Slice of Life: When you think they've got it, don't be so sure!

Every Tuesday, the writing community of Two Writing Teachers hosts Slice of Life. All are welcome to participate by linking up posts or commenting on other participants. 

I was pretty proud of the lesson I planned for a small group of fourth-graders I've been working with. Like many emerging writers, these students have the inclination to start stories when their feet hit the floor. It really doesn't matter if the important moment happens when they trip on the way to turn off the alarm or when they're served dessert after dinner--the first sentence begins with "When I woke up." I'm guessing most of you are familiar with the trope. 

I had an example of a story I'm working on where I learn to dive through the waves. I showed them a beginning where I woke up excited because we were going to the beach. I showed them another beginning where we arrived at the beach and I got out of the car. And then I showed them the beginning where I was standing with my feet in the water. All four students agreed that it would be much easier for me to get to the important points of the story, and much more exciting for readers, if I started with my feet in the water. 

"So how does this relate to the stories you're working on?" I asked. I listened to them talk in pairs, and I was still feeling pretty proud of the breakthroughs I thought were happening. Yep. One boy was going to be getting on his bike, as opposed to waking up in the morning and having pancakes, for the story that was about conquering the big hill on two wheels. The other three students seemed to be on the same track. "Off you go," I said. I couldn't wait to see the revisions!

A few minutes later, I read over one of their shoulders. The story she had described was about  the fight between her cat and a bear. She was going to start with the cat right there looking up at the bear. Nope. That cat was still back at the house knocking Christmas ornaments off the tree before eating some of the sugar cookies, before begging to go outside, before playing in the snow, before spotting a bear. 

Sometimes writing is humbling. Sometimes teaching writing is really humbling. And the next lesson will be? I think for now we'll let that cat go through her motions, and maybe this child's next story will begin closer to the action. Stay tuned!

Happy writing,

2016 Slice of Life Challenge: Day 1- I'm Doing It!

The Slice of Life Challenge is hosted by the inspirational writers of Two Writing Teachers. Each March, they invite people to join them in a commitment to write every day. Here's to another year of daily slicing!

I've been struggling with the commitment of thirty-one days of writing, combined with thirty-one days of commenting. At the eleventh hour, I am taking the March challenge for the fourth consecutive year. Here are some of my reasons:

• I have met incredible people through this experience, and pleas note that met is not in quotation marks. I have met them at conventions, at coffee shops, at workshops, and for walks. They have been instant friends because of the connections we have made reading about each other's lives for a month. 
• I believe in writing. I am a better person when I write because I notice, interact, process, and reflect more when I am in a writing state of mind. I am a better listener, observer, and even participant in life. 
• I am a better writing teacher when I write. We ask our students to write every day. To think of new topics and develop them. To reveal and share their process and product to classmates and anyone else who is in the classroom that day. When I am engaging in a similar process, I have better insight, empathy, and advice for when students are stuck.
• I know that I can forgive myself if I don't write every single day or if I don't comment on as many blogs as I mean to. The prizes are awesome, but the reasons to do the Challenge are so much greater than the prizes. At the end of the month, I know that I will have new stories I have not thought of yet, new friends to look for at shared learning opportunities, and new insights about writing and its importance in my life. 

My word that has been guiding me through 2016 is wonder, and right now I'm wondering about my sanity as I embark on this challenge. I think I'm pretty sane though. And I'm looking forward to it. If my words have convinced anyone who is reading this post, you have a couple of days to get brave and jump in. You'll be glad you did!

Cheers,

Slice #31 of 31- What I Won't Forget

During the month of March, I have participated in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by the community of writers at Two Writing Teachers. Many of my slices are at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but ones that deal specifically with education appear at Two Reflective Teachers. 

Dear Slice of Life Community,

This is an open note of thanks. You have all inspired me throughout the month. 

You reminded me that our impact, our lasting impact, on students intertwines with how we make those students feel. While I do not remember every comment, I am arriving at April 1st with confidence as a writer and as a thinker because all month, I have basked in the support and positive energy of this community. That feeling will endure.

You provided me with writing ideas I would not have thought of. On some days, I wasn't sure what to write, and I found seeds of ideas in your words. I also found wisdom that helped me find my stories, value my voice, and reassert my beliefs about the importance of literacy. 

You commented on my posts, even when I didn't think they were very interesting or funny or smart. When you wrote that my post made you laugh or cry or think, or that you were going to share my ideas with colleagues, I felt important and energized to write again tomorrow. 

