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PLWP Family Newsletter Upcoming Events:
• January 13: Deadline to sign up for Spring 2016 PLWP Graduate Courses
Celebrating 2015 ~ Anticipating 2016 Happy holidays from the Director! Dear PLWP Family, Welcome to PLWP’s 2016 Holiday Letter! In it, we hope you find lots of information about the vast array of recurring and upcoming PLWP events and programs, including several opportunities for you to reconnect and become involved. We loved seeing many of you at the TC Gathering, and we hope to see more of you at other events soon, like the Open Marathon on April 9 in St. Joseph and the Writing Retreat at Conception Abbey June 1719, or maybe on campus in one of our graduate classes. We also really, really, need your help recruiting for our 2016 Invitational Summer Institute. All the emails and flyers in the world don’t come close to a personal nudge and a sincere testimonial from YOU, reaching out to teachers who could really use some high quality, teacher-centered, handson, free, life-changing professional development. Remember that Summer Institute applicants don’t have
to be ELA teachers. We love it when friends in other content areas can join us! Print off the flyer and application or send interested teachers to the Summer Institute page on our website. Many thanks to our fabulous PLWP Advisory Team, who not only helped host our awesome TC Gathering but has also collaborated to bring you this excellent publication: • Christie Jackson, Carden Park Elementary, St.
• January 19: Spring 2016 PLWP Graduate Courses Begin • February 29: 2016 Summer Institute Application Deadline • March 3: High School Writing Day • April 9: Open Writing Marathon • June 17-19: Writing Retreat Check your e-mail for more opportunities to
Joseph School District • Mya Ezzell, Southeast Elementary, Park Hill School District
reconnect and become involved with PLWP.
• Josie Clark, Bode Middle School, St. Joseph School District • Dawn Terrick, MWSU • Heidi Mick, Platte County High School • Valorie Stokes, Platte County High School • Tom Pankiewicz, MWSU
• Amy Miller, MWSU We hope you are enjoying a warm and restful winter break and enjoying all the good things that the season has to offer. Best wishes, Susan Martens PLWP Director MWSU Assistant Professor of English
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Working with Area Youth Mya Ezzell and Josie Clark Youth Camp
Middle School Camp
The quiet halls of higher learning reverberated with the excitement of approximately one hundred students in grades 3-6 for four weeks in June during #writefierce, the 2015 elementary writing project. Six teachers (Raelyn Stroud, Robin Pettegrew, Ann Dotson, Jerri Fisher, Elisabeth Alkier, and Mya Ezzell) led students from public and private schools in St. Joseph and Savannah in writing lessons, writing groups, reading groups, and writing marathons on the MWSU campus. As always, the energy during the camp and the enthusiasm for the experience afterwards were high. Student comments on our endof-writing project survey included statements like, "I loved writing camp! ROAR!" “It was perfect” and "Thank you writing camp.” This unique partnership between PLWP, MWSU, and the St. Joseph School District continues to write a chapter in the creative lives of our young writers!
High School Writing Day
This
summer,
the
organized,
intellectual,
contemplative space of Eder 210 turned into a perfect metaphor for the middle school mind: loud music, markers strewn about, personalized notebooks lying open on the tables, colorful anchor charts splattered across the walls, and glitter crushed delicately into the carpet. The best part of Eder 210, however, was the beautiful scritch-scratch of writing as area middle school students explored the power behind their words in the “PowerLines” Middle School Writing Project. These aspiring writers became
melting ice
investigators,
cream
magicians,
cones, sloths,
fortune-tellers,
and
anything else they set their minds to. They traveled around campus to write, successfully completing
a
wonderful
writing
marathon
without getting attacked by the evil geese who lurk in the shadows. Things definitely got weird with over 25 middle schoolers spending five hours a day together, but things also got awesome. Young writers figuring out how to create electricity on paper is always a powerful experience. Next year’s theme (suggested by a 2015 participant): “Voices Unleashed.”
Middle School Alliance Josie Clark
Amy Miller This year's High School Writing Day, #Twitterpated, was another success. Nearly 250 students from 15 area high schools gathered to enjoy a day of writing, so we were overloaded on excitement, if short a few chairs. The day's workshops were centered on diverse writing genres and topics, such as poetry, spoken word poetry, flash fiction, graphic novels, convergent journalism, and more. Nine Missouri Western faculty members and two PLWP TCs, who are also area high school teachers, facilitated the workshops, after which students packed Kemper Recital Hall to celebrate their writing in an open mic session. We are looking forward to High School Writing Day 2016, which is scheduled for March 3. We hope for even more fun - and a few more chairs.
