Don't Miss the First All-Project Meeting of the Year: Saturday, October 21
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Upcoming presentations include: David Kirby and Barbara Hamby on October 15; Douglas Dunn on November 5; Tillie Olsen on February 4; Jim Catano and Rick Moreland on March 11; and the Southern Review Prize winner on April 29.
All events are held at 5:00 p.m. in the LSU Design Building Auditorium. Admission is free for LSU students and $5 for the public. For more information, see the LSU English Department Web site at http://www.english.lsu.edu.
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The Inkspot is a Web site devoted to writers age 18 or younger. The site provides a forum for young writers to receive feedback on their work, links to publishing opportunities, message boards on specific writing topics, and opportunities for on-line writing workshops. The site also has a section devoted to teachers of writing. Check it out at http://www.inkspot.com
Encourage your students to publish those creative writings. Cyberkids (ages 7 to 12) and Cyberteens (13 and older) are free on-line magazines where students can publish their work and enter an annual creative writing contest. See http://www.cyberkids.com or http://www.cyberteens.com
Did you know Starbucks Coffee offers monetary support for literacy initiatives? The Starbucks Foundation has a particular interest in funding writing programs for older youth (ages 12 and up). For information on grant opportunities, go to http://www.starbucks.com/company
A program funded by Michael Jordan and sponsored by the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) provides grants of $2,500 to teachers working with economically disadvantaged students. The grants are used to implement and access classroom activities. For more information on this grant opportunity, see the NFIE Web site at http://www.nfie.org
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Make plans to attend the 23rd National Writing Project Annual Meeting at the Shores of Lake Michigan this fall. Thousands of teachers will convene in Milwaukee as the NWP meeting, November 16-18, 2000, is held in conjunction with the NCTE Convention.
Thursday activities will include in-depth, interactive sessions covering summer institutes, inservice, teacher research, young writers programs, and English language learners. On Friday, participants have more than forty additional sessions from which to choose, varying in topic from ___ to ___.If you haven't received registration and hotel forms in the mail, or if you need additional information, please call Iana Rogers at irogers@iclink.berkeley.edu or (510)642-0963.
National Writing Project Authors and Issues ConferenceAre you interested in attending a National Writing Project meeting, but don't have the time? Why not join your fellow teacher-consultants from across the country in an on-line conference? This month the National Writing Project is offering an on-line, interactive Authors and Issues Conference, featuring Ralph Fletcher, respected children's author, noted consultant on writing, and popular speaker at Writing Project meetings across the country.
Fletcher's books include: Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writers Notebook; Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K through 8; Live Writing: Breathing Life into Your Words; and Walking Trees: Portraits of Teachers and Children in the Culture of Schools.Teacher-consultants are invited to join Fletcher for on-line conversations and reflections about writing and the teaching of writing. The on-line conference, which runs through October 20, 2000 will feature presentations by Fletcher, question and answer sessions, and discussions concerning writing instruction.
Additionally, the National Writing Project has plans for more Authors and Issues Conferences later in the year. For more information, consult the National Writing Project Web site at http://nwp.berkeley.edu.
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The LSU Writing Project recently held its annual Convocation at the LSU Faculty Club where Ann Dobie, Director of the Writing Project of Acadiana in Lafayette, was honored as a special guest. Ann has served as Coordinator of all National Writing Project sites throughout the state of Louisiana. Throughout this time her numerous responsibilities have included the planning of the Festival of Writers, serving as a liaison between the Writing Project and the State Department of Education, and writing grants to promote the activities of the National Writing Project across the state.
In addition to her dedication to our Louisiana sites, Ann has also been an active member at the national level with the NWP Rural Sites Network. After many years of service, Ann stepped down from her position as Coordinator in April, though she will continue her work as Director of the Writing Project of Acadiana. The LSU Writing Project applauds her for her tremendous dedication to and support of the Writing Project and the teachers and students throughout the state of Louisiana.
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The Voice looks for straight-forward, from-the-heart pieces that run from 600-1000 words in length. Why not submit a piece and make your voice heard? For more information contact The Voice at editors@nationalwritingproject.org or (510)642-0976.
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This summer, the LSU Writing Project presented six teacher-consultants with the David England Teacher Researcher Award. Each recipient is awarded $400 to conduct small-scaled teacher research inquiries in their classrooms during the 2000-2001 academic year. As they conduct their studies, the teachers will receive guidance and support from Assistant Professors Margaret Stewart and Claudia Eppert, both of LSU.
The recipients are: Ken Farizo, St. Charles Parish, who will study the impact of Writing Project activities on the practices of classroom teachers; Maia Heyck-Merlin, East Baton Rouge Parish, who will study the influence of peer feedback in the revision process of young writers; Adele Dufrene, LSU Laboratory School, who will investigate the effectiveness of non-traditional spelling techniques with elementary school students, Lauran Breaux, East Baton Rouge Parish, who will implement an oral history / community research project and study its impact on the personal writings of high school students; Libby Bonesteel, East Baton Rouge Parish, will explore teacher, student, and administrative attitudes toward inclusion; Lisa Griffis , St. Charles Parish, will study the interactions and cooperation of students in writing response groups.
These teacher consultants, the first ever to receive the David England Teacher Researcher Awards, have already begun their data collection and will conclude their valuable inquiries in April. We look forward to hearing about their findings.
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A Few Reminders:
- Don't forget to pay your annual dues to the LSU Writing Project. These dues help cover the expenses for All-Project meetings, Convocation, and other events throughout the year. You may bring your $10 to the first All-Project meeting or send it to: Sara Simms, P.O. Box 3468, Paradis, LA 70080.
- We're updating our membership directory with e-mail addresses. If you have an e-mail account and would like it included in the directory, please take a moment the next time you're on-line and send your address to dpierc2@lsu.edu.
- It may only be October, but applications for next year's Summer Institutes will begin arriving at schools in the next few months. I'm sure you're already doing this, but please spend a little time passing on information about the LSU Writing Project to your colleagues, especially those you believe to be successful teachers of writing. We'd love them to apply and nothing encourages this more than the testimonies of our teacher-consultants.
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All Project Meetings: October 21, January 27, April 7
Board Meetings: October 17 , January 23, April 3
National Writing Project Annual Meeting: November 16-18