Blackwater Writing Project

August 12, 2006

Writing Prompt: New Beginnings

Hi folks,

Since schools are beginning for all of us, I thought it might be time for a new writing prompt: New Beginnings. Let the muse take you away!

Donna

posted by Donna Sewell at 6:23 PM

4 Comments:

  • Speaking of New Beginnings, the new school year is so hard. There is so much paper work and organizing to do. I have had three migranes and was so tired that I missed Desperate Housewives on Saturday night. Now I don't know what happened. I am glad to get back into the swing of things though. Donna I will send you a list of my class so that your students can write about them. I hope that this week is a little more calm. I got to baby kittens yesterday. One is a girl and she is gray. The other is a boy and he is orange. Help me name them if you have any ideas. I hope that all of you got started off to a great year. I start classes on Tuesday, so if you are taking classes I will see at VSU.

    By Blogger Kim, at 7:23 PM  

  • You know, I am about tired of new beginnings! Why can’t we just do it the old way?! What was wrong with it? It seemed to work for me. My free write topic today was “questions” and I wrote about how I questioned why it was so hard for some people to follow directions. I mean every year it gets harder and harder for my students to follow simple directions. “Write your name in the top right hand corner of your paper.” I show them where the top right hand corner is and they still put it where ever the want too. Some in the bottom left! I think they do it just to spite me. I take points off their papers and still they refuse to do the right thing. I come to the conclusion today that we, as a society, have our expectations set entirely too high. Education has become a burden for most of our kids instead of a privilege. I just can’t understand why parents don’t make more of a push for their kids to really learn something. Not just pass, but become educated. All we are worried about as a society is turning out the numbers other countries are turning out. That’s not what “education” is about. Numbers will NEVER be the tale of the tape. We do need an old beginning. Or do away with compulsory education one.

    By Blogger Adam, at 8:43 PM  

  • New beginnings scare me. I look forward to the beginning of the academic year, but then the first day of classes arrive, cars crowd the roads, students beg me to let them into my classes over the limit, and I miss summer.

    That's not the whole story, though. I like getting to know new people. I worry every semester about how classes will go, but after I meet each class, stress melts away--at least for a few days. Then, papers come in, and the race begins. That starts tomorrow for me.

    I miss summer even more right now because I miss the writing time, the time to sit with friends, write, and wonder what I'll learn.

    I guess Hatch is right, though. Most semesters I recreate old beginnings with new students, rebuilding a structure that seems to work.

    Congratulations, Kim, on your new kittens.

    By Blogger Donna Sewell, at 11:16 PM  

  • I have had many new beginnings. From daughter to wif, to mother, and then there were moves and new friends or jobs. This past year has been a new beginning of my own identity. My career is not not just a means to an end although the students, even in 4th grade, seem jaded and wary of education. They are also lazy and expect me to give something unearned.

    New beginnings for my class will take place every first day of the week. Each new first day will bring changes that require us to evaluate and make choices.

    What doesn't work now will get put away. Who knows what surprises tomorrow will bring.

    By Blogger Diana Chartier, at 11:03 PM  

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