SOL 1 learning to be a writer in the 21st century

While certainly not the "best" view of me, this picture depicts a few of the multiple intersecting-slices of my life! As a literacy specialist during the day (lots of reports, paperwork) and an adjunct professor in the evening (lots of case studies, lesson plans), I spend a LOT of time at my computer!  So, when the disk-drive on my overworked desktop-computer crashed last week, it seemed like the time to align my needs and wants!

The computer world had certainly changed since the last time I "shopped" for computers and at first I thought I might be able to fill my needs and my wants with a new incredible slim-line laptop; however, the more I pondered, the more I knew that what I really wanted was a tablet to serve as an "e reader" and note taker and a computer to do those excel spreadsheets and power points. 

So, Monet (she is "champagne" colored) arrived on a UPS truck late on a snowy afternoon and shortly thereafter I was reading the Times and exploring her functions.  It was close to 7 when I reluctantly left her charging on the counter and made my way to the stove to stir up some dinner.  Moments later, my husband appeared out of nowhere and began playing with my new writing tablet!  I almost erased the picture and its text as "play" but fortunately I came to my senses just in time.  The picture and text are really much more and perhaps even symbolic of the writing journey that we are ALL taking as writing changes. 
 
ALL this made me reflect on this blog.  I started this blog to do what I "preach" as a teacher of teachers.  If we really do learn to be writers through the process of writing (as the great writing gurus of the 20th Century - Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins - said), then our students need to write about topics that are personally meaningful to them on a regular basis.  I finally began to understand the process as I wrote, endlessly it seemed, for my dissertation.  While I started this blog FOR my grad students, at some point, I realized that this really was more than just a diversion; I really was learning to be a 21st Century writer.  It's a little scary to be putting all these thoughts, ideas and pictures out there for others to possibly read; but that is what writing is all about!