Window of Opportunity

I started co-facilitating a Nebraska Writing Project course today. The class has a focus on connecting literature and writing, and like any NeWP course, we are expected to bring a new piece of writing each day to share with our writing groups and engage in giving and receiving feedback. We are studying a graphic novel called The Arrival (I recommend it..it's beautiful). Our assignment for today was to choose an image or a page from the text to use as inspiration for a creative writing piece. This isn't my best work, but I figured select a piece or two each week to post on the blog. The image I used as inspiration for the poem is the last one--the wall of windows. I focused particularly on one window that appears to frame a woman looking out.

From The Arrival

Window of Opportunity

In this window--

a woman sits staring into the streets.

She smiles

at the stray dog,

at the child

hitting a stick against a nearby fence

just to hear its rhythm.

As quickly as the smile comes,

it fades

as she remembers her home.

This is not her home.

This is a shell.

A cage twenty stories up.

She does not come down.

She wants to be there--

home--

where the houses are yellow and green and pink

and have bedrooms

and are not high-rise apartments

with people cramped,

sharing hallways and bathrooms and cups of sugar

attempting to be neighbors.

She wants to tend her garden

with, Theadosea, her sister.

She wants to smell czarnina soup

boiling on the stove,

hear her mother’s cackling laugh.

Instead, she’s here,

in the “land of opportunity.”

But opportunity looks different

than she imagined.

It’s crowded

and smells a lot like dust and iron.

Winter Writing Marathon

Yesterday I ventured to Lincoln for the Nebraska Writing Project's winter board meeting, and afterwards I participated in the annual winter writing marathon. If you're not familiar with writing marathons, here's the format in a nutshell: Writers gather and first proclaim that they are in fact writers, we read a Hemingway quote from A Moveable Feast (this quote has become a Nebraska tradition), and then in small groups we set out to wander and write. Groups set a time limit...sometimes it's 10-15 minutes of individual writing time, then we meet back up and share what we wrote simply to share. We don't give feedback, praise, criticism, etc. A writer reads, and the group simply thanks the writer for sharing. It really is a pure process. The group I was in yesterday visited Morrill Hall and the planetarium and then we wandered over to The Mill in the Haymarket. The entire group then met at Indigo Bridge bookstore for a final read around.

Group shot after the final read-around

It was a much needed three hour session. I felt very cleaned out on my way home and more at peace with life. It's crazy how cleansing writing can be for me.

Here are a few of the pieces I started yesterday:

At Morrill Hall 
It's refreshing to hear children's voices bounce off the walls of this dusty museum. One little boy, about six, is fascinated by the elephant skeletons. He stands and stares at these massive remains and begins talking rapidly in a language unknown to me. He beckons two middle-aged gentlemen to join him in his awe. Soon he darts to another display--pauses to take it all in with mouth agape and eyes wide--and then flees to the next room as if he's afraid the museum will close before he gets to see all the wonders this place holds. 

Suddenly the boy I've been admiring fades from sight and I'm left alone in this echoey room. It's just me and the bones and my thoughts. I stare ahead, my pen hovering above my notebook not knowing where to go from here. History surrounds me, but my mind is as blank as the page on my lap. But before my mind can get the better of me and twist this refreshing void into a mess of tangled what if's, a new group of toddlers wobbles in to proclaim their awe at the state's first inhabitants. 

Composed in the car on my way to Lincoln
If I were to build a house, I'd build it with my bedroom window facing east so I could watch the sun rise and bleed a brilliant warmth of orange and red and pink. I'd let it wash over me and accept its call to a new day. 

At The Mill
This semester I'm having my Comp II students read, write, and think about place. I wanted to give them chances to explore communities so they could begin to see value in community and maybe even find their place in it. This weekend I've asked them to explore and write about two places and I'm curious to see their thinking. I think I will write about this place,  The Mill coffee shop.

