July+07

July 7, 2010 Iowa Writing Project Sioux City Day 2 By Erin We gathered again at 8:30 with the whole crew present and began with a discussion of readings from the Orientation packet. Korey shared her thoughts about writer Mem Fox’s views in “Notes from the Battlefield” regarding the need for response to writing. Katie discussed “Are Digital Media Changing Language?” which is of special importance to her because of her graduate thesis work. We discussed attitudes toward language use, and that discussion morphed into a talk about the role of technology for writing and other uses in schools. Ted brought up some good points from “Everyday Writing,” especially about the necessity of showing kids that writing shows up in real life. Erin had some thoughts and questions about “Democracy at Risk” that led to discussions on the idealistic vs. the factory model of school. Everyone had terrific insights into the issues. Rod commented that he had only expected to spend 15 minutes on this review, but we were on a roll and continued for about an hour. Next Katie transcribed a list of ten issues/questions we now “want to know more about.” They include the following: connect thinking to assessment; how to prepare students for critical thinking AND testing; how to handle the paper load and give good response/personal feedback; authentic writing assignments; writing for thinking/learning vs. writing for gain, communication, or assessment; how to make accommodations for diverse learners; how do we encourage and make time for revision; developing peer editing skills; the benefits of reading aloud as a revision/editing tool; the role of grammar in writing. (Katie’s script was beautiful and precise.) After Rod gave us a prompt to ponder, we took a break and had treats provided by Katie. Rod read a wonderful poem about the joy of the creative process with elementary kids, and then he followed that reading with an expressive narrative by Fred Chappel that highlighted the importance of paying attention to process. Then we took some time to write about a process we value. Several people shared their work with us. Next we came back to the pre-break prompt and wrote our thoughts and reflections on “what you’re thinking about in light of what you’ve heard and read so far.” We were invited to put those writings in the sharing basket, along with any other writing we wanted feedback on. The rest of the morning was spent perusing readings. We dismissed at about 11:38, with the afternoon set aside for writing in the participants’ choice of locations.