Writing into the Day: TIW Reflections This writing will lead us to a Socratic Seminar for TIW wisdom.

Let’s make a list of all our TIW Titles and then revisit the elements of a TIW.

It’s official everyone can take a TIW breath. We have all created a first draft. Now how can we move them to the next place? Let’s write about what stands out to us. What TIW’s seemed to hit the mark in the specific elements of the TIW?

Here’s the 2008 Handout:

TIW description: In the Summer Institute,

you will share a well honed literacy-based activity or lesson that you do with your students in an 80-minute Teacher Inquiry Workshop (TIW).  You will take us through the process you use with your students, allowing us first-hand experience in the learning and writing.  An important part of your workshop involves sharing select examples of student work–how your own students responded to the lesson — as a way to illustrate and study your teaching practice and the range of students with whom you work. All workshops include time for collegial interaction and discussion.

What do presenters do in a TIW?

Explain (origins of) a teaching practice that is important to your literacy instruction and worth sharing and studying with colleagues. Describe your school setting, your students, teaching, and literacy practices. This is the context for my work- where, why, and how I’m working and thinking about a teaching practice to address students’ literacy.

Describe and demonstrate this literacy practice and how it supports students’ learning.  Share selected samples of real student work … excellent and warty. This practice reflects my hypothesis of what I do to support students develop skills as readers, writers, speakers, and/or thinkers. The student work I brought is data that I have been collecting in my study.

Craft real-time aspects of this literacy experience so that seminar participants can do what your students do (read/write) and/or think deeply about what they notice in the students’ writing.  Carefully structured learning activities can help adults learn about teaching methods/strategies through experience and reflection.

Offer a rationale this literacy practice related to your beliefs about teaching and learning, any outside research(ers), and the interests of your students, parents, or administrators. This is how I see my work in a larger context. These texts I have read and am now reading inform my work.

Invite participants to think about, write, comment, and ask questions about the workshop experience and to imagine how/if the practice would work in another setting.  Participants can think with me about this literacy practice, their experience of it, its implications in other settings, and/or new directions or next steps.

* We identify teaching as an act of inquiry and teachers as learners.

DD: Barbara

Logger: Katelin

Dear Matt,
I know I have been gone for a while, but I still can’t believe that there is only one day left. Today was amazing and exhausting…we started our writing day by penning postcards to those we haven’t spoken to in a while (I figure with my hours you deserved a postcard!). Accompanied by classical Brazilian guitar (provided by Bonnie, of course), we set to work to reconnect and write for an truly authentic purpose. Mary even gave us stamps to avoid the follow-through problem.
We continued our day by exploring two very different worlds, classrooms, and groups of students:
Cathy voiced her desire for her usually marginalized high school students to have meaningful writing experiences that can offer them ways to both express themselves in more abstract terms while giving them the tools they need to move themselves across the line society imposes upon them. We examined curious objects (ooh…I wanted to take that duck home with me!) and discussed the work of two students after we engaged in the same writing activity. I was left considering the implications of this kind of literacy engagement for all students as depending on what happens in the future, many of them will traverse the line of marginalization more than one time. Cathy’s work is important and interesting. I am glad I am lucky enough to be here.
I can’t wait for the book presentations tomorrow. Bonnie’s bells are going to get a workout!
Lilah closed our afternoon as she navigated us through the world of young learners who are not a part of the “literacy club” (which I, by the way, totally want to join. Is there a local chapter?). Lilah moved us into her classroom (“I rode my bike yesterday. Oh, and then I ran to the park. I was so sweaty. I ran near the swing sets and the sun was sooooo hot!”) within the TIW (“One type of scaffolding I use is scribing where I literally write down what my students say.” It was really useful to be opened to the world of beginning writers, and I am still thinking about the common scaffolding I use in my high school classroom.
I am unsure what happened the rest of the day. I went to the lab to help Steve with the anthology (read: sat and watched him format like nobody’s business) but I made sure to turn Mary into my loan shark to ask for cash for the shirts. I can’t wait to see the design when I get home. Thanks again for doing it a second year (Do you have any ideas for next year yet? What? Too early?). I guess I will see you around 9:30 when you get in. Thanks again for tiding up yesterday; I promise to clean out the litter box when I get home. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

Love,
Katelin

TIW Reflections: Cathy W. and Lilah

Writing into the Day

Making time for yourself as a writer

DD:Katelin G!

