This is My Challenge by Michelle Stein

Although my students and I are not yet done with our school year, I find myself imagining my locale a few weeks from now. Crystal clear Gulf Coast waves, the sounds of terns, pelicans, and sandpipers, the heat bouncing off the sand all conspire to convince me that I should be permanently at the shore. On the beach, the pace is slower. The words come more easily when uninterrupted by the growing to-do list that governs my days.

How can I capture this serenity that allows creative musings to flow so easily from the keyboard or pen?

This is my challenge.

I haven’t yet found a way to integrate daily writing for wellness and pleasure into my routine, despite previous attempts. One year, I committed to the #Oneword program. The word was vision. Another year, I worked through The Artist’s Way, diligently letting go of emotional baggage I no longer needed. I wrote three pages, longhand, religiously. I was working part-time then. Now? I am at school by 6:30 a.m. During the summer, when the pace is languid, I am able to devote time to write. But reality calls to me and my writing time gets shoved under a pile of must-completes for home and work.

How do teachers, consummate caretakers of others, prioritize caretaking of self? After all, that’s what writing is all about: allowing ourselves to process, to be metacognitive, to reflect, to heal. Summer is the perfect time to build a routine. I know the challenge to maintain a writing program once school begins anew will be mighty. For me, I think success will depend on a reasonable goal. Write once a day. No minimum, no topics. Just write.

I think I can do that. Want to follow my progress? Once a week, I will post on my blog how it’s going.  Let us support one another in our drive to be exemplars for our students.




Michelle Stein has been teaching at the Davis Academy Middle School in Atlanta, GA for over 17 years. She loves to grow her PLN via Twitter @steinatdavis. You can find her class blog at www.tdams6thla.blogspot.com and her professional blog at www.steinology.weebly.com.