A Day of Writing

Where have I been? Who cares? Someone does? So for that one person who does...the monkey is back. The last couple of months have been a vortex of endings swirling with beginnings. End of summer...start of year number 10 in the classroom; end of pain-free riding...beginning of physical therapy. Each instance contains memories and moments I hope to share in this space.

My fifth grade students recently spent a day away from school doing nothing but writing...well almost nothing. Hopping on a bus with 65 10 and 11 year olds is far from nothing. How do bus drivers do it every day? My two teammates and I set up three stations at a local park near the creek winding its way through town. One "station" was focused on small moments where the kids looked at small things - a ripple in the creek, the root of a tree, etc - and describe what they see. Another "station" had the kids look at large spaces - a mountain, a tree from roots to canopy - to generate large ideas of illicite memories to write about in their notebooks. In the last area, the kids played cooperative Raccoon Games and wrote about their personal interactions.

Kids who struggles with the "I have nothing to write about" syndrome filled page after page of their notebooks with ideas and musings. I was amazed how many of our kids had never been to a place that is minutes from where they live. This day outside was well worth the bus ride.