Colorado State University Writing Project

This Blog is Dying... Celebrate!

2009-06-09T11:16:00.003-06:00

As we move up in the world, or out, or whatever... we are moving into the world of Ning, a social network for ALL Writing Project people. It allows discussions, groups, events posting AND blogging. So really, the SI is moving and taking up shop elsewhere. Please join us...

Come on down to... www.csuwritingproject.ning.com and join the fun. Start bringing your thoughts, etc there. It's way cooler. And... I'm personally using it with my students next year. Come see what we are doing.

Jason

Readicide

2009-05-10T17:55:00.000-06:00

Are we teaching students to hate reading? Read Readicide.

Browse the book online: Readicide.

National Day on Writing Information Form

2009-03-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

National Day on Writing Information Form

Charter School Teacher Job Fair at Peak to Peak

2009-01-26T09:16:00.004-07:00

My school, Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, CO, is pleased to announce the first annual Charter School Teacher Job Fair, to be held Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Peak to Peak campus. (This is a change from the original date.) This is the only teacher job fair in Colorado exclusively for charter schools.

Most charter schools are able to hire teachers regardless of whether or not they hold teaching credentials. Come interview with school representatives from charter schools in Colorado and neighboring states.

Peak to Peak Charter School is located thirty minutes north of Denver, just east of Boulder in Lafayatte.

For more information, please visit the job fair website or email me directly at megan.freeman@bvsd.org.

Walter Mosely says...

2008-06-30T00:17:00.003-06:00

...that if you're writing a novel, you should write at least ninety minutes a day. Natalie Goldberg says, if you're going to write, you should write at least ten minutes a day. Each give their reasons. Probably an equation could be created to complicate this into understanding. 90x/day divided by 10x/day equals why. Both say write every day seems the gist of it.

Because Writing Matters - Chapter 5 - "Standards and Assessments for Writing"

2008-06-26T21:29:00.003-06:00

On 6/19/08 the CSU Writing Project Summer Institute discussed Carl Nagin's Because Writing Matters. What follows is a brief overview of our discussions for chapter five, "Standards and Assessments for Writing."

We began by discussing how assessment in current educational discourse drives much of the focus on writing. Writing is a portal toward assessment accross the curriculum. Indeed, students are now writing in math (72-73). What's next? Coed dances?

From there, we explored the issue of standardized testing and its failure in providing an opportunity for students to write from a place best suited to their individual lives. Generally speaking, the writing prompts are too narrow on these standardized tests. But all hope was not lost.

Kentucky's standardized assessments take as its model the portfolio, which, our group agreed, provides a more authentic assessment of student writing. Kentucky uses a holistic scoring guide to assess portfolio writing and renames CSAPs qualifiers for success--"unsatisfactory," "partially proficient," "proficient," and "advanced"--to a more respectful "novice," "apprentice," "proficient," and "distinguished." Kentucky's language lends a degree of respect and dignity to students, which, we thought, was lacking in the aforementioned CSAP terminology. The point to which we returned is that under the Kentucky model students become stake holders in their own learning.

Under this model, students write from a variety of perspectives, thereby addressing the narrow prompts of the CSAPs. Moreover, students have a say in which of their writings they hope to include in their portfolios. Indeed, students also have a say in developing and contributing to the assessment criterea. At the end of grades 4, 7, and 12, schools host a community-wide exhibition of students' writing. The exhibition gathers parents, students, teachers, and community business leaders to review the writing. This allows for students to write to an authentic familial, social, collegial, and business audience, thereby infusing their writing with a relevance that is lacking in current CSAP models. Additionally, this holds the students to a certain degree of accountability that they would not otherwise have if writing to the anamolous CSAP audience. This model seems to be working, as 80% of Kentucky teachers recognized a significant improvement in their students' writing.

When compared to the CSAPs, Kentucky's portfolio model of assessment illuminates the former's artificiality, an artificuality that supports formulaic writing. How can it not? The rigidity of the setting of a CSAP test demands a formulaic approach to writing. For example, the group noted that the revision process during CSAPs is conducted in an unrealistic format.

Our group concluded by suggesting that the portfolio approach provides an assessor with a far better picture of the students' writing abilities, particularly when considering a multi-genre approach to writing portfolios.

We hope yoy find this review useful and welcome any additional comments or feedback.

Write on,

Stephen Hlawaty

Why Writing Matters: Chapter 3 Discussion

2008-06-20T18:21:00.001-06:00

Chapter 3: Writing to Learn

This chapter starts with a common fear of teaching writing: “time spent writing [i]s a time lost for learning ‘science’” (52). To overcome this, though, the chapter talks about how writing can become a part of the daily practice of class (with reading logs, practice essays, expressive writing, etc.). As a result writing can be easily integrated across the curriculum, because “expressive, informal writing tasks can improve learning retention” (54).

But these writing assignments must be genuine with real audiences and authentic tasks because “higher level thinking takes place with the authentic writing across curriculums” (47). As a result “in assignments, it means asking the student to construct knowledge through analysis, synthesis, and interpretation” (49), therefore creating opportunities for students to engage in a conversation and transform the assignment so that they can make the assignments their own.

Scaffolding is a part assessing students’ writing, though, and most common deficiencies are due to weak scaffolding and weak guidelines. Therefore the smaller pieces of writing can lead to the larger product, and teachers must remember this when assigning writing assignments in order to assess students’ knowledge.

Specific strategies for scaffolding include teachers speaking with their students about the students’ writing, students spending time on the process of writing (specifically the brainstorming and editing pieces of the writing process), students reflecting on their writing (as well as other assignments and readings), and teachers/students saving students’ work in portfolios for students to discuss with others during conferences or discussions. Reflections are integral when using writing to learn, and this isn’t just true for the students. Teachers can also benefit from reflecting on their planning, strategies, lessons, and assessments as well.

Overall, for writing assignments/assessments to aid in learning, the authenticity and investment (from both students and teacher) are necessary in order to motivate students to write, create, and learn.

Good Books

2008-06-19T16:59:00.002-06:00

Good Books
CSU-WP Summer Institute 2008

Craig’s Dictionary
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Short Guide to Action Research by Andrew P. Johnson
Writing Brave and Free: Encouraging Words for People Who Want to Start Writing by Ted Kooser and Steve Cox
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg
On Writing by Stephen King
I Ching for Writers: Finding the Page Inside You by Sarah Jane Sloane
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Content Area Reading and Learning: Reading and Learning by Diane Lapp, James Flood, and Nancy Farnan
The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Girls Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings From The Girls Zine Revolution by Tristan Taormino, Karen Green, and Ann Magnuson
Cloth-Paper-Scissors (Magazine)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Ernest Hemingway On Writing by Larry W. Phillips
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
I Read It, but I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers by Cris Tovani and Ellin Oliver Keene
Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspirations for Writing by Monica Wood
Encouraging Words for People Who Want to Start Writing by Ted Kooser and Steve Cox
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines
The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them by Freedom Writers and Zlata Filipovic
The Same River Twice: A Memoir by Chris Offutt
The Meadow by James Galvin

New voices, different voices

2008-06-17T21:19:00.002-06:00

So, after today's conversation... I thought "hmmmm, bloggining could be the answer for those voices that don't pipe up in the classroom"...but I did not speak.

Ah, blogging,,,, However, it is not immediate gratification, but for some of us, it is not necessary for the response, only to know that we have been heard (after two: a)glasses b)bottles c)casks
:> of wine)
...Get ye selves to the summer stash, post haste!

Apprentice Writers

2008-06-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

Vicki was the second in line... for a demo that is.

Her amazing ideas of apprenticeship can be used in any classroom, regardless of content or age. Imagine allowing students to study the works and lives of accomplished authors, especially those of their choice. Getting to "know" these authors and having a different view of their styles, methods and inspiration allows students to get to know themselves as writers. Getting them to "apprentice" a writer pushes them to set high standards and goal set for themselves in their own work. Very cool...

As a science teacher, my kids could apprentice scientists and learn from the work they do. Art, Music, any class can use this idea to drive the creativity and motivation of our students. Thanks for an awesome concept Vicki.

Chili Eating Contest

2008-06-13T08:53:00.002-06:00

This is for the people who were in the room Friday morning as I was reading this.
Here is the link: http://www.jokecrazy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1322

Demo Numero Uno

2008-06-12T10:34:00.000-06:00

Ah... the first demo... the proverbial trial by fire... the first one thrown to the wolves... and surprise, surprise, it was great.

Casey started of the intense part of the SI today by showing us how she helps kids explore their own power in creating change yet thinking critically about what the implications and consequences of their decisions could be. Awesome. As a teacher who is tired of students (and people in general) just jumping on one side of an issue and having no ability to see the other, no matter what side they initially choose, it's great to see a teacher having kids learn to justify and understand their own opinions and actions.

Thank You Casey... for volunteering to go first and for expecting more from all of our kids.

Technology Orientation

2008-06-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

So this is for you Bud...

I know you are reading this... probable 7 minutes after I post it.

2nd Day of the 2008 SI and we are introducing everyone to the Technological side of CSUWP... the blog, the website (good work Will), NWP interactive, and of course the e-Anthology. Everyone is quiet right now which means that they are really into what they are working on or they are bored out of their minds and now looking at YouTube. I'm hoping for the former.

As always, the Blogging conversation has begun... How do we support student writing and achievement through the use of online forums and discussions... especially at the Elementary and Junior High School levels? The ideas are flying, the questions have begun but we already have a group of teachers interested in beginning the inquiry and maybe the fight... PSD, there are more of us now. So another group of teachers in our corner willing to push for technology use with kids.

At the same time, Cindy, Rick and Craig are discussing Teacher Research with the rest of the group... I'm sure they might even learn something from these three... at least the meaning of the word "psittaceous".

More coming soon...
Jason

example of deadline draft

2008-06-10T08:27:00.003-06:00

Hi, all,
Last year during the Advanced Institute, we experimented with "deadline drafts." I'm posting my and Rebecca Garrett's below. It's a little different because we were reporting on a teacher research study, but I thought it might help you get an idea of how we organized ours. Incidentally, it actually was a "demo" in that Rebecca, Cameron, and I presented a slice or this research last year at the conference of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Hope this helps!

- Cindy

Cindy O’Donnell-Allen
Associate Professor
Colorado State University

Rebecca Garrett
English Teacher
Fort Collins High School

How can we use literature to help students engage in
civil discourse on culturally sensitive topics during book clubs?

How We Became Interested in This Topic
About three years ago, we began working with sophomore Pre-AP students in Rebecca Garrett’s World Literature class. We define book clubs as “small groups of readers that meet on a regular basis to systematically discuss books (or other texts) of the members’ choice” (O’Donnell-Allen, 2006, p. 1). Originally, we convened book clubs in Rebecca’s classroom because we believed in them as authentic contexts for reading. Both of us liked that they allowed students to exercise choice in what books they wanted to read and how they would interpret them. We liked book clubs for the curricular flexibility they provided for teaching sound response strategies, and we knew that students, like readers outside of school, typically enjoyed the social aspects of book clubs. Most of all, though, we appreciated book clubs’ potential for helping students become more independent and able readers of complex literature.
Each semester, though, when we determined which books to use, we focused increasingly on those with culturally sensitive topics because these books seemed more likely to prompt the deeply engaged conversations we were hoping for, and, for lack of a better way of putting it, they really seemed to “matter” to the kids beyond school. During discussions of these books, students would lean forward as they spoke and cock their ears toward the speaker in order to hear better. What was going on in these instances? Over the years, we’ve heard students discussing some of the most difficult issues of our times calmly, intently, with maturity far beyond their years. Exactly how were these kids able to do what many adults in our culture apparently cannot, that is, to engage in civil discourse about such culturally sensitive topics as race, class, religion, and war, especially among those with whom they may disagree? We are conducting this research to find out.

