An epiphany

     My head has been spinning with ideas of how I can use blogging in my classroom!  It has been hard to think of anything else.  Now that August is here, my mind is on school and tomorrow I leave for vacation.  Today I had an interesting experience I would like to share.  After spending the day painting shelves in my classroom and planning how I was going to set up my room,  I met up with a colleague of mine. We spent some time discussing different ideas we have for the coming year.  She too is excited about the possibility of opening up our walls and giving our students purpose in their work.  Like me however, she is a bit overwhelmed with how to make it work in the classroom.

    I left school with plans to pick up some items I needed for my vacation.  As I was shopping in Costco, I was very distracted and realized that even though I was going on vacation, it was getting ready for school that was really getting me excited.  While I was waiting on line, I did what everyone does and took out my cell phone just in case someone messaged me since I last checked (10 minutes ago!).  I found a notice that I was tagged in a facebook post.  A post written by the same colleague I was speaking to at school.  She had shared my blog to her facebook friends and encouraged them to read and comment on my posts.  My first reaction was: oh no, someone might actually read what I had to say!  Funny isn't it.  That is the point of a writing a blog in the first place.  After the initial fear faded, I realized that it was actually very exciting to think that people I don't know might read what I have to say! I felt the urge to rush home and write some more.  Imagine if my students were given the same opportunity to write with the purpose of having others read what the have to say.

     Instead of giving my students traditional writing prompts, we do daily reflections.  I choose an item, word or idea and my students are asked to write about it.  They can describe it, tell a story about it, or share a memory about it.  They start off the year loving this idea.  I have gotten pages written about a simple Hershey Kiss!  Sometimes they share the reflections, but sometimes we don't have time to share as a class.  By the end of the year, the excitement of a daily reflection has waned.  Many times my students ask me what I would write if I were to write a daily reflection.  I always tell them that I wish I had the time to write my own reflections or any other writing assignment.  I have actually tried several times to complete a writing assignment along with my students, but I never get anywhere.  I love to write so I was always frustrated that I could never motivate myself to complete any of these assignments.  The truth is that I have plenty of time.  If I can spend hours pinning on pinterest, I certainly have time to write a daily reflection.  It is clear to me now why I could never motivate myself.  Why bother?  Who was going to care?  There has been no purpose for me completing any of the assignments I had hoped to.   Having an audience changes everything!
 
     We teach our students to analyze text to find the author's purpose.  Is the author writing to persuade, inform or entertain?  Foremost, the author is writing to communicate with the reader.  If there is no reader, no audience, there is no purpose. 

   Those classroom walls are beginning to crumble!


KH