Fall 2009

Down by the River

The Newsletter of the Tar River Writing Project East Carolina University Volume 3, Issue 1

Upcoming Events
Dec. 5, Teacher Inquiry Project session Jan. 29-31, Leadership Team Spring Visioning Retreat March 24-27, NWP Spring Meeting, Washington, D.C. July 5-30, TRWP 4th Annual Summer Institute You know when you see a picture of yourself, and you just dont think it looks like youYou see it differently; you see yourself in those surroundings differently. Well, I recently saw a picture of me. I was tagged in it, if that means anything to you. It meant something to me. For one of the first times in a long while, I had no needs that had to be met. I sat- rocked, rather- on a slanted, second-floor, southern sanctuary overlooking a sleepy one light town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dillsboro nestles among the whispering trees, but among those tress, those short streets and dainty shops, and animated by (an) existential crisis, we talked. We laughed; we listened, debated and gazed; daringly admired, shared, and planned or plotted. We delighted in theory and dedication, politics and principles, inquiry and definitions satiated by the intoxication. We wrote.

The ECU TRWP joined the UNC Charlotte WP in Dillsboro for a weekend writing retreat, September 19-21, 2009.

Teachers Teaching Teachers

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

I Wont Write a Poem

by Wendy Mumy

I wont write a poem. You cant make me! I wont write a songWont let the music take me! I wont write a skit. Thats just not my bag. Teacher made me write an essay, The miserable hag! I refuse to pen a novel. It takes too many words! You say I should write a memoir? Craziest thing I ever heard! For writing is a personal matter. It eases my soul. Words flowing through me like water Filling me, making me whole. Ill write when Im ready! Ill write what I need.

by Wendy Mumy
Dont force me. Dont beg me. Dont cajole. Dont plead.

"Neither Man nor god is going to tell me what to write" - James T. Farrell

Teachers Teaching Teachers

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

Upon Exiting the Temple

By Alicia Datz
A tale of spiritual awakening
Again, today I was moved by an experience so beyond the finality of language; it moved me deeply, and I emerged slightly changed. I will not forget the sensation of descending a staircase knowing that in only moments, darkness would consume me. Passing through a soft fabric curtain, I walked barefoot on a cold stone floor, running my hands along the smooth rounded walls, finger tips gracing the hard cool surface. I was surrounded by complete and total blackness. (Despite the presence of my peers, I do not really remember them with me.) I drifted in the current . The walls curved in such a way that I was made to walk slowly, deliberately- without expectation. A low yellow light shone upon a massive marbleized stone, an illusion? I reached out to the stone, praying silently, as I my fingers reached out, and each singularly but together brushed the stone. As I touched it, I could see the hand of a friend, but those fingers and palm did not belong to any one person; they were like mine, searching intently. As I ascended the staircase, I was moved to tears. A Japanese monk met me at the landing, and as I stood on the top step, with hand on my heart I bowed looking at him, with sincere gratitude. He stepped around his table, walked toward me, and said in attempted English, a rebirth through the womb of Buddha. I again bowed and said thank you, walking away with tears in my eyes. I cannot pretend to know why I was moved to tears. It was an instant in which time, place, identity, and everything that I am vanished; I was the darkness, reaching for meaning, then pushing to the surface of understanding for a brief moment. I knew a complete connectedness to everything I want to be, have been, and am. I stood on the porch of the Buddhist temple looking beyond the wooden structures, mountains, buildings, and city of Kyoto below, until they too began to block my view of whatever it was that I had seen. As the people behind me reached out for the stone, I was pushed through the final curve of the hall, and surfaced into the light.

