Voices from the Middle - Volume 4, Issue 4, 1997

Uses the example of the Women’s Journal Group to show how a personal, emotional commitment to a personally connected writing community will change that way a writer thinks, feels, and acts. Describes the beginnings of the Women’s Journal Group, the members’ differing backgrounds, goals, and expectations. Outlines the principles of multimedia journal writing which they constructed for their group.

Describes the shifts in the author’s literacy in the three years she has been a mother. Discusses the two books she has had time to read for pleasure, as well as the books she has written and edited (in her role as a teacher educator). Shares how this reflects the fragmented, challenging, exhilarating existence of motherhood.

Describes the author’s odyssey, first of shock and grief at the death of one daughter and the serious injury of another; then of slow rebuilding, healing, and inspiration to others though the publication of her deceased daughter’s writings; and finally of discovery as the author pursues her dream of writing and illustrating a child’s picture book.

It is the family stories that provide me with the most satisfaction and constitute the most enjoyable writing I have attempted. I have begun writing across the generations in two different journals with my daughter and my mother. The journals provide opportunities to tell our stories, communicate with each other, and express our thoughts and feelings.

Warner reflects on the childhood act of shooting a bird and how the event transformed him from a twelve year–old responding to peer pressure to a young man accepting and embracing his own personal values.

Describes how the experience of losing a heavily annotated and much-treasured address book, later returned through an anonymous act of kindness, has inspired the writer to work with students to weave a tapestry of caring deeds that will support future acts of outreach, civility, and deliberate citizenship.

Martin reviews Madeleine Blais’ account of one season for a girlsBlais’ basketball team and the players. She adds it to a growing number of titles concerned with helping girls become stronger, more capable and confident human beings.

Relates how, throughout the author’s life from early childhood well into adulthood, literacy has been a powerful adventure helping her to survive and thrive. Notes that she teaches reading and writing to her students to share these gifts of language with them.

Reading and writing are two of the ways we develop our own sense of the world around us. This issue’s theme is “Literacy for Life.” In it, teachers recall how their lives are nourished and defined – intellectually and emotionally – by reading and writing.

Available in print issue only.

Available in print issue only.