I don't remember how or when I found it, but I do remember that I was in high school and it was a time of self-discovery. I remember watching people as I drank coffee. They all looked interesting in their muted clothing. Their conversations were low and seemed serious, and whatever they were writing must have been brilliant because they barely took a breath to drink their coffee. When they did take a drink, they took long, slow sips and held the mug in both hands as if that mug were something delicate. As they swallowed, a faraway gaze often washed over their faces. I wanted desperately to know what they were thinking and writing and what caused their conversations to be so intense. 

The first time I visited the bathroom in this place I couldn't ignore the chalkboard that hung on the wall near the toilet. I savored each chalky sentiment and even copied them down on a napkin to be used as writing fodder later, a sort of bathroom plagiarizer. 

Each time I come to Lincoln, I visit The Mill to relive that longing I had as a teen--a longing for identity and for community--for a place I could be whomever I wanted. 

Thank you

Note: I'm spending the last part of this week in Las Vegas learning at the NCTE/NWP annual convention. So the next few posts will likely be musings related to teaching :)

It sounds like rain pelting a tin roof as I listen to 600 teachers take a seven minute break from the morning plenary session at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting to, of course, write. Tanya Baker Harris, of the NWP, has asked us to write thank-you letters to our teacher mentors from the network.

There are so many people from the network I could thank: Robert, Bill, Paula, Diana, Dan, Marni, Susan, Rob, Amy, Jeff, Tyler, Katrina, Ann, Jenny...I could go on for ages. Some of these people have become friends while others are people I’ve only met once or twice. No matter, these people and many others in the Nebraska/National Writing Project have developed me into a critical teacher and a better leader and advocate for education. This organization, however, has done more than just made me a more effective writing teacher. One of the national directors said today in her opening speech that the NWP has made her a better person. However cheesy or overly sentimental the comment seems, I do have to agree with it. I came to the Nebraska Writing Project haggard and  on the verge of throwing in the towel after just one year. And I left the summer institute refreshed to start anew in my both my career and in my life.

For four weeks I was surrounded by intelligent, inquisitive, passionate people who lived out their passion both in the classroom and in their communities. What strikes me about many of the people involved with the writing project (on both our state and national level) is their drive, their fire for life. These teachers have pushed me to think, to question, and to engage. I’m much more aware of my surroundings. I think about things like recycling, energy conservation, the implications of where I shop, and just overall, how to be a better human. One might argue that these changes are due to the aging process, but I think it has more to do with the influence of so many genuine people. These people teach me simply by the way they live. I’m grateful for the people I’ve learned from in the National Writing Project, and I look forward to more opportunities to connect with and learn from other genuine people in this network.

One of Those Days

Author’s note: As I've mentioned before, I'm currently co-facilitating a course through the Nebraska Writing Project. Part of the course requirement is a daily writing expectation. Each day we are responsible for bringing a piece to our writing group. And each institute I take, I write a resistance to writing piece. This is my resistance to writing piece for the year. It was frustrating yesterday to sit and wait for a bolt of writing lightening to hit me...because nothing came. I sat outside for nearly three hours and wrote almost nothing. I tried reading to inspire me. I tried people watching. Yesterday was just one of those days....as a writing teacher, it's good for me to experience these so I can help my students through those dry days when they feel they have nothing to write. So...here's my sub-par resistance to writing poem:


One of Those Days

You know the ones---
the ones where
you don't talk
and you don't write
because you have nothing to say.
But really, the words...
they're present and floating.
you just can't grasp them long enough
to plug them on the screen.

Today is one of those days.

And besides,
who's gonna listen to a word I utter?
I’m 25,
privileged,
few real struggles to overcome.
Who will listen to me blather about life
when I haven't lived long?
And who will listen to me preach about teaching
when I’m barely older than my own students?

But I do have stories to write.
I just don't.
I keep them locked in my bones,
and when they ache to get out,
I run as long and as fast as my legs will take me.
I like to think the stories fly out when I run,
landing in sparrows' ears
who later turn them into simple yet beautiful
songs outside peoples' bedroom windows.

It's a temporary release, this method of mine.
The stories,
they somehow find their way back into my bones,
and the next day they pulse begging to be told.