News and Notes

After spending a summer in Japan under the direction of John Tucker of ECU's Asian studies program, I participated in a continued Asian studies program offered in conjunction with NCTAN. Furthermore, I participated in the 2009 TRWP Summer Institute. I attended an AVID conference in Dallas, Texas to refine AVID strategies, specifically Critical Reading in the classroom. -Ms. Alicia Anne Datz

We have several excited fourth graders in my rural elementary school who are currently writing children's books and illustrating them based on The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I think this is a result of the core classroom teacher's inspired work and a couple of selfmotivated kids, who are finding additional support and guidance from the librarian and me. I think they would like to publish these books! -Jane Gardner I have conducted four district writer's workshop trainings in Craven County ( June 22, July 28, Oct. 12, Nov. 6) that serviced 104 teachers. I am currently working with NCDPI on the English I Essential Standards Committee and continue to serve as a Writing Advisory Consultant with NCDPI. I have also been asked to present at the Accountability Conference in Greensboro, on February 17th. -Mike Tart

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Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

Dear Flicka, I think your hardy group has been taken by the writing muse! After observing you for the last few years, I think of teachers as dedicated, hard working and serious about their craft. It is a pleasing though to now also picture your group of teacher-writers doing something for enjoyment and fulfillment. Of course, I realize that creative writing is part of the summer program, but still...it is fun, isn't it? You positively glow each evening with the desire to share at least some of what you have written. You put your heart and all your feelings into it, adding voice to the written work. You are always enthusiastic, but this writing adventure has leveraged your interest and creativity to a higher level. If your writings are indicative of the volume and variety coming out of this class, then I would say someone has done an admirable job of bringing opportunity together with motivation. How long would it have taken you to have done all this writing on your own? You have inspiration and time set aside to focus on the writing, plus the obvious benefit of peer review. I think you each encourage one another in a spirit of fun, sans possibility of rejection. A writer's paradise! Well done, all. I just wanted to offer praise where praise is due. I am proud of you, and impressed with how you have spent this rather large block of your summer "vacation". I believe the effect is more lasting and more positive than a perhaps more restful, but less productive, use of the time could ever have been. I think you will all leave the class renewed, and I believe many of you will try to stay in touch for some time to come.. Love, Richard

Letter from a Spouse

The following is a letter exchange between a participant in the 2009 TRWP Summer Institute, Nancy West, and her significant other, Richard. Nancys excitement to share her writing with someone outside the group and Richards response to Nancy, we feel, captures what many have called the transformational process participants experience as they begin to celebrate themselves not only as teachers of writing, but as writers themselves. I owe a lot to the Leakeys, Louis and Mary: They saw something in the shy secretary That led them to invite her on a dig for Origins in East Africa. I fell in love and I never wanted to come home. And so, at 26, with no formal training, My mother flitting nearby, I went back to Africa with the savings I stuffed under the rug To study Chimpanzees. The first time, they wouldn't even let me close! I had to go it alone, so I did. I was the first to slowly gain acceptance to Their lives Their communities Witness their passions. My discoveries of our primate similarities Family bonding- tool using- eating omnivorously, Catapulted me to a quiet fame, Drew Hugo, a National Geographic photographer, To share that fame, that passion. We became lovers, then husband and wife, Had "Grub" (Hugo, Junior), our only son. Eventually, I received a PhD in Cambridge for my work. I found a voice to speak for Chimpanzees. I use it, still.

Dear One, I'm being off-task but was moved to share something I wrote this morning, as a result of this morning's homework. Another teacher's [demonstration of writing instruction] involved integrating science and poetry, and the [homework] entailed reading about a famous scientist and jotting down 10-15 facts about her. I chose Jane Goodall, and was most intrigued by what I found out about her. I will skip for you the various steps of the lesson, but it culminated in writing a free verse poem, which I decided to do in her voice. So here it is. Jane Goodall by Nancy M. West We are all animals, and I knew I was one, early on. I didn't fit with my civilized parents My hedge-lined surroundings of tame, tranquil Britain; I needed the wild to find My tools My community My passion.

bringing opportunity together with motivation

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Teachers Teaching Teachers

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

County Breakdown of SI Participation

Craven County Schools Pitt County Schools East Carolina University Nash-Rocky Mount Schools Martin County Schools Greene County Schools Hertford County Schools Private Schools Fayetteville State University Wilson County Schools Edgecombe County Schools Beaufort County Schools

9 6 6 5 5 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

We'd love to see all counties in our coverage area represented in our Summer Institutes. Let us know how we can get the word out to your district.