What Our Research Looks Like
The contexts for our research on civil discourse book clubs have been Rebecca’s pre-AP literature classrooms. Cindy is also conducting similar research in sixth-grade classrooms in a rural school and mixed-grade English classes in a diverse alternative high school. In each of these contexts, the research has looked an awful lot like regular teaching. That is, while we have discussed our research interests with students throughout the book club units, we’ve integrated it with the regular curriculum. In fact, Rebecca has conducted book clubs in her regular classes just as we are conducting them in the classes where we’re collecting data.
Furthermore, the much of the data we’ve collected consists of the same student work that Rebecca would collect in the normal course of teaching: students’ free-writes, their written responses to the reading, the book club discussion records each group keeps, and their final group projects. As we’ve browsed the room while students are participating in their book clubs, we’ve also written “fieldnotes” recording what we observed. Finally, we’ve taken notes during occasional whole-class discussions and final presentations.
We’ve analyzed the data we’ve collected so far through a process called “open coding.” During open coding, we’ve read the data numerous times with our research questions in mind in order to notice patterns that are emerging. We then developed code names for these patterns. Our next step in data analysis will be “focused coding,” where we will re-read the data and code it according to the patterns that emerged in the first round of open coding. Our inquiry group, consisting of ourselves, and other CSUWP teachers Renee Esposito, and Natalie Barnes (see also their research reports in this volume), has been an important sounding board during the entire research process.

What We’re Learning through Our Research
1. First and foremost, we have discovered that, “Yes, kids can really do this!” as our friend Louann Reid recently put it when Cindy was talking with her about this work. Furthermore, unlike more conventional dialectic models of communication familiar in our culture (e.g., debate, op-ed columns, etc.), civil discourse book clubs are dialogic. In other words, they are geared toward connection and negotiation as opposed to argument, conversation as opposed to debate, and empathy for others’ perspectives rather than conquest.

2. Book clubs allow students to use literacy practices for civic consequences—that is, to surf, read, write, talk, listen, draw—in order to engage in civil discourse about culturally sensitive issues. Civil discourse book clubs are rooted in social justice principles, but unlike much of the other work done in this area, they place within the classroom and are thus immediately consequential.

3. Collaborative conversation is central to civil discourse because “all of us know more than any one of us.” The literacy tools students use in civil discourse book clubs, like Dailies, discussion records, and visual interpretations of literature make this collaboration visible and function as springboards into new understanding.

4. Engaging in civil discourse about culturally sensitive topics is difficult and doesn’t occur by magic, which may be why we see so little of it happening among adults. Rather, a process we call “perpetual scaffolding” is essential for this kind of work to take place. Scaffolding is usually thought of as instructional support teachers provide for students in the beginning stages of a learning process, but we have discovered that students need varying kinds of graduated support throughout civil discourse book clubs. Therefore we provide more explicit scaffolding in early stages of book clubs through the project introduction, gradual application of response strategies, norming, and “meta-talk” (i.e., “talk about the talk” students have been engaging in thus far. As book clubs progress, we gradually embed more implicit scaffolding through tools like sticky notes bookmarks, individual responses called “Dailies,” prompts on discussion records, drop-in visits during book clubs, and our and peers’ questions during book club presentations.

5. The multimodal tools students use throughout book clubs allow them to synthesize complex ideas, develop sophisticated interpretations of book club texts, and reflect on their civil discourse strategies they are learning. What do we mean by “multimodal tools”? We ask students to learn and demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways (or modes), such as internet research, reading, writing, listening, discussion, and visual interpretation. Furthermore, as Rebecca and I discovered when creating a visual map of our preliminary findings to share with the students, projects requiring multimodal responses challenge one to make sense of what one knows in different ways than writing alone.

How This Research Continues To Be Important in Our (and Others’) Classrooms
After several rounds of civil discourse book clubs in Rebecca’s classrooms, we feel as if we have the general drill down, but we learn something new with every group of students. As a result, we continue to refine the process and try out new strategies and approaches to help students be successful with the difficult process of engaging in civil discourse. We believe this is important because ours is a cultural moment dominated by trash-talking celebrities and professional athletes, politically partisan sound bites, spin-doctored news, and “reality” television shows that make it appear “difficult to deal, except in a ridiculing way, with issues of any complexity” (Gardner, 1995, p. 60). Our world may not be more fraught with personal, social, and political conflict than at any other time in history. The erosion of general civility and the popular tendency toward polarization, however, make these conflicts more emotionally charged and less easily negotiated than ever before.
We believe that many in our culture are longing to figure out a way to bore through the complexity of very difficult issues without clamming up or coming to blows. Yet when young people look to adults, they see few models for communicating in ways that aren’t agenda-driven. If we don’t do something to intervene, the result may be a new generation of chair-flinging, shout-‘em-down bullies who actually see verbal, emotional, and physical violence as viable alternatives for resolving conflict once and for all.
Our teacher research on civil discourse book clubs, however, has convinced us that English teachers can intervene by teaching students how to exercise literacy as a means toward socially just ends. By reading and discussing literature focused on culturally sensitive issues in book clubs, students can learn to grapple with questions such as these Rebecca’s students posed: “Is peace possible? What does it mean to make a difference? If you can’t change big things in our world, do small changes matter?” They can do so even when we are not in charge of the conversations. And in the service of learning to listen and respond empathically, our students can become more critical and strategic readers, writers, and thinkers in the process.

Suggested Resources
Dyson, A.H., and Genishi, C. (2005). On the case: Approaches to language and literacy research. New York: Teachers College Press. This book describes useful methods for conducting case study research, including how to design a study and collect and analyze data.

Friedrich, L., Tateishi, C., Malarkey, T., Simons, E.R., & Williams, M., Eds. (2006). Working toward equity: Resources and writings from the Teacher Research Collaborative. This book is the result of a three-year collaboration among educators who believe that the power of inquiry can be focused on vital educational goals such as equity. Included are teacher research studies, chapters on teacher inquiry groups, an annotated bibliography on teacher research, and multiple tools for individual teacher researchers as well as protocols for teacher research groups.

Maclean, M., & Mohr, M. (1999). Teacher researchers at work. Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project. This book might be considered the teacher researcher’s bible. Maclean and Mohr provide suggestions for framing teacher research questions, conducting secondary research, collecting and analyzing data, and sharing teacher research with wider audiences. In addition to discussing the ethics of teacher research, they also provide multiple examples of teacher studies conducted by teachers across grade levels and disciplines.

O’Donnell-Allen, C. (2006). The book club companion: Fostering strategic readers in the secondary classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. In this book, Cindy provides a step-by-step process for implementing book clubs with secondary students. She reviews recent research on adolescent literacy, describes her own teaching experiences with book clubs, and provides curriculum planning guidelines, teacher research tools, response strategies, book lists, scoring guides, and ideas for final projects. Reproducible masters and handouts are included in the book’s Appendices.

Contact Information
We welcome your inquiries about our teacher research on civil discourse book clubs and invite you to e-mail us at the following addresses:

Cindy - cindyoa@mail.colostate.edu
Rebecca- rgarrett@psdschools.org

We're Back... and Off and Running...

2008-06-09T10:51:00.000-06:00

As usual, we disappear for awhile, especially as the tidal wave of school crashes down on us at the end of the year. But... The CSUWP Summer Institute has begun this year... that of summer 2008.

We have an incredible group once again... 18 High School, Middle School, and Elementary teachers representing everything from Language Arts to Humanities to Sciences. As always the experience and expertise that exists in this small cramped room in the corner of the Engineering Building is incredible. Now in my 5th year, I'm just as excited to learn from these individuals as I was from my group of fellows.

So here we are, the first day, participating in a "Demo Demo" from Jason Tyler (2007 Fellow). His use of improvisation in the classroom to engage students and inform their writing is an incredible way to start the summer... getting our new fellows out of their seats and interacting on Day 1. Thank you Jason for demonstrating an amazing demo for our new fellows.

Hi.

2008-03-09T09:53:00.002-06:00

Hey, somehow I've dropped off the email list.

Could someone put me back on?

Please.

Thanks,
Jack Martin

CLAS Conference

2008-03-08T19:00:00.005-07:00

Greetings!

I've just returned from the Colorado Language Arts Society's regional conference. This year, the organizers moved it from The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs to The Inverness Hotel in south Denver. I appreciated the shorter drive, and the more reasonable hotel price. What's more, the layout of the conference rooms was less labyrinthian and the food was better (I did miss the black swans, though.)

This was my third time attending the conference, and the first time I haven't presented a session. I enjoyed just being there with no pressure to perform, and I attended several great workshops, including one by Denver Writing Project alum Jonathan Wright on differences between male and female brains. Another great session was offered by Metro State professor and poet, Renee Ruderman. I always enjoy her workshops, and was delighted to see my '05 SI comrade, Rhys Roberts, there too. What's more, I wrote a poem draft about meeting My New Boyfriend on match.com. (Yeah, I got divorced and turned forty last year. You think doing a teaching demo is stressful? Try entering the dating world after having been married fifteen (ulp) years. I discovered, however, that dating online is a lot like catalog shopping. You place your order and then wait to see it if looks good on you. When Bud was teaching us all about the fabulous applications of the internet, I had no idea it would end up bringing love back into my life!) In any event, with a little tweaking, this new piece might become a poem. Tune in to my blog if you want to see what happens with it.

As always, the highlights of the conference were the keynote addresses. I absolutely love being in the presence of such brilliant speakers and writers. It rejuvenates my hope for humanity and inspires me to be a better member of our species. This year, we were lucky enough to hear Ralph Fletcher talk about boys and writing, Dan and Dawn Kirby talk about memoir, Nikki Giovanni talk about her relationships with Toni Morrison and Rosa Parks, Katie Wood Ray talk about her work with "co-teachers" (writers whose work she uses as mentor texts in her classrooms), and Leonard Pitts talk about the craft of commentary and the writer's life. I left each of their presentations motivated to get back into my classroom and inspired to get out my own writer's notebook.

If enough people attended, it would be great to do some sort of CSUWP social event at next year's conference. I certainly love getting the literary jolt in the arm that the conference always provides, and I think combining it with some sort of summer institute reunion could be fun. Any interest out there?

Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation

2008-01-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

You are invited to attend the Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation Conference.

What is Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation?
Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation is a one day conference/meetup for teachers, administrators, students, school board members, parents and anyone who is interested in education. It will be held on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, USA. We assume most folks will be from Colorado, but everyone is welcome to attend, and we are working on some ideas for virtual participation.

Education is conversation.

Conversation creates change.

The future of education does not exist in the isolated world of theory and abstract conference sessions. Instead, it exists in conversations. It exists in creating a robust learning network that is ever-expanding and just-in-time. Learning 2.0 is not the beginning of this conversation. It is merely a stopping point, a time to talk about the visible difference that we all seek.

We read. We reflect. We write. We share. We learn. Come join us for a day of conversation about learning and technology.

You can learn much more about the conference on the wiki, including information about registering. Here are some highlights:

Tentative Schedule
We're still working on the details so this will be updated before the conference. Also, this may expand if we have more folks register than we are anticipating. (To quote Bud Hunt, "This conference stuff is hard!")

Registration
You must register so that we know how many folks to expect and so that we can have enough lunches available. (Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?)

Cost
Free, baby. And lunch is included, thanks to the generous support of Littleton Public Schools, St. Vrain Valley Public Schools, and Arapahoe High School.

Wireless
BYOL (that would be Bring Your Own Laptop) - we'll have wireless access to the Internet (filtered) - we may test our capacity to handle density of machines, but hopefully things will go swimmingly. If not, we have wired machines in various places you can access.

Questions for Students
We're having a student panel discussion during lunch. Here's your chance to submit some questions for them to consider.

Invite Others
We strongly encourage you to invite other folks from your school, district, neighborhood, or learning network to attend as well. It would be great if everyone could bring at least one person with them that is perhaps new to this conversation.

Questions?
Feel free to leave a comment on this post or on the FAQ page on the wiki.

Oh, also feel free to download and print the flyer. Or add this post to your blog.