I should just write these stories down, I think.
But thinking is my problem.
Really, I think my thinking is more fear.
Fear of the weight my stories will bare
or the consequence I'll have for telling.
Fear of who might read these stories
and what opinion they'll assume.

Yet I know
our stories must be written.
So I will plod along
pecking these keys against my will.

Becoming a writer

In high school I dreamed of becoming a writer. Emerson, Thoreau, and Kerouac hooked me; I wanted to be them. I bought journals from Barnes and Noble and stole away to local parks and coffee shops to write essays, articles, poems, songs, and just plain thoughts. During my junior and senior year of high school, I spent what little free time I had in between musical rehearsal, track practice, and my job at the bagel shop writing and reading. Sometime during my first year of college I declared my major as English, and from then on out I took every English class my schedule would allow. During my intro. to poetry writing course my sophomore year of college, my professor, Dr. Fort, encouraged me to submit a few poems to The Carillon, our English department's creative writing journal. For a few years I submitted pieces and had a few selected each year for the tiny little collection of student work. The first time I saw my name in print, I squealed with excitement and nearly cried. But sometime after my junior year of college, writing took a backseat. I was newly married and in the final stretch of my undergraduate degree where creative writing was traded for literary analysis and lesson plans.

Worn ragged and with gray speckled hair at the age of 22, I finished my first year of teaching and took the Nebraska Writing Project's Summer Institute. The first day of class, the professor, Dr. Brooke, explained the expectations including the daily writing we'd have to bring to our writing groups. Everyday. For four weeks. Out of necessity, I had stopped writing for nearly three years in order to be a wife and teacher. A small part of me was excited to write again, but a bigger part of me was terrified. Only one other student in the course was as young as me, and the rest had at least five years on me or more...way more. And most of them looked like creative, writing types: Radiohead t-shirts, Keen sandals, tattoos, and cycling helmets next to their backpacks. Not only were they more experienced teachers, but they looked way hipper than me. And I had to share my writing with some of these people. A week later we were split into permanent writing groups for the rest of the course. For two hours each day we shared our writing in small groups and then gave and received whatever feedback the writer requested. Once past the initial awkwardness, I loved it. My writing group became like a little family as we shared our passions, our families, our travels, our obsession with odd things like outhouses and pens, and eventually the most intimate portions of our lives: bad romances, innocence stolen, our fears, and death. In one of our writing group meetings, I shared a piece that I think dealt with a few ideas I had about teaching or something of the sort (I don't even remember what it was about anymore). My group was filled with fiery teachers who taught from the depths of their heart, so my voice trembled as I shared my ideas with the teachers who had grown to become my mentors. One of my group members immediately asked if I had shared my ideas with any other teachers. When I responded that I had not because I was afraid of what others would think, he responded with, "Who gives a shit. Your voice matters, and you've got to realize that." It was empowering. Throughout my first year of teaching I was filled with the impression that I, a first year teacher, knew nothing and did more harm to student learning than good. I started that course afraid to write and share my words, feeling like I had nothing to offer other teachers, and I left proclaiming I was a writer and teacher whose voice mattered.

That course has impacted my teaching and writing in a powerful way. I maintained a daily habit of writing, and took a stand in the teaching profession. Though I still struggle immensely with an inferiority complex, I've grown to know that my voice does matter. So when a call for submissions for a new book, What Teaching Means, came across my email last summer requesting essays on the book's topic, I was intrigued. It took some coaxing from a few people, but I eventually submitted an essay. This fall I received word that my essay was selected for publication if I agreed to work with one of the editors to make a few revisions. The revision process was difficult, and I often wondered if the editor would just give up on me and select a new essay in place of mine. But he didn't. A few weeks ago I received my copy of the book, and squealed again with excitement as I saw my name in print. I started reading through the book this weekend, and I'm humbled by the stories shared in it. The essays encourage me to teach better, to be patient with even the most frustrating students, to look for ways to learn from students, and remind me of why I love my job.

