Reflections on Slicing...Lessons for writers and teachers of writers

Slicing this month has been a little bit stressful, but mostly an exciting challenge. There are loads of lessons that I can take from the experience of blogging, daily, for a month - but three top the list for me:

1. I had no idea how important writing for an audience is (well, I knew intellectually, but...), knowing that you guys are out there on the other end of the blog world was terrifying at first, because I had no idea who you were and how you were going to respond to my writing and ideas. Later, after I began to feel a part of this unique community, I realized that I was writing with you in mind. This leads me to consider our classrooms - especially classrooms in which the teacher is the only audience for student writing...kids will have a hard time thinking of the teacher as a person who is interested in what they have to say and how they say it. I thought carefully about my words and ideas with you in mind. What a great way to emphasize thinking about language.

2. I get the sense that writing is much like taking pictures...out of many, many pictures you may have one or two pearls (except for a few of you who manage to post beautiful pics daily). In re-reading my writing, there are a couple of "golden lines" that I think are very well-written, but the real beauty is in the daily practice of the craft: think, write, revise, write, revise, write, revise, publish when ready. Pushing that Publish button was often difficult, but taking a risk is part of learning.

3. Most rewarding was the opportunity to reflect on life as I am living it on a daily basis. There were only a couple of days that I felt really pressed to find a topic to write about - kids provide lots of fodder for the blog - and I love that I have a record of what was going on in my mind and my life during the month of March. It is often the minutia in our lives that reminds us where we are going and why... I enjoyed sharing and processing those things with you!

So - thanks for being a wonderful audience for my tentative foray into blog writing; and, thank you all so much for sharing amazing slices of your life and world with me! I learned so much.