Shared with Flock – The Social Web Browser
http://flock.com

Day 13 Logger, Kathy Berstell

8:32 Welcome to the First Annual HVWP Summer Olympics! The writing athletes are awakening, and fueling up with breakfast snacks (Coach Gina provided protein in the form of a French Toast Scramble). They are stretching their minds, and flexing their digital muscles, in preparation for the day’s Olympic events!

Opening Ceremony-Mary “opened” the day with a timeline diagram depicting the positives and negatives of her writing life. She asked athletes to consider where they currently are, and what their long term writing goals (beyond SI ‘08) might include. Athletes were asked to spend time mentally preparing (writing), for the day.

8:55 Athletics-World Class Runner, Lilah, jogged through her journaling life, describing her early writing as “streams of consciousness”. Her recent events have “everything to do with having an audience”, and “the eyes of others” upon her. Way to go, Lilah-Keep up that fantastic pace!

8:57 Rhythmic Gymnastics- Internationally ranked gymnast, Marisol, competed flawlessly in the Digital Documenter exercise routine! Her “photo choreography” included an orderly scaffolding of writing exercises, followed by ceremonial photographs.

9:00 Newscaster Cathy recapped the previous day’s activities, highlighting important events and sharing some athlete profiles.

9:05 Archery- Athlete Jose nailed a “bulls-eye” as he reflected upon his TIW of the prevoius day. He commented that “You shouldn’t hate math, it’s good for you!” Imagine the angles and geometry involved in hitting the target dead-center!

9:10 A pause in the Olympic action, as Softball coach, Steve, outlined the strategy for Anthology pieces, and trainer Sue called for “title suggestions and golden lines” for the Anthology. Olympic chairperson, Tom, called for writing participation in the content areas, as well as offering opportunities for other writing venues, beyond this Olympic event.

9:20 Olympic attire (aka-Tee shirts) have been decided, but not yet unveiled, as designer Katelin prepares for Thursday’s events. A rowdy fan (Paulette), challenged “I do know about investigative interrogation”, but Katelin’s design remains a mystery for now!

9:33 Triathlon- Sarah scored huge points in this event, as she “cycled” into a Multigenre TIW Roadmap. Color-coded teams brain-stormed genre possibilities, then the all-star athlete shared the definition of a multigenre piece. Sarah next “swam” into student work, noting that the trick in a multigenre piece is to take disparate pieces and tie them together with a common thread. She modeled a “Two Voice Poem”, and the spectators could easily see how rich and powerful this technique could be. Spectators then became participants as genre were chosen, and writing ensued. Sarah’s final “run” involved reflecting upon the Multigenre Piece, and comments included “Great for collaborating with other teachers/disciplines”, “Planning phase was Great”, and “Definitely going to try it this year”! Sarah recognized her mentor, Tom Romano, as she quoted, The multigenre piece “brings out the poetry in people”. Sarah won a gold medal for her performance! Congratulations, Sarah!

11:00- Teams dispersed to write and revise. Carbohydrate-loading is encouraged at lunch, for optimal afternoon performance!

1:43- Sailing- Athletes reconvened as Captain Mike sailed into the afternnon TIW, Expressing Emotion Through A Reflective Writing Piece. He modeled passages from Important Things by M. Springer, then the writing crew sailed into writing about an important object in their own lives. Waves of memories rushed across our writing decks as we recalled treasures we’d acquired, and pondered why they were so important to us. Billowing sails were filled with pair/share adventures! Bouys marked the sailing path as student work was shared/analyzed. Fair skies and balmy weather prevailed as Captain Mike cruised into the reflection section of his sail. The crew contemplated motivation, assessment, and personal usage of expressive reflective writing. Another gold medal in the Sailing event!

3:10- A short water break!

3:25- Aquatics- Mary “dove” into the question, “What is the purpose of sharing student work?” Swimmers shared comments such as …

-Look at what exists, to look for ways to make it better

-Student work should guide, define, and refine our practice

- It keeps it real (Authentic)

-To gain credibility with others (Thinking and learning)

and my personal favorite, “We might hear some “promising paths’ that we can travel”.

