It happened so quickly. I committed so publicly...to writing for 30 minutes each day and walking/running 20 minutes each day for 50 days....Here's how it happened.
After working through our book draft at #ncte13 and trying to figure out how to move forward, Bill and I left convention with a commitment to write for 30 minutes a day. I write that much now, but I am loose about what I write and I needed to commit to 30 minutes a day on working on the book. It seems if I don't write every day and I try to write on the weekends, I spend half of my weekend time trying to regain my thinking from the week before. Writing every day seems like something worth trying.
Then I read Colby's post about his commitment to write every day. Then as I was browsing blogs, I read about someone's running streak. I decided a streak sounded like a good idea. I was hesitant to think about actually committing to it because I did not do so well on my 2013 goals.
Streaks seem to work to change habits. People write about lifestyle changes because of Run Streaks, Runner's World sponsors several streaks throughout the year. Sherry blogged about her experience about her Run Streak at Reading Teachers Running.
But streaks work for more than just running. I've seen that over and over again with Kate Messner's Teachers Write, Ruth Ayres' Slice of Life Challenge and Nanowrimo.
I have been looking for a way to get back to a more balanced life as my 2013 goals did not go so well. My concussion caused me to stop too many things that I had committed to. But, I figured Katherine would be up for a streak, as she was one of my original running partners, so I sent some tweets.
Then, Chris Lehman jumped in with his push-up resolution turned streak.
And then Bill realized that I had publicly committed the writing part for him too:-)
And then.....Colby created a hashtag!
And, when Mr. Sharp creates a hashtag, you know he means business....
Join us!
Pick a #nerdlution and check in each day on Twitter!
50 Days!
December 2-January 20 #nerdlution
as I started reading it this weekend. My husband and I went to Boston for the weekend, just for fun. This was my airplane reading and within the first few minutes, I turned to my husband and said, "WOW! This book is amazing already!" This is a book that so many of us have been waiting for and I was so happy to get mine just in time for a plane trip--what better way to dig into a great book than to be able to read uninterrupted for 2 hours straight? I was able to read the first half of the book on the way to Boston and the rest of the book on the way home. WOW! I so love this book!
by Frank Cammuso
by Monica Edinger
by Mo Willems
by Jon Scieszka
by April Pulley Sayre
by Cynthia Rylant
by Malcolm Gladwell
by Ruth Ayres
by Georgia Heard
by Lester Laminack
by Elizabeth Rusch. I know almost nothing about the Mars Rovers but loved that this was the topic of a new book in this series. So, I've decided to read aloud this book over the next week or two, without having really looked at it much at all. I want my students to see my true thinking when reading a book that is interesting to me (a little) --one that I have very little background knowledge with. This is a longer book so I am thinking my thinking, my notetaking, my questions, the resources I look to for more information will be authentic. This will be just one piece of our week but one that will be interesting for all of us, I think. This is also a longer nonfiction book so I am thinking the whole idea of stamina with a topic will come up---reading beyond short articles for more information. This is probably not the best place to start with my reading on a new topic. So I may pull up some articles --
Kellee Moye 
Cindy Minnich 
Franki Sibberson 