It happened. I reached the point of, “What do I write about today?”
It’s almost 6 AM, and I decided to sneak out and sit in my dark living room to get today’s slice done before my day begins. I haven’t read slices in two days, so I want to focus on that whenever I get a chance to pause work.
So here I sit, with my plug-in earbuds and a cool playlist, but no ideas.
This year, whenever ideas for slices come to me, I’ve been collecting them on a tab of my SOL26 Google Doc. Yet, when I checked it out this morning, I found zero ideas vibing to my current mood.
So, what do I write about? Maybe Lainie’s call for daily slices has something that inspires me. I go check that out. I find one of Juliette’s slices, which I remember loving and commenting on. Should I write about my process? Hmm. Don’t know.
Still searching, I stretch my arm and reach for my phone, which is lying face down on the other side of the couch. I go straight to my camera roll. That has always worked, and I know I’ll find photos I snapped yesterday.
I indulge in a few seconds of admiration when I come across Elena, and move on to images of my afternoon PD with teachers at my school. I immediately compare the quality of my iPhone 11 photos to Angie’s, which she posted on KLA’s Instagram page. I’m a little kid wanting the latest device, can’t help it.
Most of the photos I took of teachers show them facing a laptop, reading, inspired, writing comments, compliments, and wonderings on Post-its. None of them notices me. Some sit alone in front of someone’s laptop; others gather around it; a few lie on the table, their heads resting on their hands, in awe of whatever they are reading or watching.
I was a bit anxious about facilitating that exercise for reasons foreign to the work itself. I’ve been part of endless “gallery work”- style PD, where teachers interact with someone else’s interpretation of something, but I honestly can’t remember the last time we did that at our school. I know I’ve used that protocol in my large PDs, but yeah, it’s been a long time.
My head rushes to other thoughts around PD structures, collaborative sense-making protocols, and what makes afternoon like yesterday successful, but then I redirect my thinking to something that felt right yesterday: all of us, in one room, free-flowing, connecting like we don’t always do, and adding more bricks to the “Preschool → Elementary” bridge.
Later today, I’ll spend a few minutes reading all those comments left on each grade level’s chart, and I know joy and pride will overflow. It will remind me why I love working with these educators.
Yesterday was a great afternoon, that’s my slice.
It must have been the donuts and Post-its 😉
Start with a Story 
Looks like you have an engaged and engaging community. I too am in those phases of ‘what should I write about?’ and you monitoring your process and getting it on the page here is tribute to playing the long game and dedication to your art. This whole month-long thing is not easy, but we make it all happen together. 🙂
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You weren’t going to write about your process, but you did! I love the image of yourself that you described, sitting and scrolling and finding your idea! Love this post, Ana. It’s such a sharing of who you are as a person, as a writer, and as a supporter of so many others.
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