Dakota Writing Project

by Greg Dyer (University of Sioux Falls), Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School), and Michelle Rogge Gannon (University of South Dakota)

We’ve started the second year of our DWP Electronic Writing Marathon, in which DWP teachers can explore and write in a variety of online technology environments. Michelle Rogge Gannon (University of South Dakota) and Greg Dyer (University of Sioux Falls) are co-facilitating the marathon again, with this year’s participants including Annie Christain (University of South Dakota), Dawn Lewis (Burke School District), Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School), Deb Harrison (Wall School District), Reva Potter (Belle Fourche Middle School), and Karen Rahn (Rutland School District).

The 2nd-year focus is writing across the curriculum, an idea suggested by a marathon participant from last year, Lindsay Sorben (formerly Bennett County Public School). For three weeks in July, the marathoners explored and wrote in Tapped In , Nicenet , ChainReading , and LiveJournal (weblogging), with weekly meetings in Tapped In to discuss these experiences and think about how these tech environments might be useful for writing across the curriculum. Some specific activities for the first leg of the marathon included posting responses and replying to others’ discussion posts in Tapped In and Nicenet; finding and posting links related to technology and writing in Nicenet; sharing titles of books we’ve read, want to read, and recommend reading in ChainReading; and creating our own blogs using LiveJournal. The next leg of the marathon will be in January, with wiki’s, podcasting, and digital storytelling looming on the horizon.

During the school year, the marathoners will also have the option of engaging in an inquiry project at their schools, using one of these technology environments with a writing-across-the-curriculum emphasis. Two of last year’s marathon participants, Lindsay Sorben and Anne Moege, conducted inquiry projects in their classrooms, applying one of the forms of technology that we explored, Nicenet.

From Anne Moege: “My students mainly used Nicenet’s conferencing feature to write reader’s responses to their literature circle books. We also tried to hold online literature circle meetings. Overall, my students really enjoyed the experience, especially reading and responding to what others had written.”

Both Lindsay and Anne attended the National Writing Project Writing-and-Technology Writing Retreat at Lied Lodge in Nebraska July 26-30, 2006, to develop professional articles about their use of technology in support of writing instruction.

by DWP Director Nancy Zuercher, University of South Dakota

DWP teacher-consultants took part in “Models for Effective Teaching,” the keynote workshop for USD’s Institute for Teachers of Gifted Youth on July 17, 2006. Since all teachers have students with differing gifts, the workshop was valuable for all teachers. Much of this interactive workshop was devoted to critical thinking and other issues beyond identifying gifted students. Internationally-known presenter Joyce VanTassel-Baska is currently President of the National Association for Gifted Children and a designer of research-based teaching models.

Her encouraging and resourceful style of interacting emerged through experiencing her workshop and is useful for most DWP workshops. She began the workshlp with a brief statement of the outcomes she envisioned. Next, she departed from the all-too-often “sage on the stage” by inviting us to discuss our most burning questions about gifted education with the person sitting next to us. After five minutes, she brought us back to the entire group where pairs shared their most important burning questions, which a volunteer wrote on chart paper.

A few excerpts from the resulting list show that the concerns were not limited to gifted students or a particular grade level: “Engagement and motivation of students, ability grouping, flexibility grouping, classroom management strategies for continuous differentiation, reaching everyone in a class, incentives for teachers, individual differences, authentic learning, helping kids become aware of who they are, underachieving students.”

During the rest of the workshop, Joyce VanTassel-Baska interwove items from the list into her plan and continued to draw us in because we had actively helped to shape the agenda. She remained unaware that she was also modeling best practice for DWP workshops.

Six DWP teachers–Mary Begley, Carmen Graber, Stacy Hawkins, Lori Hawley, Carla McMurry-Kozak, and Nancy Zuercher–participated. In support of common goals with the workshop, DWP reimbursed DWP teacher-consultants for the workshop registration fee.

Article draws attention of NWP editor

by Cindy Heckenlaible, Vermillion High School

I attended the NWP Professional Writing Retreat A held in Leavenworth, Washington, August 3-6. The setting was this fabulous mountain retreat nestled in the pines at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. That alone was an inspiration to write. In fact, all participants with whom I spoke indicated that the setting was fantastic despite the additional traveling time needed to get to our destination.

I really had no expectations as far as how our time would be spent; I just knew that we would be busy. The good news was that we had very large blocks of time to write, and we had access to three coordinators, Carol Tateishi, Nancy McCracken, and Eileen Simmons, as well as Art Peterson, editor of NWP’s The Quarterly. Thursday evening was spent going over expectations and getting to know one another. We also briefly introduced our ideas for our articles. Fifteen women and five men who taught everything from kindergarten to college-level students comprised our group.