You confessed your struggles and your fear of putting your writing out their in public. Isn't it scary to put our words out there? Yes, we worry about the typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes, but the ideas and the snippets of our lives are even bigger worries. I felt safe with my writing because of your comments and reactions, because of your honesty and reflections about how you feel the same way.

You wrote about and shared incredible teaching practices. I know that I spent way more time reading than writing this month. The students within my reach have reaped the benefits of the collective knowledge of this community about engagement, literacy, and self-efficacy.

You made me a better educator, writer, and learner.

I am humbled by your intelligence, eloquence, discipline, and commitment to reflection and continuous improvement. 

I thank you all.

I will miss you as part of my daily life, but I will see you on Tuesdays.

As always, happy slicing,

It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading...

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

I visited my daughter in college over the weekend, and one of our favorite things to do is to go read picture books at the local Barnes and Noble. Even though she is nineteen, it is a wonderful way to spend time when we need a break from shopping and eating.

 My Pen by Christopher Myers was one of our favorite books we read this morning. The black and white pictures in this book are incredible and would be wonderful in an elementary class to inspire close looking at details. The narrator's pen gives him power, since it creates so many different things. There's not a story in the classical sense, but rather lots of jumping off places for meaningful discussions about our world and the power of imagination.

I loved How to Babysit a Grandpa, as it was such a great mentor text for our how-to writing units. Any book that can show students how to write information text with beauty and creativity is high on my list. How to Babysit a Grandma by Jean Reagan is just as good! Young students will enjoy the role reversal, and they will identify with the universal experiences of spending time with grandparents, but missing parents. This book could serve not only as a strong mentor text for how-to writing, but also as a way to write about special memories. Doreen Cronin also uses punctuation purposefully throughout the text, which I am also always looking for.

I Don't Want to be a Frog by Dev Petty is a great book to read for the message which is predictably along the lines of appreciating and valuing your own individual strengths. However, since many of our students are in the middle of opinion writing, I have been thinking a lot about reasons and evidence, and this book is a great mentor for talking to students about those tricky words, why and because. 

Larkin had never read Knuffle Bunny, and she picked up Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems on her own. It was really fun to read that book through Larkin's artistic lens, as she loved the way the comics were juxtaposed with the realistic images of the city. She also loved the subtle humor, laughing out loud in the middle of the story as she pictured Trixie's parents trying to explain the significance of 2:30 in the morning. Oh, to be able to write a book of such universal appeal!


I'm still reading and enjoying lots of great slices at Two Writing Teachers. Tomorrow is the last day of the March Slice of Life Challenge.

Happy Reading and Slicing,

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

I didn't read many books over the week, but the one that I'm sharing, Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Sally Walker, is wonderful. Who knew that there was actually a real bear who inspired A.A. Milne? This is a wonderful story of a veterinarian who bought a bear cub in a train station and raised the cub. Not only is it a fabulous mentor text for narrative nonfiction, it is also a story that children (and adults) will love!



Last week, I wrote about The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  Over the last few days, I read this out loud to my seventh-grade daughter who doesn't really like reading. (Yes, I just wrote that. :( ) Not only did she beg me to keep going, she finished it without me. She came downstairs all teary and set the book down on the kitchen counter while I was making dinner. "This is too sad," she said. We had a great conversation about the power of books and of writing. I have to say, I enjoyed this book even more out loud than I did when I read it to myself.



The other significant reading I have been doing is at Two Writing Teachers. Many of you are familiar with the Slice of Life Challenge where we write every day throughout the month of March. Over the weekend, there was a commenting challenge in order to be entered into a drawing to win a Highlights Foundation workshop. What an amazing prize donated by Kent Brown, the Executive Director!

Happy Slicing!

Slice #18 of 31- Is It All About the GPA?

For the month of March, I am participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by the community of writers at Two Writing Teachers. Many of my slices are at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but ones that deal specifically with education appear here. All are welcome to join the slicing party by reading and commenting. People write amazing posts.

Every three years, our district has a town-wide orchestra festival where students from all grades, 3-12, play together in the gymnasium. Because I only videoed, and I did not take pictures, I am gong to "write without sight" (thank you, Dana Murphy. If you missed this post, I highly recommend reading it!). Picture this. Five orchestras sitting in folding chairs where the basketball teams usually play. At center court and spreading out is the high school orchestra, all students dressed in white and black, playing the violins, violas, cellos, and basses. A few drums are on the back sideline. To the left and in front are three elementary orchestras, each with about fifty musicians, and to the right is the middle school orchestra. Every student is in white and black. Only one of the music directors varies from the black and white with the splash of green from his St Patrick Day's vest, cumberbund, and bow tie. The bleachers are packed with parents cameras, and video devices. 

