I've just returned from the National Writing Project's Spring Meeting in Washington, DC. This year's meeting, as to be expected, was considerably smaller. Many sites were not even able to spend the money to travel to DC. I was lucky to be there to represent the RIWP, and I feel that, in my meetings with our Congressional delegates, I did my best to amplify your voices and convictions as Writing Project teachers. What I do know is that all of my audiences listened...intently. Everyone is interested in and invested in literacy and in writing, as well as in teacher professional development. We are lucky here in Rhode Island as we have people representing us who DO, in fact, understand that teachers need constant "updating" and renewal in the form of quality, local, context-based professional development.
So, I'm happy to let you all know that there is hope in Washington, despite what you might think when you turn on the television or read any news from Capitol Hill. There are folks there who listen and who "get it," and they are doing what they can--which, sometimes, isn't much--to show their support for our work.
I was there to specifically ask them to sign a Dear Colleague letter, expressing support for increased funding from Title II/professional development funds to support national networks and programs, like the National Writing Project, so these organizations can continue to work with teachers in local schools, across their network, to support teacher growth and development. Three of our four representatives from Rhode Island agreed to sign the letter; this is fantastic news, and it bodes well for the National Writing Project's 2013-2014 budget. Just as we were able to competitively win the $11.3 million from the Department of Ed this year, so might we be able to compete for even more funding next year. This, of course, means that the Rhode Island Writing Project can then compete for funding. We are currently at work on a SEED grant made possible by last year's lobbying efforts in Washington. It is amazing to see the fruits of our labors in this way.
Thank you for your continued support of the Rhode Island Writing Project. I urge you to visit our website--www.ric.edu/riwp--to read about our Summer programming. Our Summer Institute is one of the best deals in local, professional development for teachers, now in its 27th year. Our Writers' Camp for kids, which also has a rich history on the campus of RIC, is promising to be bigger and better than ever. In addition, we are busy at work on developing our Common Core workshops for teachers, planning our Spring Conference for next year, and doing what we can to ensure that we are still around next year, the year after that, and the year after that.
Happy Poetry Month! Remember that April 26th is Poem in your Pocket day!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Buy Local PD!
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.
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.
Monday, February 13, 2012
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
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
Friday, January 27, 2012
Teachers want meaningful professional development
This morning, I was at North Kingstown High School, presenting an hour-long workshop to the English Department on group conferencing in the writing classroom. We began our 60-minute session by making name tents, doing some quickwriting, and then sharing out a bit of the writing as a way of introducing ourselves. After that, I introduced myself and gave the teachers an idea of what I teach and what gives me the right to stand before them and talk about the teaching of writing. I then made a segue into another quickwrite activity; I asked them to list their top three frustrations when it comes to the teaching and assessing of writing in high school. After they wrote for about 3 minutes, I asked them to turn and share their ideas with a partner for 2 minutes. Following the "pair/share," I solicited themes from the group by asking, "Would anyone like to share out one of the ideas you talked about with your partner?" We made an amazing list on the board! Here's a sampling, with all of these coming directly from high school English teachers:
1. How do we know which rules, techniques, and grammar concepts to teach and to reinforce? There are so many!
2. I feel like all I do is fix student writing.
3. I often think about the students and about how they feel when they get one of their papers back all marked up with my comments. What builds up student writers instead of tearing them down all the time?
4. How do I give meaningful feedback to 28 kids with no time and too much volume?
5. There is so much pressure to "give grades." How do we allow time for ungraded process?
6. How do we break students out of the habit of writing "safe" prose that is boring to read, that lacks a sense of audience and that has little sense of engagement?
7. How do we reward effort and progress in our student writers in a culture of "proficiency?"
This is an amazing list (of near universal concerns of writing teachers at all levels, I might add!). Using this list as our backdrop, if you will, I launched into a 20-minute explanation of why it might be worth their while to try small group conferencing at least once in their writing classroom. I left the workshop feeling good about teachers and good about professional development. My ideas were well-received. We laughed at the craziness of these times in education. I told them how smart they are and how much they already know about their students that they can bring to their teaching of writing. I tried to "build them up," just as they so badly want to build up their students. Enough tearing down of teachers already!
