Slice of Life Tuesday: Family Story Last week, I shared how fun it was to write with my students online. I can't wait for later this month when we reunite! I also promised I'd share my writing. I chose the prompt of writing a family story that's often told, and I was surprised by the way it chose…

Slice of Life Tuesday: Writing Group! Last Thursday, I got to host an online writing group with some of my students. I'm still smiling.

Slice of Life Tuesday: On the Day You Were Born Today my younger son turned 22. And while tributes take many forms, this was the one my fingers told me to write.

Slice of Life Tuesday: Inside the Mind Yesterday I presented at the NCTE-NCTM Joint Conference in Chicago with the always-amazing Leah Thomas and Sarah Valter. Our goal was to get teachers interested in and excited about becoming writers. How? Through writing, of course. Here's my stream-of…

Slice of Life Tuesday: No Guilt School is officially out for me! I've been looking forward to this time since...well, spring of 2024, to be honest. And of course, around school the conversation at this time of year is, "So...what are you doing this summer?" My response? As LITTLE as POSSIBLE.…

Clearing the Air: The Finale For the past several weeks, I've been posting my allegorical short story in serial form. Today I bring you the conclusion as Flora comes to the rescue...

Slice of Life Tuesday: Clearing the Air, Part 3 This week marks Episode Three in the Floofs vs. Naysayers saga. Will Flora's appeal to her fellow Floofs succeed?

Slice of Life Tuesdsay: Clearing the Air, Part 2 Last week, I mentioned that I finally - finally! - completed a work of allegorical fiction, and I posted the first installment of it here. This week, I bring you Part 2, in which Flora, our ever-intrepid protagonist, finds herself in the right place…

Slice of Life Tuesday: Getting Brave I did it! I finally crafted a work of allegorical fiction. I've published the first excerpt this week, and I'll publish the next part of the story on Slice of Life Tuesdays.

Poetry Month Day 10: Driving the Point Home Today's #VerseLove prompt, "Look Closely," comes from Joanne Emery. Her poem for the day tells the story of the house of her loved ones. As I read her work, a poem I've been percolating on the back burner might be ready to come to the surface. So I'll…

Poetry Month Day 9: Depending on When You Met Me Today's #Verselove poetry challenge is to compose a "depending on when you met me" poem. It's a good way to think about all of the "me's" I've been over the years, and to whom.

Poetry Month Day 8: Birthright Today's #VerseLove poem explores a gesture (along with a few other choice things) I inherited from my dad.

Poetry Month Day 5: Scars Today's poem is a challenge on #VerseLove to write a poem about a scar. I chose to write about my scars as tourist destinations...

Poetry Month Day 4: The Places I’ll Go Today's #VerseLove prompt is to take inspiration from travel. I knew which travel I wanted to write about - when I stayed in Sandusky, Ohio while my son was in the hospital there. I remember how otherworldly it felt being out one morning on a kayak. Not gonna…

Poetry Month, Day 3: Ode to False Spring Today, I wanted to write something deep and pithy. Clever, however, butted in line and stole Pithy's number at the deli counter. Here it is...

Poetry Month Day 2: Spring Is I wrote this tricube (3 verses, 3 lines each, 3 syllables each) in response to Ethical ELA's Verselove. I've long lurked and read, but finally jumped in and added my two (twenty-seven?) cents...

Poetry Month Day 1: Easing In with an Etheree Today, for the start of poetry month, an etheree.

Slice of Life Day 31: Summing Up This is only my fifth year doing the challenge, but it's enough time for me to see changes and patterns. The act of writing each March has given a window into myself at the time.

Slice of Life Day 30: Yes, and Yes, I thought i'd dust off a writing format I've used before. No, I have no guilt about it...

Slice of Life Day 29: On Namesakes If I could have something named after me? oooo this was a fun one!

Slice of Life Day 28: The Best Part Ask me what was best about today, And I could tell you it was a sunny day Or the crocuses in bloom Or a good workout Or a delightful dog walk But the best part, by far, Was having to set the table for four once again. It’s good to have my guy home, if only for a…

Slice of Life Day 27: On Yard Work Muddled through memories and grief while gardening today, and (metaphors being what they are) I grew a poem...