Josie Clark and Elisabeth Alkier, with the help of a SEED Teacher Leadership grant, recruited a few other middle school teachers to work together to support creative writing. Soon after, a group of writing club sponsors met in December 2014 to discuss plans for the Middle School Writing Alliance. At this meeting, affectionately called the “Writing Club Rumble,” partnerships developed as we devised a plan for an “open mic” style reading for area students at Missouri Western in the spring.
reading original writing composed in their after school and GATE writing clubs. We plan to have another Middle School Writing Night in the spring of 2016. If you are interested in the alliance or would like your students to participate in Middle School Writing Night, please contact: Josie Clark (josie.clark@sjsd.k12.mo.us) We would love more teachers
Thus, we held our first ever Middle School Writing Night at Missouri Western on March 23, 2015, coordinated by Clark and Alkier with help from PLWP TC Deb Ballin. It was AWESOME. Several students, parents, and teachers gathered to hear 18 area writers in grades 5-8 Page Two - PLWP 2015
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Voices of English 100 Dawn Terrick On an early and chilly October morning, I headed out to the Fall TC Gathering hoping that giving up a Saturday morning would be worthwhile. And only a few minutes into the morning’s activities, I knew it would be. I found myself energized as a writer and teacher, but Josie Clark’s Ignite presentation on “Humans of Bode,” an Instagram account her students had created from photos and quotes they gathered from fellow students, truly resonated with me. As soon as my English 100 colleague, Amy Miller, and I heard her presentation, we knew we had to adapt this project to our current English 100 assignment in which students conducted interviews with family members and friends in order to learn about and accurately and vividly depict their “real” stories. Through
these interviews, students gained new perspectives on others’ life journeys, their struggles and tragedies as well as their successes and joys. Through this process, students also learned about themselves. And with this new project, “Voices of English 100,” based upon Josie’s project and the original “Humans of New York” website, our students were now able to share their work and these important stories with others. Voices of English 100 showcases photographs of those interviewed along with a quote, their own words in their own voice, for all to see and hear. We hope you carefully listen to the “voices of English 100.” Check out some of the quotes and photos at: instagram.com/voices_of_english_100/
I3 College-Ready Writers Program Spring 2016 Graduate Courses It’s not too late to sign up for Spring 2016 graduate classes through PLWP at MWSU, but it will be after January 13! We are offering two three-credit hour classes at the low PLWP rate of $225 (plus MWSU fees). Please download admission/ readmission and registration forms on our PLWP website. These rates are available to ALL Missouri teachers, so sign up with a teacher buddy! • Teaching Writing with Technology, ENG/EDU 512, Tuesdays 5:00- 6:20 p.m. and online with Dr. Susan Martens • Adolescent Literature, ENG 500, Wednesdays 5:00- 7:50 p.m. with Dr. Mike Cadden These classes and many others can combine with your Summer Institute credit hours to launch you on the path to a graduate degree! See our website for more details and email Susan Martens at: smartens@missouriwestern.edu if you’d like to discuss the possibilities!
During 2015, the Prairie Lands CollegeReady Writers Program team shifted focus from the Early Start Schools (Braymer, Breckenridge, and Hamilton) to the Late Start Schools (Osborn, Trenton and Winston). After two years of ongoing professional development, co-planning, coteaching, and mentoring, the Early Start seventh through tenth grade students wrote their final on-demand sample in the spring. This sample along with those taken in the fall of 2013 and the spring of 2014, as well as the samples from the Late Start schools, were scored over the summer to determine the effectiveness of the College-Ready Writers Program's professional development model. A preliminary report revealed a “statistically significant” difference in the writing of the Early Start students compared with the Late Start writers. Throughout the 2015-2016 school year, Braymer, Breckenridge, and Hamilton, using grant monies reserved for each school, have developed independent school plans to continue strengthening their students' work in argumentative writing.
