Check Out This Blog

This week's post is slightly different. I would like to point you in the direction of another blog that could be useful for your teaching. I have been following Ana Serano's blogs for the course of the semester, and it has been rather inspiring to me as a writer and teacher of writing.

Ana is in my writing class this semester, and I have had the privilege of getting to know her better as a person, during class and as a writer through blogging. She has posts featuring ideas on launching a writer's notebook and writer's workshop in the classroom, along with some posts about poetry and her relationship with teaching and writing poetry. While I highly suggest looking through all of her posts, I want to highlight a couple of posts that really struck me in a positive way. Ana is very open and straightforward in her posts and allows you to see glimpses of her life, through her writing. Check her out at https://booksandbalance.weebly.com/!

One of Ana's earlier posts is aimed at how to read like a writer. Ana opens up and shares that she does not have much experience with this. However, she then goes on to share what she has learned about the topic and shares how to complete this process. She also includes strategies that she was able to use in her own writing, related to the mentor texts that she highlights. This particular post does an amazing job at showing the process of reading like a writer and using the mentor text to then write like a good writer. Check it out at https://booksandbalance.weebly.com/blog/reading-like-a-writer-writing-like-a-good-writer.

My absolute favorite post from Ana is her post about her relationship with poetry! She is not scared to be vulnerable and admits that she has not had the best experiences with poetry in the past. However, even after all of the not so great experiences, she puts a positive spin on the post and says how she is excited to see poetry in a new way. Reading this post was inspiring to me, simply because she was so positive about not so great past experiences. She then mentions Georgia Heard's Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School and how it is already inspiring her to be a teacher of poetry. Ana's vulnerability and honesty make this post so worth the read. You can read it here at https://booksandbalance.weebly.com/blog/my-relationship-with-poetry-what-i-hope-it-can-be.

Through reading Ana's blogs, I have leared that it is oay to admit that teachers have their areas that they wish to improve on. As a teacher myself, I find myself feeling like I must be great at and enjoy every aspect of learning. However, that is not true. Ana's posts have shown me that it truly is okay to admit where your weka points are, and she always looks at them in such a positive light. Her positive mindset inspires me to want to do better myself. She shares her advice for how to write in a way that is easy to relate to and makes you want to keep reading. She has highlighted strategies, such as how to use a mentor text to write. She used examples that show the mentor text and how she used it herself. She walks you through the process and makes the reader feel a part of the process.

Ana always seems so patient in her writing. For example, her post on writing poetry show all of the steps that she took to get her poem where it is. You can see the time and effort that was put into the process, through her pictures and examples of writing. This is another great post that you can find here at https://booksandbalance.weebly.com/blog/last-week-i-explored-this-week-i-wrote, where Ana details her journey in writing a poem. I aspire to be as patient n my writing and to take it through all of the neccessary steps, just as in Ana's post.

Ana's blog is honest and inspiring. She details her life as a writer and a teacher of writing. She is not afraid to share her true feelings, and it makes her posts all the more interesting. Make sure you check her out!

References

Heard, G. (1999). Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.