Blogging with Summer Institute 2008

Welcome to Visitors’ Day

Writing into the Day

In the spirit of the National Writing Project’s call for social and political activism and with our continued focus on writing and publishing to real audiences, let’s use this writing time to draft a letter to a political leader, an administrator or a colleague, sharing your experience here at the Summer Institute.

If you are a visitor, you probably know just how powerful letters can be. Parents and community members often use this genre to share their feelings about education with the local newpapers, so here is you chance to take time and write your own letter about something that you care deeply about.

We will write for about 20 minutes and take just a few shares, but don’t worry no one will call on you to read your work.

Digital Documenter: Terri

Logger: Sarah

Please note: The following does not purport to represent the views of the Hudson Valley Writing Project and should be viewed as a piece of creative writing.

Transcript: The NCLB Tapes
Clearance Level: Top Secret

Interview between Commissioner S.O. Wiley, NCLB Special Investigations Unit
and Agent S. Lang

Date: 7/22/08
Re: HVWP SI ‘08

SOW: So how’s the undercover going?

SL: Fine. They don’t suspect a thing. I’ve got my age and gender on my side, and those couple of months subbing in New Rochelle gave me totally authentic bags under my eyes.

SOW: Good, good. Now level with me, Lang. How bad is it up there?

SL: Well, sir, the word ‘subversive’ has come up a few times, and I guess you saw the test-bashing poster from the first week.

SOW: Yes, yes, troubling signs. Listen, tell me about yesterday while it’s fresh. There might be other things you’re missing – codes you’re not picking up on.

SL: OK, sir. Well, we began with breakfast.

SOW: Was there granola on the table?

SL: Yes, sir, there was. And fresh fruit.

SOW: Mmmm… typical fare for test-hating types.

SL: But also giant double chocolate chip muffins, coffee cake and caffeinated coffee.

SOW: They may be getting soft. Go on.

SL: There were reviews of the previous day, and then we wrote about baggage.

SOW: Baggage?

SL: Yes, sir. Like when you go on trips – things you forget, things you take that you don’t need, weird things.

SOW: Weird things? What kind of weird things?

SL: Well, one of the examples was a towel Mick Jagger wiped his forehead with.

SOW: Did this come from that Bonnie person?

SL: Yes, sir, that’s very perceptive of you, sir.

SOW: You’re still checking her blog on a daily basis, right, Lang?

SL: I’m trying to keep up, sir, but her output is huge.

SOW: She’s trouble, that one, she and her Mary ‘friend’. More like co-conspirators. OK, go on.

SL: Psychic baggage. “Wounds, betrayals…”

SOW: Bingo. They’re running a therapy group in that place. Make sure that goes into the weekly memo, Lang.

SL: Yes, sir. Would you like to hear some of the writing, sir?

SOW: Yes, yes I would.

SL: OK, well, Steve — Mr. Subversive himself – wrote about traveling in Africa and I quote: “Sunscreen and bugspray – Generally these were sprayed on together at one-hour intervals and when mixed with sweat formed a toxic chemical soup, a second skin that probably smelled pretty funky to the natives.”

Jose, the renegade artist? He said: “The baggage of the mind; do we shape it, move it, pack it, discard it; or does it shape us, move up, pack us, discard us? Baggage – what a tricky construct.”

And Barbara, the college prof? She said her 5 _ year old son has a toothbrush fetish.

SOW: That sounds suspicious. Check out the boy, Lang. See if he represents a danger to his first grade class.

SL: Yes, sir. Then there were two TIWs.

SOW: Pardon my French, but these people are worse than we are with the initials. TIW?

Sl: Teacher Inquiry Workshop, sir. First up was a lovely young woman named Gina, a kindergarten teacher in a bilingual transitional classroom.

SOW: See how they’re trying to infiltrate at lower and lower levels? And lovely? I assume you want that remark stricken from the record, Lang.

SI: Sorry for the lapse, sir. And I hate to disappoint you, sir, but her TIW seemed really on the level. First people wrote about their early experiences with writing and reading.

SOW: Ah, those were the days, my friend. (Sound of one hand slapping the other.) Did I ever tell you about having my hand whacked when I made a grammar or spelling mistake?

SL: (Clearing of throat.) Yes, sir.

SOW: Sorry, go on.

SL: Gina had us explore how phonemic awareness affects the development of a kindergarten writer. She broke us into groups and we rotated through four different centers that she uses to have her students practice phonetics. Then we looked at how her students did on a test –

SOW: yes!

SL: where they listened to a poem, then drew and wrote a response to it. It ended with us trying out a word review game Gina uses, called ‘I have, Who has’?

SOW: She’s clean. Next?

SL: We broke for reading groups and lunch. When we came back Kathy B, a first-grade teacher, led a workshop on how musical elements and music can be used to… let’s see, “enhance language skill development” and “motivate and inspire creative writing experiences in primary-age children”.

SOW: Music! Now we’re getting somewhere!

SL: Yes, there’s a decadent focus on the arts and creativity. Kathy took us through how she scaffolds with music and passed around a number of picture books based on songs. Then we closed our eyes, listened to two different pieces of music, drew pictures of where they took us and all the sensations we experienced there, then wrote about it.

SOW: This woman is a revolutionary!

SL: I have heard her muttering about testing, sir. But I have to say when we looked at her kids’ writing – it was solid. Those kids knew what they were doing.

SOW: Lang!! Are you going over to the dark side?

SL: I hope not, sir.

SOW: I won’t take that chance. Before you leave here today, I want you to have a session with the Mental Adjustment Unit. Understood?

SL: Yes, sir. Thank you for your time.

Nancy Mellin McCracken, Co-Director, Columbus Area WP, The Ohio State University:

Metacognition and Revision: Uncovering Tacit Writing Knowledge for Strategic Use in Revision