Tonight, as I was thinking about what a wonderful experience this was for me today, I received this email from one of the English teachers at NK:
"Jenn: Loved the presentation today. Finally something both practical and inspiring. Hope you can come back for more. For what it's worth, I will add my name to the growing chorus of teachers trying to convince the administration that this is just what we need."
This email validated for me that teachers have NOT become numb to what matters in the classroom, despite all the nonsensical messages they are getting from competing authorities. Today also reminded me that teachers want to be treated as intellectuals. During the workshop, we talked about who we are as writers and who our students are as writers. We talked about the socialization of writers in schools and how our students learn all kinds of "unwritten curricula," such as "my teacher is my only audience for my writing" and "I should play it safe in my writing to insure that I get a good grade." We talked about how teaching and learning writing is all about taking risks, about experimenting, about sharing your writing with others, teachers and peers alike, and about learning from reading a lot of others' writing.
Thanks, North Kingstown English teachers, for being so open to new ideas, for remaining positive in the face of negativity and pressure, and for welcoming me so warmly to your school.
1. How do we know which rules, techniques, and grammar concepts to teach and to reinforce? There are so many!
2. I feel like all I do is fix student writing.
3. I often think about the students and about how they feel when they get one of their papers back all marked up with my comments. What builds up student writers instead of tearing them down all the time?
4. How do I give meaningful feedback to 28 kids with no time and too much volume?
5. There is so much pressure to "give grades." How do we allow time for ungraded process?
6. How do we break students out of the habit of writing "safe" prose that is boring to read, that lacks a sense of audience and that has little sense of engagement?
7. How do we reward effort and progress in our student writers in a culture of "proficiency?"
This is an amazing list (of near universal concerns of writing teachers at all levels, I might add!). Using this list as our backdrop, if you will, I launched into a 20-minute explanation of why it might be worth their while to try small group conferencing at least once in their writing classroom. I left the workshop feeling good about teachers and good about professional development. My ideas were well-received. We laughed at the craziness of these times in education. I told them how smart they are and how much they already know about their students that they can bring to their teaching of writing. I tried to "build them up," just as they so badly want to build up their students. Enough tearing down of teachers already!
Tonight, as I was thinking about what a wonderful experience this was for me today, I received this email from one of the English teachers at NK:
"Jenn: Loved the presentation today. Finally something both practical and inspiring. Hope you can come back for more. For what it's worth, I will add my name to the growing chorus of teachers trying to convince the administration that this is just what we need."
This email validated for me that teachers have NOT become numb to what matters in the classroom, despite all the nonsensical messages they are getting from competing authorities. Today also reminded me that teachers want to be treated as intellectuals. During the workshop, we talked about who we are as writers and who our students are as writers. We talked about the socialization of writers in schools and how our students learn all kinds of "unwritten curricula," such as "my teacher is my only audience for my writing" and "I should play it safe in my writing to insure that I get a good grade." We talked about how teaching and learning writing is all about taking risks, about experimenting, about sharing your writing with others, teachers and peers alike, and about learning from reading a lot of others' writing.
Thanks, North Kingstown English teachers, for being so open to new ideas, for remaining positive in the face of negativity and pressure, and for welcoming me so warmly to your school.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Hope in Grassroots Philosophy: A Conversation with Jeff Wilhelm
Get a glimpse of our upcoming RIWP Spring Conference keynote speaker and hear about his new book, Literacy for Love and Wisdom, in this NWP Radio interview. (Click on the title below)
A Conversation with Jeff Wilhelm and Bruce Novak 05/26 by NWP radio | Blog Talk Radio
A Conversation with Jeff Wilhelm and Bruce Novak 05/26 by NWP radio | Blog Talk Radio
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A Take-Home Message from the NWP Annual Meeting in Chicago
This year's NWP Annual Meeting was well-attended--a full house--and while the mood was kind of dim at times, there was also a hint of hopefulness in the air, as we were reminded of the power of the national network and of our collective voices. Some Writing Project sites around the country have already been closed--most shockingly the site at Florida State University--now that the core grant has dried up. Those were sad stories for sure. But, other sites--like one in Mississippi--are getting tons of work with schools and districts and are thriving. Despite the grim national economic landscape of funding for literacy and teacher development, Dina, Susan, and I were validated in many ways at the conference in terms of the steps we are taking at our site to plan for the future. Here's a recap of how far we've come since April...
