Action Plan

I have learned so much during my time at OWP and there is so much I am going to use in my classroom and continue to apply to my own writing. My goal for next year is simply to incorporate as much writing as possible into my curriculum and my own life.

I want my all of my students to keep a journal and write in this journal for about 10 minutes, hopefully, everyday. My plan is to have portfolio assignments every grading period in which students will pick one or two things they wrote to workshop and turn into me. I would like to use some type of blog weekly or bi-weekly based on computer access.

I learned a lot about writing when I was putting together my demo. I did a lot of research about the benefits of personal writing in the classroom and how this type of writing can help students academically. I plan to encourage my students to use their own personal experiences as inspiration for their writing, but then give them the opportunity to branch away from that.

I plan to incorporate "writing territories" from Kim's demo very early in the year and then encourage my classes to use this to write their journal entries. I also really liked the idea of using historical fiction for research writing, collaborative writing from Genesis's demo, and the pre-writing activities from Stacey's demo.

I liked what Chris suggested about mimic poetry and I also really liked Joshua's episodic fiction idea. It is really hard to list everything I liked because every one's demo was so incredibly useful and I plan to incorporate some aspect of most of the demos into my classroom.

The OWP has had such a profound effect on what I plan to do next year. I feel that it has already had such a positive influence on who I want to be as a teacher. I have a new understanding and appreciation of what writing should look like in the classroom.

Thanks OWP!

Action Plan 2008

What is your plan of action in the fall? My goals are to write every day, to share, to write different genres, and to share my own writing with students.
What’s your plan for your own writing? I plan to write more, give myself assignments, and attempt to publish another professional article.
How will your classroom look differently daily? Weekly? Monthly? We will do more informal writing and we will share by using the author's chair. I like the ideas of portfolios.
Discuss the process of creating your demo and what you discovered through that process. I discovered that my topic was very broad and difficult to organize with the limited amount of time and resources.
How will you incorporate your demo in the fall? As I always do: we will learn basic grammar, practice it, integrate it as we go along, with the goal of mastery always in mind.
What kinds of student writing samples can you collect? Reflective pieces, journal entries, article summaries, poetry in a grammar class could be very fun.
How has your writing project experience affected your plan? It has refined my current practices. I will incorporate more writing of every kind into my teaching, although there is a lot already (too much according to my students). We will do more sharing of our writing.
How will you use other demonstrations? I will share these methods with my English education majors. I want to use writing to build even more community in my classes.
Please list several demos that you saw that you will integrate into your classroom. Writing communities, writing territories, poetry, writing workshop, blogging, blogging without technology.
Based on our brief conversations and your new knowledge of OWP programs, what areas interest you? Presenting at a conference, attending a conference, working with the youth writing camp, working with Camp Lookout at C of O to add a writing program.
Who would you nominate for certain areas? Take a look at the NWP website for information on NWP special programs such as the NWP Professional Writing Retreat and others, or take a look at the OWP web page for a list of some of our programs. Genesis should go to the Writers' Retreat at C of O; Katrina would be a good candidate for the youth writing camp and to present at the Write to Learn conference. Debbie would also be a good candidate to present at a conference.

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…

Power Quotes: Revisiting Our Action Plans

Two days left. Well, four if I count the weekend. Whew! It's gone too fast.

I've been working on my syllabus, rearranging my classroom, putting up bulletin boards, deciding what to wear, and organizing my thoughts for the first few days of classes. It's a big job, and gets bigger every year I teach (And I thought the longer I taught the easier my job would become...WRONG...definitely not in the technology age!) But what a great time in history to be a teacher!

So as I started thinking about this year, this cartoon always come to mind. I've searched for it online, but couldn't find it to post...so I"ll just write it for you.

One student, with backpack in tow is talking to a lawyer.
"I want to sue my teacher for stupidity," he explains.
The lawyer replies, "Your teacher is stupid?"
"No," says the student, "I am."

I've gone to tables this year rather than chairs. I've been asking for the last four years and this year I just finally did...the age-old adage "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" seems to still work. So, with the new furniture and new look of my classroom will come a new phrase..."GREAT NEWS! There's lots of room for learning in here today!" :)

In my cooperative learning groups this year I'm going to focus on remembering three things:
First...individual written work
Second...bring that individual work to a small group....then come to a consensus within the group
Third....take that to large group discussion...thus mediation/arbitration
Then...moving further...we might use this to solve a problem....???

I read Marzano and Kendall's new book "The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" last week and I want to keep in mind that students can interact four grade levels higher than their reading level.

I hope this year my classroom is going to be one Giant Metacognitive Organism....Thinking, Reading, Discussing!

