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Hi there! Iโm Carolyn Cerrito, founder and CEO of Blue Heart Writing.
I help upper elementary teachers like you inspire and support your students to become creative, purposeful, and independent writers.
ย ย ย ๐ Stuck on how to encourage your reluctant writers beyond that scary blank page?ย
ย ย ย ๐ Overwhelmed at the thought of researching and writing 5-paragraph essays with 30 nine-year-olds?ย
ย ย ย ๐ Just so tired of hearing, โI donโt know what to write aboutโ?
Iโm here to help! Through Blue Heart Writing, I plan to write about various genres of writing and actionable steps you can take to get unstuck and get your studentsโ pencils or computer keys moving.ย
I have been teaching upper elementary for 20+ years in New York City public schools. I received my BA in Psychology with a minor in English and my MSEd in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Queens College, City University of New York. Additionally, I earned 30 credits above my masterโs while teaching 4th grade full time.ย
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Why blog about teaching writing? Why now?
Let me tell you a story…
Letโs go back, way back, to the mid-โ90s. My first venture into carving out a space online was through GeoCities.ย
I titled my page โCarriโs Corner of the Webโ and chose a black, star-studded outer-space background I thought looked cool. Then I filled the page with a colorful, curated list of URLs for crochet and counted cross stitch projects that I planned to make.
But, I realized I had more fun reading other peopleโs web pages than making my own, so thatโs as far as my GeoCities page went.ย
In 2006, after years of collecting my writing in various notebooks, overflowing Mead 5-Star folders, and multiple desktop folders on my Mac, I officially became a blogger on what else but Blogger.com.
While attending the final session of a writing workshop, I felt compelled to continue sharing my work. I decided to self-publish some of my poetry and memoir vignettes for family, friends, and the accidental reader who just so happened upon my blog.
Remember the โNext Blogโ link at the bottom of the page? Yeah, I used to get wrapped up reading the next one, and the next one, and the next one late into the night…
But back to the storyโฆย
Not long after, I was in a breakout session at a young adult cancer survivor convention. The presenter, a survivor herself, was talking about the pros and cons of public versus private writing.
Internalizing this conversation, I realized that making my private writing public meant students could Google and find what I had written. At the time, my cancer survivorship wasnโt something that was on full display, except for a slight limp when I walked.ย
So I deleted my work from the public arena.
I thought about publishing under a pseudonym, but that felt disingenuous, given that many of my pieces are autobiographical. And so, my writing would remain tucked away in notebooks, overstuffed folders, and hardcover journals.
Occasionally, a piece would make a brief appearance when workshopping specific topics with other like-minded writers. And then, the revised and edited draft would quietly find its way back into the privacy of neatly organized folders on my hard drive. My future memoir in pieces.ย
โYouโre a great writerโฆ Could you check this for me?โ
As I worked here and there on my writing, I would also be asked to help friends and colleagues with their writing needs: write a recommendation, give revision suggestions for a cover letter, proofread a parent letter before it went out to students.ย
If there is a question about something related to the written word, it usually finds its way to me. I have become the go-to person for writing in my everyday life.ย
Which brings me to Blue Heart Writing, as I reenter the blogging world with a larger goal: helping upper elementary teachers find their comfort zone in teaching writing with their students.ย
I want to help you:
ย ย ย ๐ Work through the writing process with your students
ย ย ย ๐ Practice various genres of writing with your studentsย
ย ย ย ๐ Teach your students strategies to become the awesome writers you know they can be!
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Writing is a powerful tool we can share with our studentsย
Writing has helped me cope with lifeโs struggles. And I want to share my love of writing with as many people as possible. What better way to do that than to help teachers and students!
I am no longer concerned with private versus public writing about my cancer survivorship. The physical effects of my medical journey are now obvious and I wear my scars with strength and pride.ย
Writing has been my safe place to work through tough times. It has helped me to muster up the determination and resilience to persevere, yet still let out fears that ignite deep in my soul. Writing is my way of celebrating and memorializing, recording all I have been through.ย
So many of our students today face their own tough times. As their teachers, we have this amazing opportunity to show them, to teach them, that their thoughts, ideas, and feelings matter.ย
And at its very core, writing is communication for thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
Whether they are detailing all they have learned in a research essay, sharing their opinions in a persuasive speech, or pouring their hearts out in a journal entry, our students are using writing to communicate.
What a powerful gift we can share with our students when we help them develop and expand their writing skills!ย
And so, I begin this blog to help upper elementary teachers like you inspire your students to write with purpose and creativity.
I hope you will join me on my blogging journey here at Blue Heart Writing!
Looking for simple ways to get started writing with your upper elementary students right now? Need strategies for your reluctant writers? Grab your FREE WORKBOOK here!