Afternoon 6-24

Life is crazy busy right now but I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of not freaking out. :) We started the day looking again at how much we want to be involved with the UWP as far as in-service goes and then we were able to interact with the young writers camp members. That was super fun for me because we got to see these young students having the chance to really express themselves. They aren't little kids writing random things they are WRITERS and it was amazing to hear what they have written so far. Justin had an amazing twist on the Titanic. Olivia get making me laugh with her disclaimers. She didn't want us to be worried about anything being real. She has an amazing imagination and her writing was SO powerful. Gabriella wrote about daily drama but her writing had a lyrical quality to it w/her use of various repititions- she likes to sing so this made sense. Lily is an extremely powerful poet. I was really impressed by her ability to use a few words create an amazing story and rythm. Nicole was a bit more timid but when she shared her writing was so unique and fun to listen to. Having the young writers also was good for my teacher heart becasue I was able to experience the joy and power of writing through their eyes again and was reminded why it is important for us, as teachers, to give them time and opportunities to write. I have a feeling that we will hear great things from these writers. Lily already has plans to be published. :)
After that time, Amanda shared her demo and did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed the activities she had us do and I will definitely use this strategy in my own classroom. Even if I don't teach English 1 next year.
Time to write, write, write... here is where everyone's stress comes to the forefront but only a few tears were shed and I think we'll get it all together. I am at the point right now where I feel like I am stuck. I need a printer, I need feedback, I need to know what to do. But other than feeling like that, I think I am okay... we shall see. Perhaps I need to write another to do list, must go figure out what to put on that list. :)