Currently December

Apparently the only time I blog anymore is for Farely's Currently... (blogger fail)

The life of a working teacher/mother/wife/aspiring writer is busy, so blogging has taken a backseat. However I do have something exciting to share...

My 6th graders complete NaNoWriMo this week and were all WINNERS!

NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November.

My students met their lofty word count goals and have completed rough drafts of their first novels! Now begins the long tedious process of editing and revising as we get our novels ready for printing in January. Fast Pencil (a sponsor of NaNoWriMo) is professionally printing paperback novels for students who met their word count goal! My students can't wait to see their stories in print!

And, just to brag a little, I've peeked at their writing... It's pretty darn good!

Check out this passage:

Autumn couldn’t distinguish how long it was before she had woken up. Thinking she should just sit and wait for death to come, but then she realized Summer was still in danger. Trying to crawl out of the car she sees Adrianna lying there. DEAD.
“ADRIANNA NO YOU ARE NOT DYING TODAY.”  Autumn yells, holding Adrianna in her arms, now covered in her best friend’s blood. She places her face against her chest, crying, hoping her tears would bring her back to life just like in the movies. After a few more minutes Autumn crawls out of the car and whispers “Goodbye Adrianna.” With tears still dripping down her face, Autumn starts to run as fast as her injured leg will allow.

And this one:

You know that feeling when someone’s watching you, studying your movement and your breathing? Well, I’m feeling that right now, and I’m not appreciating it waking me up at one o’clock in the morning. Now I’m wide awake and there is no way I’m falling back asleep without doing a little investigating first. On my way out my bedroom door, I see them. Green, glowing eyes right there across the room.

I took part in NaNoWriMo with my students too! Here's something from my work in progress:

The sound of trees rustling in the breeze drifts through my window. It’s as if the trees are whispering secrets to be carried on by the wind. The way school children play telephone. Each tree changes the secret slightly, adding the arrangement of their leaves and branches to the cacophony of nighttime sounds. Their secret ends with me, drifting into my window, gently tickling my ear, and lulling me to sleep. Their soft breath wraps around me like a blanket and carries me into morning.

I am so glad that I decided to embark on this journey with my students. I was hesitant to at first, convinced that writing nonstop for a month would create anarchy in my classroom and start the Great Language Arts Rebellion of 2015.

However, I read this book over the summer Teach Like a Pirate, by Dave Burgess. In it he said that teachers need to be passionate. Burgess wrote "It doesn't matter what subject you teach. You can become totally engaging to your audience if they can feel your passion and love for what you are doing. You will draw students in as if by some magnetic force." By participating in NaNoWriMo along with my students I let them be a part of something that I am very passionate about. They mirrored my enthusiasm for writing and were eager to start typing each day.

Every Friday during NaNoWriMo we had "Proud Paragraph Parties" where students shared their favorite paragraph they had written during the week. I shared what I was working on as well and in doing so I became one of them. We were equals, all working and collaborating together. It was such a rewarding experience!

Happy Holidays Everyone!