Day 10 at SI

Today the writing group troops were wearing a little thin. Our ranks were not as enthused as they normally would, so I decided to place myself on moderator and enthusiasm duty. I do not think this made any difference, but it was a nice try. There is something about getting really into what you are doing, no matter what it is, but there is also something to chatting idly. Breaks…there is something to breaks. And who needs breaks more than teachers? Nobody. I feel like we need a Carowind’s day. Our group is really easy to excite, but also really easily demotivated… which made realize that we are still students. Underneath all this experience and professionalism we’re still those ADD, self-involved, fun-craving, and yes, even party animal—kids. We’re still kids! How easily we forgot this after someone told us that we were adults…but being an adult doesn’t mean you aren’t a kid, it’s just like an addition. Steve said something near the end of the session I found interesting, that the “off-task behavior that really helped out.” And he was serious; I thought it was a really good combination of ideas. It was like free-conversation instead of free writing, and then we could switch back into formal conversation every now and then to help organize things. Hmmm... conversation as a larger part of the composition process, or more realized part... what a bizarrely interesting topic :).