Had a meeting yesterday and part of it involved planning an event our district is hosting. A coworker and I will be presenting a breakout session together and we had to come up with a two sentence blurb describing what participants will be learning about.
I have to be honest when I say that I initially teamed up with her because it made my life slightly easier as she already had a completed presentation for this particular topic. But to my credit- I was 100% honest and vocal with her about my motives for teaming up, she didn’t object and we actually laughed about it. Obviously we will work together to enhance it and I will be the one to do the legwork from this point on for anything that needs to be revised- which brings me back to the two sentence blurb. It was my job to write them.
Two sentences. That’s all I had to write.
But I stared at the little box it was supposed to fit in, stumped. Stall tactics were being used and I was spewing out random thoughts in 2-3 word clusters, trying to convey what we want to teach others. I would type a few things, erase, add some more, erase again.
It’s not that I don’t know how to write a sentence or don't know how to knowledgeably sum up our session or am not very confident in my abilities to provide PD for others. It’s just that when it comes to writing, I freeze. And it takes me FOREVER.
Meanwhile, my coworker’s natural ability to craft these two sentences within seconds of thinking about it made my own insecurities about writing come rushing through my head. My professionalism allowed me to quiet these thoughts, and even though it took me longer than everyone else, I wrote the two sentence blurb.
Driving home I’m thinking about this and it dawns on me. That’s what I’m striving for by pushing myself to do this SOL challenge. Learn how to get my thoughts to flow as freely and seamlessly together as my coworkers all while conquering some writing fears and learning new techniques for writing.
Driving home I’m thinking about this and it dawns on me. That’s what I’m striving for by pushing myself to do this SOL challenge. Learn how to get my thoughts to flow as freely and seamlessly together as my coworkers all while conquering some writing fears and learning new techniques for writing.
My coworker has no idea how this little interaction gave me clarity and helped me see my end game. So, thank you.
This is surprising to me since it is clear from reading your post above that you are in fact a fluent, talented writer! With writing though, sometimes I find the harder I try the worse things go...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! I think that two sentence (or even a paragraph) blurb can be hard to compose! How do you say everything you need in such few words?
ReplyDeleteGood for you in quieting your thoughts. This can be tricky, in my opinion!
This post is lovely. Sorry I missed the meeting yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence that stays with me is “even though it took me longer than everyone else...”. I think that is the heart of your piece. We all have those areas, where we struggle but we care to persist. We recognize them in our students- I often wonder if I am giving them the time they need?
ReplyDeleteYour honesty shines through in your writing.
I agree with some of the other commenters, that you're well on your way in your writing journey! Putting yourself out there like this challenge makes you will show you so much!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think you and Colleen are hilarious, so I'll be attending your session :-)