Columbia Writing Retreat

The MWPN Leadership Retreat in Columbia, Missouri was an opportunity to network with fellows from other sites as well as have a great time writing. The retreat began Friday, July 31 and ended August 1. We started off by meeting in Townsend Hall on Columbia University Campus. After a brief introduction, box lunches from Heavenly Ham were served, and yes, Larry took pictures of us devouring the scrumptious sandwiches, pastas, and cookies. After individual sites introduced mini-grant projects represented by posters, we ended the afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn Select.

Our evening started with a writing marathon, and I had the best time of the retreat with my group. It was such an interesting mix of people; you can see pictures of us outside Starbuck's writing on Larry's slide show he recently posted. After the Marathon, everyone met at The Pasta Factory in Downtown Columbia. They served delicious salad, pastas, and cheesecake. Thanks MWPN!! In addition to eating and introductions, we had an open mic session in which fellows from all over Missouri read. It was so encouraging, and I had an awesome time networking.

The next morning after breakfast, we broke off into work groups. The group I participated in was focusing on organizing regional writing awards through Scholastic. Katrina was designated as our sites liaison, so she will probably be contacting you about distributing some mailing information to your colleagues because our number one obstacle is money. So, Katrina is receiving a bulk of information, and we're going to work together to distribute it . Now, does that sound like fun or what?

We ended the retreat by eating pizza from Shakespeare's and summarizing the different objectives addressed in our work groups.

Thanks again to Liz for driving, and I hope everyone is writing. See you soon.
-Faith

SI, NY, AI, & MWPN and another Slideshow

It has been an amazing summer! The SI, NY, AI, & MWPN. Why do I feel tired? This is my eighteenth slideshow, in case any one is counting.

WRITING RETREAT UPDATE

IT'S OFFICIAL!
The opportunity to change the 2008 WRITING RETREAT site from Keeter Center to BIG CEDAR LODGE became available, and we made the change


...We will begin Saturday, NOVEMBER 1 at 2:00 PM, and we will end Sunday, NOVEMBER 2 at 5 PM...dinner will be provided on Saturday as well as breakfast and lunch on Sunday. And all of the meals will be provided by the BIG CEDAR LODGE chefs...

...best of all, at BIG CEDAR LODGE, we will have plenty of opportunity to develop and polish ideas for publication, and we will have plenty of spectacular views of the lake and fall folliage to inspire us!!

...only 16 spaces are reserved...applications will be placed on the OWP website soon.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me...

Wow. I just had to give it just one more look!

Project Ideas

I am still unsure what direction I would like to go in for my project. I am involving the town of Licking which is where I will be teaching, but I am still unfamiliar with the town. I think that as I come to know the town a little better, it will be easier for me to narrow in on a project idea. I do know that I am very interested in involving community projects in my classroom and am hoping this will pave the way.

Prairie Lands II

Thanks for posting the pictures with me in them, Debbie! :-) Debbie did an excellent job of giving an overview of the PLWP, and I went through OWP withdrawals as we wrote in the morning. When we arrived, we also saw a demo about using artifacts to inspire stories. Sarah had WWI artifacts and a song to help students write stories from a soldier's point of view. There are many ways to use that idea in classes. We both noticed, too, the sense of community which made us miss our OWP even more. Interestingly, on the walls the fellows had pieces of paper with questions they hoped to have answered by the end of the PLWP, and the questions were many of the same things we had asked during our discussions. I also think the literary lunch idea appealed to some of them. Debbie and I joined in the discussion about assessing reading and writing. Debbie mentioned a conference about coalition schools (I think that's the name.) where they use goals and mastery instead of grades to assess students. Apparently Tom was also there. It was a great time, and Debbie's navigation skills are wonderful. She kept me in stitches with her stories. By the way, Joe, you should still bake the cookies, but write as you eat them. You never have to have a reason to eat AND write. If I don't write, I find that I miss it too. Sadly, I've been writing sans cookies.

Prairie Lands Writing Project

Tuesday, 7/22/08

The day began with writing.


Two fellows recapped the day before.


Reading groups discussed the night's reading assignment.

Then we were treated to a demonstration
that had us all involved, learning, and planning.

The topic?

Revision and Voice.


Sound familiar ???

A week after OWP Summer Institute ended, the familiar routine of the Prairie Lands Writing Project (PLWP) was comforting. Melissa and I were warmly welcomed into the Summer Institute at Missouri Western in St. Joseph, MO.

On Monday, 7/21, we arrived during an afternoon demonstration on Classroom Environment.


On Tuesday we joined table groups and experienced the familiar routine of Summer Institute. (I expected to look up from my writing to see the faces of 2008 OWP fellows! I miss you!!) In addition to the familiar routine, we were invited to talk about OWP. We did so with great enthusiasm before answering and asking questions. We were treated to lunch with Dr. Jane Frick, Site Director, Tom Pankiewicz, Institutes Director, Mary Lee
Meyer, Technology Liaison, and Heidi Mick, Professional
Development Director.


The differences?

PLWP is a smaller group of teachers. They include a business teacher and a FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) teacher among the Communication Arts teachers. The fellows remain in
table groups for all activities. They do not meet with different fellows for Reading Group and Writing Group. They rarely experience working lunches. The rotating daily responsibilities, in addition to snacks and minutes (daily log), include a day as a photographer and a day of choosing and explaining "The Quote of the Day." Their anthology is on CD, and all paperwork is done on templates available on the web.


Our visit to PLWP Summer Institute gave us the opportunity to experience similarities and differences. I came away with some great ideas, and I was excited to talk about our experience with summer institute.








Oh, by the way, Melissa is a great travel companion!
(Thank you for driving!)


Our thanks to PLWP for their hospitality and to Keri for the opportunity!!
Debbie