Weekend Writing: Halloween Costume Memories

Describe your favorite Halloween costume. What memories does that costume hold?

Rejuvenation Friday: The Joy of Reading

Welcome to Friday. Welcome to Rejuvenation.

The profession of teaching is one that comes with many words: words to read, words to write, words to speak, words to listen to. Sometimes the overabundance of professional words can put a pause on the the fun reading, the fun writing.

Thus, my challenge for you today and this weekend is to take some time to enjoy reading, enjoy the words written for the pure sake of enjoyment.

Who knows what refreshing or exciting or adventurous or intriguing places you will find yourself in the pages of an enjoyed book.  Happy traveling. Happy reading.

Call for comments: What are your go-to enjoyment reads?

AuTHor Thursday: Denise Lajimodiere

Meet Denise Lajimodiere.

She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Pembina Chippewa, a poet, and Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership at North Dakota State University.

In the introduction to Denise's poetry collection entitled Dragonfly Dance, Louise Erdrich writes:

If healing is partly the resurrection and acknowledgement of pain, then Denise Lajimodiere is a healer through her poetry. If healing is partly laughter, then Denise's poetry can laugh through tears. If healing is a mysterious process, Denise shows that it also begins in everyday kindness.

Some of her poetry has recently been included in North Dakota is Everywhere: An Anthology of Contemporary North Dakota Poets edited by Heidi Czerwiec.

Denise has brought her writing expertise to the Red River Valley Writing Project in her role as Writer in Residence. She participated in a writing workshop with Native students at the Circle of Nations Boarding School in Wahpeton. Also, this past summer, she was part of the Turtle Mountain Teen Art and Writing Workshop. This workshop was recently featured on the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards blog.

Denise graciously shared some insight into her writing world, answering the following questions for the RRVWP blog.

Why do you write?
I can't not write. I have to write, it's like an itch in the back of my brain that can only be soothed by writing. I keep journals in my purse; I keep a dream diary by my bedside to always jot down thoughts and observations that are seeds to poems.

What genres do you write? Which is your favorite? Why?

Poetry is the only genre I write in. I love the challenge of editing out every superfluous word, of making the poem tight and having inner rhyme and chime, assonance, consonance, yet have deep meaning and be beautiful to hear when read out loud. 

Who encouraged you to be a writer?
 My Junior high school creative writing teacher, Mrs. Avshlomov, took me aside and said, ‘you can be a writer.’ At that time, mid 60s there were no Native writers that I knew of and I thought, ‘poor Mrs. A, she doesn’t know that Indians can’t write.’ I immediately stopped writing for nearly ten years, just kept notes on scraps of paper and put them in a shoebox. In 1984 I held a book in my hands titled Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich. I was stunned to see that not only can Indians write but someone from my own tribe had written an award winning novel!  I started writing poetry again from those shoebox scraps. Louise and Heid Erdrich began doing writing workshops on the Turtle Mountain reservation where I was living. I gave Louise my poems. The next day she took me out by an oak tree by a lake, looked me in the eyes and said ‘You are a writer.’ This time I believed it and have been writing ever since. I have now completed my second poetry book manuscript; it's ready to send to out to publishing houses. 

              

What are you currently reading?

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. By Charles C. Mann. A stunning historical book of life before and after Columbus for the Indigenous people of the ‘Americas.’

Denise, miigwich (thank you) for sharing your writing insights with the RRVWP blog.

Check out RRVWP's New Discussion Board!

Hello all! Please check out our new discussion board at the following link:
http://rrvwp.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_28.html 

You can also find it under our navigation bar --->

Currently we do not have any topics posted, but that will change! Feel free to create or respond to discussions on this page. Hopefully we can create a space for meaningful discussions about teaching, writing, and the writing project!

Wednesday Wisdom: Media Literacy Week

Greetings Teachers!

As educators in this media-saturated world, we know how important it is to teach students how to be critical thinkers as they are often surrounded by words, images, and videos. This next week finds a group of people emphasizing this very idea.

