Today has been a real free flowing day at the UNCCWP SI. We started the day writing about breathing in and making space, which for me was definitely necessary after the last three days. It helped me to think about taking the time to breathe in the information we receive daily and breathing out the stuff we do not necessarily need. As we breathe in and out we actually will find ourselves making space to take in more information. The we can repeat the process of retaining and releasing what we need and what we don't need. It is essential that we continuously engage in this process as educators and writers!
Then one of our peers, Jessie, presented her demo on ARS Poetica and it continued the laid back refreshing feel of creative writing. I personally tend to shy away from poetry as a writer, reader, and teacher but her demo made me feel inspired to actually use poetry in my Social Studies class and as a form of personal writing. One of the poems she used was Billy Collins piece entitled Introduction to Poetry and it really helped me to demystify my perceptions of poetry as an exercise in reading lofty thoughts of creative musing. I look forward to her helping me to implement some ARS Poetica in my class in the Fall.
After Jessie's demo we engaged in some flexible workshops presented by Lil, Sally, and Lacy around the topics of Inquiry, Socratic Seminars, and Writing Workshops. This format allowed participants to attend the workshops that interested them or engage in some independent work. I attended Lil's workshop on" Inquiry" and she focused on how inquiry is a means to become apart of the discussion that is going on amongst scholarly writers around a topic related to writing. It can serve as a way for us as writers to get into a dialog with that community.
After Lil's workshop I attended Sally's workshop on Socratic Seminars and it was very engaging. We actually used the Declaration of Independence as our document to analyze. I have wanted to try Socratic Seminars in my class for a while but have been fearful due to concerns about classroom management and student investment. However, after engaging in the activity with the group I am no longer afraid but I am ready to jump in feet first! It is a tool in my teacher toolbox now!
We ended the day with a gallery crawl in which we viewed each others digital projects about our live's as writers. Let me just say that I am amazed at what writers can do with technology! We had Glogsters, Movies, Cartoons, Wobooks, links to personal writing, pictures, video narratives, and etc. I hope that some of my colleagues post their work to e-anthology so that you all can see this great presentations that speak to our personal evolutions as writers! Well the day has come to an end and the weekend is here but we will be joining into the UNCCWP Writing Marathon tomorrow. So our time of writing will continue through until we meet again on Monday!
I see you thinking and sorting and filing away for future use. And I hope these tools serve you well in your new venture. You can combine poetry and difficult prose texts by asking students to circle, highlight, or copy out words and phrases they think are important. These phrases become a poem that is somehow easier to digest than pages of print.
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