Wednesday, February 18, 2009

OWP Opportunities

The Ozarks Writing Project Youth Writing Conference will be Thursday, May 7 on the campus of Missouri State. Send your writers grades 5-8 to this event. Students will participate in interactive writing sessions led by OWP Teacher-Consultants. Registration is $25 and includes t-shirt and pizza. Teachers who bring at least four students attend for free. Please share this info with middle school students and teachers.

The final Saturday Seminar will be April 25 from 8:30-12:00 in Pummill Hall 308. Kim Piddington and Kim Witt will be presenting on ways they incorporated Community Inquiry projects in their classrooms. These projects were a result of their participation in the 2008 Advanced Institute. Registration is $20. Teacher-Consultants who bring a friend can attend for free.

Nominate teachers for the 2009 Summer Invitational Institute by contacting Keri. Applications can be found at http://owp.missouristate.edu/summerinstitute.htm. Please email this link to any friends that you think might be interested.

Apply for the OWP 2009 Advanced Institute on Digital Storytelling from July 20-24. Learn how to create digital stories. With the help of a grant from the Missouri Humanities Council, we will be creating digital stories focusing on community and place. Fellows will have extended check out of video cameras and memory cards. You will also be able to keep a digital video recorder and headset. Graduate credit is free. Registration is $100. The registration fee will go toward providing you the technology to create digital stories in your classroom. (Please talk to your principal about paying for this. Title I and Title II funds can be used for professional development for technology. See below). Contact Keri for the application.

PROFESSIONAL WRITING RETREAT APPLICATION NOW ONLINE –– Apply now for Professional Writing Retreats A and B, to be held in Southern Arizona, July 16-19. The retreats, which run concurrently, give teachers a chance to write about the profession of teaching, literacy and learning, their own practice, policy and school reform, and more. DEADLINE: MARCH 16.http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/events/373

Don’t forget. As a National Writing Project (NWP) site, we are an authorized provider of standards-aligned professional development and eligible for NCLB funding under:
Title I, Part A (Professional development and mentoring programs for Title I schools and teachers)

Title II, Part A (Professional development for helping teachers meet NCLB teacher requirements; Professional development in subject-matter knowledge, improving teaching skills, and assisting teachers to use Missouri’s content area Grade Level Expectations and Missouri Assessment Program to improve student achievement)

Title II, Part D (Professional development focused on enhancing education through technology)

So, please talk to your principal about funds that may be available at your school.

ANNUAL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS FROM SAN ANTONIO ––More than 1,000 writing project colleagues flocked to San Antonio for the 2008 NWP Annual Meeting. Watch videos of general session speeches, view photographs of the meeting, and read selected writings from the general session writing prompt.http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/08am/highlights.csp