The inaugural Media Literacy Week in the United States is November 2-6.  According to their website, the purpose of the week is as follows:

Media Literacy Week is designed to bring attention and visibility to media literacy education in the United States. Inspired by Canada's Media Literacy Week now in its 10th year, the National Association for Media Literacy Education is leading the efforts to create a media literacy week in the United States to showcase the work of amazing media literacy educators and organizations around the country. The mission of Media Literacy Week is to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education today. 

To find out more information about the events happening during this week, visit them online at http://medialiteracyweek.us. Follow them on Twitter with the hashtag #MediaLitWk.

What resources or strategies have you found helpful in teaching students critical thinking in relation to media literacy?

Call for Comments:  Remember this simple equation: comments on any blog post in October = chance to win a signed copy of Andrew Smith's Winger.

Call to Action: Have you read any articles that helped you become a better teacher or thinker? Consider sharing them here on the blog. Either send us the article with a quick rationale about why it should be featured or send the write up as a ready-to-go blog post. Email it to redrivervalleywritingproject@gmail.com. Thanks!

Tuesday's Teacher Feature: Erika Dyk

This week's Featured Teacher is Erika Dyk, who is currently working with RRVWP to improve this very blog! Erika is responsible for many of the terrific changes the blog has seen in the past couple of months. Erika is currently a Master's student in the English Department at NDSU. Before coming to NDSU, Erika taught English in Hazen, ND. She completed Summer Institute in 2010. She is also one of the founders of My North Dakota Story (www.myndstory.com). We encourage you and your students to contribute your ND story!

The picture above was taken at RRVWP's Pens and Pints Writing Crawl this summer! 

For this week's Teacher Feature, Erika responded to the following interview questions:

What are you currently reading?

I have recently found myself in the midst of several books:

·         The Wandering Mind: What Your Brain Does When You're Not Looking by Michael C. Corballis

·         Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

·         The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

·         This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl by Esther Earl, Lori Earl, and Wayne Earl

Why do you read?

I read because first and foremost I love getting a glimpse into how other people view the world and how different brains connect ideas. Reading helps me understand the world around me. I also love to read to see how people arrange words, sometimes playfully, sometimes poetically, sometimes seriously.

What do you like to write outside the classroom? Why do you write?

I write to connect ideas together, but in the connection of ideas, people are connected as well. I really like to write creative non-fiction and also young adult/middle grade fiction. 

Do any of your writing philosophies/interests translate to your teaching? 

Whenever I teach writing, sharing my writing and perhaps more importantly sharing the writing process is vital. I learned from taking the Northern Plains Writing Summer Institute (I am a transplant to the RRVWP) the vital importance of having a community of writers in order to support writing instruction. I also discovered Penny Kittle that summer! Fostering community in the classroom fosters better writing, both for the teacher and for the students. 

Who encouraged you to be a teacher?

I've always loved learning and was blessed to have excellent teachers. Also, my mom was a teacher and had a big heart for education. Thus, I always thought about being a teacher in the back of my mind, but I originally wanted to be a math teacher. Choosing an area to specialize in was difficult, which is why I think I chose English: you can read and write about any subject!

Call for comments: Share your own inspirations and reading interests! Do you connect with anything that Erika shared? Remember, comment on any blog post in October and be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith!!

Monday Announcements

Thanks to Erika Dyk, who helped staff the RRVWP table at the ND United Conference last week. The conference did not have a large number of attendees, but we got to have in-depth conversations with several teachers about the work we do.

The only event on our calendar this week is the Scholastic meeting at the Plains Art Museum from 4:15-5pm on Wednesday, October 28th.  Olivia Edwardson will begin with a brief overview of the Awards. The event will cover how to create an account on the Scholastic microsite, how to help students submit works of writing or art, and how to find the fee waiver forms (and where to submit fees). An informal Q&A will conclude the meeting, giving educators an opportunity to ask any questions they may have about the program.

Participants will have a choice of a free book or catalog of past award winners.

 

Call to action: Comment on any blog post in October and be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith.

