Welcome!

Hey there, Abby here! As a pre-service secondary English teacher, I created this blog in hopes of sharing what I learn as I explore and experiment with methods and practices to build better writers by building a strong community of writers in the classroom. In light of the current worldwide pandemic, so much teaching has been shifted to online or hybrid formats, and I hope to provide tips and ideas for how to incorporate community-building exercises into virtual, as well as in-person settings. 

Building community has never been more important in the world, and as a teacher, I hope to be able to start building community within my own classroom. The experiences that have been of most value to me as a student have been those that have helped me to be vulnerable, to connect with my peers, to connect with my teacher, and to grow as a writer and a thinker. These experiences have helped me become better equipped to communicate my thoughts to the community and to the world.

I bring to the table a variety of experiences and identities that inform and shape my view of the teaching of writing. In addition to my identity as a college senior studying English teaching, I am currently a TA for a first-year writing class at my university, which has provided me with invaluable opportunities to interact with and provide personal tutorship to writers who have come straight from high school. I also work for a non-profit organization, teaching English to adults in my community. Nothing has given me as much practical, hands-on experience with lesson planning, trying new teaching methods, failing, and developing one-on-one relationships with my students as this job has given me. I am also a former high school student myself, with my own knowledge of what worked well and didn't work well for me during my public school experience. As part of my pre-service teacher training, I have become an observer of secondary classrooms, and I consider myself a lifelong learner, trying to understand how best to apply everything I have learned throughout my various experiences to my future career as an English teacher.

All that being said, I hope this can be a place where YOU share your thoughts, ideas, and questions about building writers and building community. I am hopeful that this digital space will become a little community itself, where we can learn and grow together as writers and as teachers of writing. I'm excited to hear from you, and I can't wait to get started!

XOXO
Abby

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