Listening to the progression of the orchestras is impressive, but the highlight is when all of the orchestras play together. Tonight, after This Land is Your Land, they played Oh Beautiful as the Color Guard surprised us, marching in with flags and full uniform. Add some tears to the parents, cameras and video devices. 

But here's the rub. Both my daughters are planning to quit this year. Clare plays the cello beautifully, and is in the high level orchestra as a sophomore. Cecily plays violin and struggles through it, but has worked hard to stay with the program for almost six years. 

"Are you sure that you really want to quit?" I asked, as we sat in the parking lot. "It's so beautiful."

Clare shrugged.

I seized the opportunity. Maybe she's changing her mind. Maybe she'll keep playing. She loves music--plays the piano, sings, is learning the guitar. 

Then she stuns me.

"It brings down my GPA," she said. 

In the gridlock of the parking lot, I thought about this sentence and the thinking behind it. What if she could take orchestra pass/fail? What if it wasn't graded? What if her teacher knew that the grading policies and the emphasis on assessment was pushing her to quit making beautiful music? 

And then, some bigger questions. What is the purpose of grading? When we teach optional courses, like art and music, what happens when the grades are low? Will we weed out the kids who aren't musical? Will we drive out the kids who love music, but won't be music majors? And, what do we want to have happen? If we grade hard, will it lift the level of the work? And what do we really want kids to get out of a music program?

And maybe, even bigger questions... Why does my daughter care more about her GPA than about doing something she enjoys? And should she? 

Frank Bruni wrote a wonderful piece in Sunday's New York Times about college admissions. One of my take-aways was to help my girls see that there are many colleges and universities that offer pathways to happy, productive lives, but wow, in the part of the pathway that goes through high school, the GPA pressures are intense. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Clare changes her mind, and I watch her perform for two more years.

Happy Slicing,

Slice #17 of 31- My Mother's Boombox...It's Tough to Change!

For the month of March, I am participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by the community of writers at Two Writing Teachers. Many of my slices are at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but ones that deal specifically with education appear here. All are welcome to join the slicing party by reading and commenting. People write amazing posts.

We have all tried to explain different ways of playing music in the kitchen to my mother. We have gotten her the Pandora app. We have put music on her phone. We have hooked her up to a Bluetooth speaker system. However, in a moment of panic and frustration, when her music wouldn't play, she went and bought herself a boombox yesterday. 

"What is that?" my twelve year-old asked.
"Does it have a tape cassette deck, as well?" I asked.
My daughters missed the reference since they don't remember tapes, but my mother understood my teasing.
"I just want my CDs. They're comfortable, and I know how to use them," she said. "They work."

I understand her discomfort and I appreciate her resolution. I know many teachers who experience the frustration and incompetent feelings in their classrooms. We have so many new initiatives in our schools. New curriculum. New technology. New assessments.

As I think about my mother and the connection between her boombox and education, here are some parallels:

• she is intelligent (one of the smartest people I know, actually).
• she is motivated (she really wanted to listen to music).
• she has time (I'm never sure of how exactly she spends her days).
• she understands the purpose of the new technology.

But despite all that, she chose to give up, and go back to her old way. Hmmm.

My mother's boombox, as it sits on that counter, is a great reminder to me of how hard change can be. 

So now, the motivation falls back on the teachers--my daughters, my husband, and I would definitely prefer playlists over opera and musical CDs, not to mention the fact that I don't like extra stuff on the counters. What new approach will we try to re-engage our learner? Stay tuned... (ha, ha!)

Happy Slicing,

Slice #16: Doubling Up With It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

Warning: This could be an expensive post to read. I read some really good books this week.

I picked up Firebird by Misty Copeland because I loved the pictures on the cover. I also loved the message contained in this book about perseverance, goal-setting, hard work, and possibility. It is a wonderful title for a classroom collection about growth mindset. It is also a wonderful book for teaching figurative language, as it is full of metaphors and similes.





Speaking of metaphors, Wings by Christopher Myers is perhaps the consummate book for teaching metaphors. If you haven't read this incredible book, find it. (Linda, do I have you to thank for the recommendation?) For me, Wings has it all. A powerful message about acceptance, social responsibility, the power of educators to help and hurt, as well as powerful language structures and gorgeous pictures. Some books humble me as an aspiring author. This is one of them.