Weekend Writing: National Make a Difference Day

The fourth Saturday in October is National Make a Difference Day. First, generate some ways to make a difference by writing a list. Then, pick an item or two from your list and describe how you could go about taking action to make a difference.

Rejuvenation Friday: Connected to the Heart and Courage

Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life explores who the teacher is.  In the first chapter of his book, he notes

"Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these weavers vary widely: lectures, Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative problem solving, creative chaos. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts--meaning heart in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human" (11)

According to Palmer, these heart connections require courage as "[t]he courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven in the fabric of community that learning, and living, require" (11).

This Friday, take some time to write down either your teaching heart or about the sense of connection you see in your own classroom.  Use this writing time as a space to rejuvenate. 



Call for Blog Posts: Teacher, how do you rejuvenate after a week of teaching? Would you be willing to share? We here at the RRVWP blog are looking for short blog posts about Teacher Rejuvenation.  Email your short inspirational or rejuvenating article to redrivervalleywritingproject@gmail.com.  Thanks!



P.S. Remember there is a book giveaway happening in the comments this October.  Comment on any blog post in October and be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith.

AuTHor Thursday: You are the Author

This week, you are the author. Will you choose to write a non-fiction memoir or a fictionalized short story? Turn to page 2 in your notebooks for non-fiction or page 4 in your notebooks for fiction.

Remember those books that allowed you as the reader to chart your own course through the tangles of plot? 

Now there are easy ways to write those yourself using the marvels of today's technology. Richard Byrne, blogger at Free Technology for Teachers, reviewed three different technological platforms for writing those choice-laden tales. 

Check out the different platforms here, and explore his blog for more ideas as to how to incorporate (free) technology into the classroom.


Call for Comments: What websites have you found helpful as an author?

Remember, you can comment on any October blogpost through October 31st to be entered in the drawing to win a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith! 

Wednesday Wisdom from Dr. Karen Hansen

Kim Rensch, who attended Dr. Karen Hansen's presentation a few weeks ago, created a useful summary of Dr. Hansen's wisdom on portraiture. If you consider either assigning written portraits in your classroom or writing them yourself, consider this wisdom:

Writing Portraits
When Dr. Karen Hansen, author of Encounter on the Great Plains: Scandinavian Settlers and the Dispossession of Dakota Indians, 1980-1930, visited Fargo and led a writing workshop on the NDSU campus, she had us try our hand at writing portraits of a person we know. Dr. Hansen’s inspiration came from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’s book The Art and Science of Portraiture. Lawrence-Lightfoot’s website describes portraiture as a method of writing that is used “to document the culture of institutions, the life stories of individuals, stages of human development, essential relationships, processes, and concepts.”

Focusing on a particular moment, said Dr. Hansen, helps us to illuminate the person who is the subject of our portrait. We see that person in a moment, doing something typical, revealing quirks and habits, or capturing that person in a unique moment that stands out in time. Portraiture could be used in longer works to stop the action and allow the reader to focus on a moment in a character’s life, revealing details about the character that might have otherwise been missed.

See examples of Lawrence-Lightfoot’s portrait writing here, and try your hand at writing your own portrait.

Call for Comments: Have you ever encouraged your students to use portraiture in their writing? If so, what advice did you give them?

Remember: You can comment on any October blogpost through October 31st to be entered in the drawing to win a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith!

Tuesday's Teacher Feature: Pam Fisher

This week’s Featured Teacher is Pam Fisher, a current Co-Director and former In-Service/Outreach and Continuity Coordinator for the RRVWP. In the past, Pam has also co-facilitated the Summer Institute. She first attended a Summer Institute in 2003 and was a returning fellow in the 2004 and 2006 Summer Institutes and the 2011 Fall Institute. Not only does Pam currently co-direct RRVWP, but she also facilitates the book club meetings. She teaches both Spanish and English in Grand Forks and strives to promote her love for writing and reading within both of her subjects.

On top of her numerous responsibilities, Pam writes her own poetry and short narratives outside of the classroom. She believes that poetry can be an accessible genre to anyone, which she tries to impart upon both her English and Spanish students. She even assigns her students to read and write poetry so that they can become more comfortable and familiar with the genre.