Carteret County Schools Lenoir County Schools Pamlico County Schools Jones County Schools Wayne County Schools Halifax County Schools Bertie County Schools Washington County Schools Community Colleges

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Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

Research Excerpts
NWP was first authorized by Congress to receive federal funding in 1991. Congress allocated $24.3 million for NWP funding in FY 2009. NWP sought $30 million in funding for FY 2010. More than 100,000 individual educators each year are reached through NWP local professional development. The NWP Legacy Study shows that 98 percent of NWP Summer Institute participants remain in education until they retire, with 70 percent staying in the classroom throughout their careers. Nine studies conducted from 2004 to 2007 across NWP sites in diverse geographic regions of the country show statistically significant and greater gains in writing performance for students whose teachers participated in NWP programs. Independent national scorings of student writing from the studies show that NWP students improvement outpaces that of students in carefully constructed comparison groups. NWP provides the capacitythe people, skills and knowledgethat makes local improvement efforts possible. In 2007-08, NWP sites raised $23.8 million in local funds. NC Republican, Senator Richard Burr, co-sponsored NWP reauthorization legislation in 2001 as a member of the House of Representatives. Former NC Senator Elizabeth Dole (R) signed the NWP Dear Colleague letter in 2008. Representative Bob Etheridge (D) signed the NWP Dear Colleague letter in 2008.

REPRESENTING TRWP IN WASHINGTON, D.C. NWP SPRING MEETING REPORT

By Terri Van Sickle
Seated in a room of the Senate building with hundreds of teachers representing over 200 local writing project sites from all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as members of the House and Senate spoke passionately about their support of the NWP felt surreal. How interesting it is to be a part of our nations legislative system at work! Part of the work of the Tar River WP is to join with members of other NWP sites from around the nation in Washington, D.C., each spring to lobby Congress for continued funding for our work. Over a three-day period in April, Todd Finley, Will Banks, Jennifer Sharpe, Jonathan Bartels, Stephanie West-Puckett, John Suralik, and I met with Senator Kay Hagans office, listened to research demonstrating the positive effects of NWP on teacher participants and their students, and participated in roundtable discussions on topics such as Teacher Transformation, Online Collaborative Writing Spaces, Ethical Issues in Teacher Inquiry, Family Literacy Programs, Creating a Climate for Equity, Culturally Responsive Literacy Practice, and NWP Teacher Leadership. The weekends docket of speakers included Sharon J. Washington, Executive Director of NWP, Dr. Leslie Fenwick, Dean of the School of Education at Howard University, and Jacqueline Jones Royster, professor of English at The Ohio State University, who spoke about the nection between literacy and the public good. Prior to our visit, George Miller and Todd Platts, of the Committee on Education and Labor, circulated a Dear Colleague letter to fellow legislators, asking them to sign in support of continued funding for NWP in FY 2010. In their letter, they argued persuasively that The NWP is the only federal program that focuses on the teaching of writing. NWP provides teachers with high-quality, ongoing schoolbased support to incorporate technology into 21st century learning. Each NWP site leverages its federal contribution with a combination of state, local, and private funds, making it one of the most cost-effective programs supported by the U.S. Department of Education. The federal investment in the NWP has contributed to dramatic improvement in the writing skills of millions of students. As for us, we needed no persuading. We know fully the impact NWP has on teachers of writing and on our students. On the train ride home, we offered peer reviews of Todds in-process technology article and put on an impromptu writing sprint as we took in the sights through our Amtrak windows and reflected on the work we accomplished on Capitol Hill.

Teachers Teaching Teachers

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

Fall 2010 Technology Institute

The Fall 2010 Technology Institute is a multi-day opportunity for educators to investigate and apply various technologies that reinforce 21st Century learning skills and Department of Public Instruction-recognized digital illiteracies and standards. Although in the final stages of implementation, the Spring Institute offered by the ECU TRWP technology team will address two aspects of technological needs: web-based and computer-based applications. Web-based applications, the more advanced of the two strands, will focus on blogging, podcasting and videocasting, using a wiki, social networking and web evaluation and advocacy. The computer-based strand will concentrate on using Microsoft-based software: Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, Windows Movie Maker, and the intersection and use of these tools on the web. Participants can choose any combination of session for a flat fee of $25.00 per class, or a five-day package is offered at a discounted rate of $100.

