On Monday, June 15, I was fortunate to visit New Albany, Indiana and the IU Southeast Writing Project. Excitement was in the air as the new fellows were starting their Summer Institute and more than 25 Teacher Consultants were returning for the advanced institutes.
Dr. Kevin Sue Bailey welcomed me and made sure I had what I needed for my demonstration. It was my job to get the Advanced Institute Fellows writing this morning. Dr. Bailey opened with a read aloud and we did introductions using a simple activity of writing a memoir of our lives in exactly six words.
Then it was my turn. I presented to the group on using Poetry Slam—scaffolding spoken word poetry in the classroom. It was the same presentation I made at the Indiana Teachers of Writing Conference last year and at one of IWP’s Saturday Seminars, so I was comfortable with the material. This group of teacher consultants was energetic and fun! They were so engaged in the writing of their 6-Room Image Poems (ala Georgia Heard), that they had to be stopped to break for lunch.
I was taken out to lunch at a local restaurant called Tumbleweeds—wonderful food and a country atmosphere. When I returned, teacher consultants were scattered around the building in corners doing their own writing.
It was explained to me that every year at IUSWP they don’t actually have a topic for their advanced institute. All former TCs are invited to return to earn 3 credit hours. Those attending Advanced Institute for the first time split into a separate group (called the Level 2 group) after lunch for a book discussion on Literacy Leadership. Those attending Advanced Institute for a second, third, fourth, etc. time have additional writing time and/or conversation groups with other TC’s about what they are doing in their classrooms. Some collaborative action research projects have grown from these discussions.
The whole group comes back together again at the end of the day for a reflection time and we held a poetry slam with the poems the TC’s wrote that day. What a group of writers they are! Topics ranged from the life of a hummingbird to not being able to urinate in a dirty gas station bathroom. This was a wild bunch that is passionate about teaching, writing, and teaching writers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this group!
Submitted by Jenny Smithson, TC 2003
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