Hey there! I'm Vivian. Sometimes I write about life and sometimes I write about teaching.

Today I’m working with a literacy coach and one thing we’re going to study is how to help students reflect on their writing. So I thought I’d take a moment to do some reflecting on my Slice of Life writing so far.

I’m a writer who has written poems, lists, and reflections on growing up as a Taiwanese-American, my family, my dog (who is also family).
I’m a writer who likes to write with humor at times and about hard topics too. I like to write personal essays.
I’m a writer who worries about my unclear sentence structure and the words I tend to skip that never get noticed until after I hit publish.
I’m a writer who feels proud of writing something every day and trying different genres like poetry.
I’m a writer who has struggled with using too many parentheses (see above) and finding focus.
I’m a writer who wants to try a six word memoir, to be more descriptive, and to learn from others doing this challenge.

I used the sentence stems from the book Teaching Writers to Reflect: Strategies for a More Thoughtful Writing Workshop by Anne Elrod Whitney, Colleen McCracken, and Deana Washell.

  1. Lainie Levin says:

    I love this format here! I’m bookmarking it for a possible idea to use with some of my loveys. One thing I love in particular about your writing? The way you start off expressing your fondness for poetry and lists – both of which strike me because it seems precisely what you’ve done with this piece. (I say this as a writer who also loves poetry, and lists, and parentheses, and perhaps the comma, and probably elipses…)

  2. Lakshmi Bhat says:

    You have a very clear picture about yourself, that is so good. Thank you for sharing and all the best.

  3. Abigail Lund says:

    I love this piece! I wrote a “why I write” piece at the beginning of the year (a challenge from my local national writing project co-op) that reminds me of this thinking. Maybe this would help your kiddos too? Here’s mine for an example! Happy writing and reflecting!

    Why Do I Write?

    I write because…
    I want to remember
    I want to forget.
    I want to be listened to and heard
    To make connections
    And to have tangible value
    I want to inspire
    But also feed my ego
    I want to create
    I want to contribute
    I want to escape
    I want to keep romance alive
    I want to explore
    I write because I want my students to write and I want their words to be valued too
    I write because I want to be available, even when I’m not

  4. arjeha says:

    This is a great way to get a sense of who we are as writers. Knowing who we are helps us grow.

  5. Rita K. says:

    I love your self-reflection and could identify with many of this points on your list. I think I’ll try this myself. Thank you.

  6. WOWilkinson says:

    I love those stems. I’m adding them to upcoming lesson plans now. Thanks for sharing!

  7. Reflection is so important to learning… and can spark more ideas for writing! I really like that you are trying out the same work that you plan to have students do. Thank you for sharing!

  8. Terje says:

    I enjoyed reading your reflection. You know yourself well as a writer. These stems were new for me. Thank you for the book recommendation.

  9. hardly an artist says:

    I work with those book authors and they’re amazing teacher writers as well. Happy you have found your writer identity! Thanks for sharing!

  10. amyilene says:

    I love this & will likely use it with my students and for my own growth and self reflection!

  11. Fran Haley says:

    A great exercise – and powerful thoughts around being a writer. It frames goals and channels effort and energy. It’s so important to acknowledge what you want to accomplish, and what you “worry” about as well. That reflection on writing – yours as well as the students’- is bueatiful empowering work!

  12. This is a great way to create that slice! They give us a great picture of you as a writer and another piece of you as a person. Thank you for sharing the stems, the book recommendation, and this slice! 🙂

  13. britt says:

    May I use this format?! I LOVE IT SO MUCH. What an excellent reflection!

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