NaNoWriMo with Mrs. Always Wright | The Conclusion

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Every year I have blogged NaNoWriMo with my students, I have posted the conclusion SO LATE into December. I’m sure you can imagine the struggle of teaching in December: the end of the semester means all the late work, semester exams/project, and obviously the behaviors that come with being so close to a long break. I love many of my students but to say I needed this break is an understatement.

Not only that, but I was finishing my own grad school work to close out the semester. Humble brag that I’m 36% through my program (Masters in Curriculum & Instruction) and still carrying that 4.0! Honestly feels so much easier than undergrad; just have to make the time to do the work.

ANYWAY. All that to say, it’s late, but here is the final tally for my students in their NaNoWriMo endeavors.

We started off with some very excited goals. It kind of took me back to middle school band and our practice logs where the entire flute section claimed we somehow made time to practice for 20 hours/week. Students who hated writing were setting goals like 10,000 in the month, and as the time went on, realized they were a bit overzealous. But that was okay – I wanted them to dream big, and adjust their expectations as needed. That’s apart of the learning process!

In the end, the final total word count goal for both classes (55 students) was 101,467. I set my own personal goal that they’d get to 50,000 together.

We will all be having a big celebration in January! The final word count was

62,936 / 101,467 or 62%!

The top student in each class period wrote 6,102 and 10,011 words respectively. The first a work of fiction, the second a completely independently written guide to Super Smash Bros. (I told him to start selling it!).

To celebrate, I have printed winners and participant certificates (in color!), and will be giving a treat to all writers, a goody bag to all winners, and a trophy to the top word counts in each period. I’m so excited by what they all accomplished with only a little bit of class time dedicated to it each day.

I’ll likely be having them use this project to practice revising and editing throughout the remainder of the school year, and be sure that they remember the success they all had in just thirty days.

my name [a poem]

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my name is two syllables
harsh transition between.
Danielle.
doesn’t quite roll of the lips in a beautiful way,
but hey, it’s mine.

Danielle.
like definitely – rarely spelled correctly
self-conscious at Starbucks &
restaurant wait lists.
do i look like daniel?
is my long, flowing red hair
not a big enough billboard?

Danielle.
to me, sounds like a harp.
stops me in my tracks.
goosebumps.
Danielle: a voice says, pulling me from panic.
Danielle: they yell, excited to see me.
Danielle: hand on shoulder, consoling.
Danielle: a voice of reason reminding me that i am enough.

no one’s footsteps to follow.
this name is mine.

Golden Lines | No. 1

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a series of lines i love from books i love

“I feel these forbidden thoughts creep in sometimes without warning. Slow thoughts that always start quietly, like whispers you’re not even sure you’re hearing. And then they get louder and louder until they become every sound in the entire world. Thoughts that’s can’t be undone.”

The Way I Used to Be | Amber Smith

NaNoWriMo with Mrs. Always Wright Week 3

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As we now head into Thanksgiving break, I have some fun statistics and updates to share for my students’ National Novel Writing Month journeys!

Knowing that we’re on break, I do not anticipate having a week 4 update, so I plan on sharing some snippets of students’ writing in its place! Then we have four school days left before the end of the month and the end of our journey. I may have created some extrinsic motivation with the promise of a full color certificate and goody bag for each student who reaches their goal.

With that offer, I did allow students this week to change their word count goal. Some were very eager in saying they’d write 10,000 to 50,000 words. For many, I knew even 4,000 was a stretch, but I refused to question them. I let them lower their goal with zero judgement. With that, the percentages feel more realistic, but the word counts are still amazing!

So here we go –

Continue reading →

on our side [but are you really] (a poem)

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It’s a teacher problem
It’s an adult problem
It’s a student problem

Last I checked, a problem is a problem
and problems need solutions.
Not blame,
not shame,
not to pass the buck to someone else
or pass on it in a few days anyways

because a problem without an answer
stays a problem
until you’re willing to listen,
create a vision,
make an actual decision.

but let’s be honest –
even if we told you,
the vicious circle will continue
because here we are now
being yelled at for our thoughts
but – oops, I forgot
you’re on our side, right?

NaNoWriMo with Mrs. Always Wright Week 2

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With a Veteran’s Day holiday on Friday, it’s now the end of week 2 of National Novel Writing Month! That means it’s time to post an update of my 7th grade students’ progress!

As I reported last week, I have about 50 students participating, some more enthusiastically than others. I am not counting any students with 0 words written yet, though I do count the student who wrote 4 because 4 > 0!

