A problem of time? Teacher writing and reflection

So, as I feared, it has taken me about a month to get back to even write one entry in the blog. It isn't as if I wasn't working with or observing the students; in fact, I was working closely with them. But I just have not sat down to write my observations. Cynthia Kiefer and I have certainly reflected verbally on what is happening, but not "on paper." Why does it seem like it is so hard to carve out even 10 minutes during the day (or night) to reflect and record in writing?

Obviously, daily journaling, reflecting, and writing are not part of my repertoire or this would not be such a problem. I was never in the habit when I was younger--I liked to read, period. I definitely viewed reading and writing as separate activities. Writing was a formal, school-oriented task. The higher the level of education I attained, the less I enjoyed writing. Sure, I could knock out a great 15 page research paper, but reflective writing, whether personal or professional? Too painful.

Then, in the summer of 2006, I took a course with Dr. Karen Smith at ASU where I was required to keep a Writer's Notebook, complete daily writing, and produce a memoir. The floodgates opened and I wrote constantly. The following Fall, I began using the Writer's Workshop approach in my sophomore English class. I recognized that I needed to do what my students were doing, so I was pretty good about writing along with them for awhile. On the other hand, Ph.D. candidate Angela Clark-Oates, who was researching my implementation of the workshop, kept asking, "Are you reflecting on what's happening? Can you write for 5-10 minutes a day about what's going on in the classroom?" "How is your reflection impacting your teaching?" Well, I was telling students that "Writing is thinking on paper," (Lucy Calkins coined that first, I believe), but really, I don't know that I've really bought into that for my own reflection on teaching. For one thing, I have been trained to think of teaching as "outcomes based." Who cares about my reflections? Isn't all that matters what the students do? So, as many sessions at this week's NCTE National Convention asked, "how can I expect students to write and reflect if their teacher is not doing so?"

Research by a new friend, Dr. Alyson Whyte of Auburn University, concluded that students of teachers who write publicly (blog, wiki, for "formal" publication) did better on writing assessments. While Alyson was quick to remind me that this was a small sampling, I think it has logical implications for me as a teacher. How can I ask students to live the writerly life, to react to life and literature through writing, to notice the world around them through writing, if I am not doing this myself? How can I ask them to publish their work when I am not publishing my own? How do I know what their struggles are if I am not doing the same myself? How can I teach them to value authentic writing for authentic purposes if I am not doing so myself?

"To be a writer, you have to write," is the basic advice that all writing books give. Ok, so we're going to work on that--with a goal of 10 minutes a day on school days. Since I am not working with Cynthia's students over the next few weeks, I am going to write about what I am observing about literacy in my teacher-librarian position, what I am learning about literacy in my Master's class, or whatever else arises related to literacy. Also, since Cynthia will be collecting the mini-research paper coming up, we will definitely be reflecting about what the students learned and what they need for the "big" spring paper. Phew!