Save the Date

2007-11-23T09:21:00.001-07:00

Save the Date
Originally uploaded by Bud the Teacher

After the Retreat

2007-11-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

If you didn't make it to the writing retreat at Tamasag I hope to see you at the next one. I wrote for the first time since SI! Here are the "tiny poems" Megan suggested we try out. I think I'll do this with my students this week:)

Drained

Soul has fled body through

aura’s tiny chords.

Everybody wants you and so they steel

little pieces of love or disdain.

Then, they keep you.

Joyful

Sun’s magnanimous explosions slip

in unseen.

I am that essence.

Content

Tapioca-full belly

by the fire I am close

to dog and cat cuddles

in my lap.

Under me, earth.

This next one was inspired by the river. I love Tamasag!

Rooted

How a root can hold against water’s flow.

Rocks bunch together and sinew

straps of bush search out for nourishment

How a mother can hold against separation’s flow.

Children bunch together and sinew

straps of broken heart seek the word family.

How a house can hold against time’s flow.

Ghosts bunch together and sinew

straps of grief dig into graves.

Time for a Change

2007-09-30T18:02:00.000-06:00

There comes a time in everyone's life that all things must come to an end. I have deleted my Everyday at 40 blog. Please stop by one of my other blogs and leave a note.
Thanks.

http://www.waldencolorado.blogspot.com/
http://www.howtolivewithchildren.blogspot.com/
http://www.julie-shortstory.blogspot.com/

Bee in my Bonnet

2007-09-22T17:23:00.000-06:00

I bought the helmet because my dad was worried I’d get in a wreck and suffer another head injury. Little did he know it was the helmet that helped cause the wreck.

I’m making great time on my bike, really covering a lot more ground than the last time, in less time, and I was feeling like I was about ready to be done rehabbing my legs and back and get back into real training, hard core training like I’m a professionally athlete again. It’s when I start feeling like this that I’m usually brought an experience to humble myself rather quickly.

I see something fly at me, just above my head, and I can’t tell what it is—I’m too busy listening to Lloyd Banks rap Warrior, and I’m feeling like a warrior, someone not to be toyed with because the consequences could be irreversible. It’s then that I feel something in my helmet. It’s not a leaf, or some other harmless piece of a tree or bush, but a bee. This bee is stuck in my helmet, can’t fly out, so it’s stinging me. It’s hurting, but I’m really moving fast on the bike, so I can’t just pull over. It’s still stinging me, I’m starting to panic at this point, so I’m moving my helmet around on my head, trying to get the bee out, but it’s not working—it’s still stinging me. I’m still panicking, a little bit, so I’m trying to take the helmet off and stop the bike which is like trying talk and cough at the same time: neither is all that successful. I start to pull my bike off the concrete trail, my right hand fumbling with the helmet strap, my left hand applying the front brake. This was not a good thing: the tires on my bike are really skinny, and turning the front tire while applying the brake like a desperate man, brought my two hundred forty pounds forward rather quickly. I’m not sure if I jumped off the bike, or fell, but at some point I was up and to the left of the bike, executing I’m sure what must have looked like a cartwheel with my hands, knee and butt, but I’m not sure what handed first. My head is still stinging, but at this point I’m inspecting my hands, making sure they aren’t a bloody mess, which they weren’t, then unsnapped the helmet, something I was unable to do while on the bike, flung it off, and saw the bee on the ground, and I could see it’s stinger, part of it’s mid section ripped. It was unable to fly. I remember reading an article about how bees were dying, and steps needed to be taken to help save the bees, how important they were for pollination. I stood up, stepped on him and smeared his insides over the concrete next to where my outsides were smeared on the concrete.

I was bleeding from my right calf, my left knee, my left elbow—which hurt, but I didn’t remember it being a part of the afore mentioned cartwheel—my hands bruised from absorbing the weight of my fall, and I’m mad. I’m thinking, “If I hadn’t worn my helmet, I’d be fine right now,” but I did almost get into a head on collision with another biker who had crossed the center line, but I’m still mad. My bike chain is off, so I have to fix that, and I’m debating if I need to go home, or if I can wash up, clean my cuts and scrapes in the sink with soap, of if I need to go the route of hydrogen peroxide. And then, I realize I’ll have to make my way through all the people who are in Old Town, all the freaks—guys wearing dresses, girls wearing gymnastics leotards, people wearing the most bizarre costumes while riding their bikes—who stand in my way, while I’m bleeding on a bike—I could see the blood slowly moving down my leg. Once I made my way back to the freaks, I hollered, “Move! I’m bleeding!” and I wished I had rode the stationary bike instead. But, I also knew, once I was cleaned, and bandaged, I'd have something to write about.

greetings from the watershed writing workshop

2007-08-03T11:02:00.001-06:00

I'm writing from "Cloud City," also known as Leadville, CO, and understanding this morning how it got its nickname. It's in the balmy fifties, and me without the proper wardrobe.

Will and I arrived here late yesterday afternoon and have been bowled over ever since by this charming little town, all the amazing history, and the terrific things that are happening in our Watershed Writing Workshop. About a year ago, we received a grant from the NWP Rural Sites Network to fund this dream of Starr Hill's, and now it's finally happening.

As usual, all the groovy writing project synchronicity is taking place, and we have a great bunch of participants who've worked some rigorous magic that they plan to take back to their classrooms. Starr has done an amazing job of building a community, getting them writing and reading and creating and blogging and on and on and on. Suffice it to say that this has exceeded everyone's highest expectations.

Gotta go right now for body biography presentations, lunch, and a writing marathon, so stay tuned for the results....

- Cindy

Craig and Megan and Cindy's Excellent Adventure!

2007-08-02T16:11:00.000-06:00

As Cindy says below, we really learned a lot in Wellesley, MA. Cindy was the star presenter, and we beamed with pride as our fellow attendees said, "Who is this amazing woman?" because, she's ours! But we also had a great time walking and running in the 90+ degree heat and seeing the sites. And, we stayed at a conference center on the Babson College campus where the dining room rivalled the Oak Room. You could even get dessert for breakfast, I swear. Tables and tables and tables of buffet, gourmet food. And the last night was lob-stah and clams and peanut buttah pie! Mmmmm, Mmmmm! Naturally, when we went sightseeing in Boston before our flight left, we thought all food in Mass. should be free for the taking, and were disappointed at having to pay.

Craig and Cindy were willing to walk a portion of the Freedom Trail with me so I could "ooh!" and "ahhh!" over the graves of dead revolutionaries. Craig took a lot of digi-pics, so perhaps one will show up here. We bought the requisite loads of Red Sox stuff - sorry, Cam, but your guys are currently 7 games out.

Finally, look for a podcast from Logan International Airport to show up soon. And you'll be hearing more from us about Teacher Research and Inquiry Initiatives.

hello from the nwp conference in massachusetts!

2007-07-30T13:31:00.001-06:00

Hi, all,
Just a quick message to say that I just finished showed our Advanced Institute blog (and many of your individual blogs) to the participants here at the "Inside Inquiry" conference in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and they think your blogs--as well as the overall concept of our AI--are way cool! They also love it that we have a site blog and have admired our website, too.

Craig Moyer and Megan Baker are here with me, and they're cramming every resource about teacher research that they can into their heads, and I'm co-facilitating the conference with other members of the NWP Teacher Inquiry Communities Network leadership team. It's been a terrific, but very intense, experience, and we'll have lots of knowledge to share when we get back home.

- Cindy

FYI

2007-07-18T23:55:00.000-06:00

CSUWP fellow Megan Freeman will be the Featured Reader in the Poets' Co-op Reading series on 10/4.

The Poets' Co-op Fall 2007 Open Reading Series will be held on Thursday, September 6th, October 4th & November 1st at the Loveland Museum on the corner of Fifth & Lincoln. Readings will be downstairs at the Foote Gallery/Auditorium from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Complimentary snacks will be graciously provided by HENRY'S PUB (234 E. 4th St.).

One Last Thing

2007-07-06T22:44:00.000-06:00

and then I'll let somebody else talk for a while.

The editorial/submission guidelines for Cricket Magazine and some other children's magazines published by Carus Publishing are here.

Kim's puke poem and some of the other work we heard this month are pieces that these magazines would seriously consider. Cricket pays 25 cents per word for stories and up to 3 dollars a line for poetry.

If you send something to them, be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

As I recall, my lovely wife Lauren's first real publication was a short story she placed in their teen mag Cicada.

If you're looking for another real audience for your students, I think Cicada also publishes some work written by teens themselves.

See you in September.

FYI

2007-07-05T16:27:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, September 22, 2007, at 7:30 p.m., poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser will read and sign books at the Rialto Theater in Loveland. He will present a talk that afternoon at the Loveland Museum & Gallery that will be free and open to the public (with reservations required). (Contact the Loveland Museum & Gallery to make reservations for the afternoon talk.)

In other news, on Saturday, July 14, there is a benefit for the Larimer County Hospice that includes a poetry reading and desserts. Among the readers will be some of my favorite poets: Lisa Zimmerman, John Calderazzo, Evan Oakley, Veronica Patterson, Beth Lechleitner, Linda Aldrich, and Jack Martin.

Books from the demo

2007-07-05T14:52:00.000-06:00

Hello all again. I have a list of the books I shared at my demo time, but was remiss in writing them down for all of you. So here they are:

The Landry News by Andrew Clements
The School Story by Andrew Clements
Both of these books are great for those middle grade readers (4-6)
And they happen to be about kids who write!

Family Literacy: Easy Ways for Families to Read and Write Together by Marcia Ardis
This is a resource that is best suited for those lower elementary grades (K-3)

Family Literacy Experiences: Creating reading and writing opportunities that support classroom learning by Jennifer Rowsell
I was very excited about this text since it encompasses many different types of literacy activities and even validates the use of comic books as a valuable resource in the classroom!! Yahooo.

permission needed to share your thinking

2007-06-29T07:29:00.001-06:00

Hi, all,
It will be SO great to see face-to-face at Tamasag today, but it's also been cool to lurk around here on the blog and get a sense of what's going in SI. Speaking of that...

The National Writing Project has asked our site to participate in a couple of sessions at the national conference in November (it will be in the Big Apple!) to discuss how we've integrated technology into our summer institute. I think it makes a lot of sense to focus on our blog during that session.

Along those lines, I'd like your permission to share these blog entries but also to hear any additional feedback you'd like to offer about your participation here or in other technological aspects (e.g., Diane's demo, the E-anthology) of the SI.

So what do you think? How has the technology piece of SI gone for you? If we didn't have anything happening digitally, how would your experience change?

Because Writing Matters: Chapter 6

2007-06-27T20:59:00.000-06:00

Better late than never...

Last week, in a World Cafe format, we had many interesting discussions sparked by Chapter 6 of Because Writing Matters. Here were some of our thoughts:

*Comments on the difference between "assigning" and "teaching"
*Principals rarely ever have the time to observe, interview teachers and examine student writing, as the text suggests. They wear too many hats and only tend to come in for formal evaluations or in response to some kind of problem. We need educational leaders as principals!
*Ongoing process of professional development in the area of writing is necessary
*Great idea to survey teachers about writing and writing instruction
*Principals rarely write themselves...they should be involved in the NWP!
*Principal observations are going toward the "5-minute walk through" epidemic
*Staff buy-in in full is always difficult

I volunteered as "captain" of this group under the impression that we were playing kickball (very sneaky Craig)...is there a chance we will play at Tamasag? :)

See ya, Bissy

Some links

2007-06-26T18:23:00.000-06:00

Billy Collins' web site includes a link to free audio downloads.

Videos, I think they're flash videos, of something like 12 of Billy Collins' poems are at the Billy Collins--Action Poet web site.

Quickmuse is an interesting site. Poets are asked to compose a poem in 15 minutes or under in response to a prompt. As the poet composes, key strokes are collected. On this site you can watch those keystrokes appear. It's almost like sitting beside Robert Pinsky as he writes. Click on their archive button, and you will see that plenty of notable poets have played the quickmuse "game." I kind of like Matthew Rohrer's rambling poem. Quickmuse asked Rohrer to write in response to Bill Zavatsky's poem "Imaginary Brother."

Born Magazine is also worth exploring. Click on Enter Born Magazine once you're in.

