Melia's mom falls under the spell of not knowing what to write in If You Were A Writer by Joan Lowery Nixon. It is a spell we can all relate to, adults and students alike. As I have pondered what slice of my life to write about for today's post I find myself coming back to not only breaking that spell, but the need for an audience.
I am reminded that it is a need for all of us, adults and students alike. As we were working on what makes a great book recommendation I told my students they would be sharing these with their classmates and beyond. They were surprised until I asked what good was a book recommendation if they were the only one to see it, they already know that they like the book.
The same is true with my motivation for this post.
Last week I was excited to be back on the horse after my summer hiatus. I felt really proud of my post and had work to craft it well. In addition it was close to my heart. I had it up and posted with LOADS of Tuesday left for those in the States. I even had my link up on Two Writing Teachers as soon as I had posted and then spent time reading and commenting on other blogs. Yet I had zero, yup none, nada, zilch comments on my post.
Wow. Crusher.
I am forcing myself to get something up here and remembering two things. It is about the the exercise of sitting down and writing. I have done that. My students do that. Sometimes that is not enough to get us to want to do it again - let alone again and again and again.
What am I going to do this school year to ensure my students feel that they have a genuine audience and true feedback? Thanks to all of you who didn't comment last week to help me remember this lesson.
