Day 2: Andra

Second Day:  Summer Literacy Leadership Institute.

I can’t say this is my favorite kind of writing and maybe I’m just not practiced at it, but “blogs” have always seemed a bit self-indulgent to me.  However, a favorite maxim of Writing Projects around the country is “Don’t apologize, just read the #@#% (insert your own idea of garbage). So product must be produced.  Here it goes.

First Day Jitters Over: Will Follow-up Deliver?

The first fantastic day followed with a fantastic blog and I can even hope meet that mark (I’m tired and looking forward to my book and bed. Is this being myself??)  Though both Margaret and I anticipated a good day, I wasn’t sure it’d be as good as the first.  Same engagement? Same energy?  Not to worry.  Though a bit “sloggy,” participant found great snacks, good coffee and partner support to a find focus. (Thank you Carrie and Jeanne for nurturing snacks. The homemade muffins -- particularly delicious.)

Writing Warm Up: Surprise Learning Experience

We dove into contemplative silence, dipping into our memories to write about a skill and how we learned it.  We soon realized that inviting others to recall how we learned “something” helps us find ways into learning to write for us and our students.
What we noticed about learning something…

            Interest is sparked and an idea planted.

            Mentor/teacher/person with…

                        Accepting, tolerant, believing-in attitude.

            Given tools/ techniques to use and something to cultivate.

            Immediate and unambiguous feedback to find out right away if a technique works or not.

            Observe other person at work.

            Build on what one already knows and can do.

            Feel good about taking risks and making mistakes.

             (I’m curious about Amy Woods’ good hillbilly accent!)

Amazing how a simple writing warm up can help us realize the power of passion, leadership, modeling, and guiding in a safe, nurturing environment. Hmmmmm.  Implications?

In reflection, Amy W reminded us of the quote of the day: “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass, ” by Anton Chekhov.   Be a model, show don’t tell seems to go for teaching as well as writing.

Demo Lesson Bugaboo Debunked

Margaret explained that our “good” demo lessons in this context ought to speak to a broader teaching audience.  (More later)

Sneaky Re-Reading Techniques Fools Writer’s into Revising

Re-read This? But I’m done! Though writers are often too critical, too attached, or too ambivalent to get the distance they need to revise, Margaret showed three revising strategies to help writers find the heart of a piece or “What is this piece is this really about?”  This whole class lesson got to the “heart” of the kind of self-revising I want students to accomplish on their own when in the past I’ve only been able to do this in conference time with them. Underlining sentences we like or are the heart of our piece, circling words we love or that are precise, bracketing surprises helped us find “dynamic,”  “magical,” “transformative” ways to “re-look” at our writing.  When Margaret modeled circulating and individually conferencing, I realized an added management bonus to these exercises.

John threw up his hand and whispered, “I’m done.”

Amy will share what she experienced her ninth graders.

Heather liked breaking re-reading into parts.

Kim will use with a shared writing experience for her first graders.

Carrie saw something magical happened – a change in dynamics with this process.

Identifying specific kinds of words would add a component of language instruction that matches those “L” standards, Margaret concluded.

Our time spent revising enriched our response group collaboration and the revising work we’d already done.

What we have to have a narrative written by when??  Friday!?  Should we post it?  Hmmmm….

Read The Essentials Chapter 3 over lunch. Later heard that it spoke to Sasha and her need for mulling and how each person’s prewriting process is unique and ought to be honored.  I concur.

Attention to Detail: A Challenge to Describe

The “shell game” after lunch was a stretch for me.  Can’t tell you how I agonized about what objects to use for this exercise… Shells? Buttons? Pictures?  Bet you didn’t know that, but it fit wonderfully and after reading your responses, I see that each of you took something different but valuable. I’m so glad.  Helping students attend to creating details, adding details and then making a decision about where and when to add details and the kinds of details we choose seems a rich and valuable place to go.  Did we mention that teaching writing is a complex process??  The discussion at the end actually traveled down the road a bit farther than I would with younger students and that was fun for me …to discuss with colleagues the nuances of writing craft. .. a delicious luxury in our Summer Writing Camp for Teachers.

Visit from the Moodle Fairy

Had a visit from the Moodle fairy and hopefully all issues have been sprinkled with fairy dust and all is working perfectly.

Book Groups Noodle

Book groups convened to plan the reading so the book would be finished in time to write a group review on the last Thursday.   

Demo Lesson Bugaboo Debunked

Consider this first week the prewriting for your demon… gather bits and pieces, let some ideas rattle around, free write about it, create a brainstorm list…  If anyone needs it, Margaret and/or Andra are available to listen and coach you on your ideas.

So coming to the end you can see that my energy wanes… summarize:

We love the chance to write, we love the chance to revise, we love learning about new things, and we love re-learning old things.  The second day seemed to “deliever.”Ah, if only all my classes were so wonderful.