A Different Side of Columbus Day

I am inspired by the many great teachers I've learned from, taught alongside, or learned with. One of these is Ralston High School teacher and Nebraska Writing Project Co-Director, Dan Boster. Dan teaches high school English and is also pursuing a PhD from UNL. He works tirelessly to provide students with a just, diverse, critical, socially relevant curriculum and pours just as much energy into teachers with his work in the Writing Project. I'm also amazed at how he involved he seems to be with his family--when I talk to Dan, I can tell his family means more to him than his job...I respect and admire that.

Today Dan posted this link on his facebook page: Rediscovering Columbus: Students take second look at discovery of New World - Omaha.com. The article features his Ralston students teaching elementary school students about a very important aspect of Columbus Day. Take a gander at it. Then rest easy knowing there are phenomenal teachers in our own state who are inspiring kids and forming them into critical, just citizens.

In the Works: Youth Writing Festivals

I am blessed to serve on the Advisory Board for the Nebraska Writing Project. This year one of our projects for the board is organizing and planning two writing festivals for students in grades 7-12. Another teacher from Elkhorn South and I have agreed to spear-head the project. We're having a festival at Elkhorn South in March and one at UNK in April to give students from all across the state an opportunity to surround themselves with other writers and immerse themselves in writing they don't normally get to do at school: screenwriting, science-fiction, performance poetry, photography and writing, writing marathons, etc. and to learn about opportunities to publish their work and have a chance to share their writing at our closing open mic. I have to tell you...this is a ton of work! But...I am PUMPED to be able to do this. I've been emailing people like crazy today about leading breakout sessions and helping with the event. This is such an incredible opportunity for Nebraska students, AND it's a great way to promote the good work the Nebraska Writing Project does to other teachers. In a few weeks I'll be creating a website for the event and designing t-shirts for students to purchase. Be watching for updates...and if you're interested in helping out, shoot me an e-mail :)

Blogging For the NWP

This weekend teachers from the National Writing Project (NWP) are engaging in a blogging campaign to help restore funding for our program.

On March 2nd, Congress eliminated earmarks which provides funds to many educational programs including the NWP--a program proven to improve student achievement and increase teacher effectiveness. The executive director of the NWP, Sharon Washington, states:

“This decision puts in grave jeopardy a nationwide network of 70,000 teachers who, through 200 university-based Writing Project sites, provide local leadership for innovation and deliver localized, high-quality professional development to other educators across the country in all states, across subjects and grades. In the last year alone, these leaders provided services to over 3,000 school districts to raise student achievement in writing.”

I am writing as a teacher-consultant for the Nebraska Writing Project housed at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I have been involved with the NeWP for three years taking courses and helping to organize professional development activities for teachers that have improved student performance and student learning as well as the quality of teaching in our great state.

I began my teaching career in August of 2008 at a rural high school in southwestern Nebraska. I had not yet completed my student teaching experience, but the district was in dire straights--so they hired me--a college student with no degree and no teaching experience. I jumped in head first to a load of eight preps in an eight period day: English 11, Practical English 9-12, Creative Writing, Journalism and Yearbook and was the assistant speech coach. I made it through my "student-teaching," graduated in December and was officially considered a full-time employee with the district. The school was fantastic, and the kids were just as awesome---the load was not. I resigned in March of 2009 with no job lined up. After eight short months, I was exhausted and wanted to be done with teaching. I loved it, but if this was what teaching was---I wanted out.

Meanwhile, the Spanish teacher across the hall urged me to apply for the Nebraska Writing Project's Summer Institute. I completed my first Summer Institute in June of 2009.

That four-week course equipped and energized me to return to the classroom. It provided me a network of the best K-16 teachers in our state who are dedicated to education reform, researching and implementing best practice and equipping students to become writers and learners. Without this course, I would not still be teaching.

This is my second year teaching high school English with Ogallala Public Schools, and I have had the chance to reach over 200 students. Recently my English 9 students at Ogallala High School were featured in our local paper, on the local radio station, and on our local news channel for completing social action projects for a class project that made a difference in our own community. Two of my students raised $835 for a local resident battling cancer. Without support and training from the NWP, I would not have been able to tackle a project like this and consequently, my students would not have had this wonderful opportunity to become catalysts for social change.