A few fun updates:

I have my first official winner! Student BH set a 1,000 word goal and as of today sits at 1,287. I haven’t said anything yet though because I want to see how much more she writes 😉

6 of my students are over the 1,000 word mark. That was the minimum I allowed them to set their goal to. 5/6 of these students, however, have goals upwards of 5,000, so I’m excited to see their progress towards those goals!

This writing project has motivated 5 students to ask me about writing contests they can enter, so I’ve been on the hunt for some! If you know of any open to middle schoolers, hit me up in the comments or contact page!

Officially, our total word count goal is 267,606. Most students set their own goals; the few who did not I set to 1,000.

All students combined have written 23,565 words!

There are still 20 days in the month (though 10 of those days are Thanksgiving break and it’s hard to get some of them to write outside of my classroom but that’s ok). I set out a weekend challenge for them, so we’ll see how much more writing they can do on their own! I can’t wait to see how much more progress we can make towards our goals next week! Follow along for more updates!

NaNoWriMo ’23 with Mrs. Always Wright

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I did not forc- I mean – encourage my students to take part last year and regretted it the entire month. This time, I have such a group of writers I simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity.

I have two blocks of 7th grade Honors ELAR this year, and this is the perfect side project for them. They have the first 10 minutes of class to write (in lieu of a warm-up), and can choose to add to their word counts as early finisher work or outside of class time.

I told them that they can write ANYTHING they want (school appropriate, of course). The goal is just to write every single day. Some students are just writing about their favorite things, some students are writing diary entries about their days, and the rest are taking the traditional path and writing fiction stories.

We are officially 3 days in and I’m already so proud.

My 4th/5th honors block sits at 32 students currently – I am missing goals for 6 of them. With goals ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 (yes, really), the combined goal sits at 159,316 words. As of the end of their block period, not including 3 students writing by hand, they had combined for 6,647 words! 2 students are already over 1,000!

My 6th/7th honors block also sits at 32 students – I am missing goals for 15 of them (they’re a rough bunch, ok?). With goals ranging from 1,000 to 25,000, the combined goal sits at 86,790. That will increase once I get the rest of them and I’ll update next week. As of the end of the school day today, not including 2 students writing by hand, they had combined for 6,285 words. 1 student owns 2,500 of them!

I’m already so happy to see their progress already. Some of them get really excited when I remind them to work on their writing project at the beginning of the period, already begging for more time to write. Two students have asked me to find writing contests they can enter. Sometimes, you don’t really know how much you love something until you’re forc- I mean, encouraged – to do it!

I’m excited to share their progress with you as the weeks go on. We have a lot of testing these next two weeks (SIGH), but for me, this opens the door for more writing time. I definitely also plan to get permission and share some excerpts with you, because their words deserve to be read!

Until next time!

*oh and if you’re curious, I’m still at zero words. I’ve been drowning in reading chapters for my Master’s program!

Vulnerable: Perception #1 (A Poem)

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Teacher, wife, foster mom,
maker of decisions –
I feel like a baseball player
playing all the positions.

These conditions allow others 
to see my spectrum of emotions:
the joy, the tears,
the massive implosions
where I lose my cool;
they think less of me
because they see the cracks
exposed, set free.

I’m a firecracker most days
waiting to explode,
like a cup full of water
but too full – overflowed.

There’s so many days, 
students, family, it’s too much.
They see me be vulnerable
and then forever perceive me as such.

Here’s What I Would “Appreciate” -a poem-

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We all want more money,
but that’s not the point,
it’s the way we always feel
like we’re being exploited.

See, you want to “appreciate”
the teachers who stay –
too bad the way you do it
is making more of us run away.

A week to celebrate
those who educate our future,
a number of which people
dwindle fewer and fewer.

Five days of cute themes
and the snacks that they feature
planned by, you guessed it,
a committee of teachers.

Yes, we appreciate ourselves
because who else will?
I guess they probably think
our wishes, they can’t fulfill.

Like smaller class sizes,
less skipping in the halls,
or for someone to show up
when it’s so bad we call.

Support when a student
tells me, “Shut the fuck up!”
Any kind of response
before a fight starts to erupt.

Stop shilling new products
that suck and don’t last;
we don’t want a script to teach,
this is literally our craft.

No more duty: morning,
after school, or lunch,
on top of the meetings,
it’s all way too much!

Just listen to us,
we have good suggestions!
We’re in the trenches everyday,
giving us the best perceptions.

What I would appreciate
is a modicum of support,
and to feel that EVERYDAY
it’s being reinforced.