Dealing Parents In: The three F's: Fun...Food...Family. I'm diving in this year. I'm going to have parent mtg. nights in my classroom...invite them for cookie/milk snacks....invite a few at a time into my classroom for different things...I don't know. I'm just going to dive in and see what will work this year and what won't. I'm tired of saying I want more parents involved but I don't give myself or them second chances. I guess it's put up or shut up time for me.

So, as I was organizing my thoughts and my syllabus and trying to put my ideas into action...or in the trenches I should say...I revisited my binders from the summer institute and started perusing around our blog once more to steal practical ideas and good advice from great teachers. And as usual, your words inspired me. Thanks to you all for some great ideas I plan to implement starting on Day 1.

Every day, I will leave the comfort zone of the familiar, product-driven college course and move more toward process.~Michael

I will teach writing a little differently this year. I definitely plan to make my writing more hands on with my students actively engaged in their thoughts and experiences.~Jason

Thomas's presentation opened new opportunities to explore character in real life. I loved his idea he explored in "Adding Skin: Role-taking Within Journal Writing." ...Now, with the information from Thomas's demo and discussing with Casey the different approaches to journal writing, I will adapt this element in all of my classes.~Julia

I would like to write a foundation grant to let elementary students participate in a WRITING MARATHON at the zoo. I would like to complement this with stories about animals (fiction and non-fiction...". ~Laura

Use the phrase “Make it different” instead of “Make it better”~Zak

My classroom will look much more like Summer Institute – more consistent in our schedule allowing for students to find a routine that will allow for writing surprises but forging foundations for better writing, small writing group work, and a safer writing/sharing environment.~Kelly

I am going to encourage my department (and my district)to become a writing department and teachers of writing, not just for the MAP test, not just for book reviews or research papers, but for the sake of writing. ~Julie

Video, poetry, and genre…I have wanted to compile an Anthology of Hollister for a few years now. Showing students ways to communicate their history and their experiences in a variety of formats is perfect.~Shelly

I will provide my students with more writing opportunities -- velocity, fluency, productivity. ~Ashlei

This new way of approaching poetry as a genre in writing and journaling is a direct reflection of my new-found comfort with the genre itself...I hope to inspire my students to learn and stumble with me in the process, laughing at ourselves and cheering on our emerging voices.~Liz

Shelly's demo showed how I can use art to connect to literature and get the kids to use analysis and evaluation through art. I'm also thinking about how I would like the kids to be able to create artifacts around their reading.~Teri

I plan to continue researching the topic of whether or not "direct modeling" of cross-sensing is a viable/effective way to go. I always enjoy the "generating writing" activities, but from my first small exposure to the writing project several years ago (thank you, Keri), I have been drawn to issues of "craft," particularly revising strategies and development of skills.~JoAnn

I like the reformulation revision concept, especially coupled with either an introduction or conclusion, especially when coupled with Michael's spicing up an intro.-Susan

I would love to do a demonstration/presentation at the Write to Learn Conference. I would love to show how easy it is to integrate video into a writing classroom.~Larry

*Casey's disclaimer: Please forgive me if you name doesn't appear here. I searched and searched through the entire blog to try to get something from everyone, but it seems I couldn't find every one's plan. However, just b/c your name doesn't appear here, please know I've stolen ideas from you!! And when I use them, I'll keep you posted. :)

I hope all of you have a blissful and productive year.

Zak's Action Plan

Action Plan!

Here is a list of things I’m thinking about doing in my classroom:

Write with students

Found Poem—Have the students all write a phrase that describes something that happened to them between waking up and arriving at school in the morning. Put the lines together on the board. Have the students rearrange and pick a title. I may do this on the first day. You could also put the lines on sticky notes so they could visually arrange them more easily.

Situational Dialogue—Have the students write an action on one half of a piece of paper and an argument topic on the other. Split in half and shuffle. Have every student draw an argument and an action. They must write a dialogue-heavy paragraph that illustrates two characters arguing over the selected topic while doing the selected action.

Alliterative Poem—When teaching alliteration, have the students write a very alliterative poem such as “Peter Piper”.

Copy/Change Poetry—Give students the framework for a poem and an example of a poem created from the framework. Allow them to fill in the blanks, play with the blanks, and rearrange the poem into their own voice.

Shifting POV—Have students write the start of a short story. After they have written the first draft, force them to change the point of view.

Use the phrase “Make it different” instead of “Make it better”

Focus less on errors in papers and more on content

When writing a paper, collect the first draft and make them write the second draft without the first draft. When they write the third draft, allow them to pull from both.

Respond! Sheet—Instead of doing a reading quiz or boring prompt, give the students a list of ways to respond: parody, imitation, commentary, summary, etc.

