National Recogition for IWP Teacher Consultant

Congratulations to Media Specialist Gwen Tetrick (TC 2006) and first-grade teacher Karen Duvall from Stony Creek Elementary School for recently winning recognition for a multi-faceted initiative to promote reading in Stony Creek Elementary School and the larger Noblesville community. Gwen and Karen earned the 2009 TEAMS (Teachers and Media Specialist) Award from Library Media Connection magazine and publishing company Gale Cengage Learning.

Check out the official accolades and view a brief film of Gwen and Karen describing their school- and community-wide program to encourage reading.

Upcoming Advanced Institutes for Summer 2010

Advanced Institute I - Teaching with Technology

Occurring Monday, June 14 through Friday, June 18, this Advanced Institute offers the opportunity to get better at using computer technology in your classroom. If you find it hard to dedicate time to really learn how to use software or to figure out what to do with it, now is your chance to learn! Come play around with the technology, get comfortable with it yourself, and learn ways to use it with your students. We will start with tools as familiar as Microsoft Office, and then explore other tools such as Google Docs and movie-making software. No experience is required.



Advanced Institute II - Problem-solving the Writing Workshop: The How's and Why's

Occurring Monday, July 12 through Friday, July 16, this Advanced Institute will allow participants to explore the roots of common issues in the Writing Workshop spanning all grade levels. You will investigate and share what has worked for you and what you would like to improve in your own classroom's Writing Workshop.

Upcoming Saturday Seminars: Winter 2010

On January 9, 2010, the Saturday Seminar entitled "Writing to a Prompt: Getting Your Students Ready for ISTEP" will be offered from 8:30-11:30AM. This session will aid participants in creating a writing cycle that approaches "writing to a prompt" as a manageable genre. This Saturday Seminar will be held in Room 292 of the Robert Bell Building, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306.

Additionally, on Saturday, April 10, 2010, IWP will host "An Introduction to Writing Workshop," especially for current undergraduates and those new to the concept of Writing Workshop. This seminar will include a 10:00AM-12:00PM session introducing participants to the features and structure of Writing Workshop; then, from 1:00-4:00PM, attendees will observe Writing Workshop in action during a visit to IWP's 'Comp Camp'. All activities for this seminar will occur in the Robert Bell Building on campus at Ball State University.

The Indiana Writing Project is proud to offer a special student registration fee of only $10 for each of our winter 2010 Saturday Seminars. You can register online or by contacting the IWP office via e-mail at iwp@bsu.edu.

The Power of Writing in Our Community: Veterans Day

In commemoration of Veterans Day 2009, Jane Adams (TC 2009) encouraged her third grade students at Alexandria-Monroe Intermediate School to compose letters to the guests of honor at the school corporation's upcoming community-wide Veterans Day program.

Following the program, The Herald Bulletin newspaper featured the front-page article "Student's Letter Touches Guardsman". Visit the link above to read Dave Stafford's article that details the connection writing fostered between a student and a veteran.

National Day on Writing & National Gallery of Writing

Check out the Indiana Writing Project Gallery, which was created as part of NCTE's National Gallery of Writing to celebrate the National Day on Writing, Tuesday, October 20, 2009. Join the fun by contributing your own writing and work from your students to our IWP Gallery. Please note submission guidelines when selecting pieces to share in the gallery.

The gallery will continue to accept submissions until June 1, 2010, and may be visited until June 30, 2010.

Visiting Indiana University Southeast Writing Project

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

Book Review of "A Curse Dark as Gold"

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

The novel, A Curse Dark as Gold, takes place in Shearing, a small English village known for its textile industry in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. As one reads, the story starts to resemble Rumplestiltskin, but never makes you feel as if you are reading the same fairy tale. This novel reads more like historical fiction than fantasy. The characters and setting are well developed as the story is woven through the eyes of our protagonist, Charlotte Miller.

The details about the millwork, wool, and sheep are very convincing as we read further into the book. Although the location is fictional, one feels as if they can visualize each character and location. The valley is described with realistic people, dialect, businesses of the times, and towns that also sound as if they could be real enough to look up on a period map.

The names of the people in the story were equally interesting because they related to the jobs or the personality of the person or company, yet it was not so overdone to make one want to scoff and close the book. Charlotte Miller of course is a miller and our main character. She leads us through the story of village superstitions, as her skepticism slowly changes to acceptance of those things that are unexplainable. She generally chooses to be practical as she takes over the mill following her father’s death. This is unusual for a female during this time period. She discovers her father had done the best he could, but had also made some poor decisions that she needed to correct. Those decisions and her attempts to do right slowly entangle her in events that she can not control.

See if you can figure out where some of these names relate to the story: Uncle Wheeler, Mordant, Harte, Woodstone, Pinchfield, Stirwater, and Jack Spinner.

Enjoy the journey to another time while feeling a familiar sense of what might happen. You will be asking yourself questions as you read. This book is best suited to middle and high school students who are not uncomfortable with suggestions of magic and curses.

Check out a discussion between Elizabeth C. Bunce and her editor, Cheryl Klein,
from Klein's blog.

Reviewed by Robin Sowder, TC 2002