NWP Spring Meeting, 2006
Washington, D.C., NWP, and lost luggage
by Patti Lee Konechne, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher, Oral Interp. Coach, Drama Coach at Kimball School, and DWP Fellow-Summer, 2004
I had been to Washington, D. C. before this spring—last summer, in fact. I am a seasoned traveler. My family and I have taken many trips by car throughout the United States. Plus, I’ve lived in some pretty big cities in my time—Fort Knox, Kentucky and the South Bronx in New York, to name a few—so I felt pretty prepared to take on flying as a travel experience. It didn’t take long, however, for me to find out that traveling via plane is light years away from the type of ground transportation I’m used to.
My travel tribulations began, in, of all places, Sioux Falls. We were delayed 45 minutes at the Sioux Falls airport. As it was, I only had one hour to switch planes in, (Dare I say these next words? Run for the Ativan if you must!) the Chicago O’Hare Airport. I arrived at gate F9 in Chicago with less than 15 minutes to get to gate B12, and literally ran through the airport, barreling through children and elderly people along the way. I must have said, “Excuse me, please” 200 times! I finally arrived, panting, at my gate, where I was ordered to “Hustle!” as the gate was closing within one minute.
Two hours later I arrived at Reagan International Airport in Washington, D. C. Eager to officially begin my NWP experience, I ran downstairs to baggage claim, anxious to grab my luggage and get going. I waited. And waited. After about 45 minutes of watching everyone else’s luggage circle around the carousel, I trudged to the United Airlines office for some assistance. It turns out that my luggage was in Florida but “should be back anytime.” I was told to have a cup of coffee, relax, and wait. Because of the late hour, coffee was nowhere to be found. After waiting what seemed an eternity, my luggage arrived from Florida—finally, success! Now that all of the bad luck was out of the way, I knew the rest of my trip would be awesome!
At the Washington Court Hotel, the concierge and bellhops were totally at our disposal. And, a little pampering was exactly what I needed after my traveling quandaries! At the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D. C., if you want it, you got it—for a price, of course. Michelle and I had a beautiful view of the U. S. Capitol Dome from our window. I spent so much time gazing at it, and soaking it in, both in the middle of the night and during the day. (I say “middle of the night” because ambulance and police sirens droned 24/7: I was awakened many times each night.) In the D. C. sunshine, the U. S. Capitol stood tall, proud of all the important work being done inside during the day. At night, when illuminated, it seemed to be resting from the long, tiring hours required of it, yet, quietly, patiently, waiting for the next day to begin.
Thursday: A Day with Legislators
On Thursday, April 6th, 2006, our day began in the Atrium room of the Washington Court Hotel. We received our packets and were given highlights and statistics of the NWP. Our group of 320 was privileged to be graced with the presence of several legislators, who came to the Washington Court Hotel that morning to personally thank us for all of our efforts in working with NWP, for being there to help secure continued legislative support, and for trying to convince other legislators not yet “on board” to understand the importance of this national program.
The following legislators were present to speak to us: a spokesperson for Democrat Representative George Miller from California; Republican Senator Thad Cochran from Mississippi, who was NWP’s original sponsor in the Senate; and Republican Representative Roger Wicker from Mississippi. Next, we watched a PowerPoint Presentation from Inverness Research Associates. They are an educational research and evaluation group located near San Francisco, and have evaluated NWP for over ten years. This presentation pointed out specific statistics, such as how NWP helps teachers get help with teaching not only writing, but also teaching reading and using technology; how NWP institutes promote classroom practices associated with writing achievement; and how NWP continually helps provide high quality professional development to teachers across the nation. We were then given a “Pep Talk” and a list of do’s and don’ts to keep in mind while visiting with our legislators: then they turned us loose!
Our “Roles” in Talking with Each Legislator
Michelle shared her experience with DWP, both as a participant and facilitator. She talked a lot about the technology connections and how technology continues to evolve in DWP. Michelle gave the history and purposes of DWP, and gave the nuts-and-bolts information in explaining how DWP is set up and run.
I gave my perspective as a classroom teacher in a public school. I shared how my connection with DWP as a participant carried over to how I use this information in teaching my students. I shared how I felt DWP has contributed to the upward creeping, albeit slow, rise in my fifth grade students’ writing scores. I explained how I implement many strategies learned at DWP into my writing curriculum, how I sometimes act as a “consultant” when other schools see our writing scores rising and would like me to share with them what I am doing in my classroom to bring scores up. Therefore, many ideas/strategies I learned in DWP have rippled from the facilitators, to me, to my students, to other teachers in other schools, to their students, etc.
Representative Stephanie Herseth
Our first stop was to the Cannon Building, where we visited with Kelsey M. Johnson, Representative Stephanie Herseth’s Administrative Director. Kelsey was not familiar with NWP/DWP, so we filled her in. She is a graduate of the University of South Dakota, so both Michelle and I established a connection with her right away. Kelsey was young and pleasant, and seemed truly and genuinely interested in us and what we had to say. Kelsey told us that Stephanie Herseth believes in and supports DWP/NWP and assured us that we can count on her support. Yes, we were “preaching to the choir,” but it was a great first stop!
Next, we headed to the Russell Senate Building for our meeting with John Thune. We didn’t get very far. Constitution Avenue was fenced off, and there was a crowd of people milling about.