This is a link to the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Their Directory holds links to the websites of all of their members. These websites contain submission info. After you click on the word "Directory" right here, or in the previous sentence, the index page will appear. Click on the words "All Members," and the links will appear.

a little message from the advanced institute

2007-06-26T14:11:00.001-06:00

It's really cool! But Jason and I miss you, and we'd love it if you'd drop in on our AI blogs virtually to see what's going on. And maybe even leave a comment. And maybe it could say you miss us back :).

If you're curious, you can get to the AI blog at http://www.csuwpai.blogspot.com, and you can click on any of the links down the side to get to our individual blogs and see what we're thinking about. We're writing on them daily during Morning Pages.

See you at Tamasag on Friday!
- Cindy

Congratulations!

2007-06-22T05:07:00.001-06:00

Good morning, SI Fellows. It occurs to me that today you've made it half-way. After this packed Friday, there will only be 8 days of the SI left, and 1 of those will be Tamasag! I hope your weekend is restful and productive. Remember, ask us if you need any support.

Will's Morning Pages Sources

2007-06-21T09:14:00.000-06:00

Here are the sources that I used for Morning Pages if anyone is interested:

_The Fantastic Art of Jacek Yerka_

and

_River of Mirrors the Fantastic art of Juson Huss_

-- Will

A Technology Update

2007-06-21T09:03:00.000-06:00

I've been enjoying very much getting to see some snapshots of the SI via the blog while I've been traveling lately -- and Megan reminded me in a recent comment here that we should all be updating -- so I thought I'd drop a quick note to introduce myself to those of you in the SI and to update the rest of you on what the CSUWP is up to when it comes to technology.
So -- let's start with the intro.

The Intro

My name is Bud Hunt and I serve as Technology Liaison for the CSUWP. That means that it's my job to help you to integrate technology into your teaching when I can, as well as to help the project think about using technology in meaningful ways. For the most part, I just want to be a friendly face for you to bounce ideas off of or to ask questions of. (Of course, as the project continues to grow -- which is awesome! -- I may not be a real face for some of you -- but I'm happy to be a virtual resource. I check my e-mail lots and am online a great deal of the time -- ask Jason if you don't believe me!)
If you ever need help setting up a project, or have concerns about anything technical, please don't hesitate to ask. It's my job to help, and I take looking after teachers very seriously. You can reach me via e-mail or via this blog.

The Updates

The Spring has been a very busy time for the CSUWP and technology, particularly within the national network. I was pleased to be a facilitator of a meeting on thinking about WP sites' web presences. I was asked to be involved because of the CSUWP's great history of using the web to facilitate our work. (Thanks, Will, for all the great website stuff that you do!) It was cool to help others' think about their web presence and how the work they do is bound up in how it's represented (or not) to the world.
Another project I have been pleased to support is the work of the first ever Advanced Institute at CSUWP. The AI is focused on the intersection of inquiry and technology, and Jason and Cindy have been facilitating folks' use of blogs to talk and reflect about their inquiry work. Those meetings take off next week -- and the online work has been going for a while. You should certainly take some time to read the AI blog and to take a look at individuals' blogs -- I wish I had more time to spend in conversation there, but I'm pleased that the great thinking and learning that's happening there is accessible to others and will ultimately be useful to lots of people.
Earlier this week, I was at a working meeting of the NWP discussing technology and writing in the 21st Century. I was honored to represent the CSUWP as we discussed tech and how it's altering the landscape of literacy, teaching and learning. Several smart folks have written (and podcasted) about their experiences, and I hope to write up some of mine over at my blog soon.
Whew -- that's a lot, huh? I hope you're up to good work and that you're going to share it via the blog. The entire network learns when you share what you can with us -- so always think blog!

Teacher as Writer group calling

2007-06-20T11:52:00.000-06:00

I have a proposal for anyone who is interested in continuing a writing group throughout the school year. I recently received a small grant through the CCIRA called the Teacher As Writer grant. With this I want to form a writing group of teachers that enjoy writing, want to pursue personal writing, perhaps publication or what-not with the support of other teachers. We're here to encourage each other, right? I have a few colleagues that have shown interest, however, we haven't gotten started yet due to soccer games, sick kids, etc. If you would like to be part of a writing group that meets perhaps once a month at a coffee shop or home, and would like to continue your own personal growth in writing, please consider joining this. It costs Nothing, but your time and commitment to growth and your fellow writers' growth. I'd love to enlarge it to include you! Let me know.

Kim (the quiet one usually wearing a green top!)

Where did the love of Poetry go?

2007-06-20T10:45:00.000-06:00

Kathleen's demo asks a fantastic question...

"How has poetry moved from center stage to the margins of society?"

Wow... quite an issue but Kathleen tackled it well giving us ways of giving kids a different ways to analyze poetry (Junior High Audience) without her being the only one that is breaking it down. Using multiple genres (Bud... you listening?), Kathleen gives kids the chance to explore small sections of poetry to interpret and discover the poet's intentions. It was a great way of tackling a problem that I imagine many English teachers have. She also helped lower the anxiety of people like me (non-english teachers) and encouraged us to continue to utilize it in our classes in unconventional ways. Thanks Kathleen.

New Teachers

2007-06-19T11:06:00.000-06:00

Just got back from Emily and Kim's New Teacher Week-long workshop. I was asked to come in along with Kim D., Katy S., Rebecca F. (or G.), Tami W., and Rhys R. (who got lost on the way I guess). Our goal was to simply tell stories about our early teaching careers including the way we integrate writing. Laid-back, simple and a cool chance to remind myself why I do what I do. I always get inspired by talking with others I respect about what keeps them teaching and with new teachers about what makes it such an amazing career. Thanks for the chance to speak a bit and listen more. Seems like a fantastic week-long workshop so far.

Research Questions Reminder

2007-06-18T14:03:00.001-06:00

Thanks, Will, for the post. I've been so busy in that room that I'd barely bothered to glance at them. They are really thoughtful questions.

A couple things we all want you to remember:

Your question doesn't have to be pefectly formulated by the end of the SI - just enough to help you get your research prospectus written.
Your question doesn't have to be fancy - just something you're wondering about in your classroom - as reflective teachers, you'll naturally be wondering something that other people would be interested in, too.
You're not writing a PhD dissertation. We're not even asking you to have any research done by the end of the SI. It's simply a proposal for how you'll try to answer your question in your class(es) in the coming year. And, you include a brief bibliography of a few articles or books that have been written by others who are exploring this question. (My prospectus was 1.5 pages, single-spaced, with some bullets interspersed. No huge deal!)

Good luck - remember to ask us, especially Craig and Cindy, if you need help with teacher research.

Research Questions

2007-06-18T10:11:00.002-06:00

I copied some of the research questions that different people came up with. I thought some of these questions might be a good starting point; I am having a difficult time pinning something down, so I thought others might benefit from these ideas as well. We have everything from the larger questions of the disenfranchised to the specifics of how to teach thesis statements. -- Will

How can I help my students from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph – especially with quotations?

How can I break students of the habit of making a topic sentence a thesis? How do I help students make original claims?

How can I support students’ formal writing (essays) that will help them understand the formula and eventually move away from that?

How can I help students use an essay organizer as a tool rather than being controlled by it?

How do I move my students away from formula-based writing and teach them to use higher-level thinking as an analytical tool to drive their writing?

How do I assimilate Bloom’s taxonomy into actual writing pieces?

I wonder if gender grouping in writing groups might influence risk-taking and make for more meaningful writing?
What is the relationship between family literacy and at-home writing?

How do I move from an effective Student Discussion to an effective/meaningful writing piece?

What are children learning from media portrayals . . . how their parents are writing & speaking to issues that are relevant to the disenfranchised?

SI impact so far...

2007-06-18T10:11:00.001-06:00

It always happens fast... and I never even saw it coming this year.

The first 5 days of SI are in the bag and we are pushing into the next one as I sit here on my day off at Mugs (surprise, surprise). It has been a quick week but an inspiring one. It seems shorter to me because I've been in and out of the room helping with the other 18 or so (feels like) programs that WP is putting on. It just shows all of us the impact that we are having on writing in FC and other areas near here. Young Writers, Week-long, New Teachers, and now Advanced Institute. And soon, Watershed Workshop, add'l YWWs and Week-longs. It's amazing where Cindy's vision has taken us in such a short time.

But as we all know it begins in that "cozy" room (Trudy's positive spin on everything) with different issues each year. No AC or windows in the past. This year it is simply a walk-in closet. SI has changed many and is having an enormous impact on our students. And as fellows of this year's institute, watch for it... it will show up.

It may be September or December before the impact of SI hits you. Sobering up in July and August is always an important part of the process. But as any staff member will tell you, relish in it for the next 3 weeks. Enjoy the anxiety, hard work, deep thoughts, self-exploration, personal space and above all, the people that are in it with you. Every year I love it and being in the room much less this year, I'm realizing how much I will miss it. It changes me for the better every summer and will continue to do so no matter where I am.

Enjoy it while you can...

Altered Book Poetry

2007-06-16T08:31:00.001-06:00

http://www.logolalia.com/alteredbooks/

While searching on the topic "altered books" this morning, I found this site. Writers take book pages and create found poetry. No rubber stamps, collage skills, or art papers required. Really. It's a great writing idea. Poetry from book pages. I think kids would love it. It makes me want to tear pages out of books and color them with crayons.

Since I don't get to present a morning pages during SI, indulge me and go to this site.

Saturday morning thoughts

2007-06-16T08:20:00.001-06:00

The word that kept going through my mind all afternoon Friday, as we completed Stars and Wishes and gathered feedback and listened to Author's Chair starring Jack, was "generosity." I felt gratitude for everyone's generosity - of spirit, of ideas, of support. We have another great CSUWP SI community forming.

Thanks to Craig and Emily for sharing their home and deck and Daisy with all those people. It was fun to perch on the porch and soak up a beer, salsa, and rich conversation.

My plans: Rest. Enjoy my family and some quiet. Think and write. Post.
Hope you all get some of those things, too.

Who are we supposed to be?

2007-06-14T09:15:00.000-06:00

Cassy's morning page prompt...

A really great intro. led to this...
"What was your life expectation? Are you, today, the person you thought you would be?"

Delicious Quiet

2007-06-13T14:37:00.001-06:00

After a morning with our first demo (good stuff, Will), first world cafe, first stars and wishes, and after lunch I came back to a room filled with a delicious quiet. Lights off, Lori, Margaret, Joan and others enjoying the warm glow from the two o'clock sun, pens moving across the page in precise abandon, the details of narratives and poems guiding the rhythm of their pens' movement. More enter, all recognizing what is going on: the quiet gift of creation, the gift of story leaking onto the page, and the honor it deserves.
That silence, that quiet that comes creative endeavors, was something that deserved recognition and celebration, no matter how long the beautiful quiet lasted.

Techies...

2007-06-12T09:42:00.001-06:00

As the 2nd day is beginning... the SI is jumping into the Tech aspect of CSUWP. We are surfing the website, posting on the e-Anthology, and maybe even setting up a few blogs along the way. We also are checking out the Advanced Institute blog to see what is happening in our new arena. Who knows... maybe podcasting is next...

Ah... a bunch of little Buds running around at CSU.
That's all we need.

Writers On The Move

2007-06-04T18:00:00.001-06:00

My colleague, Kristie Betts Letter, and I won a Fund For Teachers grant to attend the Ouray Writers' Retreat for a two week residency. We leave on Saturday (our last day of school is Thursday), and we will be chronicling our adventures on our new blog Freewomen of Letters. Check us out and read along as we attempt to complete two book drafts in two weeks!

In other CSUWP news, friend and colleague Heather Cyr (SI '06) is going to Scotland to study creative writing as part of the English Speaking Union's British Universities Summer School Program.

We are all excited to be spending our summers in a "state of constant composition", and bringing back new work and new insights to share with our students. Best of luck to all the Summer Institute Fellows for '07. You'll never be the same!