Without funding for the NWP, our country may lose an invaluable partner in education for students and teachers alike; we would not be able to provide the quality professional development that truly keeps teachers teaching.

Musings From the River Market Writing Marathon

On Friday I went on the River Market Writing Marathon in downtown Little Rock. Basically I wondered around the River Market area, pausing to write here and there. Then after two hours, we all met up and read portions of our work from the marathon. It's a pretty cool process. Here are some very raw tid-bits from the event:

Outside the River Market area in downtown Little Rock

A pad of paper--nothing fancy. A smooth pen, good food, and pleasant people are the ingredients for a writing marathon.

***

On my drive to Denver yesterday I wondered about unwritten love songs. The ones we sing in the silent hours on long drives through miles of uninhabited land. I wondered about the songs we sing and poems we compose for forbidden lovers. And I wondered how many people keep these songs locked tight, deep in their bones, not a word breathed to anyone. It seems if we let out these songs that our bones would ache less--our shoulders not so tense--our minds clearer. But on second thought, what chaos is unleashed by the simple act of releasing these songs?



Facing the Arkansas River
What a great, serene space. The act of writing is so simple; not much is needed to make writing happen. But place seems to have an effect on writing--well, it does on my writing. A busy street teeming with life--a cozy coffee shop with folk music crying from the speakers--an outdoor landscape---all give me the itch to write, to compose, to spill my guts out on paper. And places like where I'm at now make me dream. I once wanted a life in a city--Chicago or New York--someplace I could make art. And in my 17 year old mind--these were the only two places one could make art. I wanted a place where I could thrive creatively, and in a sense--I think I still want that. I think I will always want that. But I wonder, with a hint of fear, if I'll ever be content with where I'm at. Am I a grass is always greener on the other side type of person? Now that I'm a little older and wiser, I know that art can be made anywhere. It's not the location that matters. It's the passion within that makes all the difference.

Leaving on a jet plane...

In about 35 minutes I'll be boarding a plane headed to Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently I'm at DIA fighting the urge to fall asleep! I drove to Denver from Ogallala this morning---took a few wrong turns (I have no sense of direction)---and finally arrived at DIA. I'm headed to the National Writing Project's Rural Sites Network Conference, and though it sounds nerdy--I'm stoked. I'm a geek at heart. Here is what my schedule looks like for the next few days:

Friday:
Tour of Central High School Museum
Writing Marathon at the River Market
Social and banquet

Saturday:
Sessions all day (I present at 2:15)

Sunday:
Back to Ogallala

I'm ready to learn a lot and experience a little piece of Arkansas!

Conference Presentation

Today I took a personal day so I could work on my presentation that I'll be giving at the National Writing Project's Rural Sites Network conference in Little Rock, Arkansas next week. I've been a bit overwhelmed with the whole presentation---I'm actually co-presenting with a doctoral student from Michigan, so we're working on it together using Google Docs. She is amazing. I went to two of her presentations this fall, one at NCTE and the other at the National Writing Project Annual Conference. She is active with her local Writing Project and is on the National Tech. Leadership Board through the National Writing Project. She's presenting at something like three other national conferences this month---I'd end up in the wrong state at the wrong time if that were my schedule!

This conference thing has been a source of anxiety for me. I have felt completely inadequate and frankly, not smart enough--it's a humbling experience, so it's taken me awhile to even get started. But, I always tell my students that they won't fully grow if they remain comfortable. I am definitely learning a lot through this. It's pushing me to think outside of the box to connect two seemingly opposite ideas, dig deep into theories on digital philosophies and consider a variety of backgrounds while creating a presentation for an audience I virtually know nothing about. I'm still waiting to receive feedback from our coach (someone from the National Writing Project who is working with us to develop and hone our ideas) on what I've accomplished today. Let's hope I receive at least one thumb up!

This week the program for the conference was mailed out to us and I got to see my name and our presentation write-up. It seems completely insignificant, but I was really pumped to see it!