Remind them that prompts are suggestions only

In the revision process, have the students go back and change all helping verbs and linking verbs to more dynamic ones.

List all the different ways of saying “walk”.

Have the students read their rough drafts aloud to me.

Expression Cards—Hand out small pictures (playing cards) and have the students write details from their picture, giving the listener clues as to what is going on in their picture

“If you wish to be remembered write something worth remembering or do something worth writing about” --Mark Twain—

Read MAD Magazine when discussing parody

Play Pigs and Dogs by Pink Floyd and listen for Animal Farm references

Ask the students to list all the reasons that they aren’t writers.

Cultural Literacy—Have the students list ten people that they think it is essential to know and list the reasons why

Have the students design and script their own level of Hell

Choose Your Own Adventure—Have students write a Choose Your Own Adventure story, where decisions affect the path that the story will take.

Pictures—Bring a picture of something important to you. Write a poem describing what is going on in the picture.

Images from Poetry—Have the students draw in the margins TWO images that stand out from a poem that they read. (This is another way of responding to a peer’s work, other than verbally)

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” Students write their own updated lyrics to the song

Say “What did you notice?” instead of more specific questions

Music and Poetry—Play certain types of music and have the students describe a person they see in the music. Play a different piece and have them describe a place. Then have them writing a story combining those two elements.

Professional

Possibly present at Write-to-Learn conference

Present at the Nixa professional development day

Submitting some of my work to Missouri Teachers Write

Reading List

Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin

On Writing by Stephen King

The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim

Kelly's Plan of Action

I love planning...

What is your plan of action in the fall?Teaching Writing – I will keep teaching. J -except now I will be teaching writing so much better while using all of my new ideas from OWP! There is at least one idea from each demo in my must try folder. I am excited!

Your own writing – I will continue to write proposals for 4Cs and TYCA, but will be adding NCTE and Write to Learn to my list as well. I am pushing myself to publish this year – something I have been afraid of previously. I have three pieces that I am working on with this goal specifically in mind. I am excited!

How will your classroom look differently daily? Weekly? Monthly? My classroom will look much more like Summer Institute – more consistent in our schedule allowing for students to find a routine that will allow for writing surprises but forging foundations for better writing, small writing group work, and a safer writing/sharing environment. Also, my classroom will be messier – stuff on the walls and paint on the fingers! I am excited!

Discuss the process of creating your demo and what you discovered through that process. How will you incorporate your demo in the fall? My demo comes straight from my classroom. It changes every time I do it and changed even this time – thank you for your input. I will be adding the Newsweek article this time and talk about what the media wants us to know today…hmmmm interesting slant I think. I am excited!

What kinds of student writing samples can you collect? I will be collecting everything this year – looking for patterns, inconsistencies – things I can write about as I try new ideas and revise old ones. I want lots of burning questions! I am excited!

How has your writing project experience affected your plan? This summer has rejuvenated me in teaching, learning and writing. I feel confident as I step back into my classroom and out into the writer’s world. I am a writer. I am excited!

How will you use other demonstrations? Please list several demos that you saw that you will integrate into your classroom. The poetry ideas presented this summer by Teri, Hayley, and Laura has changed me as a writer. I tried poetry and love it! I am even willing to write a ton of bad poetry to enjoy it further! How cool! It seems to me that poetry can be used to generate topic ideas, flush out details, and help gain control of emotion when writing personal narratives. I can’t wait to try it and then come in next summer with a demo showing how this works! Woohoo! I am excited!

What is your plan for your own writing? How has your own writing progressed? Describe your writing process and productivity during this institute (as related to freewriting, reformulation, journaling, revisiting pieces, etc.). It took me a little while to get to fluency, but I think I got it! Like my running, I think I had to get to that place of pace, euphoria, the wow-I-feel-good-about-keep-going place. I am in this place with my writing. I hope to write for an hour every day – I feel a need to. I practiced what I preached this summer while writing – there are proposals, letters, fun stuff, freewriting, personal narrative, writing about teaching – all of this in my daily writing. I am excited to keep writing. I am excited!

What do I want to do?

• Participate in small writing group – can I help organize?
• I will help Laura with Fall Retreat – you will find me there
• I am planning on the NWP Annual Meeting and NCTE– already requesting funds
• I will be submitting writing for publishing in professional journals
• I want to learn to write grants.
• I would like to be on a list of consultants who go out and help other teachers/schools with professional development – portfolios, writing-writing-writing, service learning, teacher reflection and change, handling disclosure in the writing of our students/writing as healing (I love this topic).
• I will be participating in my own school’s professional development program – sharing what I am learning through NWP.
• I want to find ways to help promote NWP and OWP.
• I want to find my niche in NWP and immerse myself in it. I have found my professional home! I AM EXCITED!