Friday and Saturday

In some ways I had an advantage over most of the participants because I had come with a paper already written, as part of some graduate work I did last spring. Most came only with ideas that needed to be fleshed out in order to evolve into an article. Each of us was assigned a writing response group; my group was exceptional. We all taught high school students; one was even a math teacher. We really were able to offer and receive helpful suggestions to guide us toward a finished piece. Because my article was farther along, I was able to hook up early with Nancy McCracken so she could direct my writing. She was so positive and offered some critical advice which refocused my piece for publication. I would say that I probably had to rework about one third to one half of my original writing. I met with Nancy twice before I felt I was ready to submit my article to Art. He was busy with another writer, so I sought out Eileen to get her feedback. She was so positive and felt that what I wrote had real potential for publication. Wow, that was so gratifying. It’s always a risk to share writing with someone who has the potential to say “yes” or “no.” I was a bundle of nerves when I met with Art, but he was so supportive. We discussed a few areas where I could enhance the piece, but he told me that he felt teachers needed to hear what I had to share. His final suggestions were fairly straight forward and easily doable.

Even with all of the positive response, I still thought that actually publishing this piece would be some time in the distance, but that night during our final full-group meeting, Art came up to me and said, “I want your piece.” For me that was such a validation of what I do in my classroom. It’s a struggle sometimes to feel appreciated when so many groups out there are telling us what failures we are as teachers. I came away feeling personal satisfaction and a desire to continue to look for teaching practices that will ultimately benefit my students.

I want to thank DWP for the opportunity and the funding I needed to attend. For those of you who don’t feel that you have something to contribute, throw that idea out the window. Santa Fe is calling your name for next year’s retreat. Oh, and by the way, if the writing retreat isn’t enticing enough for you, the food is reason enough to go:)!

The NWP Writing-and-Technology Writing Retreat in Nebraska

by Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School), Jane Overmoe (Watertown High School), and Lindsay Sorben (Bennett County Public School)

Nebraska City’s Lied Lodge brought together an intelligent, talented and multi-faceted group of teacher-writers who integrate technology in their classes at the schools where they teach.

The group of organizers, facilitators, and participants arrived from ten different states on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 26. After icebreaking activities on Wednesday evening, the “real writing” began on Thursday during a writing marathon, where participants could meander around the Lied Lodge and Arbor Day Farm grounds, find a unique spot, and write.

Throughout the retreat, participants were given generous blocks of writing and response time. Other highlights included a technology smorgasbord, in which participants showcased past or current technology projects they and/or their students had developed; mini-sessions in which presenters addressed the topics of writing response, audience, and ethical issues in writing; and guest editors who spoke with us, including Robert Brooke, Director of the Nebraska Writing Project, and Grant Faulkner, an editor with the National Writing Project.

As the days and the group’s writing progressed, so did the comaraderie. Over wonderful meals in the Lied Lodge Timber Room, during writing response groups, and after each day’s events, participants were able to learn more about each other on a professional and personal level. By the end of the experience, retreat members took away not only ideas of using technology within their classrooms and on developing their own professional writing retreats locally, but also new friendships.

The WAT Lied Lodge Experience

By Lindsay Sorben

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

At the meet-and-greet online in Tapped In, we met each other’s “names” two weeks prior to attending the Technology and Writing Retreat sponsored by the National Writing Project. On Wednesday evening, July 26th, we were able to attach faces to those names while we learned a little more (some strange facts, some intriguing) about one another. Writing projects from across the nation were well-represented. Dakota Writing Project had 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 a particular writing topic in mind. 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 about the publishing process and shared 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 offer 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 focused time in this 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 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 intention of publication, you’ll learn more about your teaching and ways to improve student learning.

by DWP Director Nancy Zuercher, University of South Dakota

Ten DWP teachers participated in the three-day Writing to Win Workshop in Mitchell in June. Earning certification as Writing to Win Phase 1 coaches were Melissa Dyson, Lil Manthei, Dixie Lynn Norberg, Tammy Maeschen, Jeannette Jennings, Teresa Berndt, Jon Huber, Debbie Harrison, Lori Hawley, and Nancy Zuercher. Each one can now lead workshops for the program’s Phase 1, Journal Writing.

Writing to Win is based on NWP principles, including teachers modeling their writing for students. Writing to Win also stresses writing often, writing in every class, and self-assessment. On the “Research Base” section of the Writing to Win website, it states, “Writing to Win is a compilation of instructional tools and strategies collected by a group of classroom teachers with whom Dr. Combs worked in the early 1980’s. As he led the creation of the resources guides, the best practice of current research was his guide. Publications of the National Council of Teachers of English, The National Writing Project, The National Curriculum Report, The Center on Education and the Economy and The Assessment Training Institute contributed to the process.”

South Dakota’s DOE has purchased the program and is now in its third year of implementing it, at first through School to Work. Cindy Heckenlaible and Karen Rahn are also certified Phase 1 coaches.

Participation in the workshop is part of DWP’s strategy to place our teachers where they can support and influence state programs with their writing project experiences.