Thank You

I just want to thank everyone in the group. This summer I learned a lot and I really appreciate the hard work that everyone put in.

I learned a lot this summer. I learned to teach writing, I learned to write, and I learned that my voice has meaning.


So again thank you!

An appropriate sentiment for our class this summer

My grandmother sent me this in a forward today when I got home. It seemed appropriate for us.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. My blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high, I'd gained some weight, and I didn't feel so hot.

My doctor said eating right doesn't have to be complicated and it would solve my physical problems. He said just think in colors; Fill your plate with bright colors; greens, yellows, reds, etc.

I went right home and ate an entire bowl of M&M's and sure enough, I felt better immediately. I never knew eating right could be so easy.




I am all for this diet.

Just to let you all know. I feel that since we are all very close, we should stay in touch! Summer is not over people...still lots of fun left before hell opens its gates in August. So lets get together. Remember that Blues Bash in Pomeroy is toward the last part of July and it is a great time. Come on down to the river. Court Grill is also a great place to meet and eat so we could do dinner some time. If any of you are ever in the Meigs county area and you don't give me a "holler" I will be personally offended. Don't be strangers! We all have our email addresses and numbers, lets use them!

Ape

Sorry!

I feel bad I was so late today. I'm just glad I didn't miss the readings by the rest of the class. They were great yesterday!! Have a super rest of the summer.

This is the Link for the Ohio WINS evaluation

If you go here
the link should take you to the Ohio WINS Eval Site.

Wednesday's Essays

I think the essays we listened to were amazing and so heart-felt. I appreciated being able to hear the author read them so I could get the true insight into the feelings behind them. I was blown away by the depth and emotion everyone brought out. I thought every single essay was fantastic and I am glad we were able to be allowed into their person. I have come to care deeply for each person in this class. It is inspiring to know that there are so many caring and loving people working with our students. I cannot express the warmth I feel emitting from this "family". Thank you everyone.

Yesterday, we shared our personal reflective essay. I can not believe that I read mine in front of everyone and I did not break down. I was very comfortable. I felt like everyone's personal essay was great! I am so thankful for all the people that I have met, everyone is great and very special to me. I can not believe in just this short amount of time,how close all we have become. I also cannot believe that writing seems like so much fun, so much easier, and how much more I am going to enjoy teaching writing next school year to all of my little children.What a great bunch of caring and loving people. I have learned so much and will take so much back with me for next year.

Reflective Essays

This was such an exciting and powerful experience. You could feel all of the emotions that came through. Everyone in the class has had triumphs and tragedies that have molded who they have become. When I heard everyone's stories I felt so inspired. The stories were so heart warming and unique. Each writer's voice sang out loud and strong. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for sharing your awe inspiring stories. You are all amazing and everyone can write!

I was totally amazed by how our fellow classmates were able to share about their personal lives. From listening to everyone, I felt like we are all family members. It was so powerful, but it was an excellent way to be able to relieve yourself as well. I felt like this was a counseling session. It was great and how powerful these essays are. I see now how this class was helped each and every one of us. It is very interesting and tells so much about each and everyone of us too. I am so happy to be a part of such a wonderful group of people/professionals. These are the times and memories that I will cherish for a lifetime. Thanks to everyone for such a great Writing project. Have a great rest of the summer:))

Also, I heard our Superintendent Mr. Anderson make that comment. He was quite impressed with the personal narratives and I believe they touched him as well even though he has not gone through the whole process with us. I appreciate that he took the time out of his schedule to come and spend the afternoon with us.

Emotional Rollercoaster

What a ride!!! I am just moved by the power and emotion behind everyone's narratives. What we pull out of ourselves huh! I love that we are all so close and comfortable. I love all of you!Thank you all for giving of yourselves. Thank you Donnie, Sherrie and Tallin for making this possible...bringing us all together to shape this family we have created.