In addition to writing, Pam reads a variety of genres as well; she says that she reads to learn, understand experiences outside of her own, and enjoy authors’ craft. This is clear from her own reading list, as it is a mix of several fiction and non-fiction genres: Mindset by Carol Dweck, Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain, Foreign Language Teacher's Guide to Active Learning by Deborah Blaz, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, and In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Aside from her own reading, Pam provides opportunities for her students to experience reading for craft and knowledge through many genres. To encourage reading outside the classroom, she offers her students with Scholastic book order forms to peruse and even lists her own recommendations for books.

Pam is clearly inspiring, through her ability to juggle numerous responsibilities both in the classroom and through RRVWP. However, she stresses that there are so many teachers and students who inspire her to improve her own teaching. In her own words, Pam explains, “I am always energized by the dedicated teachers I meet, but most of all I am inspired by my students, whose commitment and enthusiasm drive me to provide them the best learning situations I can.”

Call for Comments: Who/what inspires you as a teacher?
Remember: You can comment on any October blogpost through October 31st to be entered in the drawing to win a signed copy of Winger by Andrew Smith!

Monday Announcements

Last week, Kelly Sassi met with NDSU Dean Kent Sandstrom to share our annual report. Dean Sandstrom is a staunch advocate of the RRVWP and has pledged his support again this year. Thank you, Dean Sandstrom. This week's announcements:

Monday, October 19th. 5:30pm. Grand Forks Book Club meets. Contact Pamefisher@gmail.com for more information.
Tuesday, October 20th. National Day on Writing.
Noon-4pm Kelly Sassi to lead a writing workshop for students at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates.
Thursday-Friday, October 22-23. ND United Conference. The RRVWP will have a table at this conference. If you can volunteer some table time, please contact Kelly Sassi at kelly.sassi@ndsu.edu.

Call to Action: This week, we are encouraging RRVWP TCs to comment on a blogpost. Each time you do, your name will be entered in a drawing to win a signed copy of the YAL novel Winger by Andrew Smith. You can comment on any October blogpost through October 31st to be entered in the drawing.

Turtle Mountain Teen Art and Writing Workshop

Turtle Mountain teens at the Open Mic night on July 31^st, with National Student Poet Weston Clark (holding guitar).

This past summer, the Red River Valley Writing Project extended its scope to working with teens. We partnered with Turtle Mountain Community Schools and the National Student Poets Program to hold a week-long workshop for fifteen teen artists and writers on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, near the Canadian border. National Student Poet Weston Clark assisted with this project and led an engaging praise poetry workshop. Students had choice in which workshops to attend. Offerings included the following: puppetmaking (Sheyanna Ashes and Sam Poitra), slam poetry (Hannabah Blue), flash fiction (Lise Erdrich), oral narratives/dramatic script (Caitlin Johnson), hip hop (Mic Jordan), digital art (Jacob Laducer), chalk drawing (Kathy Nadeau), printmaking (Laura Youngbird), journalism (Caitlin Johnson), memoir (Denise Lajimodiere), and photography (Caitlin Johnson). Time was scheduled for students to engage in a deep revision process. 

Our philosophical approach to this workshop was an Indigenized version of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP). We drew on the cultural strengths of the region by seeking out Native American writers and artists to lead workshops for students. Ten Native artists and writers modeled the values of the Ojibwe community: love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility, and truth. Another approach was to recruit workshop leaders from the group that presented at our Circle of Nations workshop last fall. By drawing from regional expertise, we contributed to building leadership capacity in local teachers while simultaneously building bridges between Native schools. This “teachers-teaching-teachers” model is a hallmark of the National Writing Project, and we are applying it intentionally and strategically for the benefit of Native American students. For example,

Weekend Writing: National Mulligan Day

October 17th is National Mulligan Day. In golf terms, mulligans are penalty-free do-overs. In the world outside of golf, mulligans aren’t always possible. Describe a time in life you wish you could have had a do-over.