Megan F.
(SI '05)

Off and Running

2007-06-04T17:29:00.000-06:00

Well the summer season for the WP is off and rolling today. Lindsey and I drove out to Brush for the first day of our weeklongs. Overall it went very well, just a few minor SNAFUs, like our books aren't here yet; we missed the exit on the way home; and Cindy beat me to the store yesterday and bought out all the composition books! :)

But despite that we had a great time. It is so great to see people light up with passion at writing and teaching writing. And as always, I have come away with some great ideas. Hopefully the first day of the other weeklong went well too.

2007 Writing Retreat

2007-04-15T16:24:00.000-06:00

We met yesterday morning for breakfast, and after fighting traffic, made it up to Estes Park. They didn't have the cabin ready, then they did, dropped off out gear and went for a walk. It was less than a mile from the cabin. We sat up a huge collection of rocks that jutted up above the trees, sticking out like an obstinate child refusing to sing at a choir performance. Other than the sounds of a far away stereo, one wood pecker, we enjoyed the silence and took in what we saw and smelled in this massive valley that was Estes Park below us. After our backsides ached from sitting on rocks, we walked back down to the cabin. We shared what we wrote, enjoyed each other's company, and some of Jenn's amazing chicken & cheese dip, we hit the town of Estes.
I went to the coffee shop we frequented two years ago, thought about Nicole Marc and how I haven't seen her in forever, and wrote, looking at the hillside of the town. I walked down by the river, sat at a bench and let the sun warm body against the cool wind that blew in. I wrote about relationships, watched red ants scurry below my feet at cookie crumbs dropped by children, and smiled at how a change in location could bring things out of me I had forgotten were there.
We met up at The Wheel, enjoyed some drinks and then went back home.
We cooked pizzas, snacked, and talked about our lives. It was the first time I had seen Ruth in at least two years. For Kim Penn and Beth, it was a chance for half of their writing group to get together. We shared prompts, food, wine, writing, and stories.
The morning was brief, with a 10am checkout time, but enough time to do some writing, eat cold pizza and cookies, and head into Estes for coffee, morning paper, but for me, write some more. I don't remember the last time I wrote, by hand, for over an hour.
When I got back to Fort Collins, after a brief meeting for SI, I went out for lunch and had to finish what I started up at Estes. When I'm done, I'll spend more time time today for doing the same thing. It reminds me of when I went through the SI in 2003, and I'd leave my writing group and CSU and would go home, turn off my phone and do nothing but write for two or three hours.
I hope you can make it next year.

Be sure to check out . . .

2007-04-11T15:13:00.000-06:00

There's some new activity -- and a few new bloggers -- in the CSUWP blogosphere. You might have noticed the new entries in the sidebar -- these are bloggers involved in the CSUWP Advanced Institute on technology and inquiry. Over the next few months, they'll be digging into some questions and some reading, using their new blogs to document what they're learning. Head on over to the AI mother blog and check out what they're up to.
Also, you might want to check out the new website for the CSUWP that Will Allen, our webmaster, has put together. You'll see lots of photos, Cindy's new podcast (hooray, Cindy!), and some regular videos about project work and people. There's also lots of good writing by our friends and colleagues. Let Cindy know and she'll add you to the collection.
What are you up to? Please share. Leave a comment letting us know what good stuff you're doing right now!

Home from CLAS

2007-03-11T19:41:00.001-06:00

I got home late yesterday after two days at the CLAS conference in Colorado Springs. Driving home on I-25 in the pouring rain was no fun, but the conference was wonderful. Highlights were Richard Peck and Naomi Shihab Nye's keynote addresses, and Jeff Anderson gave a very funny address about teaching grammar. I'm looking forward to reading his book, Mechanically Inclined.

I presented my workshop on using public speaking to assess student writing (and stop taking papers home to grade!) It was very well attended and I only came home with one of my sixty handouts. If I knew how to attach a file, I'd attach part of my packet here. (Bud?) In preparing for the workshop, I discovered that I have a twelve-step process to assess writing using public speaking, the first of which ought to be Admitting We Are Powerless Over Grading and that Our Lives Have Become Unmanageable. Keep It Simple...One Paper At A Time. In all seriousness, it's a great paradigm, as it makes it possible for papers to BE COMPLETELY GRADED by the time the student finishes presenting it orally to the class. Nothing left to do in prep period except, well, prep!

I'm so grateful to the CSUWP and to Bud for getting me up and running in the presentation game. It's really great fun and I made some nice connections with other passionate teachers. I saw lots of folks from the Denver Writing Project, the Rocky Mountain Writing Project and the Colorado Writing Project. Alas, no familiar CSUWP faces, though. Rumor has it that next year the conference is coming to Denver (at last!), so perhaps more of us can attend. I know more folks in my department will be inclined to come if they don't have to pay Broadmoor prices for lodging.

Best wishes for a relaxing and rejuvenating spring break!!

On Writing

2007-03-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in Mugs on College and Olive, reading Stephen King's book On Writing: a memoir of the craft and laughing hysterically. People keep staring at me, looking at me as if something, more so than normal, is wrong with me. I'm looking around the room for another regular that I know because I want them to read the passage about Eula-Beulah, the farts, the eggs, but no one I know is here.
Now that my computer is out and open, I'm no longer laughing, and people are no longer staring at me, I'm reminded of some of my own funny childhood moments, similar to Mr. King. Why not write about them?
Pick up the book. Once it's open, you'll only want to put it down so you can write.

Lucky 200

2007-02-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hola, Folks.
So, I'm sitting here in Starry Night, looking over some of my stuff, and I took Cindy's advice and put some of my poetry up on my blog. If you have the time, swing by http://camdaram.blogspot.com and check out my poems. Please post any comments you may have: reactions, first thoughts, items you feel need to be addressed.

Stay groovy!

what's coming up this summer

2007-02-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's already time to start thinking summer? Personally, I'm relieved just to contemplate warmer, snowless weather. But here, I Just wanted to give everyone a preview of our summer programs. We've got lots going on, and Deanna and I are planning a mailing so stay tuned for details. Here's the list so far with deadines:

1. The Summer Institute, of course - Deadline Feb. 12
2. 4 weeklong workshops, including a new one for teachers in their first 3 years and another for rural teachers as well - Deadline May 4
3. 2 Young Writers Workshops, one at CSU and one in Longmont - Deadline not decided yet
4. AN ADVANCED INSTITUTE integrating teacher research and technology! This will take place June 25-July 6. It's free and open to any CSUWP fellow. Details soon to come.

So please help us with recruiting for the summer institute and weeklong workshops. You are our most reliable connections to good people. Just e-mail me for applications if you need them.

Recruiting for Young Writers will begin soon as well, though we don't have the registration forms ready yet. And I'm working on an e-mail for the Advanced Institute right now. I challenge you to find a program to plug into! It will help us, sure, but it is guaranteed to be rejuvenating and fun for you, too.

Writing Group in For Collins

2006-12-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here it is eleven days until Christmas, I've finished almost all of my Christmas shopping, need to start working on grades, but all I want to do it drink coffee and write. I'm here at Starry Night, getting ready to work on a new short story, one I started with my students from a music prompt, and I wanted to talk about writing groups one more time.
I will be here every Thursday, starting January 5th, from 6pm to 7pm, to write. If people want to come and sit and write with me, great. If you want to bring stuff to workshop, great. I know the favorite part of everyone's S.I. experience is writing groups. An hour a week, writing, talking about writing, supporting local business. I'm perfectly content to sit and write, but should you want to dig out a morning pages piece you had during the institute or some other thing you wrote, I'd love to read it.
Happy Holidays, folks.

Can you help some novice bloggers?

2006-11-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, all,
As I've confessed publically, I'm trying to develop a new blogging habit, at first because I want to be a good model for my students--you know, the ole what's-good-for-the-students-should-be-good-for-the-teacher syndrome--and now because Bud's convinced me that there's something in it for me, too.

When I was working on my book, I always began my writing sessions with a ritual: cup of tea, passage from a writing book (e.g., Bird by Bird), entry in a journal I called "Notes to Self." Well, I finished the book, so I'm keeping the ritual while I'm working on a new one, but this time, I'm trying to blog the "Notes to Self" entry instead.

So here's where you come in as does my shameless personal request...

Will you read my blog and comment occasionally on my developing ideas?

I know your thoughtful responses will help shape my thinking as I write. And then, while you're there, feel free to check out my students' blogs as well. You'll find links to them in the blogroll on the right-hand side of my blog.

I doubt my students and I will maintain the habit if we don't get traffic, which those of you reading this have probably learned from experience. So if your blog is active, be sure to link up to it in your comments so that we can visit as well.

Bud's skein of yarn is coming to mind.

(Y)our Work is Important

2006-11-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

At the NWP Meeting in Nashville, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Lynne Culp in a big ballroom full of fine folks. Lynne and I happened to both be in the back of the room. She told me a story that warmed my soul and made me happy. I thought you should hear it, too. I asked her if she'd write it down to share with you. She did. She writes:

Two summers ago, I began every day with an hour walk around a golf course near my house in Toluca Lake. I listened to wonderful Mp3s I had carefully playlisted on my iPod. Then, I discovered iTunes listing of podcasts. I knew David Warlick so I downloaded his podcasts which were not too regular at first,but low-and-behold...here was a podcast listing that said nothing but CSU Writing Project. California chauvinist that I am, I thought it was from a California Writing Project...maybe up north. I cheerfully downloaded it, thinking...oh, I'll listen for five minutes then go back to my cooking show. But...that was not to be. I strolled the whole perimeter of the golf course, listening to story after story. I found the and the readings completely compelling. "It's voice, I thought...and it is communicating to me even though I don't know them, don't know where they are...it holds me fast." Very shortly I told Jane Hancock, the co-director of UCLA's Writing Project a bout this amazing opportunity for our writing project people. "We could put on a show too," I cried. However, I remained a voice in the desert until last fall when the NWP requested that UCLA appoint a TL. They did. It's me, and that is how I met you last Friday morning.

If I sound a bit over the top, it is because the listening to those writing project voices was my first understanding of how powerful podcasting could be. Today, when I scroll down the ever-growing iTunes list, I remember how vivid the realization was.

Our work is important. Your voice is important. This time we spend together writing and thinking and learning and teaching is important. The trouble is, we may never know how or to whom it matters. Except today. Thanks, Lynne.
Now -- who wants to podcast? I'm always eager to record your writing, or to help you learn to do so on your own. Just let me know, either via e-mail or through the blog comments.

pride and joy

2006-11-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been paying attention to the lovefest happening below, here's more.

All the CSUWP folks are safely back home from the NWP and NCTE conferences. In some ways, attending these conferences generate the same feelings you have at the conclusion of the summer institute. You're renewed, you're brimming with new ideas, you're tired and sleepy, you've seen firsthand what it feels like to make a difference, you're fat from all the snacks, you're tired and sleepy, and you're convinced you can conquer the world. (Did I mention you're tired and sleepy?)

As a site director, I get to have another great feeling, though. This morning as I was engaged in my annual begging session for more CSUWP $ from the department chair and dean, I was able to say with confidence that CSUWP is making a tremendous difference, well, pretty much everywhere. Did you know that over 530 teachers participated directly in CSUWP programming last year? When you think about how many kids those teachers teach, even a conservative estimate means we've reached about 21,000 students last year alone. Over 125 of them participated in CSUWP programs like Young Writers and book clubs.

Holy cow.

And that's just locally. What was really cool at the conference was to see what a difference we're making nationally as well. You know, sometimes we get our noses so close to the grindstone that we forget that anyone notices or cares what we're doing. Sometimes we don't even notice. But here's where my pride and joy comes in. It was easy to notice this week as I saw Bud with all his groupies (one of them has already e-mailed me for his address. She sounded a little desperate like she had to reach him NOW. Creeped me out a little.); Emily, Tiffany, and Rebecca presenting their little hearts out at NCTE; Cameron taking notes as fast as he possibly could in NWP sessions and carrying laptops, luggage, and LCD projectors without being asked; Jaime Wood glowing as she talked about her new book and her new life as an MFA student in St. Louis; and Rhys Roberts, Stacey Brown, Darren Marshall, and Stephanie Rector soaking it all in. I was in awe just standing by and watching.

