My Blessed Little Life

 21 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from  Two Writing Teachers I see you struggle Day in and day out. Life has pushed you around Beaten you up Taken your lunch money. Life is a bully, Adding punch after punch To your gut. My heart breaks As I watch you in the hall, Clothes unwashed, Worn for the fifth day in a row. The Beats you carry around your neck, Bought by public generosity, Are a symbol of resilience, That money isn't an issue. School is your safe place. Your spot to get away From the chaos of your life. In and out of shelters, School of a constant. Lately that constant Is on shaky ground. That constant is tired. That constant has put up With disrespect, and abuse Of its own. That constant is rebelling too. "Find a place for this one. We've had enough." I know in a heartbeat As soon as I see you walk in What kind of day I'll have. Calm water or stormy weather Brewing as you sit down. A day of compromise, wor...

  10 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Ten days of blogging for the Slice of Life challenge have passed.  I have really enjoyed the challenge so far.  It has made me really think about what is happening in my life and how I can put it into words.    I have always loved to write, but have never really considered myself that good at it.  I have so many ideas running in my head, but when I go to actually put those ideas onto paper nothing seems to work.  I write sentences, only to erase them over and over because they don't sound right or they don't really explain the feeling I want them to.  I explain to my students all the time that writing is really about the revision process. That is where the real work takes place, and it is really true.  It is where the frustration lies for me as well.  Self doubt plays the biggest role here, I think. That nagging thought that no one will want to read what I have to...

I recently had a professional development day for my school district and was able to hear Ruth Ayres speak about teaching writing.  She mentioned her blog, Two Writing Teachers, and a challenge that she sponsors every year called the Slice of Life.   To complete the challenge, the idea is to write every day in the month of March.  I was really intrigued by the idea, and began to think about really doing this.  She also mentioned that they were beginning a classroom challenge this year for the first time.  Could I really write every day for a month?  I've had this blog established for quite a while now and sadly have only posted 20 times...so writing every day is a little lot daunting for me to even consider.  But the more I really thought about it, the more intrigued I became.  I really need to practice what I preach I guess, and I should show my students that I am a writer too.  I can't really expect them to do this and then not follow ...

I've set a goal for myself...it's the only way that I am going to stick to this exercise thing. I'm challenging myself to virtually walk across the start of Missouri...river to river. I think that I will plan to walk from the Missouri River in KC to the Mississippi River in St. Louis. I'll post my progress as I go. According to Google Maps, it is 270 miles, so at a rate of 2 miles per day, it should take me around 135 days to complete the challenge. I'm glad to have a goal...anyone want to join me?