Thursday, March 2, 2017

The Beginning - A Tribute to Katherine #sol17


I believe being a writer is one of the biggest gifts you can give to your students. ~ Stacey Shubitz


This month I am participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for creating a space for me to share my corner of the world.

This is NOT the post I had written and ready to publish today.  But yesterday when I saw that Katherine at Read, Write, Reflect, was back to slicing this month, I knew I had to change my plans.

My one little word this year is RISE, and I have made it a point to lift others, especially those who have played a part in my writing life.  I celebrated and honored Margaret here, and Terje here.  

Today, I celebrate Katherine.  It is because of Katherine that my little space, A Day in the Life, was born.  

Her blog introduced me to the blogosphere.  It was the first one I faithfully read every day.  It is probably the only one in which I have read the entire blog more than once! 

In the early days of my teaching career, Katherine was the teacher I wanted to be.  I was teaching on that deserted island by myself and desperately needed some validation of my teaching practices.  Katherine was that validation, even if it was online.  I needed to know that what I was doing in my classroom made sense.  I needed her encouragement to create those reading relationships with my own students like she had with hers.  I needed to read her slices, her stories that she so bravely and beautifully shared.  But most importantly, I needed her inspiration to create my own writing life.  I had no idea that a supportive community of writing teachers even existed out there, a place called Two Writing Teachers.

After reading every blog post she wrote, especially her slices in March, the idea of creating my own blog started permeating my thoughts, but I had so many doubts.  Could I do this?  Did I want to do this?  Would anyone read what I had to say?  Who would care?

I took the plunge, created this blog, and have been writing ever since.  But I know if it wasn't for Katherine, my writing life would not be what it is today.  

Over the last couple of years, Katherine has taken a little bit of a break due to family and other obligations.  I understand that, but I will be honest, I have missed her presence in my teaching and writing and reading life.  Her last Slice of Life March Challenge was my first.  She has so much to share with other educators, and it has certainly been our loss.

So when I read Katherine's post, "You'll Be Back" I knew who I would be lifting next.  Thank you Katherine for being my inspiration.  

Welcome back!  

13 comments:

  1. What a beautiful tribute! Katherine is an inspiration!

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  2. Aww, you are beyond sweet. I'm glad, and honored, to have inspired you in any way. :) Thanks for making my Tuesday!

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  3. This is so awesome. What a wonderful thing to do.

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  4. What a great tribute to someone who has influenced you! I too, have always loved learning from Katharine's blog.

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  5. What a beautiful tribute! Thank you for sharing!!

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  6. What a wonderful story of inspiration and appreciation.

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  7. It's lovely to hear your tribute to Katherine, and I didn't know she was back! I too have followed her blog all these years and I guess we've both met her at different conferences. I appreciate your words, Leigh Anne, and know that it's important to read others' posts and learn from them, the content and the way of writing.

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  8. This is so wonderful! I love the idea of writing tributes. I, too, love Katherine's blog and love that she's back!

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  9. Simply delightful. You have stated so eloquently here about what I love about blogging. The support, the connections, the challenges. It really improves us as educators. Love it!

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  10. What an amazing tribute! I love reading her posts too. She quite simply is inspiring!!! I love that you are using your one little word not just for yourself, but for others -- rise. That is beautiful ... and I think you are pretty amazing too, Leigh Anne!!!

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  11. I loved reading this tribute to one of my favorite teacher bloggers. I've been reading her blog for years and sharing her posts with my pre-service teachers. We talk about katsok familiarly as if she's in the classroom with us teaching us! And I am so glad you began blogging--because I use some of your posts with my pre-service teachers too! (I'm also totally borrowing this post as a mentor text to inspire me later in the month.)

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  12. Your tributes have been so special. I've also found great inspiration from Katherine and hope she'll be back to writing soon.

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