And NWP leaders and fellows around the country are noticing your good work as well. Trust me, in four short years, CSUWP is already considered a pretty amazing site.

That's why I am so very proud of all of you. And when I say "proud," I don't mean in a taking-credit sort of way. I mean proud that I get to know you and stand by and watch what you'll do next.

You all are rockin' the world.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Cindy

Writers Write

2006-11-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Author
Originally uploaded by Bud the Teacher.

Ran into a familiar face on the Exhibit Hall floor this afternoon. Jaime R. Wood, one of my classmates in the first CSUWP Summer Institute, was there discussing her recent book on multicultural poetry and middle school students, Living Voices. She graciously allowed me to shoot this picture.
Cindy O'Donnell-Allen, our director, also has a book out right now. The Book Club Companion is about, well, book clubs. I'm hearing good things about both.

Writers write. Writing teachers write. I'm so proud of our CSUWP authors. What have you been writing or reading lately?

more from nwp

2006-11-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy, ya'll, Those of at CSUWP are once again prepared to take over the world. It's amazing how inspired I've managed to get in a little over 48 hours, even in my post-sinus infection haze. The magic of hundreds of fired-up writing teachers under the same roof never fails to take me by surprise. At my very first session, the NWP presenter said, "We are the answer." And as bold as that may sound, you just gotta believe it. Halfway through our trip, here's what we've already done: 1. Written a plan for an Advanced Institute that will integrate teacher research and technology and will be open to any CSUWP teacher THIS SUMMER (if you're interested, you need to ask me about this), identified a potential grant to fund it, and begun to think about staffing 2. Started thinking seriously about a one-day administrator's conference 3. Become convinced that professional development support for early career teachers is a necessity, not an option (this morning we heard that nearly half of all new teachers leave the profession within 5 years, yet the median # of years for a NWP teacher is 25! Coincidence? We think not.) 4. Gotten me to post to post to two blogs in one day, including my own (click on the blogessor post to the right to see the other post) 5. Figured out that my sleep number is 45 and discovered that all Nashville roads are under construction (see Cam's previous post) Tomorrow Rebecca Fox, Tiffany Hunt, Emily Richards Moyer, and I will make a strong CSUWP showing at our NCTE presentation. I'm pretty sure Bud will be posting some pictures and a truly heartwarming story about the impact of your podcasts soon. Stay tuned, Cindy

Top Ten Reasons to Come to the NWP Conference

2006-11-16T22:17:00.000-07:00

10. Cindy and Emily giggling as they play with the controls of the Sleep Number bed
9. Free coffee, bagels and spreads
8. Groupies coming up and asking for their picture with you (right, Bud?)
7. The accents
6. Listening to other amazing professionals talk about how they teach what they teach
5. Listening to other amazing professionals talk about how they teach what they teach
4. Need I say it again?
3. Getting lost in Cordelia Drive, which turned into Lane, which turned into Court
2. The great stories and conversations over dinner and drinks
1. Feeling the urge to make changes that will change lives

One hotel room, two double beds, four people, split four ways = 25 bucks.
Next year, it's in New York City.

Inquiry and Tech

2006-11-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Cindy and I had a great roundtable session today on teacher inquiry and how to build a successful TIC (Teacher Inquiry Community). Specifically, we spent some time discussing a possible intersection between technology and inquiry. If you were at that session, and had a question or comment, please leave your thoughts in the comments so that we can continue the conversation.

NCTE/NWP Annual Meetings

2006-11-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Nashville, where several CSUWP TC's and staff are attending the NWP Annual Meeting. Some of us, too, are at the NCTE Annual Convention.

Blogging in Walden

2006-11-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that I have set up a member's only blog for my fifth grade writers. I asked them what they wanted to do in the writing class, and computer use was first on their list. They are thinking that I will let them type and print, but oh no, it is much more than that. I am hoping that the parents get involved as well. We start blogging after Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it goes.

Guess what we're doing at my school!

2006-11-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hey lovely peeps. I know you’re not going to believe it but we’ve started demos at my school! I'm surprised and delighted and once again very thankful for how the WP has influenced my career. It was scary - I was the first to give a lesson and frankly, rather than try to answer one of my many big questions I stayed on safer ground. I taught something I thought I was pretty good at but could use some tweaking. I was certain I'd get a bunch of criticism – I am a young teacher in the midst of many who are teetering on edges of their last “steps.” But I asked for stars and wishes – did I mention stars? – and I got them. I have useful ideas to take back to the class and we’ve begun a staff discussion that’s more relevant to my life in the classroom than most others I can remember. I’m even considering that a couple teachers might think of me as a professional – and that has been hard to come by teaching at the school I (barely) graduated from.

Y'all helped me realize some of my own potential as a leader and with the support of another fellow at my school I was able to not cave at the last minute. Now I'm looking forward to staff meetings on Friday. I think those close to retirement have a lot to offer me - now I'll have a chance to actually learn from them.

Kooser in Golden

2006-10-15T20:10:00.000-06:00

Heather C. and I spent a lovely Saturday with former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser at the CLAS fall writing retreat in Golden. No line dancing, but lots of good writing, reading and words of wisdom from the Nebraska poet, not to mention some socializing with folks from the Denver Writing Project, the Rocky Mountain Writing Project and the Colorado Writing Project.

Got me thinking again about trying to have a combined WP event (cocktail party?) at the CLAS conference in March. Whaddya think, Bud?

STEP UP - UZE YA SKILLZ

2006-10-11T20:25:00.000-06:00

"You're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darn it - people like you." - Who said it?

I'm looking for a few good (wo)men to present to Preston Junior High School faculty on one of our many inservice days. We're trying to incorporate writing across the curriculum and what better way to get science and math writing than with a real, live human! Anyone interested in presenting either their research from CSUWP or sharing writing prompts that they use in the classroom? I'm sure we could cover substitute pay and maybe even throw in a sassy, little coffee (not literally)... let me know!
gpierson@psdschools.org
Greg Pierson

Welcome, New Preservice Bloggers

2006-10-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

This is a post specifically for Cindy's "about-to-be-blogger" students. Cindy asked me to link you to my blog. You can find it here. I've left you a message there, too.

Mini-Marathon

2006-09-30T14:03:00.000-06:00

Hola, fellow WP folks.
We had a Mini-Marathon at my house on the 16th of September, and it was wonderful. I think my favorite line of the day had something to do with a diaper commercial and how it made someone's uterus ache. Good times.
We enjoyed coffee, lots of treats--it's a writing project function--and shared lots of writing, writing ideas, book titles.
If you are interested in hosting an event, please contact Kim Penn about doing so.

Let's Build a Network

2006-09-30T12:40:00.000-06:00

Hey, y'all. It's nice to see you again. When last we met, several of you created blogs and said that you wanted more.

Well, here we go.

Today, we're going to be talking about learning networks, and how we can use blogs, podcasts, wikis, and other learning tools to create them.
We're going to begin today here, an article in this month's Edutopia Magazine. The piece is written by Will Richardson, one of my teachers in the edublogosphere, the learning network that I call "home."

After we've read the piece, I'd like for you to take ten minutes and use the comments section of this post to write your thoughts about what you've just read, as well as any questions that this raises for you and/or anything you're hoping we can explore further today.

I won't lie to you -- it's my goal today to convince you that every person -- student, teacher, administrator, parent, or otherwise -- is a person of value who can contribute positively to a learning network. We've all got a lot to learn from each others' experiences, knowledge, questions and concerns.

And today, we're going to look at some of the nuts and bolts of that sharing.

Everyone's network starts with two essential pieces -- your input device and your output device. For us today, Blogger is for output, and Bloglines is for input. While we're a "writing project," We'll start with input today, and move on from there.

By the time you leave today, hopefully you'll have created a personal learning network, as well as populated it with some useful resources for you. Then, it's up to you to become a participant in the networked world. After you're proficient, it's time to get your students involved.

Anything else we accomplish is bonus.

A few links we'll probably end up using (although we might not):

Blogger and Bloglines Tutorial (We looked at this when we met in June. No shame in reviewing it. If you'd prefer, here's another tutorial that deals with the same issues.)
Technorati (Google for Blogs)
Podshow (Adam Curry's podcasting "network)
Bailey crisis blog article from Rocky Mountain News -- Friday, September 29th, 2006
Bud's Wiki (permission letters, odds 'n' ends, etc.)
Placeholder Wiki for Today
K12Online Conference
Karl Fisch's Fischbowl - Did You Know?
Bud's "No Good Thing is Easy" Reference. (Basic tech and blog/podcast info -- might be a useful read for you -- but I won't force anybody to read it.)
Visual Thesaurus
Wikipedia
YouTube

What Is It that Y'all'd Like to Do?

2006-09-25T23:02:00.000-06:00

I'm giving a presentation/workshop to a great group of teacher consultants of the CSUWP on Saturday. The focus/topic is "Blogging & Podcasting 102." Do you think you/they'd like to leave with their own blog, or should we work towards an online community ala Elgg? I originally had intended to go the blog route, as I've done with that group in the past, but a conversation with a colleague this week has me thinking that perhaps a supportive online community gathering place might be a better way to go.
What do you think? How would you like to spend that time? I'm particularly interested in your suggestions/opinions/concerns/questions/etc., if you're going to be in the group on Saturday.

K12 Online Conference

2006-09-06T15:19:00.000-06:00

I'm pleased to report that I'll be giving one of the keynote presentations for the first "K12 Online 2006" conference/convention/virtual meetup/really neat-o mashup of smart folks sharing interesting things. Please read the rest of this post to learn more and to see how you can participate.

--------

Announcing the first annual “K12 Online 2006″ convention for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice. This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, Oct. 23-27 and Oct. 30- Nov. 3 with the theme “Unleashing the Potential.” A call for proposals is below.

There will be four “conference strands”– two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday - Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two-weeks. Each presentation will be given in podcast or screencast format and released via the conference blog (URL: TBA) and archived for posterity.

THE FOUR STRANDS ARE:

Week 1

Strand A: A Week In The Classroom

These presentations will focus on the practical pedagogical uses of online social tools (Web 2.0) giving concrete examples of how teachers are using the tools in their classes. They will also show how teachers plan for using these tools in the delivery of their curricular objectives.

Strand B: Basic/Advanced Training (one of each per day)

Basic training is “how to” information on tool use in an educational setting, especially for newcomers.

Advanced training is for teachers who have already started using Web 2.0 tools in their classes and are looking for: (a) advanced technology training (eg. how to write your own blog template or hack existing ones), (b) new tools they can make use of in their classes, (c) teaching ideas on how to mash tools together to create “something new,” (d) a pedagogical understanding of how technologies such as Weblogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking sites, RSS feeds and others can deepen learning and increase student achievement, or (e) use of assessment tools to measure the effectiveness of Read/Write Web technologies in their personal practice and with their students.

Week 2

Strand A: Personal Professional Development

Tips, ideas and resources on how to orchestrate your own professional development online; the tools that support Professional Learning Environments (PLEs); how to create opportunities to bring these technologies to the larger school community; how to effectively incorporate the tools into your personal or professional practice; or how to create a supportive, reflective virtual professional community around school-based goals.

Strand B: Overcoming Obstacles

Tips, ideas and resources on how to deal with issues like: lack of access to tools/computers, filtering, parental/district concerns for online safety, and other IT concerns while trying to focus on best practice in the use of Web 2.0 tools.

CONVENORS & KEYNOTES

For organization purposes, each strand is overseen by a conference convenor who will assist and coordinate presenters in their strand. The first presentation in each strand will kick off with a keynote by a well known educator who has distinguished his/herself and is knowledgeable in the context of each topic. This year’s convenors and keynote presenters are:

A Week In The Classroom

Convenor: Darren Kuropatwa

Keynote: Bud Hunt

Bud Hunt teaches high school language arts and journalism at Olde Columbine High School in Longmont, Colorado. He is a teacher-consultant with and the Tech Liaison for the Colorado State University Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project, a group working to improve the teaching of writing in schools via regular and meaningful professional development. Bud is also the co-editor of the New Voices column of English Journal, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English. A consumer of copious amounts of New Media, Bud blogs and podcasts about his practice and larger educational issues at http://www.budtheteacher.com.

