TEACHERS of Writers
Thank you to everyone who left a note about the {Discover. Play. Build.} posts. I’m thrilled that you are feeling inspired and excited to pursue a writing adventure during the summer. I’m excited too. But…
Here’s the deal. I see Two Writing Teachers as a place where I’m a teacher first. Although I believe it is essential for writing teachers to be writing, I don’t believe they have to eat, sleep, breath, fill up all their time writing. The summer challenge (and what in the world does that really look like?) was something that kind of caught me on a whim. Sometimes whims are good.
This one in particular has me energized. I think it will be fulfilling and fun to inspire others (you and me) to write and to travel together this summer as writers. The thing is this particular project places me as a writer first, which brings us to the issue. I’m a teacher first in this space.
I don’t want to send the message that I think all teachers should fill up their free time with writing. Since I only have two posts a week during the summer, I want to make sure that I keep the focus on being a teacher. So to have my cake and eat it too, I launched a new blog where I can focus on my writing life. (Yes, Mom, I have time.)
Well, at least I have time for now. Creating a new blog has taken my writing time these past three days. I don’t want to be someone who dreams about writing — I want to be someone who actually writes. I want you to know this because I’m not making any promises yet. It all boils down to this:
- I would love (and I mean lovelovelove) for you to follow me as a writer in my new space: ruth ayres writes: discover. play. build.
- This summer I will be offering ideas (mostly for a writer’s notebook) to help others develop a habit of writing. My intent (and this may change) is to post at least 3 each week. There’s one up today.
- I’ll share one idea in a {Discover. Play. Build} post each Monday on Two Writing Teachers. These will be ideas I would use in the classroom.
- I’ll post my weekly slices (and anything else about my writing life I feel like sharing) on ruth ayres writes.
- It is a brand new work in progress. We’ll see if it lasts past the summer. It will probably depend on if it helps me be a better writer and is worthwhile to others. Two Writing Teachers has spoiled me. I blog for comments. LOL — just kidding (kind of).
I am thrilled for your new blog, and I had to laugh at your “Yes, Mom, I have time” comment. In August I am going to do a class with other teachers at my school about reading and writing workshop. Two Writing Teachers and the Slice of Life Story Challenge will definitely be resources that I will share with teachers. Now, your new site will provide one more layer of inspiration. I love that you introduced the site by saying you are not sure whether or not it will be long term and that it all boils down to whether or not it is helpful. I appreciate that you are not locking yourself into it, rather constantly considering the possibilities and focusing on the careful balance of time between different aspects that we can do as educators.
Exciting! And it makes perfect sense to me. I’m glad you’ll still be focusing on your life as a teacher of writers and writing on TWT–it helps push my practice. It’ll also be nice to take a look at the part of your writing life that’s not about teaching.
You know how I like to have different notebooks for different things? To me, this is sort of like that!