3:50-Closing ceremonies- As an exciting day at the HVWP Summer “08 Olympics draws to a close, athletes hone their writing skills for the big Anthology Event tomorrow afternoon. Athletes, sharpen those pencils, flex your fingers, and let the “Writing Games” begin!

Big Day: TIW’s: Cathy W. and LIlah

Last reading conversation…

End of the day…

I’m sure that you have a great writing prompt we can all enjoy. So please let me invite you to share it here..

Just sign in to our site and then click on Manage and find this entry and begin your prompt, copying and pasting under the last person’s prompt and then click on SAVE to the right.

Looking forward to a great smorgasbord of prompts to choose from and use in the future.

Bonnie

I like Natalie Goldberg’s suggestion, which I read at 3 AM to distract myself from bats, to write about something you’re obsessed with.

I’ve also had fun with the prompt: I’m the stupidest person in this room because…

And I’ve been wanting to try telling one’s life story in six words… have you seen that site?  Not sure that would qualify as freewriting though.

Sarah

So here’s another way to write into the day

The Backpack
From: Everyday Creative Writing: Panning for Gold in the Kitchen Sink
By Smith and Greenberg (NTC 2000)

Whether we carry a knapsack, pocketbook, briefcase, diaper bag, or some combination of the four, many of us have trouble getting out of the house without taking some of our possessions with us. While someone totes work she hopes to do when traveling back and forth to her office, another person slips a novel into her purse in case the bus is late again. Like turtles, we tend to carry part of our world on our backs (or shoulders).
Although much of what we take with us out into the world every day is practical and necessary, hidden among the sensible calculators, notebooks, and diapers are less functional possessions, curiosities that represent the more complex realities of our daily lives.

Panning Instructions: Empty everything from your pocketbook, briefcase, or knapsack onto a clean surface. Everything. Even that mouldy-looking saltine holds valuable clues. Or you can empty your wallet of everything, even that ATM receipt that you forgot to record in your check- book.
Forget for a moment that these things belong to you. Imagine they belong to someone else. What do these items tell you about this person?

Select a few of them to use as a starting point for a story, poem, or essay about a person whose life you have laid out in front of you.

Nugget:
From a short story in progress

Megan hadn’t meant to mislead Alan when the plastic dinosaur had fallen out of her purse. It was just that she had seen his office, with its clutter of political cartoons, his hanging rubber stork, pink slinky and other miscellaneous anti-establishment toys, and wanted him to know that she wasn’t buying into the system either. So, when Alan picked it up and said “Cool,” and handed the Brachiosaurus back to her with a new glimmer of recognition in his eye, she hadn’t found it necessary to tell him that the toy belonged to her son, and that she had only this morning rescued it from under his car seat.
Mostly she was relieved that her purse hadn’t been dumped in front of him the year before when there would have been baby wipes and a spare pacifier mixed in with the usual wallet, checkbook and keys. She decided now, today, was definitely a better time.
Angelin Donohue
Sharing

