On Saturday, April 4th, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the Ozarks Writing Project will host a Saturday Seminar focused on "Community Inquiry as a Springboard for Writing". OWP Teacher-Consultants Kim Piddington and Kim Witt will share how they incorporated writing projects based on their urban and rural communities.
Whether you teach kindergarten or college seniors, you will take away ideas that you can use for your classrooms on Monday.
The meeting will take place in Pummill Hall 308. http://www.missouristate.edu/map/BldgTemplate.asp?b=51 .
Parking will be free on Saturday. You may wish to park in Lot 22 or Lot 24. http://www.missouristate.edu/map/othermaps/parking.asp
Registration is $20. However, any TC who brings a guest(s) with them will be admitted for free! Also, you might encourage your guest to see if his/her school district is willing to pay their $20 registration fee…a bargain for such quality professional development, and participatory certificates are given for attending. I am looking forward to seeing you. Please let me know if you plan on attending and have not already contacted me. We would love to see you there!
Showing posts with label Teacher Consultants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teacher Consultants. Show all posts
Friday, April 03, 2009
Friday, July 11, 2008
Help us help you!
Good morning, Fellows! It was so great to be a part of your SI yesterday, and I am so honored to be getting to know you and figuring out what we can build together as I support you as your Inservice Coordinator. You are about to enter into the exciting world of being a Teacher Consultant for the Ozarks Writing Project! What an overwhelming and thrilling endeavor; I remember this feeling well. In fact, I still feel these emotions when presented with the opportunities and possibilities presented to me from my experience at SI 2007.
From what you heard yesterday regarding Summer Institute, Advanced Institute, Writing Retreats, Youth Writing Camps, Saturday Seminars, Literacy Academy, Write to Learn, Embedded Institutes, and the other learning and networking opportunities, I am here to help you realize your potential through the Ozarks Writing Project. Did anything you have heard about so far excite your creativity and create a desire to know more information?
Thank you, it will be my pleasure to utilize your research and work as inservice opportunities are developed through the OWP. If you hear of any professional development or inservice needs in your building or school district, please contact me right away and you can help me organize a partnership with your building! These partnerships will allow you to share your demos with teachers and administrators all across southern Missouri! These partnerships will also create opportunities to develop projects in your building or district about which you feel passionately, just like the Youth Writing Camp I developed in my district. So, what information you give me here will "help me help you"!
Respectfully,
Liz Salchow
Inservice Coordinator, OWP
From what you heard yesterday regarding Summer Institute, Advanced Institute, Writing Retreats, Youth Writing Camps, Saturday Seminars, Literacy Academy, Write to Learn, Embedded Institutes, and the other learning and networking opportunities, I am here to help you realize your potential through the Ozarks Writing Project. Did anything you have heard about so far excite your creativity and create a desire to know more information?
Thank you, it will be my pleasure to utilize your research and work as inservice opportunities are developed through the OWP. If you hear of any professional development or inservice needs in your building or school district, please contact me right away and you can help me organize a partnership with your building! These partnerships will allow you to share your demos with teachers and administrators all across southern Missouri! These partnerships will also create opportunities to develop projects in your building or district about which you feel passionately, just like the Youth Writing Camp I developed in my district. So, what information you give me here will "help me help you"!
Respectfully,
Liz Salchow
Inservice Coordinator, OWP
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Larry and Thomas chosen for NWP Holocaust Seminar
Keri sent the following e-mail out...but I also wanted to post it on the blog.
I have great news! Larry Neuburger, Miller High School, and Thomas Maerke, Pleasant View Middle School, both 2008 Ozarks Writing Project Teacher-Consultants, were selected to participate for this summer's National Writing Project Holocaust Seminar in Washington, D.C., led by Dr. Sondra Perl. The seminar is sponsored by the Memorial Library and by Lehman College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. They will go to New York City from July 7–19, 2008.
The Holocaust Educators Network in partnership with the National Writing Project announces 20 fellowships for NWP teacher-consultants in the Rural Sites Network to attend the Memorial Library Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education in New York City.
From the website: "Using an inquiry-based approach, this program will encourage teachers to think creatively and collaboratively about methods and approaches to teaching the Holocaust. The seminar will consider how we engage students with difficult material such as hatred, prejudice, and state-sanctioned genocide, and how writing, dialogue, and inquiry can help us develop empathy and move us toward action. While the focus is on the Holocaust, attention will also be given to more recent genocides."
