Since the last log entry, I realized that I struggle to start things, I get going like crazy in the middle, then I have a very hard time finishing things. Working in our writing groups has been very helpful...I wish they were around me all the time to give me guidance and feedback. I thought I was almost finished with my This I Believe piece and my response to Bird by Bird, but I realized that they both needed a stronger finish. We had already moved on to some other things, and now I am struggling to get back to those pieces to wrap them up.
On Friday we participated in the writer's marathon. It was a fun experience, but, again, I struggled to get topics rolling and to stay focused throughout the day. I wasn't committing myself to any of the pieces I started, and the words of Anne Lamott's father kept echoing in my mind: "Make a commitment to finishing things." This is a struggle because I look at something and know how much more work it needs...and it intimidates me to the point that I just don't want to do it.
This problem of starting and committing myself to a writing piece continued during sacred writing time and the teaching demo today. The sacred writing time used a text by Steven King to get students to pick out strong words and to discuss how this powerful language helped him expand detail. Again, this is something I will definitely do with my students. I loved the conversation we had about the model text. But when it came time for me to choose my own moment to "explode," I was stuck again. I just didn't want to write about something unpleasant, and I couldn't think about a good topic. I never really did get to the point where I was writing something with powerful words and phrases. For me, this would work very well if I were already working on a piece and I wanted to take one moment from that piece and draw it out and slow it down. Yes. For me, this would work well for revision.
I also love the Snapshot Poetry Lesson that we were introduced to today, and I have every intention of using this lesson in my classroom next fall. I loved the collaborative work we did, and I was thrilled to join my ideas with the brilliant ideas of my group to create a poem about Linton Hall. When it was time to work on our own poems, though, I was stuck. I chose a picture and started writing down ideas, but it took a long time to find anything to work with in my own words. I finally came to a place where I was cruising along a bit...and then we ran out of time.
Finally, the last big thing I did today was start my website to create my digital portfolio. I really enjoyed and appreciated the time we were given to experiment with the information in Chapter 3 of Crafting Digital Writing. I think I want to look into having my students create digital portfolios for their freshman year. We'll see how that goes.
Now, the question is, will I make a commitment to finish these things? Can I take the lessons and either apply it to something I already have started, or can I finish that poem that I started from my snapshot. Will I finish this website I startedWe'll see.
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