Essays today

The personal reflective essays shared today left me in awe. Everyone had incredible paths that have made them who they are as a person and a teacher. It is really amazing to think that the things that inspired us and the tragedies we have all had to overcome have made us stronger as teachers and have truly made us sensitive to our students’ needs. It has been such a pleasure to spend part of my summer with all of you. Not only have I learned from each of you lessons that I can take back and share with my students, but I feel as though we have a bond. I could tell that everyone put their heart and soul into their paper, and that would not be possible if a caring and trusting bond was not present. I know that if I need help there are very caring people who are ready to assist. It’s nice to know, because we all need support. This has been a richly rewarding and unforgettable process, and I can’t imagine not being a part of it.

Emotions Soaring

Wow, what a day we had today! We went from Wacky Wanda to shaving cream to The Tooty Ta to laughter and tears as we shared our personal narratives. We have become such a close group that it will be hard to say goodbye tomorrow, for we all know too well that as we get busy we won't stay in touch like we want to although our intentions are good.

I can't wait to hear the rest of the narratives tomorrow.

Don, Sherrie and Talinn, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this experience. I appreciate your patience and understanding with me and the medical issues I had and am still dealing with. I have had professors in the past that would have said sorry about your luck, deal with it or get out. Thank you!!!!!

Talinn, as for evaluations, three words...bring the camera!!!

Mr. Anderson paid a compliment to all of us as we walked to the escalator. He said, " I can tell these folks are caring and have the best interest of students in mind. I wish we could bring all of them to Jackson City Schools." My reply was, "We would be an awesome team, any school district would be envious!"

Today

I just read through what everyone has posted so far about today's class, and I can honestly say I agree with all of it. :-) We have grown so close as a group it's hard to remember that we know very little about each others personal lives. I was very touched by Tonya's paper, and by Martha's and everyone else who read today. I cannot express what this class has meant to me. I have regained so much confidence in my writing and I am so excited about going back to my classroom in August and sharing what I have learned. So much of that is because of what I have learned because I knew all of you. I am very grateful for the experience and I am very humbled by what I heard in your papers today. I haven't had a tenth of the hardship that you have overcome and I don't know that I would have had the strength to persevere as you have. I am looking forward to tomorrow's readings.

Gina's teaching demo

I just wanted to compliment Gina on a great job today! I really enjoyed hearing how people like Gina teach children the love of literacy through the songs, rhymes, and stories. I hope that Gina will be able to return to that age group again as she certainly has a talent for getting little ones excited about learning.

Reading Day Reflection

Wow! That was really something. We are really a writer's group. Today was just incredibly powerful and emotional. Each and every narrative showed the reader to be a committed teacher and a gifted writer.

In some ways, I was kept thinking about my inquiry topic. I'm looking into a best 'practices approach' in High School literacy. Central to my paper is the question of what literacy is (in other words) who gets to define it. If Literacy skills that will secure college or employment, then aren't we just creating future workers to serve capital? That's a little scary? Furthermore what does this literacy mean if you have a sophomore who's failing her English class, but who writes in her journal and for friends and reads what interests her?

Or is Literacy a different set of skills?

If the definition of Literacy has some space to allow for WHAT STUDENTS ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTD IN AND READING, then, it seems teachers can teach literacy skills to some of the struggling readers. Ann's reading, and some other touched on the subject of the classics and what ought be taught or not taught. To me this is central.

Thinking about it a little differently, didn't Sherrie, Don, and Talinn trick us into revealing we are all writers by offering a topic we are intimately connected to, know about, and want to share (in some cases). Namely we wrote about our life story.

The inquiry paper can be seen the same way, because we are exploring something central to our passion as a teacher/researcher. We can choose the topic. again this is central to drawing some reluctant souls in.

OK that's the longest blog i've written. I must be writing about something I care about...Oh, I am.

Sharing Our Stories--Some Thoughts

First of all, I was just completely blown away by the powerful stories I heard today. The depth of emotion (both sadness and humor) made those narratives so deeply personal. I was also amazed how so many of our stories, even though separate by author and style, shared some very common themes: love of reading, the role of writing in our lives, the support (or lack) of significant people in our lives, and our calls to the teaching profession.

Some of us got the calling early and some later, but I think we can agree that our students are the better for it. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds in store.

