Day by Day: An Interview with Ruth Ayres

I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I was a first year teacher, struggling to reach the writers in my classroom. As I shared my frustrations with my mentor, Suzanne, she offered the following advice:

You can’t eat an elephant in one bite.

I reflected on her words often while reading Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice by Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz. (You might also know them as the Two Writing Teachers.) In their new book, Ruth and Stacey successfully break down the complex process of teaching writing into “small bites” with a unique structure that’s sure to meet your needs, whether you’ve taught one year or twenty five.

The book is organized into six chapters based on core components of effective writing instruction: routines, mini-lessons, choice, mentors, conferring, and assessment. Each chapter contains three ten-day cycles that explore the component in-depth. The tone is much like that of their blog, reading like a conversation with a trusted colleague who shares his or her best advice and at the same time, challenges you to become a better version of yourself. In fact, each discussion concludes with a challenge, something you can immediately do to apply your new learning, as well as reflective questions.

To celebrate the release of their new book, Ruth and Stacey are embarking on a blog tour and I’m delighted to be one of their cyber-stops.

(And can I just say that Ruth's last response literally gave me goose bumps. Indeed, it is the most important thing and something that this book will help you discover within your writing workshop.)

What inspired you to write this book?

We knew teachers were drawn to our blog, so we wanted a book that tapped into the short nature of our blog posts. As we looked back at the topics we blogged about, we soon found almost any post could be categorized in one of seven topics: routines, mini-lessons, choice, mentors, conferring, assessment, and celebration. As we thought more around the idea of pillars of writing workshop, we realized celebration is woven into the other six areas. Voila, the structure of the book was born.

The idea of a daily guide for writing teachers led us to create cycles for each of the six pillars. We met in person for these brainstorming sessions and developed the main topic for each of the three cycles and then the ten discussion topics within each cycle.

Describe the physical space where you write. Do you have any writing rituals?

I write with my laptop balanced on my knees, usually with music in my ears. This is one of the few constants. I bounce around the house – near the fireplace with train tracks being built around me, in the living room with a game on the TV, in the car waiting for appointments. Mostly, I write in the early morning hours or late at night. Writing is squeezed in around my family life.

As far as rituals, I like to reread something I’ve written before I start writing. At the end of a writing session, I like to make plans for my next writing time. Because my writing time is limited, it is important I know what I’m planning to do before I sit down. This way I can be thinking about it in my time away from my computer.

Which part of the writing process was the most enjoyable for you as you crafted Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice? Which was the most difficult?

For me, envisioning the project and planning the discussions were natural, which made it enjoyable. Drafting is hard for me, so I find myself drafting a little, rereading, revising, then drafting a little more.

I imagine that a great deal of thought goes into the title of a book. Talk a little about your decision process in choosing the title.

Last year at NCTE we were talking with Terry Thompson about the working title of our book, which didn’t thrill either of us. Terry helped us brainstorm some ideas for a title, and we ended up with the subtitle of our book – Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice. Still, we were stumped on the title proper. We wanted something catchy and lyrical. When Bill Varner, our editor, suggested Day by Day, we were both sold.

What, if any, were some misconceptions you had about writing instruction when you first started teaching?

You know, I’m going to want to go bury my head in the sand after I answer this question, right? So a disclaimer to begin: I was trained as a secondary science teacher – biology, chemistry, and physical science. My minor was English. My passion was middle school students. I found myself in a middle school language arts classroom to begin my career.

I always loved to read and write, but I found myself subscribing to the misconception that you either were a reader and a writer or you weren’t. You had the talent or you didn’t.

Thankfully within six weeks of the school year, my mentor, Tammy Hess, hauled me to an All-Write Consortium study group after school. They were talking about this philosophy of teaching writing called Writing Workshop. We weren’t convinced, but they gave us snacks and a free book, Clearing the Way by Tom Romano. We went back each month and tried the things we were learning.

Miraculously they worked. My students began seeing themselves as writers and I found myself holding a whole new paradigm when it came to writing instruction.

I believe that the process of writing changes us and shapes us in ways that we don’t always expect. How did you change, professionally or personally, through the process of writing this book?

I became more efficient with my time and realized how to guard my priorities. When I began writing, I knew something else would be squeezed out. I didn’t want it to be time with my family. They are precious and more important than writing a book. The housework , however, was put into perspective. You know, it’s okay to let the dusting go from time to time. My husband, Andy, shouldered many of the chores around the house to give me the peace of mind to write.

Also, writing a book no longer feels like a pipe dream. I know I can do it and I know the learning that happens by putting words on the page makes my life rich. This is more important than being published.

In one little word, what do you hope your readers take-away from your book?

Joy.

Be sure to check out the other stops on Ruth and Stacey’s blog tour...
Dec. 6 – A Year of Reading
Dec. 7 – Raising Readers and Writers
Dec. 8 – Write Brained Teacher
Dec. 9 – Once Upon a Teacher