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PLWP began its formal work with Osborn, Trenton and Winston following the final on-demand writing sample. After meeting the teachers and reading samples of student work, in June, the PLWP team and Late Start school administrators and leaders met in St. Louis for the national College-Ready Writers Program meeting to orient them to the program and its goals. Prairie Lands' work with the Communication Arts teachers kicked off in August with a two-day workshop at Trenton. All teachers joined a Teaching Argument Writing Cadre where ideas are shared via a closed Edublog. The Cadre meets monthly for professional development including time to read and discuss student work and to plan classroom strategies. In addition to co-planning, PLWP mentors visit classrooms and present model lessons. During the 2015-2016 school year, students in grades seven through ten will compose two arguments using National Writing Project mini-units, write one extended argument, revise two of these papers, and develop an on-demand piece.
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Invitational Summer Institute Welcomes New TCs Christie Jackson #plwpsi15forlife was definitely a PLWP Summer Institute to remember!! Our last institute brought together a lively bunch of nine teachers, including a first grade teacher, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher, an elementary Gifted Education teacher, several English Language Arts teachers, along with facilitators Dr. Susan Martens, Christie Jackson, and Mya Ezzell.
#plwpsi15forlife donated a brand new marker bucket to PLWP at our Fall Gathering. No more dry markers or missing caps for this Writing Project site! Thank you PLWP SI Class of 2015!
The Summer Scholars took us into their classrooms and introduced us to their research and questions by facilitating many of the SI's daily activities. Writing Into the Day, Thinker’s Choice, and the Daily Log, along with the scholars’ inquiry research projects and individual writings, truly made the Summer Institute applicable to the scholars’ needs and interests. This group of scholars was so passionate and excited about their topics that we often found we had to close the door of Eder 210 to "contain" the learning to our classroom. :-)
#plwpsi15forlife
Beginning the SI with a writing marathon and ending with a writing marathon have become a tradition of the PLWP Summer Institute. Writing together and then sharing our writing is one of the NWP traditions that we know helps to create lifelong bonds. It's an incredible thing to watch a group of educators come together as strangers and leave as lifelong friends each summer. #plwpsi15forlife was no exception.
PLWP Summer Institute Class of 2015 Brandi Atha (Savannah Middle School - ELA) Deb Ballin (SJSD – Gifted Program) Roxanne Chase (MWSU - Composition) Rachel Daniels (Lathrop Middle School - ELA) Jamie Duddy (Osborn – 1st Grade) Stephanie Haenni (Central High School – FACS) Tess Kram (Central High School – ELA) David Stroud (Union Star – ELA) Quinn Whitaker (Indianola High School – ELA) Page Four - PLWP 2015
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Reconnect with Writing and Your Writing Project Family You and your writing-friendly family and friends are welcome to join us for the 2016 PLWP Open Writing Marathon on Saturday, April 9, starting at 10:00 in Saint Joseph, MO (starting location TBA). Participants will write and share in small groups at locations of choice in Saint Joseph. Email Susan Martens at:
Fall TC Gathering Valorie Stokes
Writing Retreat Susan Martens
If you missed our TC Gathering in October, not only did you miss the delicious donuts (ok, danishes) but you also missed heartfelt letter writing and exciting moments of igniting about the Humans of Bode, Writing Practitioners vs. Writing Coroners and the Words "I Don't Know.” You missed analog tweeting and TC greeting, our sandbox of digital tools and TCs from area schools. Has this quick peek enticed you yet? Then please don't forget. Mark your calendars for next fall when we will do it all…and then some… again.
PLWP is again hosting a Writing Retreat at Conception Abbey this summer, June 17-19. It will begin Friday evening and conclude Sunday after lunch. The cost will again be $175 for two nights’ lodging in private rooms, seven meals, a publishing seminar, peer response groups, communitybuilding activities, and plenty of time to write. It’s quite a bargain, since the opportunity to write with like-minded people in a beautiful, contemplative setting is priceless. The retreat is limited to 20 participants, with preference given to PLWP TCs. Registration deadline is May 15. To reserve a spot, email Susan Martens at:
smartens@missouriwestern.edu for more information, or watch the PLWP listserv and social media for updates. Read some of the writing from our 2014 and 2015 open marathons on our PLWP website!
Writing Marathon Susan Martens
smartens@missouriwestern.edu
TC Spotlight – Send us your Kudos! Left: TC Terrance Sanders was named November Teacher of the Month at Frontier STEM High School in North Kansas City, Missouri. Right: TC Valorie Stokes was named a 2016 Midwest Spotlight Educator by the METC and will present at the METC Conference in February. Send your kudos to: smartens@missouriwestern.edu Page Five- PLWP 2015
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