Logger: Paulette

Three to Four-Ring Circus
Imagine, if you will, being at the circus – the excitement and the anticipation of the thrills to come. Let me take you to our time at the circus on July 15th.
It started off with refreshments – bagels, donut holes, yogurt, fruit as well as a beverage of choice. Some of us were starving and had looked forward to this delightful array of morning goodies. You know who you were!!
I’m late! You’re late! We really can’t be late! A few housekeeping asides about time and it being of the essence. So much to do, so little time! Our circus master of ceremony, Bonnie, encouraged us to take our seats and settle in for the ride or should I say, the attraction in Ring #1 – the Image Explosion. This allowed us to take the poem, The Names written by Bill Collins to create a community poem. Everyone took a line, a phrase or a word that spoke to them and created an additional poem or prose from it. Talk about an add-on! Though this was the first ring of the circus (and you know how circus’ are anyway), one could hear a pin drop. This activity truly displayed the power of our words. WOW!!
Still having chills? Well, we would take a commercial break or small intermission soon enough. First, we heard from Jose as he gave his digital documenter photo interpretation and Katelin solicited slogans for this summer’s writing institute t-shirts. Pictures and selling of t-shirts – that usually happens at the circus, right?
We had a surprise guest, Ann Hovey from the Advanced Writing Institute. Ann also happened to have worked with Terri and was coming in to support her during her TIW workshop. Mary stated that there may be others popping in to show/give support of our work and TIWs. Hey, wait a minute? Was there some fine print in our program that we missed?
Anyway, Katelin read her log from the previous day’s work and Barbara shared her thoughts from the TIW reflections she received. Barbara took a lot from what was suggested, even the one from Katelin about sending such writing products overseas. That sounded familiar. Didn’t Tom say something like that in May? Was the spirit of Tom lurking around us? Lastly, Barbara mentioned reflections about student work. I think that was/is an area most of us are grappling with. How long to look at and examine student work? The most important question of all – where the heck to put it?! Does anyone have an answer?
We then took a break. During this time, we had a High School Musical moment of We’re All In This Together! We’re becoming more of a community not only of writers but of concerned individuals, looking out for one another. Hang In!!
Back to the break. Not too long! We’re late! We’re late! This really can’t wait! Ring #2 – T’s TIW. By T, we mean the ring master Terri Colon. Terri’s TIW was on Developing Writing Through Peer Feedback. Let’s get ready to rumble! Terri talked about how we had to let our students see us going through the writing process, and of the writing process being a continual process where we visit each step at least once. Terri spoke of us putting ourselves out there to students and guiding them in getting their thoughts and getting critical and nasty/messy later. We peer edited writing that we had been working on and gave feedback which hopefully would be used to enhance the writing. We examined student work and reflected on this way of providing peer feedback.
A mistake or blessing in disguise? We had what Bonnie called free and far between time to write (free airtime – gotta’ love those airtime minutes/hours!!) as well as meet in writing groups. It was only a little after 11. We did not have to return until 3. Ring #3 –The Write Time, though not as structured was a great ring in this circus. Each of us could actually be the ring master and make of the time what we will. Did you get a lot done?
Finally, we come to Ring #4 – The Writing Process. Do you know where you’re going to? Mary had us reflect on our teaching and instruction of writing. What ways do we teach writing? Is there anything that we don’t particularly do well? What do we do well? After some sharing, there was an open Author’s Chair. Almost all of the returning fellows as well as Bonnie shared. Mary was inching to share but restrained herself. Maybe it was just that time already. You know, when a child lays angelical on their parent’s shoulder, sleeping with a slight smile on their face, still holding the cotton candy stick for dear life, being/feeling spent but not quite ready to give up the moment. I hope you enjoyed your time at our circus!

Digital Documenter: Sarah

TIW Reflections: Terri

Community Reading with Denise Maltese and her article: “OUt of the Narrow Tunnel and into the Universe of Discourse”

TIW:

Day One SI’08

Writing into the day:

Focused Free Write: SI’08 begins…

1. Keep your hand moving. Don’t reread.

2.Don’t cross out. No editing yet.

3. Don’t stop to correct spelling, grammar etc. Just let your wild mind run free.

3. Feel free to switch topics in midstream, just keep your pens moving across the page

4. Go for the jugular. ( If something comes up in your writing that feels scary or naked, dive right in. It probably has lots of energy.)

from Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg

LOG: a Digital Story on Bonnie’s computer Can be found at

http://homepage.mac.com/blkdrama/iMovieTheater29.html

Digital Document: Our first group pictures!

I love photos. I love being in them. I love taking them. I love returning to them, using them for digital pieces. They have a life for me, a moment frozen and these two are our first frozen moments, together as a group being forced to feel freer. I’m wondering what was each of us thinking as the photos were snapped??

Bonnie

Digital Storytelling Workshop coming this morning as the TIW and the creation of a story circle.

In the lab with Bonnie and Steve…

Agenda:

NWP’s Eanthology

1. Join first: http://www.nwp.org/

2. On the homepage click on the right side: join NWP!

3. Fill in page provided.

Make sure to keep track of you username and password. Keep it in your journal cover

Include our writing project: Hudson Valley Writing Project and then remember to press
SUBMIT at the bottom of the page.

When you are official let me know and I can register you for the Eanthology.

End of the Day Reflections.

Click on Comment below and leave a thought for the day….

.