Dakota Writing Project

by Lindsay Sorben, Ellis Middle School , Austin, Minnesota (formerly at Bennett County in South Dakota); DWP Regional Liaison

Four and a half days of intense writing. Four and a half days at Lied Lodge, in the heat and humidity of Nebraska. The building itself was air conditioned, but like the heat, all of the participants were relentless in producing pieces for publication, or at least the dream of having them published.

At the meet-and-greet online in Tapped In, we met each other two weeks prior to attending the Technology and Writing Retreat sponsored by the National Writing Project. On Wednesday evening on July 26, we were able to put those names in Tapped In to actual faces while we learned a little more (some strange facts, some intriguing) about one another. Dakota Writing Project was well-represented with three participants: Anne Moege of Mitchell Middle School, Jane Overmoe of Watertown High School, and Lindsay Sorben of Ellis Middle School in Austin, MN.

Each writer came with at particular topic in mind to write about. Everyone had a different vision, but all came with the common theme of using technology to write and teach writing. In that first night, response groups were set up, consisting of three or four members that had some common thread of interest with their topic. And that’s where things took off.

In between the writing, we had the opportunity to receive feedback from actual editors of different publications. They told us of the publishing process and an editor’s perspective when they receive pieces of writing. One of NWP’s editors was in attendance for the entire retreat to assist with our writing questions and needs. What an opportunity!

Thursday night, we all took a break from the exercise of writing to show off a few of our uses of technology in our classrooms with a smorgasbord of showcases. The displays fueled the teacher-brains, gathering new ideas to take home. These progressions in technology and writing bring even more evidence for the case of the effectiveness of their uses for learning.

In our final night at Lied Lodge, each participant had the opportunity to share a portion, a three-minute reading, of the writing that they had been working on. Creatively enough, one of the facilitators created a timer that would “gong” the reader’s time limit. Intimidating! Each reading left everyone wanting to hear more. Powerful!

Writing, writing, and more writing. Oh, and, dare I say, eating were all a part of the experience. With so much time set aside in the beautiful setting, one couldn’t help but be inspired to put words to paper. But, if any of the participants were like me, my piece took on a metamorphosis. I had a clear vision of what I wanted the focus of my article to be before arriving. By the end of the retreat, however, that focus took a slightly different direction.

This is writing, I suppose. It is a journey of thousands of words muddled together that either do or do not make sense. It’s the playing around of thoughts and questions and answering those uncertainties that leave holes in what we are trying to say. After this experience at the WAT Retreat, I’d have to say that writing is also a community. It is a community that is willing to share what they have (so far) and assist when those visions of the writing become blurred. To celebrate what is accomplished and to support those that need cheers from the sidelines. It is community that reminds us that we are indeed writers!

A challenge to all Writing Project teachers who read this: set your sights on an NWP retreat! Every teacher’s experiences are worth hearing about and worth writing about. Before the school year begins, find a focus for the year. What do you want to improve? What is something new that you’re going to try with your students? Journal about it and document your experience. Then . . . write about it. Even without the intension of publication, you’ll learn more about your teaching and ways to improve student learning.