Since learning last spring that our federal funding had been eliminated and that we were facing a future with no core grant from the NWP, we've made several proactive and productive moves to "shore up" our site for the long haul. We are certainly not done with this work, but some of our accomplishments include:
1. Meetings with both State Senators and Congressmen--in DC and in RI--to discuss the work of the RIWP and the need for federal funding of literacy and teacher development programs.
2. A 2-day Leadership Institute in June, bringing together Board members and stakeholders to discuss our mission & values, our strengths as a site, our 1 and 5-year vision, and our organizational structure.
3. Regular meetings with RIC's Vice President for Academic Affairs, reporting on our work, our strategies for fundraising, our research, and our connection to the College.
4. Increasing our visibility on the RIC campus as well as our connection to the Writing Program at the College.
5. Moving our organization to a shared leadership model, where in addition to the Executive Director and Co-Directors, we also have teams assigned to specific projects: Development team, Inservice team, Spring Conference team, Summer Institute team, Young Writers team.
6. Cultivating a nationally-known keynote speaker for our Spring Conference, giving the conference a theme for the first time--Literacy and the Common Core--and developing an organized peer review system for reviewing conference proposals.
7. Running the third successful session of the Rhodes Elementary Afterschool Program creative writing class in Cranston.
We've certainly accomplished much more than this, but those are some highlights to let you know that we are working hard to keep our organization and our network strong and viable. At the Annual Meeting, Dina, Susan and I felt affirmed in these accomplishments; we also developed some ideas for our site, based on things that other sites around the country are doing.
As I sign off to go prepare for a Thanksgiving celebration with my family, I feel hopeful about the future of the RIWP. We have a strong Executive Board with dedicated members; we have support from our College and its Administration; we have good strategies for moving forward; and we have a vast state network of teachers who believe that the Writing Project is the best professional development they have ever had.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Since learning last spring that our federal funding had been eliminated and that we were facing a future with no core grant from the NWP, we've made several proactive and productive moves to "shore up" our site for the long haul. We are certainly not done with this work, but some of our accomplishments include:
1. Meetings with both State Senators and Congressmen--in DC and in RI--to discuss the work of the RIWP and the need for federal funding of literacy and teacher development programs.
2. A 2-day Leadership Institute in June, bringing together Board members and stakeholders to discuss our mission & values, our strengths as a site, our 1 and 5-year vision, and our organizational structure.
3. Regular meetings with RIC's Vice President for Academic Affairs, reporting on our work, our strategies for fundraising, our research, and our connection to the College.
4. Increasing our visibility on the RIC campus as well as our connection to the Writing Program at the College.
5. Moving our organization to a shared leadership model, where in addition to the Executive Director and Co-Directors, we also have teams assigned to specific projects: Development team, Inservice team, Spring Conference team, Summer Institute team, Young Writers team.
6. Cultivating a nationally-known keynote speaker for our Spring Conference, giving the conference a theme for the first time--Literacy and the Common Core--and developing an organized peer review system for reviewing conference proposals.
7. Running the third successful session of the Rhodes Elementary Afterschool Program creative writing class in Cranston.
We've certainly accomplished much more than this, but those are some highlights to let you know that we are working hard to keep our organization and our network strong and viable. At the Annual Meeting, Dina, Susan and I felt affirmed in these accomplishments; we also developed some ideas for our site, based on things that other sites around the country are doing.
As I sign off to go prepare for a Thanksgiving celebration with my family, I feel hopeful about the future of the RIWP. We have a strong Executive Board with dedicated members; we have support from our College and its Administration; we have good strategies for moving forward; and we have a vast state network of teachers who believe that the Writing Project is the best professional development they have ever had.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
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