Well the drawers weren't really that bad.
I found quite a few manila tag folders and I said "Oh ya. I know what's in this." I found quite an extensive family tree that I had made up on my Mom's side of the family. I had completely forgotten that I'd done the family tree. I even had my auntie go through it and add things. I started making the same family tree once I got Ancestry.ca.
What really caught my eye was a tremendous amount of writing I had done. I did know that the writing was there. What surprised me was how much writing was there.
I taught Middle School language arts. When I gave the kids any kind of writing assignment , I did the same assignment along with them. Many times I did my writing on the chalk board or overhead. There were literally dozens of pieces of writing. They were on old writing tablets , graph paper and old yellow scratch pads...what ever was handy on my desk for me to pick up.
Some of the same topics I've used for blog posts, not realizing I had written them before.
We did more sharing with writing. Kids would pick a buddy and share their writing. Kids would read their piece to the class. Kids would edit and correct what I wrote.
We would usually start out by making a list like your uncles. We'd narrow the list down to one uncle that they would write about.
Other assignments were responses from fiction. For example, what did this character teach you.
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Some of the writing was done in workshops I attended.
I even found a poem or two that I had written. Oh yes, I had kids write poetry.
Well it took me a long time to go through that material. Did I throw much away? Nope!
So stuff has gone away again. I find it easier to remember stuff if I put it away.
I think I'll find some of these pieces to share with you.
