For me, one of the most beneficial aspects to participating in Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge is this--understanding how it is to face the blank page. Don't we all see it in our classrooms from time to time? It happens to even those most prolific of writers.
Of course, I'm not talking about those students who still in the seventh month of school, following our many lessons, our topic list making, our strategy discussions, answer my "Why aren't you writing" question with a whiny "I don't have anything to write about". Those kids are the avoiders. For one reason or another, they try to avoid writing and require some creative work on my part to get the pencil moving.
I'm thinking of and connecting with students who, for one reason or another, just look at the blank page a little longer on a particular day. They realize they should be writing for their own growth as a writer as well as the fact that I, as their writing teacher, am expecting it.
Posting every day during the month of March forces me to take a sincere look at what it means when students experience this. I'll be rethinking the comments I make when this happens to them. I'll see from both sides what it means when one faces the blank page
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