My North Dakota Story website

We are excited to announce a new site available to teachers that is designed to support writing and community-building.

Called "My North Dakota Story," our project aims to cultivate community through storytelling. Whether we've been in North Dakota for a day or we've lived here all our lives, the state is a character in our stories. We're inviting others to tell their stories by asking, "What's your North Dakota story?"

The site offers writers the opportunity to tell their stories in words, pictures, or videos, which can be submitted for posting. While our emphasis is on serving teachers and their students, we do have room for community members to tell their stories, too. We imagine teachers sharing stories found on the website with their students, inspiring their young writers. There are other resources at our site for teachers, too. Find writing prompt ideas, Pinterest boards full of helpful website links, and a Facebook page for connecting with other North Dakota teachers and writers.

We hope you’ll swing on by our site and stay for a while. We cultivate community by inspiring storytelling. That’s our North Dakota story; what’s yours?

-Angela Hase, Red River Valley Writing Conference TC

-Kim Rensch, Red River Valley Writing Conference TC
-Erika Dyk, Northern Plains Writing Conference TC

Authentic Voices workshop on Saturday

The Red River Valley Writing Project will be hosting "How We Survive: Writing it Down," a writing workshop focusing on survival stories, Saturday, June 27, from 9 a.m. to noon at Richard Barry Hall, 811 2nd Ave. N. in downtown Fargo, as part of the statewide "authentic VOICES" project. The workshop is free and open to the public.

RRVWP Director Dr. Kelly Sassi will facilitate the workshop. Participants will write poems, essays or memoirs about surviving abuse, an act of nature, an accident or a loss of some type. "The workshop is for anyone who went through any kind of experience that caused them to draw on survival skills," Sassi explained. "It could range from injustices in life to surviving a flood event. It's really open to what people in the community need in terms of exploring their survival experiences and developing that into a piece of writing.”

Sassi and two RRVWP teacher consultants, Fargo middle school teacher Kim Rensch and Moorhead high school teacher Angela Cunningham, will serve as instructors for the workshop. 

"This is an opportunity for participants who have survived anything to write about it," Sassi said. "Hopefully, we can form the writings into a publishable piece of work."

The writing workshop will be held in conjunction with "How We Survive: A Conversation," scheduled for Friday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. The event features a book release and a 10-minute film screening.

These events are sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council.

For more information about Authentic Voices, click here. (from NDSU)

Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday

Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day as schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and other venues ring loud with open readings of poems from pockets.

To learn more, click on the preceding hyperlinked text. (From poets.org)

Volunteer Opportunity

We, Voices of the Valley, are seeking writers who are interested in a nonprofit volunteer project focused on interviewing and writing the stories of international Red River Valley residents.

We seek to connect local writers with the diverse population that resides in the Red River Valley Region, while offering a local, artistic experience for the entire community. The relationship that is formed during the interview process will be integral to the project, and the story should be a reflection of both the interviewee and the artistic vision of the writer.

Potential interviewees could include New Americans, refugees, or citizens originally from a different country. In collaboration with their interviewees, writers will compose international residents’ stories in a creative nonfiction format.

Stories should be 2000 to 2750 words, written in a creative nonfiction format (not journalism). All well-developed stories that meet the project requirements will be included in a bound copy of Writing Stories: Voices of the Valley, 2nd edition. Three to four stories will receive a time slot at the University of North Dakota Writers Conference for a public reading.

Timeline:
-Interviews should be completed by February 15th.
-Final Drafts should be completed by March 2nd.
-Collection goes to print March 9th.
-Voices of the Valley reading is scheduled for Thursday, March 26th at 6:00 p.m.

If interested, please contact Erin Kunz (erin[dot]lord[dot]kunz[at]gmail[dot]com) or Emily Hill (emily[dot]dubord[at]gmail[dot]com) for more information.

TC Tuesday

Festival of Trees Decorating 2015

The Red River Valley Writing Project's Grand Forks Book Club once again decorated a Christmas tree to be given to a family in need in the Grand Forks area. Our tree's theme this year is "Mer-Read Christmas." Andrea Scherer, Aimee Rogers, and Pam Fisher decorated the tree and donated decorations and books. Katie Bolstad and Kristine Gruenberg also donated books and decorations for the tree.

The annual "Festival of Trees" is sponsored by the L.I.S.T.E.N. Center, an organization to support people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.

