Setting Goals

Yesterday I was reading from Writing Essentials by Regie Routman.  On page 267, she talks about her experiences with The National Writing Project's summer institute and how she learned to trust herself as a writer. In our district, writing workshop is the district recommended model for writing instruction. Unfortunately, we still have subgroups of children, boys in particular, who are not achieving at high levels.

Right now I have the joy of working in a 3rd grade classroom a few days a week during writing workshop. The boys love to write as much as the girls. And they too, like Regie Routman, are learning to trust themselves as writers. The teacher created a safe writing community.  I'm not sure if this group of boys will score any higher on state tests. I'm getting to the point, where I'm not sure I really care. I want boys and girls to love writing and to know their words have power.

So, what does this have to do with setting goals? In order for me to become a better teacher of writing, I need to write. And maybe it is time for me to admit that I just need to write. My goal is to write everyday. That's it. That's my goal. And I will use this blog to document my progress. By the way, it took me 10 minutes of staring at this post before I had the guts to hit publish. I guess I'm working at trusting myself as a writer, just like the kids. Wish me luck.