RRVWP Events & Opportunities

"Beyond Freewriting: Generating Lots of Text". Presenter: Kim Donehower. Thursday, February 11, 2010, 7:00-8:30 PM in Merrifield Hall Room 10, UND Campus. This is demo is part of the Teacher as Writer strand in the winter/spring series of continuity events for RRVWP TCs. PRISM-credit available. Contact Pam Fisher (pam.fisher@gfschools.org) for more information.

Find out more about these continuity events exploring the various roles of the teacher and view the entire spring schedule of events in our section for Teacher Consultants or download a copy of the flyer (pdf) by clicking the link below.

RRVWP Continuity/Outreach Events for Winter/Spring 2010 (pdf)

Summer Institute 2010. The Summer Institute will be held in Fargo, ND, over sixteen days between June 14-July 9, 2010. Applications are now being accepted from all teachers who are interested in the effective teaching of writing and in using writing to learn. Participants are eligible for 4 grad credits in either English or Education through UND; credit transfers to NDSU. Tuition and fees are reimbursed through the Red River Valley Writing Project. Click here for application details. Contact Kim Donehower for more information. Application deadline: April 19, 2010.

TCs, do you ning? The RRVWP began its own ning (social/professional networking site) earlier this summer. Members, check in regularly for the latest buzz. Not a member yet? Contact Nancy Devine at nancy.devine@gfschools.org

RRVWP Book Clubs

Book Club. New TCs welcome. For more information contact Carmyn Juntunen, facilitator, at carmyn.juntunen@gfschools.org

•February Selection: Watership Down by Richard Admas. Tuesday, February 9 @ 6:30 PM.

Professional Readings Study Group. New TCs welcome. For more information contact Brandy Pihlgren, facilitator: brandy.pihlgren@gfschools.org

•On Hold: The Power of Picture Books: Using Content Area Literature in Middle School, by Mary Jo Fresch and Peggy Harkins. (Focus on Grades 5-8). Likely rescheduled for one of the spring selections.

•December/January Selection:
After the End: Teaching & Learning Creative Revision. We will read the book in two parts with discussions on December 6, 2009, 3 PM & January 10, 2010, 3 PM. Both discussions will be held at the UND Bookstore conference room. Contact Brandy Pihlgren by October 27 if you wish to participate. Also indicate if you need a copy of the book.

National Writing Project Events & Reports

TALK WITH AUTHOR MIKE ROSE
Mike Rose, author of Why School?, will participate in a discussion of his book on the NWP Book Groups Ning. Read the book and bring your questions and comments to the online event, FEBRUARY 15-MARCH 1.
http://nwpbookgroups.ning.com/group/whyschool

NWP 2008 Annual Report. The 2008 Annual Report features NWP teacher-leaders with expertise in both subject matter and technology and an understanding of how each augments the other to inspire learning in the classroom.

The report demonstrates how NWP teachers are using their knowledge to strengthen student achievement and to help their teaching colleagues meet the increasing demands and emerging opportunities of digital literacy. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/about/annual_reports.csp

Online Events & Opportunities

National Writing Project's Gallery of Writing. Read a rotating selection of the more than 7,000 submissions to the 2009 E-Anthology, NWP's online environment where teachers explore digital writing in NWP summer institutes. http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/national_writing_project_gallery

News Links

digital_nation: life on the virtual frontier

Program: FRONTLINE (on PBS stations and online)
Date: February 2010
Summary: What does it mean to be a digital native? How has digital media transformed us and our institutions? When technology is moving faster than the research can keep up, are we flying blind or just doing what has always been done as societies create and use emerging technologies? In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, FRONTLINE explores where we find ourselves in this digital world and where we may be heading.

The website includes links to online resources for parents and educators.

What Makes a Great Teacher?
Publication: The Atlantic
Date: January/February 2010
Summary: According to Teach for America data, great teachers constantly reevaluate what they are doing; they avidly recruit students and their families into the process; they maintain focus, ensuring that everything they do contributes to student learning; they plan exhaustively and purposefully -- for the next day or the year ahead -- by working backward from the desired outcome; and they work relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls. (Summary provided by NCTE Inbox.)

Teachers are the Center of Education: Profiles of Eight Teachers.
Publication: Charleston Gazette
Date: October 17, 2009
Summary: A new report, Teachers Are the Center of Education: Profiles of Eight Teachers, describes several accomplished teachers, including Seth Mitchell, a technology liaison with the Maine Writing Project.

Summer Insitute
2010 for Teachers
June 14--July 9, 2010
Fargo, ND

On Teaching Writing.
On Using Writing to Learn.
All Content Areas.
All Grades.
4 grad credits.
Tuition Reimbursed.
Interested?

Application Information

Summer Institute Information (pdf)

For information contact
Kim Donehower

The RRVWP Summer Institutes:
Not Just for English Teachers

Fred Strand, a math teacher
from Hatton, North Dakota, was part
of the 2008 Summer Institute. Here's
what he had to say about the
RRVWP's Summer Institute and the
encouragement he received to
present his teaching demo "Writing
in the Mathematics Classroom"
at the North Dakota Education Association's Conference :

Now, I am thanking you guys
(all of you at the RRVWP)
for the encouragement given to
me to use writing in my classroom. 
And, then to encourage me to
present my demo to an outside
audience [at NDEA].  What a great opportunity for me to grow as a
teacher and to help others grow at the same time.  WOW!!

Fred Strand
Past President, ND Council of
Teachers of Mathematics

7-12 Grade Mathematics Instructor
Hatton High School

RRVWP Summer Institute
Fellow 2008

Web Updates

Last update 2/3/2010