Tag: The Writing Process

Resolutions in Retrospect – Dec. 30, 1998

bette / / PORTFOLIO, Transitions

I just now read through “Resolutions in Retrospect” for the first time in many years.  I’ve skimmed through it as I’ve been going through my old writing … but haven’t really thought about what I discovered that New Year’s Eve in 1998.

That was over 17 years ago!  I’ve taken time between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year since then to reflect over the past year.  Instead of a Christmas letter, I’ve put together illustrated New Year’s letters that have reminded me to hold on to some things as I’ve let go of others.

I skipped that process this year . . .  but I just now realized that these blogs are taking that process to another level.  Much to my surprise, I just realized that my Resolution in Retrospect this year, will probably be the same as it was 20 years ago, on New Year’s Eve in 1996:

 

“In retrospect, I see that my New Year’s resolution, though not voiced on New Year’s Eve 1996, was to Simplify.   I began a process of cleaning files and closets, letting go of possessions and “shoulds,” and trying to focus on one thing at a time.”  

 

CLICK HERE:  Resolutions in Retrospect

 

A Poem for Olivia – Jan. 29, 2014

bette / / Parenting on Purpose, Pillar of Fire, PORTFOLIO

I wrote this poem the day after my daughter called to tell us that she was pregnant.  On January 28, 2014 and we were in our RV at Lake Cahuilla in La Quinta, California.  The news came as a shock for many reasons, and I’m afraid that my tone on the phone was not one of delight.  I think Shannon understood and gave me the time I needed to adjust to the unexpected situation.

 

I don’t consider myself a poet, but the attached story explains why I wrote this one.  I have revised the poem twice.  The first time was when Shannon and Jeff decided to name their daughter Olivia.   The second revision was made a couple of weeks after Olivia was born when I realized that the hope I had felt the morning I wrote it had turned to pure joy.

 

CLICK HERE:

For Olivia (Story and Poem)

For Olivia

Comments on For Olivia

EMOTIONAL LADDER

 

Reorganizing – A Simpler Way

bette / / Learning to Write / Writing to Learn, Transitions

I’ve been back in Brookings for a week and finally feel settled enough to get back to these blogs.  As I was moving books from one shelf to another and filling a couple of boxes to donate to the library, a book that I’ve had for many years caught my eye.

It’s called A Simpler Way by Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers.  The basic premise of the book is that this thing we call “LIFE” is simply an on-going process of organization and re-organization – from order- to chaos- to order again.  The book starts with a beautiful photo essay showing the surface of water as it is disturbed and settles back, of birds in flight, of clouds, and of sunsets, of fish swimming in schools, of people dancing, and of children in play.

 

As I’m reading the book I’ve realized that’s what I’ve been doing with Edublogs since I started playing with it in 2009. My first blog was an experiment and I just called it “bette.edublogs.org.” As a volunteer at Pacific Bridges Alternative School I was reading Call of the Wild with a small group of students. When I left for the winter we used Edublogs to create a “virtual literature circle.”  The results of that experiment were spotty, but since then I’ve learned a lot and have taken advantage of a bulk upgrade. I continue to organize and reorganize five blogs as I become more focused on what I want them to become.

I’ve changed the title of http://bette.edublogs.org several times and am now using it for Learning to Write / Writing to Learn.   I’m so glad I copied the original text of our “virtual” literature circle into a Word document because now I’m also ready to revise it for Chapter 6 of L2W/W2L.

 

Call of the Wild – KEYS to Literature

TABLE of CONTENTS

 

 

Meanderings … and the Common Core Writing Standards

bette / / Learning to Write / Writing to Learn

 

Writing for me is a process, an internal conversation – a way to process my thoughts.

I started this blog in 2009 for two reasons. One was to capture some of those random thoughts, and the other was to learn about “web logs” … or as I found out they were called: blogs.  Edublogs had been recommended to me because it is designed for teachers to use as a way to help students become proficient at using the internet to communicate their own ideas.  I started out with one experimental blog – and over the years have learned enough to feel comfortable using this format as a place to process, organize, and store drafts of my own work.

 

When I was a classroom teacher I had two favorite subjects: Writing and Music.  “Creative Writing” was taught as a separate subject in 1968 when I began teaching 4th grade at San Rafael School in Pasadena, California.  I loved publishing little books of writing to display at Open House.  It was all so simple and fun!

 

Someone once said that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  I’ve never been too sure about what that means … but it came to mind because I was just thinking about the Common Core Standards – particularly the Writing Standards.  We hear a lot about the Common Core these days, but I have yet to talk to anyone who really knows much about them. Since I’ve always been so interested in teaching writing, and in helping teachers teach writing, I wanted to know exactly what the Common Core Writing Standards were about.

 

They weren’t hard to find, but what really surprised me was that there are only TEN.  Not only that, when I read them … and waded through the somewhat confusing language (“Educationeze” as it’s been called) … I realized that I’ve been teaching the “common core” all my life.  So has every other teacher I’ve ever known.  At that point I got to work on translating them into plain English. Here’s what I came up with:

CLICK HERE:  COMMON CORE STANDARDS for WRITING simplified

 

The reason I started writing this morning is that I began thinking about Common Core Writing Standard #6.

