I’d like to thank Marisa, Carolin, and Not the Girl You Think I Am for participating in First Impressions this month! I also appreciate all the great comments and suggestions on those first pages from my blog readers! Marcy and I are looking forward to doing this again in April!
Also coming up in April is the one year anniversary of Tina Laurel Lee’s The Practice Room. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, TPR is a blog where writers meet at established times to “unplug from the internet” and write for a solid hour, then reconvene for a live chat to talk about their writing. I found TPR a great way to hone my concentration over the summer, when I had loads of writing time but not much focus. When I returned to school last fall, I lost all that free time but didn’t gain any focus – so I started hosting TPR sessions on Thursday evenings to get it back. Now, although I do some kind of writing every evening, I especially look forward to Thursdays and even “save up” a specific writing task to accomplish during that uninterrupted hour block.
The after-chats are helpful, too. I know that we have helped each other over humps and sometimes just listened to each other vent. I gained another great critique partner too – that’s you, Krystey Belle! I think Tina is going to be posting some TPR-related blogs this week, so check them out here.
In other news, we’re coming up on state testing next week here in Pennsylvania. I apologize in advance, but the upcoming assessments may spawn some anti-testing blogs here at In High Spirits. I’ll try not to foam at the mouth (too much).
Just for a starter grumble, the tests are being held 4 weeks earlier than last year, but teachers and students are still accountable for the same eligible content. The state agency that schedules the tests is accountable for nothing, I suppose. Of course, it’s no problem to cover the entire year’s curriculum before March 15. I’ll just teach faster …
Best to end here, I think. (wipes foam away from mouth)
I might be in need of the practice room. I’m been in a serious slump the last couple months and am in serious need of motivation. Alas, I wouldn’t be able to make it on past four oclock in the afternoon your time. Good luck with the testing! I know it sucks.
Grrr. Testing. And what are you supposed to do after March 15? Is it all fun and games after that?
@Katie – There are lots of daytime slots, too!
@Linda – No, after the test we start teaching next year’s eligible content!
I enjoyed TPR and definitely recommend it. And really, D, why can’t you just teach the whole year’s curriculum by March 15th? After all, it doesn’t matter if the kids actually learn anything, right? They just need to pass the tests.
ps what a good idea to put first impression on your sidebar! I think I’ll copy-cat 🙂
How frustrating! Whenever Kylie is rushed in school she tends to give up early. I hope it all works out for you and your students!
Thank you for the press, Dianne.
I think “hone concentration” is a great way to put it and that is the truth of it it works as a way to focus ourselves when we have too much time or as a way to set aside our time when we have too little.
The pressure is on, I am going to begin my posting about a renewal of TPR vows beginning tomorrow. The anniversary is April 12th. Yay! A year has gone by so fast. Thanks for being a part of it.
hi miss dianne! it could be way cool if you could just be a more fast teacher. maybe you could talk faster. ha ha. im pretty lucky i get taught at home but i still gotta do those tests. ack! that tpr sounds neat specially for getting going when youre stuck. im gonna send you a hanky for getting that foam off your face. ha ha …hugs from lenny