The trees will be on display in the Sears Wing of Columbia Mall through December 6. To see more photos of trees in the Festival of Trees, follow this link:
http://www.listencenter.org/festival-of-trees/

TC Tuesday: Art and Writing with Jen Nelson

Art and Writing: A Thoughtful Journey

      I was honored to be a part of the 2014 Red River Valley Writing Project’s Institute at NDSU this past summer. During this extensive two week professional development opportunity I was educated on many different reading and writing strategies, and inspired to be brave and incorporate more writing in my art classroom.


      As I headed back to school this fall, I was challenged by our school improvement plan to include critical reading into my art curriculum once per quarter. I looked long and hard for an article that I deemed appropriate, and while scanning the pages of NPR, I came across a wonderful story about an art exhibition in London honoring the thousands of service men and women that gave their lives fighting in World War I.  The article we read is linked here.


     Students read the article and following our AVID criteria for a critical reading, circled important words and underlined main ideas. Students also wrote a summary of the article and their learning. To me this is the boring, technical part of the lesson, but I do think it was a great exercise for both the students and myself. It allowed me to model for them that in order to stay current with what is new and exciting in the art world, I have to look for and read about art daily.


     This critical reading inspired me to do a project I have never done with students before. We made flowers. We took the lead of the artist, Paul Cummins, who thought up the poppy installation to make a flower to give to someone or in remembrance of someone. I asked the students to think about who they would give the flower to, and to think about that person while they made the art.


     For our art project, I had students think about someone in their life that was important to them. We talked about the emotion that can be involved when making art, and how the act of making art for someone can be a very special process. I had students pinch the flower petals individually and then slipped and scored them together. I fired the flowers, and we painted them with red acrylic paint and students had the option of gluing them to wood sticks, or leaving them as is to sit flat on the table.

     After making our flowers, students had to write a poem as a tribute to the person they made it for or the person they were making it in remembrance of. I taught the students how to write a haiku and a tanka. They had the choice of using one of those, or they could write freely. Students brainstormed ideas, wrote out their poems, and typed them on the computer. We printed final poems and laminated them to accompany the flowers on their journey home. 


     It was a proud moment for me to see my students walking down the hall with their flowers tucked safely under their arms. I was honored to have given them the opportunity to make something special for someone special in their lives. Art is bigger than all of us. It says things we are unable to say with words. 


-Jen Nelson, Horizon Middle School, Moorhead, MN

AuThursday: Local Veterans Pick up Their Pens

Warrior Words

The Warrior Words Veterans' Day Reading was held Nov. 11, 2014 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. at Touchmark Retirement Community in Fargo, North Dakota. The reading was the culminating event of a six-week writing workshop for veterans of any U.S. war. The Red River Valley Writing Project received funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council to hold the Warrior Words workshops,  led by RRVWP Teacher Consultant Lori Koenig.

At the reading, NDSU English graduate student Anthony Albright presented his writing along with Vietnam veteran Virgil Mueller. Introductory remarks were provided by NDSU disquisitions editor, Daniel Nygaard, who has written about his own war experiences in the book  Rounds, published by Knuckledown Press (http://www.knuckledownpress.com/).  RRVWP Director Kelly Sassi facilitated the event.

The reading was well attended--36 people of all ages listened to the presenters' stories of war. The event was covered in the local media by reporters from WDAY TV station and Minnesota Public Radio.

The WDAY news story can be found here:
http://www.wday.com/video/3886812588001

October RRVWP Events

Greetings, RRVWP TCs and friends of the RRVWP!

Fall has definitely arrived and with it a variety of RRVWP reading, writing, and reconnecting activities. Please mark these events on your calendars and join us for any and all of them!

First off, we'd like to invite all TCs to our annual Visitors Day, a celebration and showcase of the work of our 2014 RRVWP Summer Institute participants. Visitors Day will take place on Saturday, October 25, from 10am to 12:15pm, at Minard Hall, Room 310, followed by lunch from 12:30-1:30pm in the Hidatsa Room in the Memorial Union on the NDSU campus. Please join us to meet the newest RRVWP TCs and reconnect with our Writing Project work. If you are able to attend, RSVP to Kelly Sassi at kelly[dot]sassi[at]ndsu[dot]edu.

The Grand Forks Writing Group will meet on Friday, Oct. 10, at 5:30 at the home of Nancy Devine. All RRVWP members are welcome to attend. You need not have attended meetings in the past nor commit to attending all meetings to be a part of the GF Writing Group. For our October meeting we will workshop pieces of any genre. For more information or to RSVP, contact Pam Fisher <pam[dot]fisher[at]gfschools[dot]org>.

