Thursday, February 21, 2008
Summer Workshops for HS teachers from NEH
Here's a list of workshops for high school history and English teachers sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Deadlines to apply are March 17, and fellows chosen can apply for grants through NEH to attend, but are awarded $500 for participating. There are a lot of interesting workshops this year...and in some enjoyable places. :) Make it a vacation!
Four TC's present at Write to Learn
Hey everyone...another SNOW DAY (or as my students put it "a SN'ICE Day") in the Ozarks. Well, I should clarify...for everyone but SPS? :)
I just wanted to post a few pics from Write to Learn, held last weekend at Tan-Tar-A. Liz presented "Bringing the Magic Back to Writing." (Remember Smokey Mtn. Rose??:) Barb presented information about safety with her online community; and Zak presented
The MWPN/MATE reception was held at 4:30 and we couldn't resist a little Writing Project fun. Seems our newest MWPN site (the OZARKS WRITING PROJECT) was out making waves with conference participants. Joe, Liz, and Larry spent a lot of their time
Also, Julie, Larry, and Joe read at open mic...which I hear was a wonderous success.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
New Site Visit from NWP
Wow!
What a weekend!
Thank you so much for all of the fellows, friends, and MSU folks for joining us for the reception with two special guests from the National Office.
We were so lucky to have these guests. Not only for their tremendous feedback and suggestions, but also because of their own amazing work.
Dr. Sandmann is a professor from the Kent State University and director of the Kent State Writing Project. Her work with authors of adolescent literature was phenominal and I learned so much from talking with her about our new site and her work. She is the author of several books...if you get a chance punch her name into Amazon...(go ahead...I'll let the dog out while you look............pretty impressive, huh?)
Dr. Linebarger, also visited with us. She is a third grade teacher and in-service director of the Northern California Writing Project. She authored "Tensing Up: From Fluency to Flair" http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/190 As inservice coordinator, she gave us many great ideas!
I hope that you had a chance to chat with both of these amazing women during the reception at Missouri State University!!!
Have a great week at school!
Laura Burdette
What a weekend!
Thank you so much for all of the fellows, friends, and MSU folks for joining us for the reception with two special guests from the National Office.
We were so lucky to have these guests. Not only for their tremendous feedback and suggestions, but also because of their own amazing work.
Dr. Sandmann is a professor from the Kent State University and director of the Kent State Writing Project. Her work with authors of adolescent literature was phenominal and I learned so much from talking with her about our new site and her work. She is the author of several books...if you get a chance punch her name into Amazon...(go ahead...I'll let the dog out while you look............pretty impressive, huh?)
Dr. Linebarger, also visited with us. She is a third grade teacher and in-service director of the Northern California Writing Project. She authored "Tensing Up: From Fluency to Flair" http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/190 As inservice coordinator, she gave us many great ideas!
I hope that you had a chance to chat with both of these amazing women during the reception at Missouri State University!!!
Have a great week at school!
Laura Burdette
Thursday, January 31, 2008
New Site Visitors
Oh, wow, I just checked my email and saw that Springfield Public Schools is cancelled for Friday!!! Yes! (picture me leaping off the couch, fist raised in the air, nearly toppling the laptop). Snow days remind me of skipping assemblies in high school, adrenalin pumping as we dodged the security guard, the motor of my Ford Mercury (that easily held seven people) clearing out the infrequently used cylinders as we raced to the lake to soak up the sun through a firm barrier of SPF15. Ah, I love snowdays and don't care if we have to make them up later.
Hopefully Friday's sun will clear the streets so that everyone can travel safely to Saturday's meeting.
I'm looking forward to exchanging stories and hearing how everyone's year is going. See you there!!
Laura
Hopefully Friday's sun will clear the streets so that everyone can travel safely to Saturday's meeting.
I'm looking forward to exchanging stories and hearing how everyone's year is going. See you there!!
Laura
Saturday, January 26, 2008
St. Louis and Beyond
Greetings all! A new semester, a new . . .
Hayley, it was great seeing you at Panera's. Then, the next day, I saw Michael and Julia at Target. We all three discussed whether being in Target at 9:30 in the morning or being home cleaning house was the more worthwhile endeavor. I still have not decided.
Liz, congrats on your first successful Teacher Consultant gig. I thought of your demonstration last Thursday. I had assigned my students to have in hand, for the Tuesday before, their copy of Coming of Age in Mississippi. We are just beginning this autobiography. Well, we did not have school on Tuesday. And as my original instructions did not include Thursday, guess what. The upshot was that too many did not have a copy of their books. One suggested that I read aloud. And I did. Imagine a classroom of nineteen teenagers, fifteen of them male, four or five of them well over six feet and 200 pounds, sprawled quietly on the floor listening to Anne Moody's words that recount her earliest memories. A really cool experience for all of us. When another class protested that they had not been read to, I told them that when we start part two I will read to them also.
I also used the collaborative poem this week, in two different classes. One group, AP juniors, is studying poetry (Laura, I have incorporated some of the info you gave us this summer into their readings/understandings of the poems). The other group, AP seniors, will begin their multigenre projects soon, so I am introducing them to the idea, squeezing their creative juices. Both classes really enjoyed the exercise. My having to reformulate on a white board with dry erase markers is a bit of a stretch, but hey! I'm plucky!