Basic/Advanced Training

Convenor: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Keynote: TBA

Personal Professional Development

Convenor: Will Richardson

Keynote: Ewan McIntosh

Ewan McIntosh is an educational technologist and teacher of French and German. Based in the Edinburgh area of Scotland he frequently works around the UK and Europe, leading student and teacher workshops and conferences. He is an experienced workshop facilitator in the area of Web 2.0 technologies in education across stages and curricular areas. Ewan blogs at http://edu.blogs.com

Overcoming Obstacles

Convener: TBA

Keynote: Anne Davis

Anne is known for seeing the educational possibilities in the use ofweblogs with students in classrooms, having implemented wonderful ideasand weblog projects with students and teachers in K-12 classrooms and atthe university level. She currently works at Georgia State University inthe Instructional Technology Center in the College of Education as anInformation Systems Training Specialist. Her weblog, EduBlog Insights

is a co-winner of the Best Teacher Blog inthe second international Edublog Awards, a web based event thatrecognizes the many diverse and imaginative ways in which weblogs arebeing used within education.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

We’d like to invite you to submit a proposal to present at the conference. If you have something you’d like to share with the community, both people who are new to blogs and/or experienced bloggers please email the appropriate conference convenor above with your ideas. The deadline to submit a proposal (just the proposal, not the finished product) is September 30, 2006. One of us will contact you to finalize the date of your presentation. Your presentation may be delivered in any web-based medium (including but not limited to…podcasts, PowerPoint files, blogs, websites, wikis, screencasts, etc.) and must be emailed to your assigned conference convenor one week before it goes live, (see above strands) so that it can be uploaded to the server.

The conference organizers are:

Darren Kuropatwa

Darren Kuropatwa is currently Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is known internationally for his ability to weave the use of online social tools meaningfully and concretely into his pedagogical practice and for “child safe” blogging practices. He has more than 20 years experience in both formal and informal education and 13 years experience in team building and leadership training. Darren has been facilitating workshops for educators in groups of 4 to 300 for the last 10 years. Darren’s professional blog is called A Difference ( http://adifference.blogspot.com).

Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach

Sheryl is a technology/education consultant for the National Education Association (NEA), the Center for Teaching Quality, SRI International, the Virginia Community College System, the Virginia Department of Education, the Miami-Dade Public Schools, and the Alabama Best Practices Center. She has had several journal articles and book chapters published, been featured on public broadcasting television and radio shows, and is a regular presenter at local, state, and national conferences speaking on topics of homelessness, teacher leadership, virtual community building, and 21st Century learning initiatives. Sheryl blogs at 21st Century Collaborative ( http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/).

Will Richardson

Will Richardson is known internationally for his work with educators and students to understand and implement instructional technologies and, more specifically, the tools of the Read/Write Web into their schools, classrooms and communities. A public school educator for 22 years, Will’s own Weblog ( Weblogg-ed.com) is a primary resource for the creation and implementation of Weblog technologies on the K-12 level and is a leading voice for school reform in the context of the fundamental changes these new technologies are bringing to all aspects of life. Will is the critically acclaimed authour of the best-selling book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms (March 2006, Corwin Press).

If you have any questions about any part of this, email one of us:

Darren Kuropatwa

Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach

Will Richardson

Please duplicate this post and distribute it far and wide across the blogosphere. Feel free to republish it on your own blog (actually, we’d really like people to do that ) or link back to this post (published simultaneously on all our blogs). Please tag all related posts with k12online06.

Update -- Young Writers in St. Vrain

2006-08-12T22:47:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to everyone involved in the recent "Teacher as Writer" and "Young Writer" programs conducted in St. Vrain this past week. I know lots of work went into some great programming. The Longmont Daily Times Call wrote up the events in today's paper. Here's a link to the story.

A Maine-iac's Musings

2006-07-17T15:47:00.000-06:00

Check out my new blog!

The End... for now.

2006-07-08T14:51:00.000-06:00

The end of the SI has come... at least until the end of Sept. when we gather ourselves together one more time, but hopefully not the last. It's been intense, to say the least, both in work and in play, in remodeling old relationships and forming new ones. It’s been beautiful, difficult, comforting, challenging, and ridiculous all at the same time. If you don’t agree, you weren’t paying attention.

Every year I'm asked by my friends why I choose to come back, why I give up 4 weeks of my summer (plus more during the school year) when I've already participated in WP. Didn't I get what I needed? Too many teachers see specific professional development as something they’ve already participated in. Once they’ve done it, they look for something else.

“I did that last year.” “I already took a class on that.” “I already know how to do that.”

But I see it differently. There is no end to my need (for myself and my students) to be a better writing teacher, to be a more thorough and thought-provoking teacher-researcher, to be a deeper and more self-aware writer. It doesn’t matter that I’ve “already tried it” or “already done that”. It’s greater than that. It’s bigger than just my views and limited knowledge.

For me, WP Summer Institute is rebirth, rejuvenation. I see it on the faces of the "graduating" fellows every year. Oftentimes, teachers need to know that they aren't alone. So much of our jobs is behind a closed door. And WP reminds me of this. I'm always looking for new challenges and experiences to keep me in teaching, a job I live for but am afraid I'll burn out on. The writing project is still that for me.

The SI that I was a Fellow participant in was a great moment in time when I realized that I could and would do more for kids in a way I never understood. But the 2 years I've returned as a staff member, I've learned more. I've seen a lot…

…humble teachers realizing how great they can be; master teachers passing on wisdom to young, energetic ones; The same master teachers humbling themselves in the midst of a extraordinary community. I've seen inexperienced teachers see that there is more to teaching writing than what their limited views afford them; all teachers gaining a greater appreciation and understanding for those grade levels they don’t teach. More than anything, I’ve seen people step outside their comfort zone in their teaching and personal lives and be truly transformed by the experience. Every year is a bit different but always incredibly powerful. I’ve always said that every person that enters my life, even for a short time, is there to teach me something.

So Thank you…

To Sherry for illustrating how much the primary grade levels can inform junior high and high school teachers in their teaching of writing.

To Beth for showing me how “collegial” one can be when speaking to adults or ordering food… and how to keep a sense of humor through diversity.

To Kat for reminding me why I still need to travel and how I can make my experiences just as powerful for my students.

To Dani for showing me the most important lessons our kids learn are the ones they get early in life. It’s my job, as a high school teacher, to support those lessons.

To Julie for reminding me how sacrificing those things that are the most important to you for greater experiences can be the most rewarding.

To Colleen C. for demonstrating to me that you can truly make a difference no matter what you are surrounded by as long as you are willing to take a risk.

To Colleen (Stan) for proving to me that peripheral friends can somehow, someway become amazing influences in your life.

To Tami for demonstrating to me that super organized people aren’t necessarily super annoying (which I used to believe)… and that connections with people can take an enormous amount of work or can be instantaneous.

To Donna for reminding me that a strong family is defined by the deep connections between people, not societal stereotypes or monetary possessions.

To Cameron for showing me that no matter how accomplished you are at something, there are always new challenges to undertake.

To Elsa for giving me a much greater perspective on the beauty and successes of the ELA community of students and teachers.

To Trudy for showing us how much we, the teachers, have to learn from the amazing adults that are a part of our students’ lives outside of the stereotypical classroom.

To Cindy for proving to me that Doctors and Professors don’t have to be arrogant and intimidating (though you do scare me occasionally).

To Nancy for showing me how humility, wisdom, understanding, empathy, and knowledge can manifest themselves in a single master teacher.

To Lindsey for reminding me that surrounding yourselves with honest, positive people can enrich your life and experiences.

To Natalie for teaching me how to share… or at least attempting to teach me how to share, something I should have learned a long time ago.

To Laura for demonstrating me how people challenge themselves in so many different ways in so many different arenas.

To Heather for showing me that those that listen first and speak later have the greatest wisdom.

To Liz for reminding me that “the best way to teach students” should be a conversation that all teachers continue to participate in, because there is no one perfect way.

To Gilda for reminding me how important and powerful a sense of humor is for a teacher… and for keeping me honest by flicking me off… three times.

To Jackie for reminding me how much I miss having you as part of my daily life.

To Cam for reminding me how much I never wanted an older brother.

To Megan for demonstrating to me how much love one person can spread around and give to so many others.

To Kyla for reminding me how important it is to laugh and cry in equal amounts as much possible.

To E. Jason for reminding me that teaching students to have an open mind and empathy is more important that any content that we teach to kids.

Thank you all.
See you soon…

Thanks!

2006-07-07T19:14:00.000-06:00

Thank you for four fabulous weeks of writing, crying, laughing, eating (that's props to you, Beth!), and writing some more. I really enjoyed the ride and the experience of getting to know all of you. Like we said today, it's not goodbye, just see ya later!

Teachers Telling Stories

2006-07-06T09:53:00.000-06:00

Now that the Podcasting is slowly piling up... Thank you Gilda, Tami, and Natalie... and to those of you that I KNOW will be podcasting these last 2 days of SI. Anyway... Bud has finished building our "Teachers Telling Stories" Blog. It is meant to be a podcasting site focused on the reading done by our fellows (CSUWP) and the NYC Writing Project. In time, other sites hopefully will join us. So now there is even more motivation to get your voice and work out there. Check it out... and thanks to Bud. I wonder how many times I've said that.

Colorado State University Writing Project

2006-07-04T17:15:00.000-06:00

Colorado State University Writing Project

Just adding to Cameron and Heather's awesome log: You know you're in CSUWP when - you're blogging (even though you hate blogging) on the fourth of July. You really know you're in the project when you don't mind being late to the BBQ because you'd rather be reading and or listening to stuff you've read and or heard already.

A New CSUWP

2006-07-02T12:28:00.000-06:00

The Writing Project SI process for the Staff and I began 6 months ago... reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, planning pre-institute and summer ongoings... it's been a long beautiful process. This doesn't take into account the other WP events that have taken place, Young Writers Workshops, Two Summer Teacher Workshops, Rural Sites, Writing Retreats, Social Gatherings, all organized by Governing Board Members and their hard-working committees. Somehow Cindy deals with it all.

But to me, the WP Summer Institute is the culmination of it all, although those of us that stay involved know that none of it ever really ends. But this time of year, Tamasag and all, feels like our year is coming to a close. As we speak, we are revising next year's schedules, reevaluating the interview process, and reconsidering next summer's procedures, so as I said, it's really only the beginning of another year of progress. On friday of next week, our WP Fellows will grow to a number around 80 strong. And they are amazing teachers and people that will only help CSUWP continue to grow in a way that very few WP sites have grown, not this quickly and efficiently.

So 2006 WP Fellows... start wondering about, considering, and exploring the many different ways that you can come back to us and make CSUWP stronger. In all of the above programs, we are looking for people to help and lead, and since I will be asking you on Friday about your interests, start thinking about it now. Cindy wants you...

Winding Down

2006-06-29T09:20:00.000-06:00

The past 4 weeks (4 months for the staff) has been like driving towards the horizon. And finally, though it always remains at a distance, we seem to getting closer to the end of our time together.

Although we still have a few days left, our trip to Tamasag tomorrow is the beginning of the end in my mind. The time off will be nice when July 7 elapses but the time we've been here has been amazing.

Wednesday felt like a day of "things we NEED to know". From Elsa teaching us about writing in the ELA classroom, which offered more lessons on the ELA population than many of us have learned in years, to Nancy's demo on "How to Change the World" from a kid's perspective, not exactly a light subject but one that does inspire. There is little doubt that both of these amazing teachers do just that everyday.

And lastly... of all of the amazing author's chairs this year, and they have been powerful, profound, and escapist, Donna's struck the biggest cord with me personally. It is a piece (a book hopefully... one day) that NEEDS to be published, NEEDS to be read... by everyone. It will change many. It already has...