Draw What You See by Kathleen Benson is a biographical account of Benny Andrew, an African American painter. Readers will be inspired to read more about Benny Andrews, who illustrates this picture book. Every picture will inspire a conversation about the historical experiences of minorities, the power of art, and the techniques of artists.  You can also find wonderful interviews about his work on youtube. Additionally, it is another wonderful title to add to a collection of books that emphasize and celebrate perseverance, growth mindset, and following your dreams.

I don't think there's enough to say about The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. I. love. this. book. I sat down and read it in one sitting on Saturday morning. Then, I started reading it out loud to my husband and 16 year-old daughter. The power of this book to hook them in with the song, the voice, the plot, and the issues is testimony in and of itself. They laughed, but then I watched them experiences the anger that I had as well, as events unfold. This is a truly incredible book on many levels. I can't wait for more people to read it.







Happy Slicing and Reading,

Reflections in a Third-Grade Classroom

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of taking the time to slow down and process the learning that is happening. In one of the third-grade classes that I work in, I asked the students to do just that. 

"Before you go to your writing, I want you to just sit and reflect for a moment on the lesson you just experienced," I said. "You have a chart in front of you, as well as some work that you did in the last ten minutes. What did you learn? Consciously think about what you learned."

We did not ask the students to share their learning which surprised them. They are used to raising their hands and giving an answer. Instead, I told them to just take their learning with them to their work. Their classroom teacher gave students who wanted them Post-its so that they could write down their learning. I kept some of the responses and the different take-aways fascinate me:

 The first response is reflective of the lesson, as it was a lesson about planning and making sure that you will have enough to say about your claim, emphasizing the importance of front-end revision.

I learned that I should go back and rewrite things or add in more.

The next response was from a high level writer.  From her post, I can tell that she was thinking about and processing at the next level, contemplating the possibilities of revising her claim and thinking in terms of reasons and matching examples--high level thinking for a third-grader.

This third response is a great example of one that worries me. Where did the concept of character traits sneak in during an opinion writing lesson? This child's response gives me a clear shout-out to clarify the different types of writing and different purposes to keep in mind. I will make sure to circle back to her and try to clear up the confusion that may exist for her. Without her reflective Post-it, I wonder how long she would have written her piece and how she would have gone about structuring it.

Walking around and reading their opinion writing early on in the unit, I was impressed blown away at the level of their writing. Still with Maggie Beattie Roberts' wonderful voice in my ear, encouraging me to help students take charge of their own learning (she had worked with us the previous day), I asked the students how this amazing learning happened. How was it that they were writing such amazing opinion pieces so early in the unit? I jotted their answers on another Post-it and I wished that I had made a chart of what they said, but I am sharing a photo of my notes:

Here's what they said...

• We have charts, checklists, modeled pieces, a strong purpose, and showing pieces (their term for mentor texts). 
• Also, we can take all that we learned in the information unit and use it in this one. 
• We know what the fourth grade standards are so we can set goals.
• We are writing what we know a lot about. 

I'm not kidding.

Thank you, Maggie, for the reminder to take the time to think, really think, about the learning, and to remember to foster this important habit of mind.

Happy Slicing,

Slow Down and Reflect- an Idea Worth Remembering

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

We are incredibly fortunate in our district to have Teachers College Staff Developers come and work with us a few times a year. Since I have been in my position of Writing Coordinator, Kate Roberts has worked with our sixth-grade teachers. This year, Maggie Beattie Roberts has taken over this role, and I met her face to face for the first time yesterday. 

I'm going to pause and take a minute to give Twitter a plug. When Maggie walked into the building, I felt like I knew her because I have been in twitterchats and I have tweeted with her back and forth. I have read her blog, and I have tweeted favorite posts (all of them, actually, I think). I would not have believed that I would write this a couple of years ago when I was new on Twitter, but we hugged each other like old friends yesterday morning. If you are debating twitter, if you are on the fence...join. It really is an incredible forum for learning and developing friendships with like-minded people. 

Maggie said so much that inspired me yesterday, but the first share I will offer on this blog is an idea that she shared from Kylene Beers. 

"We're always so busy moving forward that we don't have a time to reflect."

I think that in context, Kylene was talking about notetaking, but the shared comment from Maggie made me think and reflect on many aspects of teaching and learning. When do we take the time to ask ourselves and our students:

• What did I learn today?
• What helped me learn?
• Why did it matter?

Additionally, when do we take the time to reflecting on the learning that has happened over a longer period of time, both for ourselves as educators and for our students, asking ourselves and our students"

• How does the work I'm doing now compare to the work I was doing at a different point in my learning path?
• What knowledge/understandings do I have from past units or experiences that can help me with new challenges?
• What tools, lessons, or other experiences helped my learning?
• How can I learn from the other members of my community? 
• What has been hard or held me back and how can I overcome similar obstacles?