Bringing Web 2.0 to Town: Using Technology to Enhance Student Learning in Rural Areas

This is the official title of the presentation I'm scheduled to give at this year's Rural Sites Conference affiliated with the National Writing Project in Little Rock, Arkansas! I will be collaborating with a professor from Michigan to create a 75 minute presentation on using technology to enhance education for rural students for rural teachers. I am so thrilled to have this opportunity and a little nervous as I'm a bit new in the business of presenting to teachers. More details to come!

NWP/NCTE

Last week I had the chance to travel to Orlando, Florida to attend the National Writing Project conference and the National Council of Teachers of English conference. I attended sessions on digital literacies, Google Apps for Education, teaching in rural places, video gaming in the Language Arts classroom, content area literacy, social justice in the English education setting, and using Google Docs as a collaboration tool. I realize these may sound extremely dull to the average person, but they were incredible. I learned so much that I could take back to my classroom. Though I'm not a Disney World fan, it was a nice get away. Here are some photos from the trip:

Me with Cyndi and Erin Gruwell--the original Freedom Writers teacher

At Epcot--it sounds silly, but when I was a kid, I always imagined that the park was inside that big Epcot ball. For your information, the park is not inside the ball. I was a bit disappointed.

Cyndi and I enjoying a bit of sunshine before hitting the exhibits at NCTE

Cyndi with her loot---we each scored about 60 free young adult books @ the NCTE exhibits...

Last night at Disney= ranting about the commercialism of the whole experience. We were so outraged we decided to be rebellious and climb the "Mayan ruins." A few other swimsuit clad travelers decided to join us for the experience. We were promptly encouraged to climb down the ruins from a relatively kind Disney worker.

More fun with the Mayan ruins...

Nebraska Writing Project

This Monday and Tuesday I was at the beautiful Benedictine Mission House in Schuyler, Nebraska for the Nebraska Writing Project advisory board retreat. It's a peaceful and calming place. Throughout the two days we (20 teachers) reflected on our accomplishments and struggles last year and planned for the year to come. There's a lot that goes into planning an entire program that provides professional development in the area of reading and writing for teachers!

So far I've taken 15 hours of Nebraska Writing Project classes (and am in the process of taking 3 more), and I have LOVED every minute of it. Each course has offered me excellent and practical professional development--I've had the chance to question, evaluate and improve my own teaching, develop personal and professional relationships with some of the best teachers in our state, and develop a love for inquiry. This year I'm also serving on the advisory board--which is a great privilege.

If you are a teacher who is looking for growth opportunities--please consider getting involved with the Nebraska Writing Project. You don't have to be an English teacher to do this because ALL teachers can use reading and writing in their classes!

I Love Technology

For the past three weeks I've been taking a Nebraska Writing Project course that is all about incorporating technology into the writing classroom. We've evaluated the effectiveness of technology, have been introduced to cool tools, and have had time to develop projects we can take back to our own classes. My focus for this institute was Google. I love Google. Next year my 12th grade students will be using Gmail, iGoogle, Google Docs/Presentations, and Google Sites. If you aren't familiar with these free Google services, I'd seriously recommend checking them out.

If you're interested--here are a few of my favorite tools from the Tech. Institute (they're ALL free):

• Jing--a website that allows you to create a video of onscreen action (like a tutorial...how to use Google Docs for example) and record your voice
• Evernote--this is an amazing place to store and organize notes, reminders, pictures, whatever--it has a great searching system. I've even taken pictures from my phone of things I want to remember (covers of books, notes on the whiteboard in a class, etc) and emailed them to my Evernote account
• Remember The Milk--an electronic To-Do list. You can enter a task, give it a due date, and write a memo about it. You can also use it to create calendars and other cool things. I've placed this app on my iGoogle site (which is set as my homepage) so I can constantly see what things I need to do.

Cooperative Learning

Now that it is my 2nd year teaching I feel like I can try some new things in my classroom. This year I've hit the ground running with a few new teaching tools; one of them is cooperative learning. I have to give my sister in-law, Amy Nebesniak, credit for this because she is a guru on this teaching method, and I became interested in it after reading her thesis a few years ago. In fact, I did my EQUIP presentation over this in the Nebraska Writing Project (NeWP) this summer. In a few weeks I will be conducting an inservice with late elementary teachers on how to implement cooperative learning into the writing classroom, so this blog posting will serve as my brainstorming for planning for the inservice.