Rejuvenation Friday: Be of Courage, Teacher!

Welcome to Friday. Welcome to Rejuvenation.

Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

As teachers, we are asked to stand and speak and to sit and listen--all of which can take tremendous courage.

Sometimes we need a little inspiration to remind us of that courage. The book Teaching with Heart: Poetry That Speaks to the Courage to Teach can do just that. According to Parker Palmer in the Foreward, "Teaching with Heart is full of good news about our schools...The good news comes from ninety gifted and committed educators, each of whom shares a brief personal story about the teaching life, accompanied by a poem that embodies insights, values, or a vision that helps sustain him or her."




Courageous Teacher, what poems carry those insights, values, or vision for you?

Today, consider taking time to go back to a favorite poem and reflect on it personally or share it with others.

AuTHor THursday

This post is a day late, but we thought we'd share ALAN's list of YA authors who are potentially available for school visits, library visits, readings, and conferences! They may even be willing to Skype in if they are far away. Check it out!

http://www.alan-ya.org/information/speakers-bureau/

Wednesday Wisdom: NWP Online Resources

The National Writing Project website contains a wealth of resources and ideas for teacher-leaders.

One of the featured resources is Educator Innovator, which is powered by the National Writing Project.

In their own words, "Educator Innovator provides an online "meet-up" for educators who are re-imagining learning. Educator Innovator is both a blog and a growing community of educators, partners and supporters."

The Educator Innovator's website features a blog with helpful strategies and ideas (their most recent blog post features a tutorial on how to make an infographic), upcoming opportunities including webinars, and ways to be connected in the conversation.



In exploring both the National Writing Project website and Educator Innovator, what resources have you found to be helpful? Feel free to share in the comments. 
 

Monday announcements

This week Kelly Sassi is meeting with Dean Sandstrom at NDSU to report on the past year's activities and ask for continuing support of the RRVWP.

The RRVWP is hiring an assistant. This is a 10 hours per week position on the NDSU campus. Hours are flexible. Here is a link to the job description: https://www.ndsu.edu/english/. Scroll down until you see it.Thanks to the leadership team, especially Pam Fisher, for their work on it.

Celena Todora and Erika Dyk have been working on a weekly plan for the RRVWP Blog. Here is the description of what you can expect to find each week:

 

Monday: Monday Announcements

We will be posting RRVWP announcements each Monday, so keep an eye out for upcoming events or calls for action. If you have any RRVWP-related announcements that you would like to see put out, please e-mail Kelly.Sassi@ndsu.edu.

Tuesday: Feature Teacher

Tuesdays will feature a teacher in the RRVWP through a short profile. Interested in becoming a featured teacher on the blog? Please e-mail Celena.Todora@ndsu.edu and she will e-mail you a few short questions to respond to!

Wednesday: Wednesday Wisdom

Wednesdays will provide wisdom to deepen your knowledge of various topics in education. Have any interesting education-related articles, posts, videos, or other content that will inspire other teachers? Please send them to Erika.Dyk@ndsu.edu.

Thursday: AuTHor THursdays

On Thursdays we will be featuring books and authors that you might want to check out! Are there any authors or books that you would like featured on the blog for other teachers can find out about? Let Erika Dyk know at Erika.Dyk@ndsu.edu.

Friday: Rejuvenation Fridays

 

Rejuvenation Fridays will share content that will help you feel rejuvenated after a long week. If you come across any articles, videos, ideas, or other content that may rejuvenate other teachers, be sure to forward them to Kelly.Sassi@ndsu.edu.


CALL TO ACTION:

Have you published something between Sept. 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015? Please let Kelly know, so we can include your publication as part of our annual report. Thank you!

Weekend Writing: Moldy Cheese

October 9th is Moldy Cheese Day. It says so on the Internet, so it must be true. Write a story where the protagonist's day is impacted by moldy cheese. (http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/october.htm)

Rejuvenation Friday: Tips for Staying Healthy

Welcome to Friday. Welcome to Rejuvenation.