I tried this with a group of third-graders, and the conversation we had amazed me. I will share their reflections tomorrow. 

Happy Slicing,

It's Monday--Here's What I'm Reading!

This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in or comment or just read... Many of my posts will be at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but the posts that relate explicitly to learning will be on both blogs. 

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

This morning, I have the perfect book to combine my Monday reading and daily writing worlds. On Saturday, I spent the day at a field hockey tournament, grateful for the pockets of time in between games so that I could read an incredible book.

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Shane Evans was left on my desk with a note:

When I get this sort of note, I read the book! If I could put this book on every reader of this post's desk, I would. It's that good. The Red Pencil is written in verse and the beauty of the images, the figurative language, and the play with fonts and spacing render the gruesome story and the horrific events readable and incredibly compelling. Set in Sudan, Amira lives in a tribal village with her parents and her sister until the Janjaweed militia attack the village, killing people and animals, and destroying homes. Andrea Davis Pinkney included an incredible author's note, explaining the reality of the situation with facts and details, her research process, and her hopes for the future. 

This is a book that will inspire writers with the powerful verses that weave the story. I am including just a fragment of the chapter, Waking the Moon:

When the moon winks,
 then waves good-bye,
 it is a bad sign.

A hiding moon is a curse.

It means
the worst
luck is sure to fall.

If a curtain of clouds 
closes
on a swelling moon's smile,
we have reason to frown.

This fragment is only a tiny sampling of the beautiful language throughout this book. The Red Pencil will also inspire artists because Shane Evans uses seemingly simple, but deceptively complex, pictures to show so much emotion. Most importantly, this story will inspire empathy, as it tells of unthinkable events with hope, compassion, and beauty. Upper elementary students will ask questions and search for answers about lives that are so very different from the ones they live. 

Happy reading and slicing!

Helping Our Students Navigate Learning

During the month of March, I am participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by Twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. Most of my posts are at my personal blog, justwritemelanie.blogspot.com because they are slices of daily life,  but this one is directly about education, so I am posting it here, on the professional blog that I share with Melanie Swider.

I have never been great at directions. I remember when I first got my license and my mother couldn't believe that I wasn't sure about how to get to the grocery store. I had my first accident because I couldn't decide which way to turn and concentrated harder on that decision than on staying out of the way of the oncoming car. (We were fine.) Fortunately, I married a guy who always seems to know the right direction to turn. Somehow, he always knows his north and south, even when it's a cloudy day. I don't.

Last weekend, I was in Michigan with our oldest daughter. We had a rental car and had to deal with navigating a completely new city. I loved Ann Arbor, but I don't think that I could provide much accurate description of where everything (almost anything) is. All weekend, I was incredibly grateful for my iPhone and my new favorite app, Waze. Waze told me exactly where to go. All the time. All I had to do was listen to the Waze lady and she knew what the traffic patterns were, whether the roads were closed, and what the shortest routes were. She told me exactly how to navigate. What I realized at the end of the weekend is that I did not even try to learn how to get around Ann Arbor myself because I had Waze telling me what to do.

This morning, lying in bed trying to figure out what to write for my daily slice, I made a connection between my lack of growth as an Ann Arbor navigator and the presentation's message that I gave on Thursday to paras who work with struggling writers: if we always tell students exactly what to do, they won't learn how to do any of it themselves. Learners (and navigators) need time and opportunities to practice just one part of the journey. Sometimes, they might have to travel that one section of the path many times before they continue on, and sometimes a part of the path might have to be shortened. However, once they get it, they can move on and be ready to learn another part.

I would have learned how to get from my hotel to the city's center if I had practiced it and made myself pay attention, but it was easier to just rely on the app. I think that many of our struggling writers, the really struggling writers, the struggling learners, have realized that it is way easier to navigate writing, learning, and school by relying on the adults around them. My message to the paras, and I presented it with a study of how to give a great conference, is that we have to break learning down for our students--give them one thing that they can do almost independently and then give them opportunities to practice it. Sometimes that task might look very different than the other work being done in the classroom, but that's how these students will make growth.

Writing a story, essay, paragraph, sentence, or even a word may feel to some students the way the roads between Detroit and our Ann Arbor hotel felt to me. Waze is okay for me as a navigator (as long as my phone is fully charged), but our students need to learn how to write (or read, or do math...) without a guide for every step of the way.

Happy Slicing,