Teacher/Writer Interface

First of all, thank you all for your patience. I've been a crummy blogger lately. Two words... report cards. I'll be back to blog visitin' this week.

 

Do you ever find yourself grumbling about the way your "day job" interferes with your writing life? I know I do. Last week I had to smack myself upside the head and lay out all the ways teaching 5th grade, my day job, is actually a benefit to my writing. Here are some of the perks:

• Exposure to AMAZING kid lit.  - From the Allie Finkle Books (Thank You, Meg Cabot) through Donald Zinkoff in LOSER (Thank you, Jerry Spinelli), I languish in delicious middle grade stories and a myriad of different voices.
• Getting kids jazzed about books - I'm handing out the Hobbit like candy. I want them to read it before the movie comes out.
• Interacting with our school librarian - We chat about trends and recommend titles to one another.
• Daily living with a kid POV on the world - Yes, these people have a whole different mind set.
• Discussing lit. with my fellow teachers - "Ah Ha" moments abound when we talk about the different approaches to kid/literature interaction.
• Teaching grammar - Need I say more. Some days I get as much out of a lesson as the kids.
• Critical Thinking and Literary Analysis - Practicing this on a daily basis using the solid gold writing of others shines up my own work.

How does your "day job" interface with your writing?

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