Listening to narratives

I am blown away at the depth and character of each of you. Listening to your narratives was so powerful to me. Although we have been elbow to elbow for four weeks and I feel close to all of you, I have such an amazing insight after hearing you read your own stories. Thank you all for being so honest and open. What an emotional experience.
Thank you, Talinn, for the compilation of narratives and poems. What a treasure. Thank you, Don and Sherrie, for being so encouraging. I have felt very lovingly guided throughout the course. I am looking forward to being as nurturing to my own students.

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Great Teaching Demo #14

Great teaching demo, Tia (hope I spelled your name correctly). This demo had lots of application for many different disciplines (science, art, language arts). I would like to try this demo when I return to work in August. Thanks for the great idea!

So many of have asked about my soccer game last night, and i thank you for this support. i thought I might be able to give back by writing about the situation and the experience. Please forgive typping errors, as I'm just banging away at the keys and not looking at screen... So here goes... First I had some issues going in to the match. but second is to explain where i was and what i was doing. I'll write about this second issue first and then...

Professional soccer in our country has the
following rubrics::::

MLS: Major League Soccer
Teams like the Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids

USL: United Soccer Leagues
Three divisions (USL 1, USL2, and PDL) I work as an assistant in the USL2 and as a sometimes referee and most times assistant in the PDL--Pro Development League.

Last night, I was an assistant referee which means i run on the outside (touchline) of the field and raise my flag if the ball goes out of bounds, or if there is aperson too close to the goal when someone kicks her/ him the ball-- referees call this offside. I also have to keep these professional players' attitudes in check which sometimes means that I raise my voice.

I have three more "pro" games this year ( and by the way, i've been looking at the screen and editing), so why couldn't Mozart find his teacher??

'Cuz he was Haydn.

Compare and Contrast TV Characters

I really enjoyed Ann’s writing assignment. I think my students will really respond to this activity. Using popular TV shows to help students compare and contrast characters is a great idea. It gets their attention, and they definitely have opinions about certain characters that they want to share. Using it as a teaching tool is simply a great way to get students thinking, writing and learning!

I really enjoyed the museum activity. There are so many different ways to use this idea. When we wrote about our ideas of good writing, they were all different. They were all very wonderful and unique, yet correct definitions of good writing. That's what made it so great. I love the fact that my students would get the opportunity to look around the room and check out everyone else's idea and to get a different perspective about the same topic. Lots of great ideas.

I really enjoyed the Loop Writing activity that Sherrie did with us. I feel that it is important for children to learn how to look at others point of view and I feel that this exercise really allows them to look and write from other's point of view as well as their own. It was a neat activity and you really don't realize how much you can write doing a fun activity like this. The children also will enjoy being able to express their views and hopefully learn how to look at things or situations that may be confusing to them. This activity could be used in alot of different ways and with younger children too.

Writing to Learn Thread

Although some people beat to the blog, please use this thread to leave comments about the writing-to-learn activities that we have done so far. Thanks!

Using Pictures

I enjoyed looking at the pictures Jackie brought to class for us to look at. Then we chose a picture to write a paragraph about.

My students would enjoy this as well.

This has been a great group of people to be with this summer, we have learned so much from each other and will be able to carry into our classrooms to try with even the most reluctant student.

I really did like the idea of microthemes, but Susan talked about that, so... Another favorite activity was the writing-with-a-hidden-purpose activity. Don had us write several paragraphs that were meant to convince him that our topic for our paper was worthy of our time and energy. We wrote very quickly and convincingly, I believe, taking a firm stand. Then he asked us if we could use this information in creating our opening paragraphs for our paper! What a great idea! It really focused my efforts! And, yes, I did use much of that writing in my opening. Thanks for the great idea! Also, thank you all for sharing what works and what doesn't. I feel like I'm learning so much about my attitude of writing from everyone, and I appreciate it immensely.

Microthemes

Of all the writing-to-learn activities, I like the microtheme idea the best. This will be one that I will definitely use and that I'll also share with other teachers to encourage writing in the content areas. Most of my colleagues in other disciplines do not like to do writing because they will have to grade the writing. The nice thing about the microtheme is it doesn't have to be graded.

I think my students will like microthemes because they are quite small and they will not feel overwhelmed with writing. It also takes away the evaluation factor so my students will feel some safety in their writing.

