Never a Day Without a Line by Erin Vogler

I am a person who struggles with maintaining momentum. There. I said it. I am great at ideas, I’m even great at getting started. The middle, however, that daily focus on a commitment, it gets messy. Really messy. Especially in a classroom when you are being pulled in a million other directions.

With year 19 on the horizon, I think back to the dozens of commitments I try to make at the beginning of every year, and I see both a pattern and a problem. I’m sabotaging myself, and therefore, sabotaging my students. And I just have to let that sink in for a moment. My choices and commitments set us up to falter or flourish.

Too many goals and commitments force us to move quickly, we sample skills rather than master them. We become cogs in a curriculum wheel rather than individuals whose needs matter and are met.

So this year, in an effort to keep my momentum going in the two most important areas in an ELA classroom, our goals are simple.

There are only two: we will read and write every single day.

The added bonus is that to do that well, we will also have to listen to and talk about what makes writing good, as well as how to improve it through revision. It allows us to create and share pieces that matter to us, intentionally crafted for an audience beyond school.

We will learn from mentor texts and independent reading. We will tackle book club choices and, perhaps, a whole group text (a novel or a play). These choices will be made as student interests and needs reveal themselves. And yes, we will, in our work together this year, also do the things others say we need to do: meet the standards and prepare for assessments.

One thing is abundantly clear to me, more so than in any other year, the only way to do any of these things is to make that simple, initial commitment: We will read and write every single day.

With that commitment as my foundation, I cannot wait to see what year 19 brings!


Erin Vogler teaches middle and high school English at Keshequa Central School in the Genesee Valley in Western New York.  She can be found on Twitter @vogler3024 and Instagram @mrsvogler3024.