NWP Highlights
By Sam Crow
November 20-21, 2008
The best thing about the NWP ANNUAL meeting is being surrounded by a thousand like minded folks. The feeling is real. Writing, writing, writing. Larry may have thought the highlight of the meeting for me was the unlimited Starbucks (the coffee was impressive, though), but the fact was being surrounded by so many people working toward the same goal was huge for me. It gives me hope knowing there are people who feel so passionately about teaching writing, they want to share it with the world. Writing is education, education is power, power is choices. NWP sites are making a difference all over the United States and it's reassuring to know that the ASWC is a real part of real team making a real difference. I heard it over and over again how attending an invitational changed teacher's lives. The plan worked for me and after I attended this year's NWP ANNUAL meeting, I think I get it now: I need to help make a difference for the next teacher.
Sessions highlights:
A Close Look at Writing with Young Children:
These folks descriptive inquiry using what they called “Descriptive Review of Children’s Work” to look at specific parts of students writing. Work was passed around to teacher groups of 10 and reviewed in “rounds.” Each round was for teachers to look at specific aspects of the writing. The ideas was to dissect the writing piece from different perspectives (groups of teachers), and establishing the writers strengths and areas to improve. It reminded me of writing assessment scoring, but instead of writing the scores down, the scores would discuss them specifically. I guess it’s what good teachers would do with more days in their week.
Teaching ELL Writers in a Digital Age: digital storytelling, blogging, podcasting
As these new technologies are turning up in more and more in our classrooms, I thought this session would give me an opportunity to see how folks are using them. The emphasis was on English language learners and language acquisition strategies using these new technologies.
I found the podcasting (garage band) section useful. Think of taking the final copy and making an audio draft. Students would read into garage band and listen to there words and voice. This adds a new way to “publish.” LKSD is an Apple district and garage band is a device we have in place, making this sort for strategy (with teacher training) doable.
Examining the Writing Processes of Digital Storytelling:
This session was all about imovie and digital storytelling. It reminded me of how far away from new technology I am. Like many NWP sessions, I came away thinking I wish I would have known about this sooner. The idea they presented was to a take a final piece (or a segment of one) and incorporating pictures in an imovie. The selection of pictures (associated with the writing piece) helped students practice and learn more about VOICE. Clever, really. I was most impressed with the possibilities with poems and memoir. Imagine students finding pictures and creating a clip of their writing and combining the two.