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!