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story = narrative + informational + opinion

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Yesterday I had the privilege to hear James Kofi Annan tell his story. He is a survivor of child slavery. After he escaped, he eventually became a business man. Then he left his promising career in order to fight for freedom for Ghana’s children. He started Challenging Heights as a place to protect and educate children. I am moved by his story. It is one made up of nightmares and eventually overcoming them. It is a story of walking away from prestige and money. James’ story faces the horrors of this world, and… Read more story = narrative + informational + opinion →

what happened to my nice-neat writing process?

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You know, my writing process is a bit of a mess. It didn’t used to be. There was a point in my life when I could be given an assignment, make a plan, crank it out, reread it, make the deadline, and earn an A. The same is true when I started teaching. I wrote alongside my students, cranking out the assignments, jotting in my notebook, churning satisfactory pieces of writing out in time for deadlines. Writing has traditionally been easy for me. In fact, I would even go as… Read more what happened to my nice-neat writing process? →

blueberries

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I craved berries. I tried to talk myself out of it. You have a frozen berry mix, make a smoothie. I don’t want frozen berries. I want fresh berries. They are too expensive, mix some frozen blueberries into yogurt. You’ll like it. I want fresh berries. Raspberries. Red raspberries. I don’t do the grocery shopping. I make the list, but Andy does the shopping. There’s no way I could ask him to pick up fresh red raspberries. It seemed too extravagant. I ate a pomegranate instead.  They were on sale… Read more blueberries →

writing project decisions

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One of the things I try to really tune-in to is what project I should be spending time on. I have a lot of writing projects: Blogs Professional book, Celebrating Writers, due out later this year from Stenhouse YA book Choice Literacy articles Scrapbook pages, where I like to document stories with photos + words Writing to use with students Work responsibilities Recently I added another project to my list of writing projects. I’m not even sure it can be called a project, but it is taking up my 1000… Read more writing project decisions →

the dinner table.

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One of the traditions from my childhood that has carried over to my own children is sitting together at the table for dinner. I like this time of the day. I like being able to cook a meal, add veges and fruit, and sit down together. I like their smiles. Andy has always affirmed my cooking. The girls are also big advocates. Karianne is thankful for healthy meals. Sam, well, he prefers peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The thing I like, though, are the little conversations. They usually aren’t long.… Read more the dinner table. →

tasting.

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One thing that it seems I’m always trying to do is s l o w  d o w n. It’s one of the reasons I write, so I can capture life and linger in the moments that are rushing past. Recently I realized I even eat fast. Gobble. Gobble. Done. This, I told myself, this I can control. I can chose to slow down meal times. I don’t have to shovel bite after bite after bite into my mouth, finishing the task of eating quickly and efficiently. I can chew… Read more tasting. →