A Glimpse into the Classoom

One 4th grade homeroom teacher in Japan has his students write and read aloud their "notebook letters" to their classmates. Watch this moving video to reenergize yourself and see the magic of writing in students' lives.

  http://wimp.com/homeroomteacher/

Risa Carles Presents at Oct 2010 Fall Continuity

Nine "fellows" from the Lehua Writing Project met at NHERC in Honokaa, October 23, 2010 from 9-12. After morning greeting and renewing friendships, Jeannine read Pepe the Lamplighter and invited participants to reflect on how they brought light and hope to their students. After writing and sharing in a conference group, Risa Carles shared a teaching demonstration on mood, tone, and imagery. Upcoming continuities are January 29th, 2011 and March 5th 2011. The first annual Spring Conference will be April 2nd.

Please note that you will soon be receiving a survey requesting your input for what programs and services you would like to see the LWP offer Summer 2011-Spring 2012.

Mahalo to all who attended!

Write! Publish! Dance for Joy!

To celebrate the second National Day on Writing this October 20th, why not publish your piece of writing in our own local gallery Na Leo o Hawaii (the voices of Hawaii). We are especially looking for place-based pieces that celebrate life on the Big Island or your own one hānau (sands of birth).

How? Go to our gallery (linked for you here) and on the bottom of the page is a button to contribute your own writing. If you've already submitted a piece, aʻole pilikia (no worries), the gallery can now take two pieces per person.

What are you waiting for? It's time to "let's dance. . .let's shout. . . SHOUT. . .,"and shake those fingers over the keyboard and get writing!  (OK, that's not how the song goes, but you know what I mean).

The Second National Day on Writing Will Be Celebrated in Two Weeks on October 20!

Three NCTE members talk about writing and the National Day on Writing on NWP Radio with NCTE member Elyse Eidman-Aadahl of the National Writing Project:


"A Conversation with Barbara Cambridge": Barbara Cambridge, director of NCTE’s Washington, DC, Office, talks about how and why the first Day and the National Gallery of Writing were established. NWP Radio, October 11, 2010
"A Conversation with Bob Yagelski": NCTE member Bob Yagelski talks about 1,000 writers writing on the National Day on Writing. NWP Radio, October 12, 2010
"Writing at the Center: The National Day on Writing": NWP Radio, October 14, 2010
Sadlier-Oxford Publishers
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. . . Connect with Writing and the National Day on Writing
NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing, from NCTE
Reading and Writing and Teens: A Parent's Guide to Adolescent Literacy, new from NCTE, October 2010
Writing to Read: A Collection of NWP Articles, from the National Writing Project
What Works in Writing Instruction, new from NCTE, October 2010
NWP 2009 Annual Report: Focus on Content Area Literacy, from the National Writing Project
Taking Initiative on Writing: A Guide for Instructional Leaders, from NCTE

Place-Based Learning Experience at Anna's Ranch

Teachers Shawna Fischer and Jeanne Hart (Kealakehe Elementary) at Anna's Ranch

Saturday, September 25 was a beautiful day in Waimea to kick off the Place-Based Learning course sponsored by the Lehua Writing Project. Participants met at Anna's Ranch and immersed themselves in the history of this place.

According to director Jeannine Hirtle, "Anna Lindsey ran that ranch with the help of only one ranch hand from 1945-1995! She brought amazing innovation to cattle ranching here on the Big Island through her intelligence, tenacity, and work ethic! Her legacy is inspiring!"

If you  were a participant yesterday, let us know how it went, and if you feel like you missed out on a great learning opportunity, contact Jeannine at hirtle@hawaii.edu to get more information on upcoming events. 

One more pic, for the cowboys

Storyline Online

One of our 2010 Fellows, Esther Kotke posted this site on our ning, but I finally was able to check it out and had a wonderful experience. The site is http://storylineonline.net/ and students can have some favorite books read to them by professional actors. I listened to To Be a Drum read by James Earl Jones, but I noticed some other LWP favorites like Thank You, Mr. Falker, Knots on a Counting Rope, and Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge.

While the actors do the reading, the video shows the illustrated pages and subtitles appear on the bottom so that students can follow along in their own books or read together from the screen.

In addition, there are activities and questions for each book. The site is out of funding, so they probably won't add any more books, but they have a nice little collection.

To Be a Drum can still be used in my high school class because it's a nice companion piece to Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Sympathy," and it works as a hook to give them some background knowledge to start their research on slavery in America.

Thanks Esther for sharing this resource. If you find resources that would benefit other teachers, let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

Join the English Companion Ning

If you're a secondary English teacher, this is a cheap way to get professional development advice (FREE) from other professionals (your colleagues).

Go to this ning now and join http://englishcompanion.ning.com
Why?
There are 19,476 members - mostly English teachers, some student teachers, some professors, some newbies.
There are 177 special interest groups to join: from new teachers, to teaching with technology, teaching 7th grade ELA, poetry, etc.

This discussion that I took a screen shot of is about how you will spend your first day, first week of the school year 2010. There are 336 replies to this question, and one of them is about creating an animoto of the things the students will do in class for the year and playing that as they come in and before the syllabi are handed out.

So did you join yet?