Stories with Sophie

Join me in sharing celebrations this week over at Ruth's blog! This week I celebrate writing...MY writing. The fact that I AM WRITING again.  You've seen the hashtag #EDtime2wrt, haven't you.  I don't know why I first clicked on it to see what it was, but I did. I don't know why this hashtag has motivated me to write again. But it did. I believe with my whole being that if you are going to be a teacher of writers, you have to be a teacher who writes. So I am. This week I have written along with my students...  6 word memoirs: Indecision is my new middle name Twitter stories: (Oops. Wrote this on my white board and don't have it to share) Writing Prompts: My favorite was 10 Best Things About a 2 Hour Late Start I have also written blog posts--this is my 3rd of the week. I was feeling bad about neglecting my blog.  I'd have ideas for posts but just didn't write them.  The thing is, I require my Creative Writing 2 students

The books pass hand to hand, never making it to the return basket or the shelf where they belong. Sometimes, they don't even make it back to my room. The book pass, a silent recommendation. You should read this. The library cards in the box tell only part of the book's life story. Because, sometimes, the names of the readers aren't written there, but instead on the pages of their soul. You should read this. Short days become reading days and talking about books. At least once a week a plea is heard, "Can we please read all hour? I'm almost done with my book, and...." "Are you done with that book yet? I'm ready for it." You should read this. Ten minutes of reading guaranteed every day. Any book you want.   NOTHING, interferes.  NOTHING. Come in. Sit down. And read. Pages and pages. The books pass hand to hand, never making it to the return basket or the shelf where they belong. Sometimes, they don't even make it back to my r

I am failing my own Creative Writing class. I require my kids to write every day. And those Creative Writing 2 kids, they have to write a blog post three times a week. But I don't. And those tweets,  # EDtime2wrt , make me feel guilty. Because I do believe that if you teach reading and writing, then you ought to be a reader and a writer. I'm doing great on the reading. Every day I carve out time to read (and I've read some amazing books this year), but the writing just hasn't happened. I keep making these promises to my blog that I will write more, but I lie. And I don't write. Soon I will turn the calendar page and realize that it's almost March. A time I love to write. But my writing muscles are weak, pathetic really. I need to start exercising them if I plan on writing every day for a month.  I need to write. Daily. Blog more. Reflect more. Write more. They say if you publicly make a promise, you are more likely to follow through. We'l

15 Celebrations for 2015 1.  My sister beat cancer!  It was such a scary year for all of us. From the time we heard about it in February through her surgery in June and the final rounds of chemo that ended in mid-November, she has battled and come out stronger.  Although she thinks she was a baby through the whole thing, I think she is the strongest woman I know. 2. Adoption Day.  Our oldest son brought the most amazing young woman into our lives back in the mid 2000's (I don't remember the exact year, maybe 2007 or 2008). She was a single mom with young twins--a boy and a girl.  Greg and I loved them all from the first time we met.  On November 30, those twins forever became Days.  The tears rolled when I got a call on my cell that day as each of them shared their name with me.  My husband still has the message on his phone.  November 30 will always be #WearetheDays Day in our family. 3. NCTE I have always wanted to attend NCTE, but it was always too expensive, too