The Fargo Writing Group is meeting on Sunday, October 26 with the theme of "Finding our Characters." Please join them from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at West Acres Mall on 13^th Ave. S. For more information about this group, contact Kim Rensch <renschk[at]fargo[dot]k12[dot]nd[dot]us>.

The Grand Forks Book Club will be meeting on Oct. 22 to discuss Burial Rites by Hannah Kent https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333319-burial-rites?from_search=true. Please contact Andrea Scherer <andrealscherer[at]gmail[dot]com> if you're interested in attending the GF Book Club and not already on the email list.

The Fargo-Moorhead Book Club is reading The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19085562-the-fourteenth-goldfish?from_search=true and meeting to discuss it on Monday, October 27. Contact Dan Dooher  <DTDOOHER2006[at]alum[dot]csbsju[dot]edu> for more information on the FM Book Club.

SAVE THE DATE!  Winter Writing Retreat at Maplelag Resort, Feb. 27-March 1, 2015. More information will be sent out in a later post.

Teachers reflect...

Teachers do plenty of things for students that are not in their job descriptions. They bandage scraped knees, remember birthdays, give out their cell phone numbers, purchase classroom supplies, attend athletic events, and organize school festivals. But Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old 1st grade teacher in Newtown, Conn., went as far as a teacher could possibly go, putting her body between her students and a spray of bullets. (Liana Heitin at Education Week)

A way to begin..

Words fail. Our hearts are broken. Only deeds matter after tragedy takes away our children and the adults who teach and care for them. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Edutopia has a list of resources that address how we can respond to this horrific event. To view the list, click the above hyperlinked text.

Want to thank a teacher?

How to Thank a Teacher

Ideas and tips for thanking your favorite teachers, principals, coaches, librarians, and others helping to make your school shine.

---

What's Inside the PDF?

* Gift Ideas: From traditional to digital, some outside-the-box ways to say thanks
* Resources and Tools to Craft the Perfect Gift: Web apps and websites to help make gift giving a little easier
* Teachers Talk: What's the Most Surprising Gift You've Ever Received? We asked; teachers answered
* How to Write a Thank-You Note: Tips for penning a heartfelt note
(from Edutopia)

One of NWP's own

JoBeth Allen, Red Clay Writing Project co-director and University of Georgia professor, has been named 2012 Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English. (from the National Writing Project website)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Lonely voices

Is teaching like this? Enjoy the next bit from Good.

The cryptozoologist Oll Lewis speculates that the lonely whale might be "a deformed hybrid between two different species of whale," or even "the last surviving member of an unknown species." Gagliano points out that the whale's plight, though poignant, has a silver lining for scientists:

Because this one whale’s song is totally different than any other whale’s, it’s easy to track it and hear how its voice changes over time. So now we know, for instance, that a whale’s voice gets deeper as it ages.

Off to Florida

The NWP Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for teachers and site leaders from Writing Project sites around the country to gather for writing, thinking, and conversation, and includes interactive workshops, information sessions, and lively discussion.

All Annual Meeting sessions are conducted by Writing Project directors, site leaders, and teacher-consultants. Receptions, reunions, meetings, and other social events are also a vital part of the Annual Meeting.

Posting here might be thin or even non-existent here for the next few days, because of the
National Writing Project Annual Meeting in Orlando.

Designs

Today Slate launches a crowdsourcing project on the 21st-century classroom. In this "Hive," we’re seeking to collect your best ideas for transforming the American school. We’re asking you to describe or even design the classroom for today, a fifth-grade classroom that takes advantage of all that we have learned since Laura Ingalls’ day about teaching, learning, and technology--and what you think we have yet to learn. We will publish all your ideas on Slate; your fellow readers will vote and comment on their favorites; expert judges will select the ideas they like best, and, in about a month, we will pick a winner. (Linda Perlstein at Slate magazine)

A teacher can really have an effect on students

Poet Sandy Longhorn offers a tribute to one of her teachers at her blog. The teacher, Mrs. Chambers, recently died. Sandy's remembrance is here.

How tweet it is (sorry) and more

In fact, Writing Project teachers have found Twitter to be a serious learning tool. Many sites across the country integrated Twitter into their summer institutes this summer, and teachers have built "personal learning networks"—groups of people who casually join together to communicate and collaborate on common topics—where they discuss serious educational issues. (Grant Faulkner at NWP)

In other words, there are people tweeting things other than, "I'm painting my toenails the color of petit fours" and "What up, dawg?"

Any tweeters out there? How do you use Twitter?