Slice of Life Day 26: Outside Yes, my house needs a cleaning, but...have you seen the day outside?

Slice of Life Day 25: Mea Culpa Forgive me colleagues, for I hath sinned...

Slice of Life Day 24: Growing Up What did I want to be when I was five? No idea. But boy, have my plans changed over the years...

Slice of Life Day 23: Silent Sunday This was a fun one!

Slice of Life Day 22: On Skylines Today, some musings about skylines and what they mean…

Slice of Life Day 21: Coming Together It wasn’t expressly planned, but it was a very happy coincidence that the days before spring break turned out to be the days my fourth graders and I constructed the artwork for our Leo Leonni anthology. We're still a work in progress (I mean, aren't we all?)…

Slice of Life Day 20: Ask and You Shall Receive Today, I asked my fifth-grade students for advice on how to move forward with my story. Boy, did they deliver!

Slice of Life Day 19: Stuck Writing is like ice skating: As soon as you think you look cool, that's when you fall on your keyster. Today was one of those humbling days.

Slice of Life Day 18: 54321 In searching for a post today, I decided to be inspired by Cathy and Erika, and I crafted my own twist on a 5-4-3-2-1 daily review.

Slice of Life Day 17: #TappedOut Today was #OneOfThoseDays where the writing didn't come to me as easily as I wanted it to. #ThemsTheBreaks

@neildegrassetyson.com, thanks for the validation - or at least the chance to be correct after all these years…

Slice of Life Day 16: Infinite Pedantry* Pedantry is the quality of being too interested in formal rules and small details that are not important. Given the grudge I've held against my math teacher for almost forty years, that might describe me...

Slice of Life Day 15: Dabbling Today's post takes inspiration from a fellow writer. I got to play with some poetic forms and I loved it!

Slice of Life Day 14: Getting Pi-D How did I celebrate Pi Day? I got Pi-d in the face...

Untitled I didn't think this post would come together, but here it is...

Slice of Life, Day 12: On Confidence Daily writing prompt Who is the most confident person you know? View all responses Who's the most confident person I know? I'd name them here, but that wouldn't be nice. Let me explain. I looked at this daily writing prompt, and the way it asks about…

Slice of Life Day 11: A Story, A Story The last few days, I've shared a draft story, along with my fourth graders' responses to it. Today, I've got my revisions ready to go. The biggest changes I've made: I've given more background about the dogs I've cleaned up the punctuation and language to be…

Slice of Life Day 10: Begin Again I didn't think I'd stick with a gratitude journal as long as I have. But here I am, and I'm signing up for more...

Slice of Life Day 9: Salty Today was an absolute gorgeous day. A rare, early-spring holy-cow-this is-what-we’ve-been-waiting-for-all winter-day. A hip-hip-hooray-Daylight-Saving-Time-has-finally-come-and now-we-can-celebrate-the-light day. A play-frisbee-with-the-dogs-in-the-yard kind of day. A…

Slice of Life Day 8: Fiction, Part 2 Yesterday, I posted a fictional story I crafted along with my students in the style of Leo Leonni. I put myself in the hot seat and let the kids do a "table read" of my work. I sat to the side with and zipped my lip while they read and discussed my story.

Slice of Life Day 7: Fiction, Finally Fiction is not my favorite thing to write. In fact, I avoid it at all costs. But when the time comes for me to set an example for my fourth graders, I suppose it’s time to roll my pride into a ball and get on with it. I’m sharing the story I drafted for their…

Slice of Life Day 6: My Favorite Failure The other day, I failed a lift at the gym. And it made me proud...

Slice of Life Day 5: Called into Service Parenting older children means that most of the work is done… Until duty calls…

Slice of Life Challenge Day 4: For Which It Stands Today I had my students “translate” the Pledge of Allegiance into fifth-grade language. It was an exercise in: -Using the online dictionary-Simplifying words by thinking, “That’s a fancy way of saying ______”-Learning how syntax (word order)…

Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 3: Worse Things Life...has a LOT going on, in every direction. Today's post is a moment of gratitude for some big-little things.

Slice of Life Challenge Day 2: If Only

Slice of Life Challenge Day 1: Benchmarks Today marks Day 1 of the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. How have I changed? What will it teach me? Time will tell.

Loved these quick tips today!