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RIWP's Spring Conference on Saturday, March 10 at RIC

The Rhode Island Writing Project is local professional development delivered locally, presented by local experts in the field and grounded in the richness and uniqueness that makes Rhode Island both an exciting and challenging place to work as an educator.

As a literacy-based organization that has thrived in Rhode Island for the past 26 years, the RIWP knows Rhode Island's schools, as well as the many versions of writing assessments that have come and gone over the years in our state. With the onset of the Common Core and, soon, the PARCC assessment system, which purportedly will all be computerized, including the long-response writing, the RIWP is prepared to help equip teachers with an understanding of how to meet expectations, and how to help their students succeed under new expectations, while staying true to their beliefs in equity, social justice, engaging pedagogy, and inquiry-based learning.

We hope you will join us for our Spring Conference on March 10. And, remember: Buy Local PD!

Literacy And The Common Core
Featuring Jeff Wilhelm As Keynote Speaker

Also Featuring
Tom Chandler, poet laureate emeritus of Rhode Island

Jeff Wilhelm, author of Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom: Being the Book and Being the Change, is this year's keynote speaker. The conference also offers two 60-minute workshop sessions on various writing and literacy-related topics, as well as topics related to the Common Core State Standards.

For three decades, Jeff Wilhelm has been dedicated to building and sharing his knowledge about literacy and literacy education.He is an internationally-known teacher, author, and presenter. A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Wilhelm is currently Professor of English Education at Boise State University. Jeff works in local schools as part of the Professional Development Site Network, and teaches middle and high school students each spring. He is the founding director of the Maine Writing Project and the Boise State Writing Project. Last year the Boise State Writing Project reached over 1000 different teachers through the delivery of nearly 30,000 contact hours of professional development support.

For more information on Jeff Wilhelm check out his website at http://www.jeffrywilhelm.com.

It's Time to Write Your Micro-Memoir!

Here's a great offering by one of our local RI non-profits. I plan on attending, as do several teachers I know. Come out on the 21st and join us for micro-memoir fun!

February 21, 2012 – Micro-Memoir

Co-Presented with Not About The Buildings

Join us to write and read aloud extremely short (200-word) personal memoirs based on an object/muse to be presented by our workshop facilitator, the noted short-short prose pioneer Karen Donovan, as the session begins. Participants will experience both the rigors and elation of writing short-short prose, and the reading aloud segment will be buoyed by the energy of surprise and speed. The more diverse the writing is, the more exciting the readings will be, so bring your parents, your children, and your friends, old and young. The intergenerational diversity and interaction will give participants new perspectives on the different way humans view the world around them at different points in their lives.

Workshop made possible in part by a grant from the RI State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the RI General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Our generous sponsor is Yankee Travel.

Location: 251 Benefit Street, Providence, RI
Time: 5:00 – 8:00pm (5 to 5:30 for refreshments, activities begin at 5:30)
Cost: Free