Written August 1, 2014
How to Be an Explorer of the World:
Reflective Fragments after a Month
in Writopia
1
It is when I am writing
that I have felt most entirely grateful for myself.
2
My UW
School of Education supervisor notified me on Facebook about the Greater Madison
Writing Project Summer Institute.
I believe she participated in the Summer Institute two or
three years ago. After hearing
more, I fell in love with the opportunity for teachers (who actually write!) to
congregate for the month to think and work and write together. I know this
experience has helped re-center me professionally and personally, as both an
educator and writer.
In the future to draw
potential applicants’ interest from out of the immediate Madison area, I
recommend maintaining GMWP’s social media outlets. Also, I think it would be an
excellent idea for the GMWP to host some kind of informational event, perhaps
along with the October Revue, so potential applicants could learn more about
and experience the Summer Institute’s camaraderie.
3
I did not approach my
GWMP interview like a traditional interview nor did I experience the familiar
anxiety provoked by a panel of administrators at target practice. I felt your expectations for the
interview were very well communicated ahead of time. The interview was genuine
and transparent in simulating the spirit and activities that take place during
a day at the Institute. I enjoyed meeting the other applicants and beginning
the conversations that are simply occurring within the climate of my school
building. The Summer Institute gave me ideas on how to work towards changing
this climate, on a grassroots level, by embracing the relationships I have with
colleagues that are healthy and productive.
4
While orientation day in
May was overwhelming, I left with a clear understanding of how to best prepare
for the Summer Institute, and I enjoyed meeting everyone and writing! To me, the early May date was fine, but
I would suggest not scheduling the orientation any later. Other than taking
care of most of my reading, I was not able to work on preparing for Summer
Institute until after school ended anyway, so I’m not sure trying to schedule
the orientation substantially earlier would have made much of a difference to
me.
5
I loved working on the
multi-genre project and getting the chance to enjoy my colleagues’ projects;
however, I think the five components should not be due and presented until the
third or fourth week of SI. I
think sharing the pieces in two installments would work best, and would allow
us to continue working on them throughout the Institute rather than rushing
through them at the beginning. I would have liked to include more new writing
in my multigenre project, but I wasn’t able to because I felt crunched for time
and ended up revising old writing I had done prior to camp.
6
Preparing and presenting
my teacher workshop was important to my practice and my audience because metacognition
is at the center of learning, and if we can help guide kids in “knowing how
they know” when they have had the opportunity to learn deeply. My TW question, “How can students use
growth portfolios to improve their writing and better communicate their
self-assessment and learning?” has come to me organically through my evolving
practice and exposure to my mentors’ work in the classroom. In many ways, my TW is a description of
my journey as a teacher this far because I now feel I am at a crossroads, as
they say. I like to think the TW has helped me realize that the way in which I
organize the growth portfolio system in my classroom is arbitrary, especially
compared with the ways I would now like to change my writing instruction to
better include modeling, dialogue journals, and conferencing in order to better
aid students’ metacognition and self-assessment.
7
I have never felt so
engaged in professional development!
Every TW was in some way applicable to my practice. I found no challenge
in pulling practical and theoretical ideas from each TW, and I enjoyed our
daily stimulating discussion. Reflecting on each TW with my table group by
preparing formal feedback allowed me to better digest and synthesize the
insights presented. Overall, the spirit of TWs is unique: rigorous, curious,
joyful and precious. I wish that
this kind of professional development existed back at my school in Eau Claire.
8
Joy is infinity condensed
into a single moment.
9
______, _____ and I
quickly formed a deep and trusting bond when sharing and discussing one
another’s writing. I attribute the development of this quick friendship to the
Writing Marathon! We did not use as many of the structured peer response
guidelines you offered us. Instead, we read our work out loud to one another,
asking for each other’s feedback related to specific questions we had about the
piece’s intended effect or development.
I felt this was good for receiving and giving holistic feedback, and we
definitely “blessed, pressed, and addressed.” We also had many insightful conversations while walking
through the gardens about what we were reading and discussing throughout the
other parts of our day. In the
future, I would hope to join a writers’ peer response group that is perhaps a
little more detailed orientated, and I have no doubt this group would have
evolved into such if I had asked more pointed questions and if we had had more
weeks together. Overall, I know I will keep in touch with _____ and ______
because in them I have found a home for sharing my work, and I hope they feel
the same about me.
10
Writing leads to the
idea; the idea does not lead the writing.
11
Sequencing is one of the
writer’s most powerful tools.
12
I enjoyed meeting with
two other small groups to discuss Wild
Mind and the digital writing texts because it was enjoyable to share
different perspectives on our GMWP experiences. While I enjoyed reading and discussing Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind, I did not get as much out of
my digital writing readings or discussion. I think this was because I felt the readings were dated and
my colleagues mostly wanted to discuss practical application when I was more
interested in the theoretical implications of how digital writing is changing
writing, audience and purpose. I
also think it was difficult for us to have these conversations since while at
Institute we ourselves were not doing a lot of GMWP digital writing, Maybe this
is something that can be expanded on or encouraged with future cohorts.
13
Choice time. I’ve written
some meaningful pieces I knew I would not have devoted the time to otherwise if
I hadn’t been given the opportunity to have daily choice time in the gardens.
This time was sacred to me. Thank you.
14
Stop. And begin again.
15
Thank you to everyone who
kept me so well fed. There is nothing that builds camaraderie like snacks. I do think because of this, we should
have taken more required group walks in the garden. I think there should be a second Writing Marathon at the end
of the session.
16
Teaching is a subversive
political act.
17
At this time I have not
chosen to write an oath because I’m unsure what that means to me right now. I
want to be involved as teachers unite and stand up for the good of public
education. Many of my GMWP bid me adieu by saying, “I’m so glad there’s hope
for the future and I hope there’s more young educators like you.” I am not an
anomaly.
An Educator’s Sonnet
Dedicated to my mentors
It goes
without saying, September through August, we care
for you, and the tunings of your wild mind. As your world
deflects logic and deviates from focus in a stippled blur,
we stand by: Admit confusion. Be kind. And above all,
listen, we advise you, but watch as you commit blooper after
blooper and then, snafu-eureka! A teacher’s work is in this glance
when you can still look back while also peering, eagerly, ahead.
Time travel, they say, is wasted on the young, who refuse
to adhere to any clock, calendar, or linearity. But who decided
365 days, just about 365, was the way to measure life?
A teacher’s work is in the gut, and we hope, not for agreement
or gratification, but to aspire, and convince you of the dignity
in lingering with an idea half-formed, or a sentence left
hanging, mid-thought, as the bell rings for next period.
18
Stomachache moment.
Last Saturday I did read Freaks and Revelations in one sitting. Toward from the alternating points of view of two teens growing up in mid '80s, the novel is a manifesto of survival. One of the boys, a violent, substance-abuser embraces punk, is exploring the world through his anger, and the other, a young 13-year-old boy who has been kicked out of his mom's house for coming out as gay learns how to hustle on the streets of San Francisco and LA. What struck me as most surprising about the book was how much you sympathize with both characters, especially the punk kid, whom who witness become more and more hateful as the story progresses. It's interesting to see the believable places from which this hate germinates, and then the entropic way it explodes to have a life of its own. For teens who like to censor what they read, this book is not for you; it's dark, gritty, troubling, and incredibly honest. In some ways I wonder how this book could really change the conversation if it were required reading in classrooms. While I didn't find the ending very realistic, I had already gotten so much from the story and its characters, it didn't matter. How had I never heard of this book!?