Slice of Life 31: Farewell Finale

 (During March, I am blogging daily as a part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge!)  Special thanks to the hosts of the Slice of Life Challenge:  Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna and Beth.   More Slice of Life posts can be found at  Two Writing Teachers .

 

Wow!  31 consecutive days of writing is coming ot an end . . . What do I say?  What am I thinking?  What will I do with my free time?

My process:  I set up a folder on my desk top where I saved pictures that I wanted to consider adding to blogs.  I created a word document and listed “Topics that I can blog about.”  I drafted some posts in Word and some directly in WordPress.  I did some “flash drafting.”  I watched “Be Inspired” and the Classroom SOLSC14 for writing tips/ideas.  My routine included drafting my posts the evening before needed and then the morning of posting, I  reviewed, revised and edited.

Some posts seemed to write themselves.  Those were on topics that I had already spent some time thinking about.  Newer topics meant that I nothing written ahead of time.  Those posts took longer to construct unless the topic had been the focus of conversation previously.  Days spent traveling meant that I planned ahead and wrote multiple posts in advance.

 

If you have been following this month, you may recall that I began March with a post about alphabet books and the fact that I like to collect them because they are so neat and tidy.  I also like to collect or organize my work.  Sometimes I organize by color, sometimes I organize by numbers, and sometimes I organize by charts.  So for this finale, I have assembled a table in order to review the “current data.” (Just a little OCD!)

 

Slice	Title	Content	Format (*idea from TWT)
1	March Challenge:  Slice of Life	Alphabet as an Organizer	Narrative/ Info­
2	ABC’s of Reading	Joys of Reading	ABC poem
3	Home	Defining Home	Narr. Quotes and info
4	“Change of Plans”	Waiting	Narr. Quote and poem
5	Coming Home	Celebration	Narr. Pictures/poem
6	Bucket List	List	*poem / Info
7	Exhaustion	A “To Do” list	poem
8	Studying Student Writing	Content – 3rd grade Ts	Narrative
9	#EdCampIowa and “Can Do” Prep for Writing	Talk Before Writing (Conversation Lines)	Info
10	Embrace Change	Quote & Dr. Seuss	Picture and words= pt.
11	Challenges	Typical responses to challenges	Info
12	Tenacity	Dad and turning point	Narrative
13	From Challenges to Turning Points	TCRWP and turning points	*AGC, Info
14	Road Trip with Dad	Moving Home from College	Narrative (cum. Poem)C &C
15	Two Truths and a Lie	Comparisons:  Dad and Me	Reader interaction
16	The Truth and the Answers	Comparisons:  Dad and Me	Answers / Explan.
17	Family	Family	Narr. Acrostic poem
18	Support Systems	Thanks (metaphor tree)	Info
19	Hunger Games	Books vs. Movies	Info w/ poll
20	Changing Seasons	Sports cycles	poem
21	6:15 on Friday	AM events	*Poem
22	Saturday	TCRWP and data (19)	Info
23	How much reading is enough?	Reflective questions	Quotes
24	Maximizing Instructional Time	Talk and small groups	Twitter quotes
25	Are you in the pool?	Writing your story	Quotes/blogs
26	Try it, You WILL LIKE it!	Memory (inner talk)	Narrative/inner dialogue
27	Summers	Memories	*Poem
28	Revising or Editing	CCSS.Anchor.W.5	Info
29	:: right now ::	Status check	Narr. *Verb list/poem
30	Thank You!	Thanks	Info
31	Farewell Finale	Reflection on March Writing	Narr, Info

 

Trying to “label posts” for the final column was difficult.  Writing is not always just “one” form or format.  Multiple forms can be compiled very easily in a blog post format.  I had several goals with this challenge:

1. Write 31 posts                                                                       Done

2. Write some stories / narratives                             11 / 31

3. Write some poetry                                                              11 / 31

4.  Add pictures more frequently to my blog       11 / 31

5.  Continue to grow my own knowledge in writing  (tried something new * 5/31)

6. Continue to support teachers who teach reading/writing     8/3 1

 

Because I did not write any of my goals in a measurable, SMART format, my thoughts about whether I have “met” my goals is purely subjective.  I do believe that just like a story arc, I have moved to a different point as I end March with more frequent and more proficient writing –  a different place than where I began on March 1st.

 

Thanks again for being a part of my writing journey!

I would highly recommend that ALL “Slicers” consider having a twitter presence!  One more communication tool!