Fall 2010_Writing Project Site Updates

Area 3 Writing Project
Local Version of CWP Connections (Capital Connections)
Summer Read – Pyrotechnics on the Page by Ralph Fletcher which lead to a year-long study on “Playing with Writing & Playing with Words” – TC Inquiry Group. This group is geared just towards TC’s – paid small stipend to lead book study group on their site.

San Diego Area Writing Project
Fall Conference
Open Program – 1 Week “Reading Like a Writer”
Study Group – Non-Fiction Mentor Text, Katie Wood Ray-Illustration Study, iWrite (tech), Drive-Daniel Pink

San Joaquin Valley Writing Project
Literary Book Club – 3 books
The Writing Workshop (Katie Wood Ray)
Young Author’s Program
Community College Study Group
Inquiry into Vocabulary Development
What’s Hot/What’s Not Study Group
National Day of Writing
National Writing Project Annual Meeting in November

Great Valley Writing Project
Selected to write a NWP Monograph
Online Book Group – Antonio’s Gun
Book Study – TC Connections
4th Year Contract with Byron School District
Supporting Oakdale Unified School District in forming their own ELA Continuum- Designing Writing Program.
SI Mini – 1 Week Institute
7 Academies (6 with ELL focus and Migrant Education)
NWP Rubric for scoring

Central California Writing Project
Large Mini-Writing Institute Professional Development
Family Literacy- Migrant Education Focus

Northern California Writing Project
Spring Conference – Turning around low attendance – Teacher inquiry are moving towards 90% Online due to
Symposium Research
4 Saturday Series (20 participants)
Book: Hidden Gems – Katherine Bomer

Reflection Questions/Comments for Future Sessions

Reflection Questions
1.) What might you share with others in CWP Connections?

2.) Do you have others at your site who have something to share? Who?

3.) What topic(s) should we include in the future?

4.) Do you know of any resources, articles that might be useful?

5.) Any other suggestions do you have?

Fall 2010_National Day of Writing Ideas Shared

Ideas Shared at Fall 2010 Meeting for National Day of Writing

School-wide Collaborative Mystery *Note: Self-publishing site- Blurb (www.blurb.com)

School-wide “I write because….” *Note: If you want to purchase “I Am A Writer” sticker email

School-wide Family Night on Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
*Note: Bound the books before they left so they can take it home. Also gave the families the opportunities to read their story on the Open Mic before they left. Karen can send everyone the page layouts for the books they used via email.

Upper Elementary Museum Field-trip

Family Literacy Day (K-2)

School-wide 6 word memoirs for the entire Junior-High

40-sentence Collaborative Poem (Found Poem) – Revised together

Great – Greater – Greatest Story (Revision Process)

School-wide Fair where junior high students rotated through classes like Interviews, Infomercials, Accident- Just the Facts

1st Event for Family Night Series *Share Chairs & Rubber-band Books

Fall 2010_Great Valley Writing Project

Great Valley Writing Project

Topic: ELL Migrant Academies run by TC’s

All Migrant Academies are united by the following:
1. TC’s get to pick their topics
2. Migrant/ ELL student population
3. High Standards for Academic Language & Behavior
4. Does not have to be only aligned to ELD Standards but developmentally appropriate to who they are as Language Learners.
5. Students generally have a low sense of self-efficacy in regards to academics and when they first begin to participate it requires TC’s to develop motivation & excellent pedagogical strategies to help them transition into seeing themselves as writers
6. Authentic & Independent Support for Student Voices
7. Each academy produces an anthology that each student receives and an anthology also gets placed inside their school library too.
8. Each academy has a Family Literacy night where students hold an open mic

I. Writing Academy – The Amazing Adventure of Wicked Writers
Explicit High Standards for both language use and manners
Hand-picked CELDT Level 3
34 incoming 5th grades from Jefferson County
Strategy- Literary Devices (Onomatopoeia, Simile, Personification)

II. Writing Academy – Non-Fiction Reports
Special Needs Students
5 Paragraph Essay format (goal)
5th graders
Strategy- Pocket Paragraph Strategy

III. Writing Academy – Narrative Writing
K-8 Writing Academy
½ Day District Math & Writing Collaboration
Word After Word After Word – by Patricia McLachlan
Strategy- Golden Line

IV. Writing Academy – Persuasive Rhetoric Writing
50 Students
Incoming 5th, 6th, 7th grade students
Principals hand-picked students
Summer program – Migrant Education Funding
3 TC’s & 2 Mini-corps teachers with migrant education
Sitting directly on the hyphen of Mexican-American straddling the “border” of 6 months in Mexico & 6 months in United States
Strategy- Logos, Ethos & Pathos

Fall 2010_San Joaquin Valley Writing Project

I. An Inquiry into Technology (Blogging) by Caryl Martin

Check out the on-going progress of Caryl's Classroom Blog: www.martinroom30.blogspot.com

1. Attended a Writing Project Technology Boot Camp

2. Blogger.com for directions

3. Have students add to one master post (their writing)

4. Parents/Guardians/Teachers can comment

5. www.animoto.com

6. www.dogonews.com

7. www.wordle.com / www.wordpress.com/ www.imagechef.com

8. 21st Century Technology Standards – On the cusp of writing technology

Fall 2010 Meeting_UC Merced Writing Project

Art & Vocabulary with English Language Learners by Maria Munoz

1. Read articles on famous artists

2. Key words

3. View picture- create one sentence looking at the picture.

4. Using visuals in your writing

What the experts say: “Writing exercises that draw upon visual art as a starting occasion have the potential to make students more sensitive to the visual arrangements of words and the imagistic capacities of language” – Lee Upton.

5. Adding words to the picture (descriptive language) – adjectives/ adverbs/ prepositional phrases

6. Return to sentence to revise using more descriptive language choices.