January 31, 2026 – Me and My Sit Spot

Oh my goodness… I should be stressed. I have a writing deadline to meet and I’m running out of time. Admittedly, it has taken me some time to get started, but I am really enjoying the process and realizing that I will have more content than I need. This is a good problem. When I checked in with other authors for this publication, a couple of my colleagues shared that they were struggling with too much content. Honestly, it’s a good problem, but I was not sure if that would be the case for me. Today, I’m realizing that it’s true for me too. Great news!!

For now, I will pause a bit to reflect on my next step given this understanding. I am the lead author for my group. The co-authors have written many reflections and I feel that we will be just fine with the message that we want to deliver. For now, I will take a moment to blog for some solace and reflection. I do find this platform offers me an opportunity to practice my writing (which is one of the main reasons why I started to blog) and to reflect. I find the writing process helps me to unravel some of my thinking in ways that mulling over it does not.

Yesterday, I wrote the “literature review” while reflecting on one learning activity I do in one of my classes. I’m not sure if it was the right way to go about the literature review and I am tempted to rename the section as “The Fire Circle” because most of what I described was the fire circle that year and correlating that experience with the principles of land-based learning and education. I’m not sure if I’m skilled enough to weave the literature with a learning experience, particularly when the second half of the manuscript is about land-based learning experiences and how it has impacted one’s pedagogy and student wellness.

I know that this chapter is in progress despite the imminent submission date. The chapter will need to be peer-reviewed by other authors who are unfamiliar with our chapter then redrafted for a second submission. That said, it would be nice to have the chapter framework settled and big ideas amicable to my co-authors, reviewers, and editors. That is the ultimate goal. I’m just so impressed and grateful to work with these former teacher candidates, now practicing teachers. We did some important work in the program and needs to be shared.

I am grateful to be co-authoring this work and taking the lead on this project. I am learning a tonne and I appreciate the trust and support from my co-authors. I look forward to the final product. It will be a process and I should make note of how much I am enjoying putting the pieces together as a piece of writing that hopefully is not only coherent but meaningful and relevant to others too. I also hope that the writing reflects the story experienced by all of us. When I think about developing one’s efficacy for research and writing… PRACTICE matters.