Slice #4 - A School Site Visit

This year, I'm going to spend 31 days writing about places.  In my profession, I talk about place-based writing quite a bit.  I frame it like this when I share:  We believe in the power of including spaces in the process of writing.  Place-based writing is the concept that the place where we write may influence our thinking, impacting the writer’s perspective, engagement, ownership, and/or purpose.  I'm really jazzed up, thinking about where I will spend time as a writer in 31 different spaces this month and how I can use each post to share a little slice of my day. 

Today, middle school.

I am a former middle school teacher.  Currently, I work coordinating professional learning for a statewide grant.  Sometimes I get to travel to schools.  This morning, a made a visit to a school about two hours away.  Walking the halls and seeing so much creativity and popping into classrooms to see kids engaged in learning was a pretty exciting 'slice' of my day.  There were novels, and essays, and drawings, and read alouds, and bright, friendly spaces full of plants.  

You would think another two hours in the car to return home might sound treacherous, but I really think being in a school energized me!  The whole way home, I just composed ideas in my head for upcoming work.  And now, I'm ready to do some of that work! 

Cheers to places that inspire us!