When I went to see my Dad last weekend, he cried when he saw me.  In 50+ years the only other thing that brought him to tears was missing my Mum.  That’s when I realized that because of his stroke, his sense of time was distorted and it felt like a really long time since I had been to visit.  In truth, it had only been 2 weeks but I had skipped a weekend and gone to the beach because of reservation deposits I would lose if I bailed and because my lovely children offered to cover for me and spend the weekend with him.  I should have gone to see him.  He should have been my priority, not deposits. 

That experience and the upcoming Back to School Night made me examine what my priorities are for my students this year. I thought and thought about it, made lists, looked for quotes, and came down to two simple goals.  I want them to leave this year knowing they are readers and writers.  That’s it. As I told the parents, many of them come to me already knowing they are readers. (I can tell because they hide their books in their desks so they can read when I’m not looking.) Maybe 2 out of 120 consider themselves writers.  I intend to change that.

It started yesterday with our first official Writer’s Workshop.  This year, like every one previously, the kids are amazed that they get to write about whatever they want.  We’ve spent the first weeks of school brainstorming possible topics so no one could say, “I have nothing to write about.”  Yesterday we looked at some gorgeous black and white photographs from Africa for inspiration. http://www.nickbrandt.com/Category.cfm?nL=0&nS=0 Their pencils couldn’t move fast enough.  We wrote for 10 minutes straight and many said, “Can I work on this at home?” to which I responded, “Do you think real writers work at home? Of course! Go for it!”

The bureaucrats in Virginia and D.C. want my priority to be having my students pass a test in the spring.  For people outside of education making these decisions, that single test score is the only thing that matters.  They don’t see Gabe reading a historical fiction book for the first time and really liking it, thus opening up a world he might have missed.  They don’t see Ryan discovering that he can make people laugh out loud with what he has written and what a difference that made to his sense of himself.  They don’t see the kids excited about publishing a novel for NANOWRIMO and ending the month with a pin that says “I am a first class novelist.” and knowing that it’s true.

Next weekend, one of my former students is reading her original work at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.  She is published in a book called ‘Falling for the Story’ and she will be attending the festival with the likes of Walter Dean Myers, Patricia Polacco and Avi.  There’s no place on any answer sheet for any test to note this accomplishment. But Courtland knows she’s a writer, and that’s good enough for me.