected to one another and allow them to use those notebooks as a source for positivity and creativity as opposed to something that needs to be constantly corrected. Within the space of a writer’s notebook, the rules that come with more conventional writing activities go out the window and the only person’s whose opinion matters is the writers.

For me, personally, being required to write in a writer’s notebook is a little serendipitous, as I prepare to write my first big research paper based off of my own research. When I took the writing course as a part of my special education degree my sophomore year, I felt vastly out of my league, as I hadn’t been writing and had flat out never written anything like it before. Now, not only am I more experienced, but the writing time that I am gaining in this class is only helping me towards my comfort in writing in general. It has been such a wonderful experience to write for my own enjoyment for the first time in an incredibly long time. After reading the first section of “Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal”, I have found myself looking for moments of serendipity within my own life to fill my writer’s notebook with. I think that sometimes, it’s hard for us to slow down and notice the little things in life that make it seem like the universe is falling together in the right way. Reading what Rosenthal had to say on the subject of serendipity has definitely encouraged me to attempt to slow down some and notice the wonderful things that everyday life has to offer. For example, on my flight yesterday, we took of from Atlanta right as the sun had begun to set and landed right as it had finished. I was assigned to an aisle seat in an exit row (more space!!) and I got to watch the sun set through the window for the entire flight (see pictures below).

Rosenthal says in her book, “If you like something, you tend to be on the lookout for it. And if you’re on the lookout for it, you tend to find it, or it- Yoo-hoo! Over here!- finds you. And so it goes, for me, with serendipity and coincidence. It’s something I like, so it’s something I notice and attract” (Rosenthal, p 26). I think serendipity and enjoying the little things in life is something that I will put a more conscience effort in for in the future.

Dorfman, L. R., Cappelli, R., & Hoyt, L. (2017). Mentor texts: teaching writing through childrens literature, k-6(Vol. 2). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Rosenthal, A. K. (2016). Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Penguin Group USA.