     CCW 6: Use of technology/internet to collaborate and publish

 

It occurs to me that’s what Edublogs is all about.  When I hear people railing against “The Common Core” … I wish I could just send them my simple version of the Writing Standards!  I haven’t yet studied all of the standards for Language Arts – but I have noticed that there are only ten reading standards – and they correspond to the standards for writing.

For now, however, I’m going to move forward with Common Core Writing Standard #6.  If we are going to expect our children to “use technology and the internet to collaborate and publish” … then it seems to me that I need to get over my fear of technology and jump on the “moving train” … as I said I was going to do in 2009 when I decided to start this blog:

 

CLICK HERE: WELCOME to MEANDERINGS!

 

Resolutions in Retrospect

bette / / Learning to Write / Writing to Learn, PORTFOLIO

It’s New Year’s Day 2015, and if I made any resolutions a year ago I’m sure I didn’t keep them.  That’s not surprising because I realized a long time ago that it works best for me to write my resolutions at the end of the year instead of at the beginning. If I had made a New Year’s Resolution on Jan. 1, 2014  I’m sure it would have had something to do with writing.  I probably would have said that I would focus on one thing at a time and stop “meandering” so much.

Looking back, however, I realize that’s just not going to happen. In fact, as I look back over 2014 I realize that my “resolution in retrospect” would be that I would ease up on myself.  I wrote in an earlier post that I write because it’s fun – and that’s what I’m going to continue doing in 2015 … and just enjoy where it takes me.

That said … I had a lot of fun this past week putting together an illustrated New Year’s letter.  I want to post it now because for the first time since I’ve been doing this I’ve actually finished it on New Year’s Day!

CLICK HERE:   2015 Letter

Overcoming Writer’s Block: It’s Just Not that Hard

bette / / Learning to Write / Writing to Learn

When I’m working with a student who is experiencing “writer’s block,” my advice is to just start writing.  Period.  Put the pencil on the paper and just start pushing it across the line.  If nothing else, just begin – “I don’t know what to write . . . I don’t know what to write . . . I don’t know what to write. . . I don’t know . . . etc. etc.”  I tell them that at some point their brain will probably kick in and the word “BUT” will show up:

 

I don’t know what to write. . . I don’t know what to write . . . I don’t know what to write. . . but today at recess when I was shooting baskets and Jeff and Mark  . . . .  

 

At that point they are usually off and running and don’t want to stop when the allotted time is up.  I could easily get sidetracked right now and tell the story about what happened when I tried that with a class of fifth graders at Bunker Hill Elementary School in Coos Bay, Oregon during a demonstration lesson on writing – but I’ll save that story for later.  Right now I’m feeling blocked again so I’m just going to take my own advice and start writing . . .

 

________________

 

Before Richard and I left Palm Desert to return to Brookings in April, I had lunch with my friend Geoffrey.  Once again we had the conversation about my problem with writing.  We’ve had this conversation before and I’m sure he’s as sick of it as I am.  The same words come up every time:  Lack of focus.  Lack of commitment.  Fear of failure.  Fear of success.  Lack of time.  Too much time.  Lack of focus . . . Lack of commitment  . . . ad nauseam. . .

 

Surprisingly, however, something new came up that day.  Geoffrey asked me about my “core” – as a person and as a writer.  As I struggled to come up with some sort of an answer . . . story after story came to mind about the times when writing had come easily –  times when I have lost myself in the process and have loved it.  As he encouraged me to continue thinking along those lines, a pattern began to emerge:   I love simplifying complex ideas and situations.  When a topic feels overwhelming, I find that if I do as I’ve taught my students to do and just start pushing the pencil across the paper (or pounding my fingers on the keyboard), my mood seem to shift.  Things start to make sense.  That “overwhelmed” feeling begins to dissipate as one idea expresses itself at a time.  And later, when I read back over what I’ve written, I realize that “I Get It! :-)”

 

I suppose that shouldn’t be too surprising since as an elementary school teacher, that’s what it’s all about. I’ve always believed that you don’t really understand something unless you can explain it to a third grader.  But until that conversation with Geoffrey, I never really honored that ability – in myself or in the thousands of other teachers who do it on a daily basis.

 

Since that day I’ve spent a great deal of time digging through piles upon piles of papers in my office, and folders within folders in my computer,  and still only have a couple of blog posts to show for it.   What amazes me is just how much I’ve written over the past 15 years – and that in almost every piece there has been an element of “simplifying the complex.”   Even now as I write, that’s what I’m doing.    The human brain processes thought at an incredible rate of speed.   But not so human fingers!  They can only write – or type – or text – one thought at a time.   The process of writing is a process of slowing down.  Centering.  Simplifying.  Finding the core or what needs to be said and saying it.  Period.