Writers. Partners. Community.

The easel caught my eye on the way back to my office. I should just write Monday’s morning message now, I thought to myself. Monday is my day to write the schoolwide message. Sometimes I forget. So when I thought to write the message on Friday afternoon, I was feeling pretty accomplished. As I knelt in the hall writing the message, Csilla approached me.

“I sent you something,” she said.

I must have looked at her puzzled because she went on to explain that she had sent me a story. Despite working in three different buildings, Csilla had caught wind of our school Slice of Life challenge.

“Oh! Did you sign up?” I asked.

“No…I just wrote something and sent it to you.”

I beamed as I thanked Csilla for her story. I quickly finished the morning message and headed down the hall to look for a day to add Csilla’s name to our Slice of Life Calendar.

As I approached the calendar, I found Dawn leaving a classroom. I relayed the moment that had just happened with Csilla. “I got three more people to sign up today!” Dawn exclaimed.

We moved toward the calendar, that three days ago had ten open spaces. It now had only three. I had been so excited to launch the challenge, but then slightly disappointed that there wasn’t more of a buzz about it once it launched. We had just come back from winter break and the week felt intense. Was anyone reading? I could see the stats, so I knew they were. But, I wondered what people were thinking.

By that time, more people had gathered and everyone was talking about our school blog. People were impressed by the stories that had already been shared. People were talking about their ideas for their own posts. People were talking about their nerves about going public with their writing. People were talking about writing…on a Friday after a very busy week at school.

As I headed back to my office to pack up for the weekend. I passed our super dedicated custodian, Prentice. “Do you want to share a story?” I asked, still looking to fill our calendar. Prentice went on to tell me all the reasons we wouldn’t want to hear his stories. In the process, he shared several potential ideas. As I pointed this out, Prentice was hooked. I headed back down the hall to add his name to the calendar.

I left school that day on a high, excited by the quiet writing energy that has been bubbling under the surface of our school-waiting to come out.

By the time I got home, I had an email from a first grade teacher. “I switched slicing days with Prentice to give him more time. I’m going to help him write his piece. Just wanted to let you know.”

Writers. Partners. Community.

It’s everything we dreamed it could be.