Larry and Thomas will return and present in-services for our site and for area schools.
This is an amazing opportunity for them, and it is an honor for teachers to be accepted into the program. This experience will benefit Thomas and Larry professionally, and it will benefit their future students, our site, and our community.
Please tell them congratulations when you see them.
I have great news! Larry Neuburger, Miller High School, and Thomas Maerke, Pleasant View Middle School, both 2008 Ozarks Writing Project Teacher-Consultants, were selected to participate for this summer's National Writing Project Holocaust Seminar in Washington, D.C., led by Dr. Sondra Perl. The seminar is sponsored by the Memorial Library and by Lehman College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. They will go to New York City from July 7–19, 2008.
The Holocaust Educators Network in partnership with the National Writing Project announces 20 fellowships for NWP teacher-consultants in the Rural Sites Network to attend the Memorial Library Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education in New York City.
From the website: "Using an inquiry-based approach, this program will encourage teachers to think creatively and collaboratively about methods and approaches to teaching the Holocaust. The seminar will consider how we engage students with difficult material such as hatred, prejudice, and state-sanctioned genocide, and how writing, dialogue, and inquiry can help us develop empathy and move us toward action. While the focus is on the Holocaust, attention will also be given to more recent genocides."
Larry and Thomas will return and present in-services for our site and for area schools.
This is an amazing opportunity for them, and it is an honor for teachers to be accepted into the program. This experience will benefit Thomas and Larry professionally, and it will benefit their future students, our site, and our community.
Please tell them congratulations when you see them.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
My first professional development presentation as a Teacher Consultant with the Ozarks Writing Project was exciting, scary, and refreshing. I presented a shortened version (one hour instead of 90 minutes) of my 2007 SI demonstration on using read alouds to inspire genre writing with students. I offered the demo three times during a Professional Development day with the Willow Springs School District, and the attendance for my session varied from as few as six to as many as 24. The teachers ranged in background from kindergarten to high school computer lab, but all were receptive and cooperative, and claimed to have gleaned at least one thing that will benefit their students from the session they attended with me.
The main question or concern that was asked of attendees was if I found it difficult to obtain copies of the read alouds I needed to do these units with my students. I explained that it did require some of my own investment on eBay or Amazon to find bargain books to supplement my collection, and that if I looked carefully, I could get a copy of a book I wanted for very little money. The most difficult part of the experience was trying to fit all the writing activities and information into what ended up being about 55 minutes, allowing for a few minutes to elaborate on the Ozarks Writing Project Summer Institute and encouraging participants to apply. A few participants did comment on the rapid speed of the presentation, but I provided the full demonstration packet with all of my contact information to all who attended so they knew they could go back and review any aspect of which they felt unsure at their leisure. A librarian in the audience commented as she was gathering her materials to leave that she was thrilled she had attended the session because she was going to use the demo in her library lessons with students, and that meant her plans were done all the way through February!
I felt an overwhelming desire to do well as I represented the Writing Project; more specifically I felt compelled to positively reflect on Casey, as Willow Springs is her home school district—my attendees are her colleagues, so doing my utmost best was the only option I had! Needless to say, I did not sleep much the night before, and the drive home required caffeine and good music to keep me from getting drowsy. I just knew going back to my students the next day would be grueling and I even considered making sub plans to spend the day recovering. Surprisingly, though, I went back to school the next day energized to work with my students again, almost as if sharing my passion with others refueled me in that all-too-familiar mid-year slump. I would gladly and enthusiastically participate in professional development in other schools and school districts; I hope those opportunities can be developed in our TC’s home districts, as well as those districts that are only presently unfamiliar to us. What a thrilling day of becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable!
The main question or concern that was asked of attendees was if I found it difficult to obtain copies of the read alouds I needed to do these units with my students. I explained that it did require some of my own investment on eBay or Amazon to find bargain books to supplement my collection, and that if I looked carefully, I could get a copy of a book I wanted for very little money. The most difficult part of the experience was trying to fit all the writing activities and information into what ended up being about 55 minutes, allowing for a few minutes to elaborate on the Ozarks Writing Project Summer Institute and encouraging participants to apply. A few participants did comment on the rapid speed of the presentation, but I provided the full demonstration packet with all of my contact information to all who attended so they knew they could go back and review any aspect of which they felt unsure at their leisure. A librarian in the audience commented as she was gathering her materials to leave that she was thrilled she had attended the session because she was going to use the demo in her library lessons with students, and that meant her plans were done all the way through February!
