Poetry and Painting: Drinking It All In!

I have fancied myself a poet and a painter, inspired by great works like Starry Night. There's nothing like drinking in the mood as you pick up paint brush and pen to splash out beautiful images on canvas or paper. I was inspired to write this little rhyme of advice to my fellow teachers who might be contemplating a painting/poetry assignment like the demonstration shared this summer.

Before you haul your paints inside,
don't forget that you must hide
that lovely decal on the box
advertising Rolling Rocks!

School Safety: Keeping Our Parking Lots in Order

Fellow Teachers,
Parking lot safety and protocol have recently come into focus in some of our area schools. I'd like to report that in keeping with justice and fair play, I've begun to park in student parking, even though I am an important member of the school faculty.



On occasion, I do give rides to non faculty members, like the collie riding with me in the photo featured here. I told him about the infringements in our limited faculty parking and brought him in to apply for a security position, as I could see help was needed.


Riley's summer job was taste testing in the backyard tomato patch, but as summer has drawn to an end, he is looking for gainful employment. He is sure that his herding skills will qualify him for the security job.

Barb's Action Plan...Belatedly Posted

So many powerful demos were shared this summer. What a great stash to share with teachers and kids across the state! Thank you, all of you. Action Plan? I’ll start with the big picture first. One simple goal: cultivate a climate where teaching and learning are a joy to be explored. (Remember why we’re really here…beyond NCLB, beyond the MAP, and beyond a paycheck.) What better way than writing to help teachers and students alike find themselves, find direction, and find voice.

If I could take one aspect of the summer institute experience with me for my upcoming adventure into professional development, it would be the energy and enthusiasm of discovery, students and teachers together. It would be the value of sharing our writing and the power of audience. In contemplating this plan, I realize that establishing safety in the classroom- and that really does mean an atmosphere where writers are comfortable to stretch, share, and explore without fear-has to be my first goal. It has to be revisited and encouraged and reinforced often. If kids don’t feel safe to share, forget the jazzy lesson plans. It was humbling to become a writer once again in a group of my peers and to remember how my students might feel! And just think how mean some kids can be, intentionally and not.

I am also grateful for the creative ideas shared in our minutes. What a great way to close a workshop…I took pictures of activities of my first summer workshop and created a photo story to close the two day seminar. Teachers loved it…Got that idea from you. Think about the cool ways you guys wrote minutes. I’ll use them; that’s for sure.

Thanks for everything, Writing Project teacher consultants and leaders. It’s great fun to do what we love: write. My writing, as always, is part of an ongoing action plan, and being a part of this community helps keep my fingers on the keyboard and out of the kitchen…well….

Katiedog, Dr. Cosmo, and Riley, the Constant Gardner (my border collie who ate all my tomatoes this summer but will take on a new action plan of blogging) appreciate your support…

I did it

Hey all,

Just thought that I would pass along that I wrote and submitted the grant that I thought about while at Summer Institute. I collaborated with four second grade teachers.

The grant included the purchase of 53 nonfiction books about habitat and environment related to an animal unit, a trip to the zoo for a writing marathon, 10 digital cameras to create photostories, and a culminating evening event in the library for parents to purchase student anthologies and to see photostories...whew...my fingers are crossed!

I hope that your school year is going great!! See you this weekend!

Laura

OWP Updates

I hope your semesters are off to a great start. Here are a few upcoming OWP events and announcements. Please let me know if you have any questions about these. -- Keri

September Follow-up—Saturday, September 29

Our September Renewal is in a few weeks. We will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 29 (Room TBA--we'll send an email and have signs up around PSU). Lunch is provided. This is part of your commitment for your stipend. At this time, we will complete a gallery walk of our action plan. At the end of June, you wrote about your action plan. Please bring an assignment and student work that reflects that action plan and your Summer Institute work. Casey will follow this announcement with more specific materials you will need to bring.

The OWP is a co-sponsor of the 2008 Write to Learn Conference. Submit your conference proposals online by Sept.21, and be sure to identify yourself as an Ozarks Writing Project member. Our Teacher-Consultants selected to present at the conference can receive a $200 stipend. Here's a link to the conference proposal.

1. If you are planning on writing a proposal, view the previous year’s conference program. http://muconf.missouri.edu/writetolearn/c_sessions.html

2. Read what previously accepted sessions wrote. Use those as a model for your own.

3. Keep the proposal short. Use third person.

4. Focus on what you will DO in your session, and what teachers can take away and use on Monday. They like proposals that describe activities. As a writing project TC, you will be expected to incorporate writing into your session.

5. Don’t forget to write Ozarks Writing Project at the top of the proposal.

6. The deadline has been extended to September 21^st. If your proposal is accepted, the OWP can support your travel and registration in the amount of $200.

7. If you would like feedback on your proposal, I recommend posting your paragraph for the proposal to Google Docs and inviting TC's to comment. Casey has asked that you invite her to look over your proposal paragraph as well.
   

The Fall Writing Retreat will be October 12-13 (Friday night through Saturday evening) at The Village at Indian Point, Branson, Missouri. We have a few openings left. Please see the attached information sheet and application if you are interested in attending. Contact Laura Burdette for more information. lburdette@spsmail.org.

The NWP Annual Meeting is in New York City, Nov. 15-17. If you plan to attend the NCTE convention, and would like to join OWP or MWPN Fellows for dinner Thursday evening, please contact Keri Franklin.

MWPN Job Announcement If you are interested in updating the state network's website and marketing documents, please read the job description below. The deadline has been extended.

The Missouri Writing Project Network would like to contract with a Teacher Consultant to update and/or
develop a set of *core* informational/promotional pieces (.pdf
files) as well as to redesign our present MWPN Web site at
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/mwpn

We need an expanded Web site which accurately conveys the synergy of
our network and the quality of our work and which provides a place for
storing and retrieving our key MWPN pieces.

The contract: $25 an hour for 60 hours: $1500 for work to be completed
between September 15, 2007, and February 1, 2007.

Jane Frick, Prairie Lands Writing Project site director, presently
oversees the Web site postings and creation of MWPN informational
pieces. She readily acknowledges that the Web site and pdf documents
posted therein are in dire need of augmentation, revision, and polish.

If you are interested in becoming our MWPN Web/informational pieces
developer send Katie Kline, Greater Kansas City Writing Project Site
Director, (klinek@umkc.edu) an email message indicating your interest
and qualifications by September 19.

Sincerely,

Keri Franklin

U tube, Podcasts, Blogging...OHMY

Web Pulls World into Classroom.

Enjoy this article where a student is quoted as saying "Utube is the greatest invention..." :)