This week, it was my privilege to process the whole of this strange and chaotic year in the company of other teachers who–despite that reality–deepened their professional learning relative to making and writing and all things multimodal composition.
I wanted to create an experience that was as much about them as it would be about the writers they serve. I wanted to offer questions and invitations that would resonate and center everyone while offering an opportunity to make sense of what their experiences have been and remember who they are and how they want to show up next school year.
So often, we compartmentalize who we are outside of our professions from who we are on the job, and teachers feel this pressure even more than others–I know this. I know this because I was the teacher who refused to ever hold a drink in her hand at a public sporting event for fear that a student or their family would see me. I get it. I really do.
I also know the damage this does–not only to ourselves, but to the writers we serve, too.
Most students want to know the whole of their teachers or at the very least–what makes them human. When we’re able to share at least a part of who we are outside of school with the writers we learn beside inside of school, beautiful things can happen. I’ve spoken to many teachers who weren’t able to do that this year, for a number of reasons. I think they feel disconnected from the students they tried so hard to love over the last ten months as a result.
If this is you, I’m inviting you to dig into the same questions and challenges that I put in front of that group of teachers last week. You’ll find my slides and a video-recorded micro-workshop of sorts–that I made just for you– inside of Sunday’s newsletter.
There’s more, too.
I’ve added two pretty little downloads that include a variety of making and writing challenges for humans of all ages who are ready to SUMMER. They move everyone off screen, outside, and into messy, creative, and silly spaces where they can worry a bit less and laugh a bit more and maybe remember who they are again. While WRITING.
You can print these tools and tuck them right into the backpacks your students will tote out the door on their last days of school. You can also email or snail mail them over the next few weeks or open the new school year this way, too.
I’ve been sharing a peek into this work on Instagram all week. If you’d like a closer look, subscribe to my weekly newsletter right here. I’ll include the workshop slides, the recording, and each of the downloads there. I also have some news about my in-person Make Writing Summer Studio sessions to share: registration opens Monday! Let me know if I can tell you more if you’re local or if you plan to travel in.
Most importantly–congratulations, all.
You made it. xo