Writing to Learn--"Bizarro Don"

I think that my favorite writing to learn activity has to have been the justification of our inquiry question to "Bizarro Don". I think it was useful to get some experience in defending our work as authors. I like the idea of using letter writing in the classroom as well. It seems to take the focus off of the "ohmygod it's a paper" reaction and put it back into the focus of the assignment.

I think this activity helped me to focus my ideas and really figure out what I wanted to talk about and what I wanted to say about it. Now I can't figure out how I want to say what I want to say about what I want to talk about, but that's my blocking issue. Anyway, I can't wait to use it in my classroom.

Journal Activity

My favortite part of our time together as a group has been discussions and exchanging ideas. I plan on using the dialogue journal for most of my classes. I plan on purchasing many many notebooks to use with my various classes. I think it may take them a while to feel comfortable doing this activity, but the payoff should be great.

Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas everyone has shared.

Thanks for the kind words :)

Hi all,

Thanks for the kind words of praise following the teaching demo. Your haikus were really creative. I had fun.

Enjoy your weekend.

Thanks for the Writing Time :)

Sherrie, Don, and Talinn: Thanks for the time to write today--I think it has helped many of us focus on the inquiry paper.

Sorry I missed your demo

Hey Tad,

Sorry I missed your demo; from reading the blog it looked like it was very well received. I don't know if you've done any reading from Howard Gardiner and his work on the multiple intelligences, but I think you would really enjoy it. You seem to embrace the whole teaching to the multiple intelligences concept very well.

And I love Charlotte's Web; such a wonderful book!

Thanks for the Updates :)

Thanks everyone for the updates. It was just like being there. I really hated to miss yesterday because I was curious about what we would be doing with the scissors and our essays. I think this would be a great activity to do with students. It definitely takes the writer out of his/her comfort zone and makes us look at something differently. I think we often put a lot of ourselves in our essays and this task makes us stand back and look at the document objectively, much in the way a surgeon must look at a patient, cutting and sewing back together.

Or

Comment here about any random thought that is rolling across your brain right now.

Tuesday Blog

Comment here either about some advice you gave, some advice you heard, or some advice you would like to give about writing the inquiry paper.

April and Sue

April and Sue,

We missed you today! Hope you both are OK. This morning we spent literally cutting up our essays and having another person put it together. This afternoon Tadd did a great job with his teaching lesson of Charlotte's Web (I can't figure out how to underline this). Later we discussed, The River Earth, which we will continue doing on Tues. and Wed.

Take Care!

Today we cut our personal essays into paragraphs and had a person who had never read our essay to read and tape it back together in the way he or she read it or the way he/she thought you meant for it to be read. Many people didn't like this activity and voiced this. Some people were able to look at the reader's perspective and will make changes others chose not to and we were told that was ok.

In the loop

Let's see. Today we had a very traumatizing experience with the drafts for our reflective papers and some scissors (just kidding). We spent the morning working with our papers and made some very interesting revisions. I learned a lot. In the afternoon Tad did his teaching demo, which gave me some interesting insights to discussion with students, something I always want to do, but rarely get the results I'm looking for. He also sang for us, which was very cool. This afternoon we panicked about format and discussed the dark side of River of Earth. I'm hoping we get to the happy portion soon, despite how little happiness there was in the novel.

Today's class

April and Sue,

we started the day by cutting and pasting our Personal essays. If you have an urge to replicate the experience, allow a four year old to take a (kid-safe) scissors to your rough draft. Then you climb onto the roof of your house and launch the pieces into the lawn below. Hurry/scurry down the steps and collect as many of the pieces as you can, (don't worry about chasing down the ones blown down the street) then let your neighbor try to piece the essay back together.

Actually, the exercise was a little different than that, but in short the organizational method (most people used some sort of chronology in telling their tale), should be questioned and perhaps changed to suit the needs of the piece.

We all hope to see you two real soon.

Monday's Thread

Today, I would like you folks to blog a comment that would help April and Sue stay in the loop. Write a comment on something that you saw, heard, or thought today that would help them feel like they haven't missed anything too important.