Starting March 1st I will be participating the The Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge for the 3rd year. (#SOL) The goal is to post a ‘slice of life’ on your blog every day for the entire month of March. What is a slice? A slice can be a snippet of your day, a moment in your life, a poem in your heart, or a memory on your mind. It is a chance for us to live a writerly life and contemplate story all around us.
Each time I have participated, I have found that small moments take on greater meaning. I realize the power I have to shape my own narrative. It really changes how I experience life for that month (and beyond).
I almost decided not to do it this month, however. I have so many commitments, especially in writing. I have a looming deadline for my book manuscript and multiple workshop presentations to prepare, but rather than make it an all-or-nothing proposition, I have decided that I will take the challenge again, but set reasonable expectations for myself.
Lately I have been fascinated by micropoetry. This is simply a genre of poetic verse that is characterized by its extreme brevity. It isn’t limited by any rules other than constraints of any digital platforms you might post to (Twitter, for example has 280 characters). Some forms such as haiku, tanka, senryu and gogyohka are quite appealing to micropoets, but so is free verse.
My goal this month is to boil my slices down to their essence and extract meaning in a few well-chosen words and/or images and to post each day to this blog. I may even play around with Canva to integrate words and images on some days.
So if you are looking for my regular educational blog posts, you will have to wait until April. I won’t be sharing “What’s On My Book Radar”, but I’ll continue to post my reads on Facebook and Goodreads. I certainly won’t take offense for those who unsubscribe from my blog or turn off notifications for the month of March. You’ll see this logo on all of my #SOL posts for March.
For those who stay, I’d welcome any feedback. I’ll be reading and commenting on others’ as well so, I would also encourage ALL teachers to try the Slice of Life this month. Here is the link to sign up
https://twowritingteachers.org/2018/02/18/info-form-sol18/
And if you are interested in the Classroom Slice of Life Challenge you can get started here
What’s On My Book Radar?
LONG WAY DOWN by Jason Reynolds
I knew Jason Reynolds was a brilliant writer, but I wasn’t ready for this. Jason’s impressive story telling is coupled with his luminous writing style in this tragic tale of a boy just trying to follow the rules handed down in his family.
THE RULES:
1. Crying: Don’t. No matter what.
2. Snitching: Don’t. No matter what.
3. Revenge: Do. No matter what.
When Will’s brother Shawn is shot dead in front of him, Will knows what he has to do. At least he thinks he does. He retrieves his brother’s gun and takes the elevator down from his apartment, with plans to follow the rules. However, the elevator makes unexpected stops on the long way down and Will is confronted with those whose lives were forever changed by the rules. Told in powerful verse and authentic dialect this book will grab you and take you for a wild ride. Reynolds is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite authors. Check out all the awards that are accumulating on this jacket! 12+
litcoachlady 
All wonderful ideas, Paula. I’ve been having fun playing around with Canva during Laura Shovan’s February Daily Poem Project. It’s amazing what you can do with it and how relatively simple it is. See you on the Slice!
I’m also playing with a great app called Prisma that Michelle Haseltine shared with me. Gives photos an artistic tone and feel. LOVE it. See you the Slice!
I bought it today after reading this post!