“Bomb threat,” a red-haired woman next to us said cheerfully. “This happens at least once a week. Wait an hour or so, and you’ll be back on your way.”
She did not appear fazed by this, nor did anyone else. We plopped down on a bench and passed the time by staring at tan, muscular, sweaty construction workers for about forty-five minutes.
Senator John Thune
We first met with Mollie Zito, Thune’s Legislative Assistant. She was young, friendly, and very responsive. John Thune soon joined us. I had met John Thune previously several times, and so we engaged in some pleasant, friendly conversation. Thune listened to us politely and attentively, was courteous and seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say. As we were leaving, Michelle asked him if we could count on his support, and Thune replied, “I agree that NWP is a very worthy cause.” We had our picture taken with Senator Thune.
After he left, Mollie told us that Thune didn’t sign the “Dear Colleague” letter because there are so many groups that ask him for his support, and he chooses only a few to commit to directly. Upon leaving, we informed Mollie that Republican Senator Thad Cochran was NWP’s original sponsor in the Senate.
Senator Tim Johnson
Tim Johnson was very much pro-active in running the meeting and had done his homework. He was very rushed but gave us his full, undivided attention, even when his Legislative Assistant was standing at the door, indicating that time was up. Johnson was very interested in knowing about steps being taken to better train teachers to teach writing, and how the No Child Left Behind Act affects the teaching of writing and the classroom in general. Michelle was able to give information about steps being taken at USD to help teachers become better prepared to teach writing, and I was able to share my personal experiences and insights on NCLB’s effects on writing, and generally in the public education classroom. Johnson was very interested in what we had to say and stated that we can count on him for continued funding of NWP. We also had our picture taken with Senator Johnson.
In all three of our S. D. legislators’ offices, I felt as if it was “old home” week. It seemed that every legislative assistant was from South Dakota, and/or had attended a S. D. University. I saw people I know from South Dakota, or had a connection with in each office. We even ran into my friend Elaine Roberts, who was in D. C. lobbying for state legislative issues. Elaine continues to be a strong supporter and advocate of education and teachers in South Dakota.
The Rest of the Day
Our day continued with a wild ride in a taxi. I asked our cabdriver to go to the Jefferson Memorial where there were supposed to be beautiful cherry blossoms. I was determined to get my picture taken next to the brilliant, blooming, infamous cherry blossoms. He misunderstood us and took us to the WWII Memorial. We re-explained our destination, and two u-turns later in heavy traffic, we were there. Once we arrived at the Jefferson Memorial, our cab driver, who had just cut across six lanes of traffic to do a u-turn, twice, in heavy traffic, with people gesturing and honking horns at him, was reluctant to pull over inside the quiet, traffic-free parking lot, so we could get a picture. We finally convinced him to slow down, and I quickly jumped out. Michelle snapped my picture in front of the dead cherry blossom trees. Yes, dead, everywhere we went, we were told the cherry blossoms had just died out, yesterday, or that we had just missed the beautiful blooms by a day or two.
We did manage to engage our cabbie in a bit of conversation. He was originally from Ethiopia. He informed us that in Washington, D. C., it costs $1,500.00 to rent a one-bedroom apartment, and the cost of utilities is astronomical. For example, it costs $600.00 per month just for garbage collection! This information reminded us once again not to take for granted the cost of living in our home state of South Dakota.
On Thursday evening, we attended a social at the historic Post Office Museum, where we were served some exotic hors d’oeuvres. Because Michelle is pretty connected in the NWP world, I had the opportunity to meet many fellow NWP members from across the U. S. and do a little networking myself.
Friday’s Meeting . . . and Some Conclusions
On Friday morning, we were privileged to be able to listen to the keynote speaker, Glynda A. Hull from the University of California-Berkeley. She runs a program called DUSTY-Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth. She works with students of different racial, ethnic, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. She shared many examples of how she uses multimedia modalities to articulate pivotal moments in their lives. Her stories and slides shared her successes with students of all ages, and we were all moved and inspired by the power of her work and this program.
Round Table discussions were next. I attended one called “Improving Students’ Academic Writing.” Jayne Marlink, from the California Writing Project, shared samples of student writing and talked about the writing program she helped create, its history, and its effectiveness. She explained that they really had to work hard at convincing peers, administrators, and parents of the program’s merits. However, the program is now very successful as evidenced by students’ writing and continued improvement in students’ writing scores.
I also attended a Round Table discussion entitled, “How Does the Teaching of Writing Change After the Summer Institute?” This was eye opening. I found out that, nationally, some teachers actually go back to doing what they’ve always done in the classroom and don’t apply any new strategies learned. Some teachers, however, act as mentors for other writing teachers and try to implement and adapt ideas to their own personal teaching situations. I heard quite a few success stories that had been ignited by the Writing Project Summer Institute experience.
Even though my trip had gotten off to a rocky start, my NWP Spring Meeting experience turned out to be awesome! It was amazing to witness first hand how “Washington D. C. works.” It was so exciting to be in and amongst those that make decisions about and for our country. I strongly encourage you all to consider attending next year.
—Patti Lee Konechne
P. S.: I arrived back in South Dakota on Saturday, April 8th. My luggage arrived the next day.
