This will be the third summer that I am participating in Teachers Write. I am so excited to participate! I thought it would be good for me to reflect on my past participation and to make goals for this summer so that I can get the most out of my experience.
Before the first summer of Teachers Write, I really didn’t write that much. I had the ideas tumbling around my head and definitely wrote during mini-lessons, but I didn’t really write. I made some goals for myself and worked to start daily writing times. I did not succeed in making the time for writing and I did not do much fiction writing, which I had hoped to do. However, the best thing that came out of that summer for me was a blog. I definitely became a more regular blogger and it had a lot to do with my participation that summer with Teachers Write.
Last summer, I had grand plans for what I would do. I was planning to have some extra time to myself because I was out in California with my sister and was planning to be the babysitter when she went back to work. I did not end up having that time because my sister changed her mind and didn’t go back to work. I did not end up being more visible with my participation as I had hoped. I did manage to post on one Feedback Friday post and to post more often to my blog over the summer. I also read some great books about writing and gained information from them.
This summer, I am planning to be a more active participant. In order to do so, I have the following goals for the summer:
1. I will spend less time reading and more time writing. I did not give myself the bookaday challenge this summer because I wanted to make more time for writing.
2. I will make the time EVERY DAY to write. I am going to start with making sure I set aside at least 10 minutes a day.
3. I will continue to research for my novel idea. I have a list of action steps to follow for this research.
4. I will work on writing a series of personal narratives this summer and short stories for the exercises of Teachers Write. This will make it easier for me to participate, because in the past I have tried to get my ideas flowing for a novel, but I am not ready to do that. I need more time to research and plan.
5. I will make sure that I regularly post a Slice of Life on Tuesdays in addition to the It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and Celebrate posts that I usually post.
I hope to have a much more active participation during this third summer of Teachers Write. See you at camp!
Andrea, I love how specific you are about your goals! So glad you're back for a third year. Me too! Happy Teacher Writing!