I felt an overwhelming desire to do well as I represented the Writing Project; more specifically I felt compelled to positively reflect on Casey, as Willow Springs is her home school district—my attendees are her colleagues, so doing my utmost best was the only option I had! Needless to say, I did not sleep much the night before, and the drive home required caffeine and good music to keep me from getting drowsy. I just knew going back to my students the next day would be grueling and I even considered making sub plans to spend the day recovering. Surprisingly, though, I went back to school the next day energized to work with my students again, almost as if sharing my passion with others refueled me in that all-too-familiar mid-year slump. I would gladly and enthusiastically participate in professional development in other schools and school districts; I hope those opportunities can be developed in our TC’s home districts, as well as those districts that are only presently unfamiliar to us. What a thrilling day of becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable!
Friday, August 03, 2007
Reflections from MWPN Leadership Retreat
Laura:
After three days in Columbia, it feels great to be home with my own pillow, my own bed, and my own shower curtain.
Alter Ego: You're just saying that because you're a hotel snob.
Laura: Stop interupting. I want to tell the group about the MWPN Leadership Retreat that several of us attended. And I am not a "hotel snob."
Alter Ego: You are too. But if you're going to tell them about it, you'd better start with defining that MWPN anacronym.
Laura: Missouri Writing Project Network. It's a time when all of the sites.
Alter Ego: How many sites?
Laura: (irritated) Five. Missouri will have five sites once we receive funding. Can I finish now?
Alter Ego: By all means.
Laura: It's a time when the five Writing Project sites across the state get together to discuss the future of the state writing projects, Literacy Academies and other programs held by individual sites.
Alter Ego: Why not just say "it's a sharing of ideas"? Five words instead of the ...like thirty words that it took you to say it.
Laura: (ignoring Alter Ego)There were a couple of things said by other sites that I wanted to share.
Alter Ego: I think they'd rather hear about how Liz and Julie totally stomped you in the card game Golf, little miss competitive.
Laura: I won. Once. . . Anyway, the first thing that struck me was a conversation about recruiting and diversity. I thought to myself that we have begun with diversity at OWP. You know what Imean.
Alter Ego: If they know what you mean, then why not just end this post and let the people check their facebook messages.
Laura: (eyes closed, deep breath, maintain composure) I mean rural and urban schools, advanced and academically challenged students, secondary and elementary teachers...
Alter Ego: You counting yourself as elementary?
Laura: Yeah. New and tenured teachers.
Alter Ego: I noticed that you didn't say "old." Are you going to post the embarrassing photo of you and Casey riding in the back of the van.
Laura: Definitely not. Anyway. We have the chance as a new site to expand our diversity from he beginning. I know that I'm going to make a conscious effort to talk teachers about OWP and NWP and not just the teachers who are like me.
Alter Ego: Like you? Almost forty, still trying to lose baby weight. Can you call it baby weight if the youngest kid is seven?
Laura: It counts as baby weight until you die.
Alter Ego: Hurry up with the second thing you wanted to say because Moses led the Hebrews to freedom faster than you're getting to the point?
Laura: Well, without these "interuptions," this post would be over by now.
Alter Ego:
Laura: Don't even say it. The second thing mentioned at the Retreat that struck me.
Alter Ego: Like a boat oar upside the head.
Laura: Not exactly. But it was about how the best ideas for sites come from the participants. "The best ideas," said one site leader, "bubble up from the TC's and don't trickle down from leadership."
Alter Ego: That's pretty cool.
Laura: I know. Liz is researching about the possibility of beginning an elementary youth writing camp.
Alter Ego: And you're still working on the Writing Retreat, right?
Laura: Yes.
Alter Ego: You forgot something.
Laura: Are you referring to Kelly wearing an apron and reading her writing barefoot in front of the entire group on Thursday evening? Oh. Are you talking about Liz's demo that she presented while we were there.
Alter Ego: No. You still need to write your Site Support Letter before you go to bed and send a copy to CK.
Laura: CK?
Alter Ego: Casey and Keri.
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