A CSUWP "Fairy Tale"

2006-06-28T20:41:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time, a little 28 year old girl, we’ll call her Liz, was lucky enough to attend the CSUWP. Her days were busy and filled with many exciting activities before, during, and after school. In the morning she would clop around her house whining about the fact that it is summer, and she is a teacher and why did she make a month long commitment to something when she could be sleeping in everyday. But this feeling didn’t last long.

Soon, she would grab her 98 bags, attach them to her body and her bike, and meet her friend Tami at the corner for a bike ride to CSU. This ride always changed her from the clopping to a bouncier walk. After the first few blocks, she was ready to take on all that personal and professional reflection that causes brain pain.

During the day, Liz and her 20 friends in the CSUWP, plus a few extra around the edges, would laugh together, learn together, cry together, and write together. They would stretch themselves to the edges of their comfort zones and feel safe doing it. They would support each other with stars and a few wishes, and work on changing their teaching and selves for the rest of their lives.

After school, Liz would pedal herself home, bags feeling just a little bit heavier, up the gradual incline known as Mountain Ave. where she would instantly change into her “get sweaty” clothes. From there Liz would jump in her car and zoom to a stinky, carpeted room filled with other people in their “get sweaty” clothes, lead by a woman with giant fake boobs.

There, Liz, her friends Natalie and Lindsey, and 40 other friends in sweatiness would punch the air, knee their imaginary enemies in the face, and squat down until they thought their legs would snap in half. The continued for an entire hour until finally they would drop from exhaustion and pose like people in prayer to stretch their backs.

Finally, after all this sweating, and a day of CSUWP, Liz would go home, feed her face and fall into bed. It was a full day and she was just going to turn around and do it all over again tomorrow. She continued this for four weeks and then taught and wrote happily ever after.

The End.

Something to think about...

2006-06-28T17:30:00.000-06:00

Did anyone see the news today, about a new website called Teacherspayteachers.com? You can join for an annual fee of $29.95, and sell your units and lessons to other teachers, or buy from your colleagues around the world. This web-store has just been "opened" by a 33-year-old former teacher. It raises some really controversial issues, and calls into question the type of sharing of demo strategies that we do for free during the SI and in the rest of our professional lives. Should we sell our stuff? Isn't that what consultants do? Aren't we worth the money, too? Or do we have an ethical obligation to share? I just love talking about these issues with anyone who's interested, so post a comment here if you have one.

By the way, I'm so proud to be a part of CSUWP again this summer - what a great community - a talented group of positive, motivated people - and awesome writers, too. I shed tears over author's chair every day. Being around all of you makes me feel so good about our profession. Thanks for that attitude adjustment-
Megan

Thank You

2006-06-28T14:39:00.000-06:00

I feel a little guilty that I haven't posted more, the first one coming the first week of the institute, but my laptop has been in Texas getting fixed, so I have an excuse, be it marginal.

Author's chair: something everyone in the institute looks forward to each day, except for one day, the day they have to read. I love it for the standpoint that as an adult, I love being read to, but also because there are some amazing teachers here who are amazing writers. Some have been so funny, that my face and stomach hurt from laughing, laughing so hard I was crying. And some, have been so beautiful, so rich in emotion and human experience that I could feel the corners of my mouth being pulled down, one of the signs I'm going to cry, as tears leak onto my cheeks. It's scary for the writer, but such an amazing experience for the audience to be present for shared life experiences.

I feel so blessed to be in the presence of so many gifted teachers and writers, so many wonderful people who make the world a better place by who they are and all the lives they touch. Every day I learn so much, I laugh a lot, and occasionally, am brought to tears by the gifts people give to an audience of careful listeners.

Week Number 3

2006-06-26T23:52:00.000-06:00

The third week has begun... from "nervous" Donna (though she showed absolutely no signs of it and her demo was killer) to possibly the best SI Feedback session I've witnessed, it was an amazing beginning of our last full week. This group has finished the honeymoon but yet still seem to respect and love each other just as much as they did the first week, maybe more now that they've spoken to improvements that they wish to see from each other. I'm more impressed everyday.

A few busy days ahead and then... ahhhh... Tamasag.

East Coast Update

2006-06-25T20:19:00.000-06:00

I'm here on the east coast of South Carolina living vicariously through the blog. Ani discovered the ocean yesterday. I hope everyone at the CSUWP is having wonderful discoveries, too. Thanks, y'all, for the updates.

I hope week three finds everyone well -- and that good work is still getting done. For the benefit of our podcast subscribers, who can only receive automatically one mp3 per blog post, here's another link to Kyla's great podcast. Forgive the reposting, but our subscribers will be grateful.

Finally... Podcasts

2006-06-25T16:41:00.000-06:00

I finally was able to get over my computer troubles and get the podcasts up and running.
So here are the only ones I have so far... A re-recording of Colleen's Suess Tribute and Kyla's childhood view of her grandmother's house. Both are fantastic.

The Education of Bertrand the Zirk by Colleen S.
My Grandmother Has Two Houses by Kyla C.

Or... Click HERE to get a stream of any and all of the podasts.

Now... if we could only get others to join...

Colorado State University Writing Project

2006-06-23T11:16:00.000-06:00

Summer Workshop Success

Well the first of our "Summer Writing Workshops" (aka Open Institutes) is almost over. This has been a fantastic week. I knew we were going to rock the first day when we started piggy backing. Since then we have had all the typical writing project "quirks" - Laughter, clicking on a laptop, tears and food! The week has been so much fun, and we have some great people in the group. Including our own young writer, Bethany. She's going into fourth grade and has been writing and sharing on all of our prompts with us. We think she's ready for Summer Institute right now. She's sure teaching us a lot.

I hope next week's workshop goes as well as this week. I am really looking forward to it.

A big thanks to Cam for helping me out the first day. You were quite the success. Your 6 pack is coming soon. :) Although you did somehow manage to break the electricity in the room. The front outlets haven't worked since you finished presenting on Monday!

Halfway Home

2006-06-22T17:06:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow at lunch, we will hit the midpoint of this year's summer institute. Time flies...

Another day of Double Demos, but this group has adjusted extremely well. There is an air of collaboration and respect in the room that always builds over the four weeks. But this year, I am especially impressed. Although the CSUWP fellows have always been amazing, the excellence of this year's demos are a notch above. Though they are still pushing for constructive criticism, this year's participants haven't quite realized how well they are doing so far. Nine demos down and not one weak one in the bunch... not even close. The entire staff has been awed by this year's batch. So far so good.

In addition, I learned today that E. Jason has commemorated the Fort Collins Flood of '97 and everyone in town should hear his rendition. In addition, I learned that I will one day be reading Lindsey's children's book to my Mathphobic kids. Fantastic author's chairs.

This "class" is already quite accomplished... they just keep adding to their repetoire.

The Death of Richard Cory

2006-06-22T10:49:00.000-06:00

I'm always very interested in the writing that comes from the demo, but rarely am I inspired to write as much as I was today in Colleen C.'s demo on Rhetorical Analysis. Using "Richard Cory" by Arlington, Colleen had us rewrite from different point of views, analyse from a historical, literal, and/or an emotional perspective, and go to depths of poetry using personal responses. And all I wanted to do the whole time was write. Fantastic demo.

Malone, you're slacking

2006-06-21T21:35:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is 9:31 PM and no post from Wednesday. I just want to say that obviously Jason is forgetting his ritual! Just kidding, but I think it is important to applaud Liz and Sherry for two excellent demos! All teachers would benefit from Liz's constructivist approach to teaching expository writing - especially those with a ton of content to cover - kudos to you! Sherry, wow, research in 1st grade. We have expository writing all over the place today! My fellow fellows, you rock! Kat writes Haiku and Colleen C. - WOW! Beautiful writing, I know we were all impressed. Thank you all for sharing in this experience - isn't fun to be a teacher and learner and researcher and leader - all at once?

Double Demo Day

2006-06-20T13:58:00.000-06:00

Although I think the fellows were a bit concerned, the first of the "Double Demo Days" has come and gone... very well.

Natalie and Jackie both did amazing jobs of demonstrating constructivist, student-centered, interactive activities that kept everyone engaged. The teaching of personal writing in the form of "gift" poetry and the link between the past and present as part of a high school histroy classroom were both extremely powerful lessons that any grade level or content area can use. Thank you both.

The demos continue to be engaging, amazing, and inspiring.

Week Number One, Intense and Done

2006-06-17T18:16:00.000-06:00

Well, the first week is over... and how did it fly...
A wonderful, emotional, intense week of hard work and reflection.

Every year's SI has an aura to it... this year is no different.

They are...
cautious but willing;
Youthful and wise;
Energetic and patient;
Challenging yet supportive.
They are Boisterous in plain clothes.

A bundle of contradictions.
But that's what makes them so special,
They are many things, all things.

They are coming into their own as a class of Fellows
and there is little doubt that they will do great things.
Just keep watching...

Podcast Numero Uno

2006-06-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

Colleen S. has graciously graced us with the first podcast of the season, and it is a jolly one. Reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, she reads an amazing poem that belongs on every teachers wall (no matter the age level) in poster form. Check it out.

The Education of Bertrand the Zirk by Colleen S.

Nonreturning Ulcers

2006-06-15T22:40:00.000-06:00

I was talking with a new CSUWP fellow the other eve
when my stomach felt like a sieve.
She sounded excited, nervous, tense
My intestines were getting dense.
She told me of all the had to do
(Think of something intestinal that rhymes with "do"- I'm not going to sink to that level).
I missed the WP jumping in
the brass knuckles, piggybacks, and gin.
Then I thought of something that made me mellow
I remembered I was STILL a fellow.
Although I can't promise I'll be consistent
I do promise to NOT be distant.
So may good things come your way
and I'll close with Namaste'.

I wish fortitude to all the new fellows - Greg Pierson

Daily 1/2 Dose

2006-06-15T22:20:00.000-06:00

This is where I usually semi-recap the day for those that follow us from afar (or at least for Bud), but its nice to see that other members are starting to speak for all of us. Kyla has been praised, Colleen is pumped, Liz and Tami are wondering what to do with their heads and I already said what I thought of Lindsey and her stage performance this morning... so nothing else needs to be said. Good work people.

Get used to it, you all will hear it a lot if you continue at this pace.

Also... first podcast should be up soon... Thanks Colleen (Stan).

Two, two, two days for the price of one

2006-06-15T20:19:00.000-06:00

Good evening all! I swear I come home every night with this strange sensation of being exhaustingly overwhelmed from the ideas and writing that I have been exposed to, countered with this reverance and awe that I get to be a part of this institute. I can't believe that we are not even through our first week together because I already know so many of you on a deep level, but the inquiry and focus makes every day feel like more than 7 hours. Thanks for pushing me as a writer, an educator, and a human! Get ready for an interactive daily log tomorrow!

I third the motion!!

2006-06-15T16:51:00.000-06:00

Hello bloggers!
OK, I'm going to cheez out becuse this is my first blog posting ever! What a milestone. Now that I'm over that little moment, my brain really hurts too. In fact, I can't believe I'm sitting here blogging at all. I think it's secretly addicting. Who is Lizard? Lizard, identify yourself man, or woman, or whoever!
On another note, I was amazed by Kyla's Author's Chair this afternoon. Kyla, you blew me away with your honsety, the rich depth of your writing, and your ability to do humor, poetry, tragedy with equal excellence. Way to go girl!!
Have a great night, fellow fellows!

Kat

my brain hurts too

2006-06-15T14:53:00.000-06:00

my brain secretly hurts too! :) however, i can already tell that this is going to be life-changing and i already have lifetime friends. tami

my brain hurts

2006-06-15T14:46:00.000-06:00

I think that the writing project is going to turn out to one of the most fantastic experiences in my life. But, I have to kind of admit...my BRAIN HURTS! All of this thinking and reflection is exhausting and I secretly feel like I have run a marathon when I leave here everyday. I was just wondering if anyone else feels like this too!