Segue---
As you can imagine, the Internet is alive with writing prompts. Here's a great source for such prompts: the Los Angeles Writer's Group photostream at Flickr. The Los Angeles Writer's Group blog is also worth visiting.

Summer time is here and...

More than 3,000 kindergarten-through-college teachers across the country will dedicate four weeks this summer to learning new strategies to improve their students' writing skills. (from the National Writing Project website)

Monday morning, the Red River Valley Writing Project will begin its invitational summer institute in Fargo, North Dakota. The hope is that the summer institute can alternate between Fargo and Grand Forks, thus extending the reach of RRVWP.

It's powerful to think of teachers all across the country engaged in the same kind of professional development and writing. Teachers in the SI will be in writing groups, they will present demos of best practices in writing instruction, they will engage in professional reading....maybe they will even eat pastries and coffee in the morning and laugh at running jokes that develop as summer fellows get to know one another.

As you look forward to the summer, you are invited to join us for the following RRVWP offerings.

RRVWP Social, Wednesday, June 9 from 7:00-9:00 at Pam Fisher's house, 819 S. 22nd St. in Grand Forks. Stop by and enjoy some appetizers, summer beverages, and conversation. Feel free to bring along your babies and show them off!

Barry Lane Blitz Open Institute (also available to TCs), Monday-Thursday, July 12-15, 8:30 am-12:30 pm, UND, Merrifield Hall 10, 1 Continuing Ed credit. Barry Lane, renowned educator and author of books on writing, including After the End and The Reviser’s Toolbox, offers a plethora of strategies for educators to help students generate text, refine ideas, and revise writing effectively. In this class, teachers will have the opportunity to put themselves in the writer’s seat and experience firsthand Barry Lane’s strategies for writing and revision. Join instructors Pam Fisher and Dr. Marci Glessner as we read, write, and discuss around a variety of Barry’s most engaging strategies from collaborative poetry to “roller coaster revision.” Register online at www.educators.und.edu/summer. (UND Fee: $50.00) Bring your colleagues!

Advanced Institute on technology, Monday-Thursday, August 2-5, 8:30 am-12:30 pm, Community High School. Join TC Carmyn Juntunen as she guides participants through a variety of technology strategies to enliven any classroom. For members of the RRVWP only. More information on the particulars of registration and location will be posted later on the LIstServ and Facebook. Be watching for those!

Also, this summer the RRVWP is expanding its offerings to Fargo. The Summer Institute will be held at NDSU from June 14 -July 8. In addition, we are conducting a one-week Mini Institute for Fargo Language Arts teachers from June 21-24 entitled Audience Matters: Helping Students Navigate Audience and Genre in the Writing Process.

Mark your calendars now for these exciting opportunities. See you this summer!

What does 'ready for college' mean?

You've probably heard the new target for No Child Left Behind; to quote the New York Times: "A new goal, which would replace the 2014 universal proficiency [in reading and math] deadline, would be for all students to leave high school 'college or career ready.'" But what does "college or career ready" mean?

Recently I (Kim) was asked by my department chair to draft an "operational definition of 'ready for college composition at UND'". Here's what I came up with, with feedback from UND's long-time composition directors:

Students who are ready for college composition at the University of North Dakota will…

• …have had significant practice in the full range of reading comprehension strategies (summarizing, inferencing, visualizing, predicting, questioning the text, seeing causal relationships, recognizing the author’s purpose, having fix-up strategies when comprehension breaks down, etc. See the work of Kylene Beers, Carol Booth Olson, and Cris Tovani for details.);
• …have had significant practice in producing lengthy texts (longer than two typed, single-spaced pages) that develop and support the writer’s ideas;
• …have had significant practice in, and have developed a commitment to, strategies for substantively revising the content of their writing through multiple drafts;
• …have developed the ability to take college work seriously, to understand and follow course policies and procedures, to meet deadlines, and to communicate effectively and appropriately with teachers and peers about their writing and about the course.

This operational definition is based on our observations of students and regular surveys of instructors during the previous eight years of the UND composition program. Inadequacies in one or more of these four areas are the most common reason for students to fail English 110 at UND.

What are your thoughts on this? There is currently a proposal from North Dakota's Lieutenant Governor to have all ND juniors take the ACT; anyone who got below an 18 on the English portion would be prohibited from taking college composition once they matriculate until they've completed some kind of remedial course. This is a terrible idea for all kinds of reasons, but in particular--with what you know of the ACT, can you see it measuring any of the items in the above list?