Category: Workflow

Writing too…

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And, so, while my house has burned down and I’m dealing with the stuff of that–literal stuff, lack thereof, and theoretical/metaphorical/psychological stuff–work continues too.  It isn’t so much that I devalued writing, but not having a house has actually freed up a fair amount of time and I’m trying to use that time, as much as possible, to do some writing.

Three projects running up to submission deadlines are:

  1. An article for English in Texas.  This piece is based on the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts Annual Conference presentation that Katrina Jansky and I did titled “Getting off the Hamster Wheel: Teaching reading and writing in a time of change.”  The article is focusing on how teachers can dig into teaching literature in ways that value time, choice, relevance, talk, and rituals and routines, no matter the mandates, policies, standards, or tests that roll on through.
  2. An article for the English Journal that grows out of work with Anna Consalvo on material tools in the writing classroom.  This work has been going on for the better part of nine years, essentially growing up with my children.  The most recent work was a book chapter that questioned the power we (teachers, parents, writers) cede to educational technologies, especially when it comes to literacy.  The newest take on the work will focus on how sticky notes are a key tool for empowering student writers throughout the writing process.
  3. A keynote and workshops for the 38th Annual Old Dominion University Spring Conference.  I had a hand in crafting the title and after a lively email back-and-forth we came up with: High School, College, and Beyond: Teaching Writing Where We Are and for Where We Hope Our Students Will Go.  The focus goes back to some of the writing for college, career, and life work that I did a few years ago, but come back to often in the conversations I have with high school English teachers and preservice English teachers.  It’s good to chew on these ideas, refresh them, and interesting to try a new genre.

Given that 1 and 2 are subject to peer review, watch this space for publication updates.   And I’ll post the keynote here after I’ve given it, and include the workshop materials as well.

Writing Again

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When I’m feeling overwhelmed, my instinct is often to circle the wagons.  I’ve heard that this is actually the wrong thing to do.  When you feel tired, you should exercise.  When you have too much to write, you should write more.  When you don’t have time for interacting with people, you should make it a point to do so.

So I’m going to try writing here again. Little bits, yes, but writing.  Some bits that are currently on my mind:

A Domain of Their Own.

Intellectual property in academia.

Conferences: CSOTTE, NCTE, and LRA.

 

Organizing your time

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It can be really difficult to decide how to allocate your time.  There’s so much that seems to need to be done RIGHT NOW!  This feeling of RIGHT NOW will only get worse when you have a whole classroom–and some huge number of students–who are your responsibility.  One useful way to deal with the onslaught of information, and the actions that information require, is the Urgent/Important Matrix.

Urgent/Important Matrix

What I think is so important to stress is that you can determine how you move through this matrix.  Everything isn’t really a necessity, and other people’s crises are not your crises (unless they are your students, and even then, might not be your problem).  Spending time tending to very important, but not urgent, things is really important for your professional health and well-being.  I’ve posted the matrix on my currently unused computer screen (seemed like a good use of the space).  I’m going to try and remember to pause, clarify, and decide using the matrix.