Reflection

Part I: Why I chose these particular pieces for my blog.

Of the pieces I chose for my blog, two of the four were from demonstrations presented this summer in the institute. The piece entitled Beat Up Old Chevy was inspired by an image of a family crammed in an old car. I placed the image on my blog above my piece so that my readers would see where my ideas originated. When I saw the piece, immediately, three thoughts came to mind. The first was of the boy in the front of the seat. He looked exactly like a student I taught this year. Then, the image reminded me of two movies – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and a scene from A Christmas Story. I thought the story would be interesting if told from the point of view of the boy in the front seat. I assumed that was his mom and dad in the front and sister in the back. I named the sister Julia for no reason other than that was what popped into my head first, and it just seemed to fit. The two adults in the back seat had me immediately think of my Aunt Carol and Uncle Everett. No part of this story is true, except the personalities of each person. The events that happen in the story, and the words that are said, are exactly what I would picture if this trip had actually taken place. I have only gotten to finish the first chapter of this piece, but I do like where I stopped it for chapter one. I hope the reader is wondering and questioning what will happen next and is looking forward to reading further. The objectives of the demonstration were writing with details and voice. I kept the points the presenter made in mind as I wrote each part of this piece.

The second piece that came from a demonstration from the institute was Typical Me. The demo that brought this piece to be was about bringing your biographies to life. I liked this demo because we were writing about ourselves, which we know the most about, and because we were told to only focus on one part of our lives. The morning of my wedding is what immediately came to mind. I thought that day illustrated my personality and typical actions well. I also enjoyed writing this because that day was so special to me. Even if this does not turn into any other published work, at least I will always have detailed documentation of my feelings and the events of that great day.

The poem I chose for my blog is entitled Today I’ve Got the Greys. This poem was inspired from two sources. The first source was our first journal entry of the summer institute. In this journal we were told to experiment with color in our writing, specifically poetry. This is something I had never done before, so in thinking, I was reminded of a book, Yesterday I Had the Blues, which I read to my students. I love the way in which the author of this book uses color to express the feelings of the characters. I decided to try it out and it became a piece that I really like.

My professional piece is written so I can send in a proposal for two conferences in which I can present my demonstration. I would love the opportunity to share with others this strategy where I have had such success in teaching my third graders. I wrote my proposal detailing exactly what would take place in my demonstration so that the participants would know precisely what to expect. My abstract would be different in that it would be shorter and written to hook the reader into my demonstration.


Part II: Revision

One of my favorite parts of this summer’s institute has been reading the pieces of my classmates. This is, by far, the most talented group of writers I have ever been around. I have loved reading all of their pieces, but I have also learned so much from each person. My writing group was especially helpful to me in revising my own pieces. Jamie, Cathy, Kristin, and Dawn were always offering suggestions and comments on anything I shared. It was so easy for me to get bogged down in my writing that I would often forget about my audience. These ladies were great for reminding me of my purpose.

Jaime was a great help to me when I got stuck on my piece about my wedding day. She told me in her comment that since she had heard me read it aloud and therefore knew my voice, but that it was not exemplified as well in my writing. She offered different ways and places in which I could add more voice to my writing. Once reading her comments I was easily able to add the voice that made my piece speak what I needed it to speak. I plan to continue revising this piece and want to keep Jaime's thoughts in mind during that process. Monica Clark stated that my ending was a little “anti-climatic.” I talked with some other summer institute friends about this, and told them that the actual ending of that day was anti-climatic, but that was a good thing. The morning had been so wild that I was ready for a calm afternoon leading to my wedding. This person’s comment did, however, make me look at my ending and add detail to it. It is still anti-climatic, but I like the details that I’ve added. I now feel like it brings the reader in to my feelings of that day. (first draft, published piece)

In Beat Up Old Chevy, I received a lot of feedback from the E-Anthology. This was great for me because this was the piece I enjoyed writing, but felt I needed a lot of direction before I could go further. Brian Slusher helped me realize that stories like this typically have the same of a few different directions. I decided to take his advice and have my family go through a problem and overcome it together, at the end realizing how important family and love is. This will happen in the next few chapters of my writing. Two different people, Laurie McCall and Claudia Swisher commented on my changing from past to present tense several times throughout both my first draft and my second. This is a habit I know I exhibit in writing. I feel I get caught up in my writing and don’t pay attention to those things. I try to always fix them in revision and editing, but it is nice for others to help me realize where I have gone wrong. Kari Scheidel stated that the addition of dialog might help bring the story to life. I do agree with this comment, but at this point was not ready to delve into dialog. My goal was to get my thoughts out and have it say exactly what I felt, then if I feel it still needs dialog, I will put it in later. (first draft, second draft, published piece)

I enjoyed writing my color poem. I loved being able to describe my feelings and thoughts using colors. That is something I have never done before and hope to use it in my classroom in the future. Kristin Gault commented that she would like it if I added more colors. I chose to take this on, because I enjoyed writing the original piece so much. I added a few more colors, this time focusing on colors that I thought represented my life. Brian Slusher commented on my title. He stated that it was a bit generic, and I agreed with him. I therefore, changed the title to Today I’ve Got the Grays. I hope that this is now a title that would draw in readers. (first draft, published piece)

Lastly, I was drawn in several directions when choosing a professional piece to share. When I was told I could write a proposal for a conference, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I typically learn so much at conferences and thoroughly enjoy sharing with others strategies I have found that work. I plan to send my proposal to both the SCCTE and SCIRA state conferences. I began this piece with writing an abstract and biography (revised abstract and biography). I then expanded my abstract to include a better, more detailed explanation of what participants would experience if attending my session. Instead of using the E-Anthology for feedback on this piece, I consulted the members of my writing group and other colleagues in the summer institute. Rebecca Smith told me that using the word you would maybe better be replaced with the participants. I agreed with this statement and decided to change mine in any area that was not a question, which I used in my hook. Dawn Hawkins helped me by explaining that the proposal should include exactly what the participant would be doing in my session. Kris Turner helped my writing by explaining that a lot of people like to know if the session is interactive or if they will be receiving handouts. Both of these were true for my demonstration, therefore I added them in my writing. I believe now, with all of my revisions, that I have a great proposal for both conferences. (final proposal for SCCTE)


Part III: What I have learned from my classmates.

Reading my classmates’ pieces has been as special to me this summer as writing my own has been. I really enjoyed Monica’s piece, currently untitled, about life in a small, rural, southern community. Her piece also reminded me of the writing style of one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I liked how she described the setting at the beginning of her story, then the characters, and built from there. I also liked the idea she had for a conflict in her story. This helped me with my story, Beat Up Old Chevy. I knew from reading her piece that my story would need a conflict of some sort in order to express the idea I had in mind.

Both Jaime's and Kristin’s professional pieces helped me show what I wanted in my own professional piece. Their pieces did a great job of exhibiting the strategies and ideas they showed in their demonstration. I had a lot of trouble wording my proposal, so reading their pieces and discussing all three of our pieces really helped me.

Cathy’s piece, The Scream, contained so much humor, it not only entertained me for hours, but also inspired me to incorporate humor of the same style into one of my pieces. I love how she began the piece with her dream, then brought the dream to life at the end of the story. The small bits of humor, and hearing her voice throughout the piece, gave me many ideas of how I could place these bits of humor and voice in my piece, Beat Up Old Chevy.