I am no expert on this method, but I'm trying to use it as much as possible in my English 9 classes. During the third week of school I went ahead and put my students into mixed ability teams, I tried to make sure each group had a high-level learner, two medium-level learners, and one low-level learner. I also tried to create teams so that each team had a mix of males and females. Once the teams were established I had the teams do a teambuilding activity. For this particular one students took some time to get to know one another first. I should have given the students interview questions for this activity, but I wasn't thinking that far in advanced! After that, they came up with a team name and created a team Wordle (stolen from an NeWP participant- Holly Mains) that displayed their team name, their individual names, and charecteristics of their team. The kids had a blast doing it and the Wordles served as great decorations for my classroom.

While in these teams, the students worked on composing a This I Believe essay (another idea from the NeWP that Louisville teacher Paula Anderson uses). I used NPR's This I Believe curriculum and incorporated cooperative learning alongside. For example, when discussing introductions, conclusions, and juicy details the students worked in jigsaw groups so each group member became an expert on that particular part of the essay. This worked really well because each student knew that he/she was responsible for learning enough about a specific part of the essay so that he/she could go back to the team and teach it to his/her teammates. Another benefit to this was that all students were actively engaged. Had I done this the traditional way where I had converted the readings into a powerpoint for students to follow along with, I would've had a few students snoozing simply because there would've been little to no interaction.

During the course of the This I Believe unit, students grouped their desks together to work in teams. When students had questions while writing, they consulted their writing groups. Convincing students to direct their questions to their writing teams was no easy task because they have been conditioned to ask the teacher when they have questions. However, I want my students to feel comfortable asking questions of one another, so I encouraged them to ask their writing teams. This does not mean that I never answered a question. However, I did instruct students to first ask their writing team and if they still couldn't come up with an answer that the team could ask me the question. Eventually, the writing teams became interdependent.

In order to emphasize writing as a process, we completed three drafts of our TIB essays and each draft needed a new author's note. The author's notes aloud students to articulate what they liked about their essay and what they needed help with. Each draft received a writing workshop from the team. We structured the read and feed process just like the process we used for writing group time during the NeWP:

1. One student is the designated time cop for the day. This person makes sure that each person gets 5-10 minutes in the workshop.
2. One student reads his/her essay and author's note aloud without apologizing.
3. Each teammember points out one positive aspect of the student's essay (a warm fuzzie) and one thing the writer could do better--we talked about a variety of methods to give constructive feedback...many students used, "If this were my essay I would do ______________ instead of ____________." Some students also chose to take notes and
4. The writer thanks his/her team for their feedback.

As I floated around the room I noticed that students were quick to share warm fuzzies and hesitant to give constructive-feedback or to point out spots that needed improvement which is exactly what I expected. After each workshop we reviewed how we could give good feedback and why we want good feedback. The more times we did this writing workshop thing, the better students got at it. At the end of the entire unit, students turned in three drafts of their This I Believe essay and a podcast of their essay that they also received feedback on from their teams. For the most part, the read and feed paid off. Many students made adequate revisions and ended up scoring pretty high on the essay.

Now, everything was not all a bed of roses. I had one class of ten students that resisted working in teams. The class dynamic is interesting to start out with, but the teamwork thing just was not appealing to this group of students...in fact, many of them refused to even participate. I stuck it out to the end of the unit, but I am going to cool it on cooperative learning with these kiddos for awhile. I do appreciate cooperative learning and feel like it has a lot to offer, but I need to figure out what works best for this class first.

During our daily writing time I had students review the unit. I asked them three questions:
1. What did you learn during this unit?
2. Did you enjoy this unit? Why or why not?
3. How did your teams work out?

Here is some feedback I received from students:

"I liked it, I got help and encouragment."--C.B

"I learned that having other people read your essay before you hand it in helps." --K.B

"I liked discussing our essays and hearing others." -C.E (many studnets appreciated reading and listening to one another's essays because it gave them something to relate to).

