Not Even a Leap Year

Is February always so short? Somehow March 1st arrived a couple of days earlier than I expected. Yes, I have a calendar, although one might say I've been "in the zone" when it comes to getting stuff done, and my list of action items has been long. But apparently not long enough. Because last night at the eleventh hour, I realized it would be selfish to keep the joys of the SOLSC to myself. Not only should I open it up to my students, I declared, but to the entire school!

No problem. I dug into the archives, set up a fresh calendar, built a Google Classroom, and emailed a couple of announcements. "Spread the word!" I called out to English teachers--or those who had a minute to check email before classes started on the first of March.  By 8:15 AM, a few kids had already signed up. Before I finished the introduction to my first class, one of my kids had posted subversively from inside his desk. 

"I really want that slice of pie," he said in reference to the reward I'll bake for top slicers. 

"What are you doing on your iPad while I'm talking, young man?" I wish I had asked assertively. "Writing, you say? Okay, good." Ignore me all you want, children. Just keep writing.

As for the success of my experiment, there's no telling what will happen. A school-wide writing challenge? Will enough students write? Will too many? Can I maintain a community that is both creative and civil? For middle schoolers?! Two more days of February would not have been nearly enough to calm my uncertainty. Nevertheless, we have 31 days of March. Let's see how it goes.