Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was a visit from Katherine Bomer. I didn't realize that she was one of Lucy Calkins' students and worked with her on what she affectionately referred to as The Box, the extensive unit plans Calkins published through Heinemann. Even if I knew nothing about her pedagogy or her history of writing a famous burnout-because-of-NCLB-and-testing essay, I would be a fan. She listened to our stories, responded to questions thoughtfully, acknowledged concerns, and celebrated everyone in that room as dedicated and caring professionals. She had a lot to say about The Box and how districts and/or individual teachers should & should not use it. We should put her two books on the list for our CBWP library (if they are not already there), and maybe see about bringing her to Corpus at some point.
I also met with Jan about our Open Institute--it's going to be good, y'all. I'll put more about that in an e-mail. I will also put together an official distribution list for the July participants and ask for a reply as an RSVP.
Today was my day for a booktalk. I had chosen Breakthroughs: Classroom Discoveries about Teaching Writing, ed. by Amy Bauman & Art Peterson and published by the National Writing Project. It's a collection of essays that were originally published in The Quarterly, which was NWP's journal, now online as The Voice. Lots and lots of strategies for writing at all levels and subjects (begins with an essay on science writing, for instance).
And finally, we did a jigsaw puzzle discussion on a few articles we read on writing in the digital age. I use this technique quite a bit in classes, although I didn't know it had an official name. Each group takes one of the essays and becomes an expert on it. Then we shuffle the groups, so that each new group has one person from each of the old groups--one expert on each article, who then teaches it to the rest. I called it "divide and conquer," but I like jigsaw puzzle better--a much more peaceable metaphor--it's all about putting things together.
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i have always wanted to meet randy bomer. he co-authored with katherine teaching for a better world. i have all his books and i have her also. he is an awesome writer--beautiful prose like poetry. he was pres for ncte. i am bumbed i missed her. i love her memoir book. but i feel like shelly harwayne, memoirs can be complicated for the young. she said she has yet to write her own and she is a fantabulous writer! i have a ton of ques for her.
we can get together w/ our gp and i can bring my books over where all of you can look them over and see what you would like on that list. :O)
i am praying that our workshop will be similar to what you went through. i am in desperate need to learn more about writing as a writer. i love my books (there is no other recourse in cc, since i do not know anyone that has REAL writing workshops), but it is not the same as being in person.
i love lucy calkins and her Box, but left in the wrong/misguided hands it can be bedlam! i saw the box and it can help teachers who are clueless in teaching writing.
the voice is an excellent resource for all of us. I LOVE it!!!
Kagan has these smart cards (i have all of them) that are awesome. there are many strategies to use to add a bit of zip to gp discussions. i really love them. it is so easy to succumb to the content w/out the zip. i try to use about 2-3 per session. i am not into, "cutsie" but they really work!
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