i shouldn’t have my students free-write; it always get me in trouble.  today, casey came up and said, “can we just write today? i got a story that needs to get out of my head.” well, who am i to deny such a request? unfortunately, when they write, i write; a show of good faith, shall we say? (haha…)

i start by setting the mood: “high school never ends” on the old iTunes; write a word prompt on the board (cows) just in case someone is stuck for a topic; then fuss at my two sleepers. finally, it’s time for mrs. mccabe to get down to business and write.

i block them out–don’t even know what time it is or how long we’ve been writing. i’m deep in my thoughts, and the song playing (“time” by Chantal Kreviazuk). “are you okay, mrs. mccabe?” i hear a small voice ask–why can’t they just leave me alone and let me write?

well, apparently, we had been writing for about 30 minutes, and tears were streaming down my face. i had no idea really what i was writing, but laughed with my students who of course wanted to know what i wrote that had made me so sad. when i looked back over my (4!) pages, i hadn’t written anything sad…but it was heartfelt–fussing with lily over a late bedtime and her begging me to read even though it was too late–jake ignoring me in the hallway or when i ask him to read a book–and how all this won’t matter. what’s going to matter is the time i spent with them–time that goes too fast and for some reason, REFUSES to wait!

“you almost make me want to write,” robert quipped. then the entire class roared with laughter. writing session over! 😉