Sunday, August 03, 2008

MWPN retreat reflection


More notes from MWPN
Don't forget to mention that Liz wrote poetry and read an "I am from" poem, written during a writing marathon, in front of an audience of more than forty people, most of whom she did not know. I'd tell you that it was really good and that I especially liked the line about the wig on the faceless plastic head (I'm paraphrasing of course), but I can't say that; so, I'll just say, "thank you for sharing, Liz."
Also, Thomas and Larry's presentation, based on their visit to NY, examined the teaching of the holocaust and gave me goose bumps. Even those who don't teach The Chosen or Anne Frank or Night or any other text related to this topic will benefit from and should consider attending their upcoming Saturday Seminar.
I benefited also from the conversations over lunch or dinner and found myself scribbling notes in my journal for next school year.
It aways amazes me to attend this annual event...

Columbia Writing Retreat

The MWPN Leadership Retreat in Columbia, Missouri was an opportunity to network with fellows from other sites as well as have a great time writing. The retreat began Friday, July 31 and ended August 1. We started off by meeting in Townsend Hall on Columbia University Campus. After a brief introduction, box lunches from Heavenly Ham were served, and yes, Larry took pictures of us devouring the scrumptious sandwiches, pastas, and cookies. After individual sites introduced mini-grant projects represented by posters, we ended the afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn Select.

Our evening started with a writing marathon, and I had the best time of the retreat with my group. It was such an interesting mix of people; you can see pictures of us outside Starbuck's writing on Larry's slide show he recently posted. After the Marathon, everyone met at The Pasta Factory in Downtown Columbia. They served delicious salad, pastas, and cheesecake. Thanks MWPN!! In addition to eating and introductions, we had an open mic session in which fellows from all over Missouri read. It was so encouraging, and I had an awesome time networking.

The next morning after breakfast, we broke off into work groups. The group I participated in was focusing on organizing regional writing awards through Scholastic. Katrina was designated as our sites liaison, so she will probably be contacting you about distributing some mailing information to your colleagues because our number one obstacle is money. So, Katrina is receiving a bulk of information, and we're going to work together to distribute it . Now, does that sound like fun or what?

We ended the retreat by eating pizza from Shakespeare's and summarizing the different objectives addressed in our work groups.

Thanks again to Liz for driving, and I hope everyone is writing. See you soon.
-Faith

SI, NY, AI, & MWPN and another Slideshow

It has been an amazing summer! The SI, NY, AI, & MWPN. Why do I feel tired? This is my eighteenth slideshow, in case any one is counting.