RIWP 2014

 The Rhode Island Writing Project this year was a pleasant experience. I was grateful that I knew more people attending the event in years previous. And although I have attempted in the past, I was actually able to talk to outside teachers this time, some from the middle school I am at currently! I also enjoyed the keynote speaker, Tom Newkirk. I love how he approached Common Core and how to view narrative. I felt I was really able to connect this time around. I think my favorite quote of his was “Untrust of teacher knowledge is Dangerous”  and I am so glad he said it, I only wish it was not just teachers who heard it.

He focused a lot on narrative, and I found it fun that he included a narrative of his own about a call that was made to his home. Police were called into his office claiming that someone broke in. In reality, he just had a messy office. And this supposedly happened to him twice. I wish that writing his narrative was equally as funny as him telling it. According to Newkirk:

Narrative is a central way in which we understand the world

o   Original Ideas are those where we forgot the source!

o   The reader has to see the narrative no more than we need to see the intestines of the writer

I also liked how he transitioned Common Core and narrative into his presentation

“Common Core: What is in our core? Core: heart. Narrative is at our core”

Here are some notes I took during his talk about common core so you can see where I pulled information out and when:

è Common Core:

o   What disturbs me about the common core is the distance/ the absolute lack of questioning

o   High level thinking unless it’s about the common sore “Alignment”

o   Students aren’t reading hard enough things? NO EVIDENCE!

o   “Standard” Texts

o   Investing in spark notes!

o   Students give up reading. They don’t read enough of any kind.

o   They fake it

o   How many kids are ‘fake reading’?

o   “If high level thinking is important we should do some high level thinking about the common core”.

o   “Smarter Balance” sounds like dog food

After Tom Newkirk’s presentation, I attended the Poetry Speed Dating workshop. Most of our class was there which I thought was hilarious. The workshop consisted of the group writing various kinds of poems based on a given prompt. Here was how the workshop was explained:

How it Started:

·         RIWP Summer Writing Camp

·         Skilled and Engaged Writers—but still possessing different abilities and interest levels

·         Instead of one activity, the “Speed dating” angle exposed them to multiple formats

The Process:

·         Gather several (4-6) poetry formats/activities

·         Create stations with copies of one format/activity at each station

·         Divide students into groups and assign each group to a station

·         Set timer (8-10 minutes) and begin first “dating” segment

·         Rotate students to next station each time an 8-10 minute segment expires until all students have visited each station

Some of the prompts for these poems include Epigraph Poems, a short motto or quotation placed at the beginning of a literary composition to help set focus, theme, of tone of the piece. (Favorite quote or a provided quote); or “When I…” poems, poems contrasts current expectations, realities, or prohibits with a collection of behavior changes.

Here is an example of one of my poems:

Packet 4: Fire-Line Emotion Poem (emotion, color, “It happens when…”, “It sounds like…”, Closure)

Eagerness (Fan girl)

Eagerness overwhelms my entire existence

Bursts of color in all directions, like a leprechaun barfed up a rainbow

It happens whenever I hear a story or a quote I have knowledge of

Sounds like a brass band in my heart as I try to bite my tongue before I spoil the story on everyone

Spewing out my entire vocabulary in one sentence as I run on overdrive in eagerness

I have to say I am rather proud of it.

The second workshop was Dizzy Drama. I joined this one mostly so I could be a little foolish. As a teacher, we sometimes have to make fun of ourselves and it can be pretty difficult. I have to say I am a fairly outgoing person but purposefully being silly or acting in front of others can be a little nerve wracking!

I like that the start of the workshop featured the activity ‘an emotional journey’ which we have done in practicum. We each had to write from a student perspective explaining why we may or may not want to work on an assignment. We each dramatically read the quotes we had aloud, mine being, “I need evidence? But I thought this was about my opinion?”

Afterwards, we were grouped up and told to create characters. These characters were created using a character development sheet, which asks for their name and personality. In our groups, we were given a prop and a ‘setting’. Then, we had to develop a conflict for our characters to be in and how they were going to interact and solve the problem. I might have made my character a teen and present day version of William Shakespeare? He ended up taking form of his own once we started acting. As stated during the workshop, “a perfect character is BORING” and William, my character, was far from.

 I think students would like to create their own characters but may be a bit reluctant to act them out. This is why I believe that if a teacher were to use this assignment, they would also have to be involved.

“Most comedy writers work in pairs or groups probably because when you laugh alone too much they take you away in a little white room and let you only eat boiled peas. Comedy is also very personal, and more personalities who agree something is funny, the more chance it really is.” –Barry Lane

è Edgy?

è Music dictate the mood and action

è End of year assessment

è Bring characters together

Overall, the experience here gave me a few new assignments to consider once I start teaching on my own. And that time is getting closer and closer. Already, I am working with students. But what is it going to be like when I am on my own? When I have my own class?