March is here!

Day 1 of 31 at Two Writing Teachers!

March is coming...

Over the past week, writing ideas have been bouncing around my head, gaining momentum throughout the days. Of course, I'll write about Little Sweetie! And teaching. And our new house... well, maybe not until they break ground. Maybe I'll write about working out. (Will I be able to work out? Well, I'll definitely go for walks at least.)

March is coming...

Sneaky apprehension wove its tendrils into my brain. What if I can't handle it? What if I can't make it work, to write this much with a baby? And I still have projects to grade somehow... I only wrote 14 days last year! ...Yes, but I still had a great experience! I always tell my kids that whatever you write, it's still more than you'd have done otherwise. It'll be fine. Besides, I'm doing SO much better than I was last year. I can do it!

March is coming...

As if my personal thoughts and feelings weren't taking up enough room in my brain, I also had to figure out how to present the challenge to my kids. Each year I've presented it slightly differently, and each year I've still been met with too many groans and not enough excitement. Apparently, most teenagers are not naturally inclined to think that writing every day will be fun! (Who knew?) We could start by looking at my slices on my blog. But they've already seen some of those. Or maybe some of the how-to posts on TWT? No, we should read some example slices by past students. But we do that throughout the challenge! I could read-aloud one of T.'s awesome slicing reflections about how much he grew as a writer? And of course, I'll hang up the celebration posters... Ooh, maybe I should hype the celebration posters more? The kids were pretty intrigued by those last year, and now there are even more great posters! ...But what if they whine again? I have to help them see how much other kids grew!

March is coming...

March. is. here!!!!!!

celebration posters from past years with numbers of slices for the month!

We looked at the celebration posters, noticing the range in post numbers and little notes of encouragement my past students wrote on them: The thrill of receiving comments. The satisfaction of applying new writing strategies. The sense of accomplishment from the momentum of working so hard for so long. The connections formed from reading other slicers' posts.

I interjected a few of my own favorite moments from slicing: echoes of what my students had written on their posters, but with my live enthusiasm. Locking eyes with kids around the room, I summoned a little of my OSU marching band squad leader spunk. "It will be hard. It's hard for me. But it will be worth it. My students who have really gotten into it have said it's one of the best things they have done to improve their English. And we'll be doing it together."

No groans!

Smiles. Nods. Determination.
And when I read their posts, excitement.

March is here. Here we go!