"I did enjoy this assignment because I love writing and working with groups. I enjoyed writing on the computer and doing a podcast. It was nice to write about what we wanted to write about. I learned how to open up with my group and also how to listen to others. I liked working with a group because I don't usually work in groups because I like working alone. I've just always been an independent person and to work in groups was something new and fun." --J.G

"I loved working in my group because they kept their feedback positive, but at the same time they told me some things I needed to work on and improve. It is always ood to hear feedback from someone your own age!" --C.V.

"People were very specific of what they did like, which is good. But when it came to where you would say something ithey needed to work on, no one was very specific. We would just say things like, 'you could describe things more.' But we wouldn't say what specifically they needed to describe more. I think we did tha tjust because it was our first day reading the others' work. I think that no one wanted to hurt anyone's feelings. But I think that the more we are in these groups, the easier it will be to help the others on specific things." --J.P

I also took notes on what I thought we could improve on based on student evaluation of their writing groups:
1. More time needs to be designated to writing groups
2. Some students were either too quiet or were not focused
3. Some students felt judged
4. Some students wished they had received stronger feedback
5. More communication
6. More enthusiasm for workshops
7. Work on listening sills
8. No laptops allowed (we are a 1:1 school) during group time because they become a distraction

I am setting up new teams this weekend and we will begin this process again while discussing the 6 Traits of Writing. We'll see how these teams work!

NeWP: Week 1

My first week in the Nebraska Writing Project is over and I am about to begin my second week. I can honestly say that I enjoy this program. There are 18 people total, three facilitators and 15 Nebraska teachers ranging from 1st grade to college professors. Here is a typical day in the NeWP:

1. Free-write for 10 minutes
2. Meet with our permanent small groups to share a new piece of writing and receive feedback
(1 hr.)--this is probably one of my favorite parts. I truly enjoy reading writing from my group members and receiving helpful feedback to better myself as a writer.
3. One of the class members presents their EQUIP for 90 minutes. This is a project that we develop based on expertise we may have with a certain topic/issue (E), questions we may have about education or any other pertinent issue (QU), inquiry into an issue/topic (I), or problems we see or may have in our classrooms (P). I have to be honest, at first I was extremely intimidated and scared of this portion of the program. But after participating in the first week of EQUIPs and starting research on my own EQUIP, I am excited.
4. We usually break for lunch around 1 or 1:30
5. Afternoons are dedicated either to guest speakers who are experts on writing and teaching, time with small groups to inquire about professional development topics (I just finised reading "Writing to Change the World" by Lincoln author Mary Pipher), or writing time to respond to people or to post on the National Writing Project's E-Anthology (an on-line forum for all NWP participants to write and respond).

It counts as six hours towards my master's degree, but I see it as so much more than a requirement. I have already learned so much and have met many great people, it seems that Nebraska is full of great people :)

Until next time,
D

Summer plans...

I know it is way early to be planning for summer, but Nate and I have already began planning. Nate will be starting his Masters at UNL this summer. He will be taking 9 hours in 5 weeks to work towards a Masters of Music Education. He is very excited to get started :) He is so much like his sister Amy. Both Amy and Nate are teachers who want to grow in knowledge and experience because they care so much about their students. I look up to Nate and Amy and hope that I can be as successful and motivated as they are!

I will also be taking 6 hours of graduate credit at UNL this summer! About a month ago I applied for the Nebraska Writing Project. I had never heard of it, but the teacher across the hall from me gave me a flyer for the program and encouraged me to apply. So, I did...and I got an acceptance letter yesterday. The project does a variety of things, but mostly (from what I understand) it gives teachers a chance to develop and share meaningful writing lessons and projects. The program also allows time for teachers to work on their own writing. Luckily, both Nate's classes and my classes will be during the same 5 weeks. We feel so blessed to be able to have these opportunities to further our education and to have wonderful family who will let us crash at their place during this time (thanks Amy and Pat)!

To read more about the NWP, visit: http://www.unl.edu/newp/