Monday, July 28, 2008

Hello NWP-VT Fellows!

For those of you who did not go looking for the missing t-shirt image after my demo lesson, here's the link for the website: www.threadless.com

The t-shirt mentioned (which would have been pictured had I been using a Mac) was "Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poetry."  For those of you who like Blake, there is the "Tyger, tyger" t-shirt.

Have a lovely evening.

Carlissimo

Saturday, September 23, 2006

In a stroke of luck, on Friday, I ran into Doris Jacques among the hundreds and hundreds of students and teachers at the College Fair at St. Mike's. We talked about school for about thirty seven and a half seconds, and she mentioned that she's begun writing response groups with (at least one of) her classes. I wish we'd had more time to chat, but buses were about to board.

So, Doris, and everyone else out there in our little blogosphere, how's it going so far? How are you getting kids to respond usefully to each others' writing? I'm doing it in one class and am finding I need to impose more structure in the form of, well, forms that the writers fill out as they lead a conference about their piece.

Sample ?'s
-What words and phrases stood out for you?
-Where does my piece really "get going" for you?
- What do you see as my focus?

I hope I can move away from this more prescriptive way of approaching writing response, but in the beginning the Elbow guidelines on their own didn't seem enough.

Hope to hear from lots of our group here on the blog..... (If you don't have a classroom right now, maybe you can chime in as to what's worked for you in the past when you've asked kids to respond to each other's work...?

Best to all,
Julia

Monday, September 04, 2006

Check out this link to an article featuring, in part, our own Paul Martin on podcasting...
http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=1831

Monday, July 31, 2006

Someone suggested we make a list of prompts. Let's do it here as comments to this post? Here are some of my favorites:

I remember

I don't remember

from the fray archives (fray.com) -- these are all separate prompts

With a sharp excuse me and a businesslike shove to the right, I was initiated into rush hour.

When I think about the last year, it comes back to me in moments.

It's a place I will always love, but can never go back to.

It's not my life. It's just my job. Really.

Amanda keeps talking, but I'm stuck thinking about books and the evil curse of wonderful memories.

I left. All my friends did the traditional sobbing and email promising. All except one.

Yes, I am bitter. But it's not my fault.

I cranked the stereo up and the windows down. I was ready for an adventure. And I was gonna get it.

It's not that we fight; we just don't connect.

There was never any doubt about what Cali was going to do.

I put my ear down on the rail to check for vibrations.

I made small talk and watched as the cars blurred by. Eventually I worked up the courage.

Maybe it was the gentle rain that made him reserved. Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was me.

If it's just an innocent little flirtation, why do I feel so guilty when he catches me?

That day, torn from my history, has never made me think. Until now.

G h o s t s: They were subtle, mental, hidden. It was their house.

An ancient black and white photo preserves my oldest memory of Grandpa Rohde.

How many names do you have? Most people have two, maybe three. Not so for me.

These women had lives as crazy and muddled as mine. I was sure.

Sometimes it's not the quality of the disasters that counts,it's the quantity

Home for the Holidays. In one week, I'll be back in the room I grew up in. I hate that room.

Who have you left?

Whose house do you remember?

What are you celebrating?

What have you done to be interesting?

Have you ever been tempted?

(prompts from http://www.fray.com/-- probably not a site to share with students)
What is within your grasp right now? What do you feel is totally do-able?

o Talking less as I teach

o More writing daily writing

o Generating writing form heart to head & helping kids do this

o Sharing our own writing with students

o Student generated prompts

o Put all my writing together in a binder

o Do 7-min. writes on my own–– daily practice

o Put a link on the blog to prompts

o Revise how I do journals in my class: 3 kinds: prompt, weekend, writer’s notebook

o Pull lines out of my own text and start there

o Carry a little, teeny-tiny notebook

o Rethink how I give feedback and how kids give each other feedback

o Get kids to generate criteria for poetry

o Keep a professional notebook

o Collect golden lines from readaround and use as prompts

o Sleep!

o Keep meditating on my hopes for my classroom and the reasons I want to teach

o Not collecting my students’ first drafts and getting them in writing groups

o Have writing groups invite the teacher to join as needed

o Blog about how writing groups are working in my classroom


In what areas do you feel on the “frontier”--you are breaking new ground and it is within reach, if you stretch a bit?


o Talking less than that

o Trying to keep motivated with my own writing; stay in touch with my writing group via email

o Publication in some format in all my classes

o Balancing creativity and structure

o Looking at voice

o Sneak in toward Portfolio Pieces

o Teacher exchange-- new and experienced teachers

o Using more primary sources

o Publication: poetry slams, gallery walks

o Publishing a booklet of poetry for waiting rooms, etc.

o Blogging

o Blogging with another teacher or class

o Make time to read more


What ideas and achievements are on the horizon for you--not reachable yet, but within your vision?

o Use writing to learn

o Make time for digital publication

o Make time for our own writing groups

o Establish after school writing groups

o Teach in silence

o Change students’ perspectives on revision

o Get kids to be able to write not just for now but from a sense of being rooted in the past and the future; find the context and connect to their own knowledge

o Make “I Am” presentations more dynamic

o Work with colleagues to share teaching demonstrations

o Bring some of NWP model to faculty meetings