News & Notes

Since TRWP, I've definitely spiced up my classroom. Since last year, I've established wiki's for my English classes! The kids really enjoy it, and the majority of them did not know what wikis were until I introduced them. The wiki's have increased class participation and collaboration. I've also integrated daybooks into the culture of my classroom. Many of my students love them as much as I do! TRWP really left me with lots of ideas. -Natasha Martin

I'm taking my students to the Nasher Museum at Duke for a Writing Marathon using their exhibit "Picasso and the Allure of Language" as inspiration this Friday. -Jennifer Smythe Were in the process of using the Multigenre Project. Students seem to enjoy researching and coming up with creative ideas for the project. Projects have not been turned in, but I'm excited about seeing the products! :) -Melissa Denton My students have worked to create Wiki book reports and to create an historical fiction civil war journal entries on antiqued paper. -Danielle Lewis Ange

Teachers Teaching Teachers

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | Fall 2009

Featured Author
Reflections on my summer trip to Japan
Jane Gardner takes a look back at her trip to Japan with an eye for how
the experience can translate into the classroom
written in Japanese format: the words moved from right to left and moved vertically down the paper. The tone of the letter was totally entertaining! There were lots of white spaces instead of indented paragraphs! This switch in format changed the language patterns of the writer, as Observing fifth graders in a Calligraphy class made me want to write. Writing itself appears to be an art form; I saw poetry in the way the Japanese characters relate to each other. The phrases students were copying blended poetry and philosophy together. One topic had something to do with the Moon and wind or earththe exact words escape me. At one Zen Temple, over 200 matted calligraphy pieces by second to seventh graders was on display. At the Kyoto Museum a few days later, I saw calligraphy created on beautifully handcrafted paper by adults, the size of the framed pieces was enormous. Sometimes the calligraphy looked like poetry and sometimes it simply looked like a bold work of art--I couldnt read a word of it. Upon my return from Japan, I presented a small package of beautifully illustrated thin rice paper stationery to a friend who promptly sent me a letter. When I opened the delicate envelop, I cracked up laughing. The letter was well as the way I read the words. Try cooking up a Japanese dish and then copy a Japanese recipe or a haiku with your students and see what happens when you simply change the format! Add some classical Japanese music to inspire your students or a slide show of a Japanese travel log or art work? [email protected]

Resources for teachers:

http://www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2217/ http://library.thinkquest.org/3614/drawing2.htm

by Jane Gardner

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Volume 3, Issue 1 : Fall 2009

Youre Invited to Apply! Summer Institute 2010

Any teacher, kindergarten to college, in any discipline will find a rewarding experience at the TRWP Summer Institute! The more diverse the participants and subject areas, the better the Institute. If you care about student writing and youre interested in spending 4 weeks with some of the best teachers in Eastern North Carolina, then the TRWP Summer Institute is for you!

Apply Today!

http://ww.trwp.org

Tar River Writing Project

Co-Directors Will Banks & Todd Finley Associate Director Jennifer Sharpe-Slater Jonathan Bartels Terri Van Sickle
East Carolina University 2210 Bate Bldg. Greenville, NC 27858 Phone: 252.328.6674 Fax: 252.328.4489 Email: [email protected] http://www.trwp.org

The TRWP Summer Institute is open to all teachers, K College, across all disciplines. The Tar River Writing Project is part of a network of sites located in universities around the U.S. Each site conducts a Summer Institute and sponsors Professional Development and Inservice Workshops during the school year. Sites also design programs that address local issues and the particular needs of schools, teachers, and students in their communities. After the summer is over, participants stay active with the project by returning to their classrooms and engaging in their own teacher research, investigating problems theyve observed as seasoned teachers and considering possible solutions, and by conducting Professional Development workshops for teachers in their area.