what goes in your writer's notebook

I was trying, unsuccessfully, to explain the difference between writing in a diary (a log of one's day) and writing like a writer: zeroing in on something small, and intriguing, and looking at it a new way. Ralph Fletcher says that writers are like ordinary people, except that they LOOK at things differently, and react to it, and write it down. A difficult and abstract concept for most people, including my seventh graders (who are mostly concerned with how many pages I expect them to fill).

So when I asked M----- to share what she had written in class, and instead she blushed and admitted that she hadn't written anything, but instead had drawn the figure of a horse she saw in the clouds outside, and 26 heads swiveled and looked out the window and said "ooohhhhh...." (and, I imagine, immediately saw horses and kitty cats and bicycles and low-riders and whatever) ... I wanted to hug her.

This year's batch is fresh out of the oven, steamy and chocolately goodness. They're bright, friendly, and down-to-earth. I like 'em. Saying this, I reserve the right to change my opinion in a month, which you will listen to, and accept, with a grain of salt, as you are apt to do.

Say hello to Kavalier, the new laptop. (hi.) All his keys work. He's purty.