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..." :)

Hello everybody

I recently found out that our children that will be born in January will be a girl. Her name will be Ashlyn Jade. How is everybody doing in the new school year? So far, mine absolutely ROCKS!!!!

Blog

Well friends,
I've got the blog up and hopefully will have the kids up on it by Wednesday. The permission forms and safety training and everything has been a scramble because another teacher and I weren't exactly on the same page, but hopefully things will work out. I've been using it for about a week now, to show the students some of the capabilities.
Keri, please notice you have significantly influenced the language used. 5 extra credit points to anyone if you can find examples and shoot me a comment.
Please, if you see problems or possibilities, let me know. I'm connected right now to the 8th grade Comm. Arts teachers at Cherokee, and would love to have my students connect with theirs. If you have ideas, let me know.
Maerke's blog
Thanks for teaching me so much.

Book Notes

A second grade teacher (one who has made me feel very welcome this year) stopped by the library and asked if she could help and I jokingly replied that she could work with me to write a grant that connects the library to Comm Arts and involves a Writing Marathon at the Zoo and she said YES!!

Not only did she just say yes...she has brought the other 2 second grade teachers on board. She is outlining the science MIGS that will link to the activity and I am researching books that I could order for the library related to the study of animals in various genres. Our goal is to create an anthology (maybe a digital anthology?? what do you guys think??) and have an author's party for parents in the library in the evening.

I am so excited!!! I am also interested in any feedback from you (are you out there liz? everybody?). I've found some poetry books to order focused animals, we have several non-fiction books, wanted to include a few fairy tales...

I thought about ordering digital cameras that could be used to create the photostories as one of the genres...but am I getting too complicated?

This is an idea (to write a grant) born at OWP that will hopefully coming to fruition! (Of course, there's no guarentee that we'll get the grant, but I'll give it my best effort!!!)

laura b.

The classroom blog is up!

School starts in two days and everything is coming together nicely. After watching Barb and Keri three or four times do demos on blogging, I finally have everything in place to implement a classroom blog. It has not been an easy task, but my powers of persuasion, if you describe kneeling , pleading, and crying as powers, have finally paid off. I was very excited the first time I saw the blogging demo. My biggest frustration came when I realized I would have to wait a year to try it in my classroom. Well, it is finished and you are welcome to take a look. I would love any comments that might make the blog better.

http://www.millerhighschool.blogspot.com/

I am still looking for a video hosting sight. I can't convince the powers to unblock Youtube. So, if you know of one, please let me know. I am using Google video right now, but their site is still somewhat primitive.

Good luck this year. I look forward to seeing everyone at our fall meeting.