Larry and I attended the NWP scoring conference in St. Louis. Quite an interesting two days. I am pretty sure that my experience in scoring student essays grew, but I am absolutely certain that my waist line grew even more!!! Larry was not even sure, at one point, that he would be able to eat dinner. Good thing he decided he could squeeze a bit more in as the meal was delicious (Oscar's Cafe by UMSL for anyone going to St. Louis).
The scoring scale we used was based somewhat on the 6 +1 writing traits model. But NWP has decided that this particular model is too reader based and fails to adequately address and thus assist the student writer within her or his process or product. So, NWP reformulated the six traits. As I have never used the original, I could not distinguish a difference. I did like the calibrations. And I did like the reading and scoring, first holistically and then analytically -- trait by trait. Sometimes the two meshed; other times they did not.
Our brains, Larry's and mine and those of the twenty three other teachers present, underwent calibration (NWP's term, not mine) on Friday and recalibration on Sat. a.m. Then we read middle schools essays from 9:00 to 1:30. A very unique experience for me as I am not a middle school teacher. But the NWP scale is very specific. I just had to, on occasion, remind myself that these writers were not high school or beyond. I did enjoy reading the essays -- most of them anyway. Reading the thoughts of these young writers was, in many ways, awesome. Thomas, I can see why you like teaching this age group (although I won't be joining you any time soon. I do not have the patience -- or energy.).
Well, I need to scoot along here. Hope all goes well for everyone. Look forward to seeing those of you who plan on attending the open house. If I remember, I'll bring some of my collaborative poems.
Have a great one (whatever that ONE might be), Susan
Hayley, it was great seeing you at Panera's. Then, the next day, I saw Michael and Julia at Target. We all three discussed whether being in Target at 9:30 in the morning or being home cleaning house was the more worthwhile endeavor. I still have not decided.
Liz, congrats on your first successful Teacher Consultant gig. I thought of your demonstration last Thursday. I had assigned my students to have in hand, for the Tuesday before, their copy of Coming of Age in Mississippi. We are just beginning this autobiography. Well, we did not have school on Tuesday. And as my original instructions did not include Thursday, guess what. The upshot was that too many did not have a copy of their books. One suggested that I read aloud. And I did. Imagine a classroom of nineteen teenagers, fifteen of them male, four or five of them well over six feet and 200 pounds, sprawled quietly on the floor listening to Anne Moody's words that recount her earliest memories. A really cool experience for all of us. When another class protested that they had not been read to, I told them that when we start part two I will read to them also.
I also used the collaborative poem this week, in two different classes. One group, AP juniors, is studying poetry (Laura, I have incorporated some of the info you gave us this summer into their readings/understandings of the poems). The other group, AP seniors, will begin their multigenre projects soon, so I am introducing them to the idea, squeezing their creative juices. Both classes really enjoyed the exercise. My having to reformulate on a white board with dry erase markers is a bit of a stretch, but hey! I'm plucky!
Larry and I attended the NWP scoring conference in St. Louis. Quite an interesting two days. I am pretty sure that my experience in scoring student essays grew, but I am absolutely certain that my waist line grew even more!!! Larry was not even sure, at one point, that he would be able to eat dinner. Good thing he decided he could squeeze a bit more in as the meal was delicious (Oscar's Cafe by UMSL for anyone going to St. Louis).
The scoring scale we used was based somewhat on the 6 +1 writing traits model. But NWP has decided that this particular model is too reader based and fails to adequately address and thus assist the student writer within her or his process or product. So, NWP reformulated the six traits. As I have never used the original, I could not distinguish a difference. I did like the calibrations. And I did like the reading and scoring, first holistically and then analytically -- trait by trait. Sometimes the two meshed; other times they did not.
Our brains, Larry's and mine and those of the twenty three other teachers present, underwent calibration (NWP's term, not mine) on Friday and recalibration on Sat. a.m. Then we read middle schools essays from 9:00 to 1:30. A very unique experience for me as I am not a middle school teacher. But the NWP scale is very specific. I just had to, on occasion, remind myself that these writers were not high school or beyond. I did enjoy reading the essays -- most of them anyway. Reading the thoughts of these young writers was, in many ways, awesome. Thomas, I can see why you like teaching this age group (although I won't be joining you any time soon. I do not have the patience -- or energy.).
Well, I need to scoot along here. Hope all goes well for everyone. Look forward to seeing those of you who plan on attending the open house. If I remember, I'll bring some of my collaborative poems.
Have a great one (whatever that ONE might be), Susan
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ozarks Writing Project Winter Newsletter
I just wanted to take the time to say how much I enjoyed reading the Ozarks Writing Project Winter Newsletter. Kudos to those who put it together! It looks fantastic! It feels really nice to be able to read about about a bunch of happenin' people that I feel connected to. The thing I appreciate the most about the newsletter is how it helped me see somewhat, the bigger picture of how huge this NWP business really is. I followed some of the links and it began to dawn on me the opportunities to professionally develop seem limitless.
I ran into Thomas tonight at a class where we write our final seminar papers for our master's degrees. It turns out both of us have applied for a two week seminar on Holocaust education at Columbia University taking place this summer. It would be a blast to attend that event together. I can imagine Thomas and I coming back and doing a presentation together. He could cover role-playing journaling, and I could present multigenre projects. Oops! I'm getting ahead myself. We need to get accepted first. Keep your fingers crossed!
Thanks again for the outstanding newsletter.
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