With the changing of seasons, colds and illnesses and sicknesses dance in the air. Thus it is even more important to try to stay healthy.

In the article "Daily Tips to Help Teachers Stay Happy and Healthy During the Week," Professor Gail Kinman offers practical tips for each day of the week for teachers to maintain excellent wellbeing.

One of Friday's tips is to "Make a list of things that help you relax. Then choose one and do it without feeling guilty."

Read the full article here to learn the tips for each day of the week, and I hope that you can find some relaxation and rejuvenation today.

AuTHor THursday: Jill Kandel

Author Jill Kandel

Meet Jill Kandel, a local author. She specializes in creative nonfiction and has had essays published in a variety of literary journals, including The Missouri Review, Gettysburg Review, River Teeth, Pinch, Image, and Brevity.  Her book So Many Africas: Six Years in a Zambian Village won the Autumn House Press Creative Nonfiction Award in 2014. 

You can find Jill online at www.jillkandel.com. She regularly blogs about her writing life, which included participating in the Red River Valley Writing Project's Pens and Pints Writing Crawl this past August. 

For more insight into her writing process and literary life, she graciously answered a few questions for the RRVWP.  

Why do you write?

Initially, I began writing after living for six years in a very remote village in Zambia, Africa. When I came home I couldn't talk about those years. I didn't understand a lot of my own life. Zambia became a large silence in the narrative of my life. So I wrote to understand and to articulate what those years had been. Writing gave me a voice.

I am curious about the world and about life. I love to research and writing clarifies my ideas. As William Zinsser said, "Writing is thinking on paper." Writing both excites and calms me. It gratifies my curiosity and is also a tool which takes thoughts out of my mind and releases them.

What are you reading?

I have a book in every room! Here's a few that are open right now:

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

Best American Essay 2015

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett

Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn't Work and How We Can Do Better, by Maya Schenwar

The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny

Small Victories, by Anne Lamott

Advice for writers?

I have two very favorite quotes which affect my writing every day. Steven King said, “If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Dan Poynter said, "If you wait for inspiration to write: you're not a writer, you're a waiter."

To be a good writer you have to be a great reader. You also have to sit down in the chair and do the work. You learn to write by reading; you learn to write by writing.

Other than reading and writing, one of the best things a writer can do is to find other writers and form working friendships. Becoming comfortable with other people critiquing your work is essential. Opening up your writing to a writing group, or workshop, or writing friend will make your writing stronger. This back and forth helps a writer let go of the work in a good way. When I first started writing, I thought somehow since the words were written down they were almost sacrosanct. This is a beginner's mistake. It is not easy to have your work critiqued. But when a writer friend tells me a paragraph or page isn't working for them, I have the opportunity to make it better. Having another writer read my writing in progress is a real gift.

Connecting with Other Educators

The best teachers are those who continually learn. An effective way to learn is to connect with fellow educators. One way to connect is at conferences such as the National Council of Teachers of English conference coming up this November in Minneapolis. However, if you are unable to attend, there are other ways to stay connected! The NCTE blog notes that October is Connected Educator Month and offers some specific and intentional ways to be connected via social media.

One of the connected conversations on social media is #WhatWeHonor, an ongoing dialogue about assessment. The blog offers an invitation to this conversation:

During the month of October, follow and contribute to the #WhatWeHonor conversations and sharing of assessment tools and artifacts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Tag resources and blogs related to formative assessment; share your most tried-and-true rubrics, observation protocols, conferencing strategies, and more; post a video of your collaborative team discussing the power of looking at student work together; and make any other contributions you can think of that can change the conversation about assessment to focus on more than annual standardized testing.

Read more about Connected Educator month here and if you feel so inclined to connect on this blog, leave a comment about ways you have found to be connected with other professionals.

Teacher Feature: Olivia Edwardson

Olivia Edwardson is an eighth grade language arts teacher at Cheney Middle school who truly considers herself to be a writer outside of the classroom. She pursues a variety of writing genres, including journaling, blogging, nonfiction writing, and journalism. She is currently working on a few nonfiction book projects and hopes to someday publish them. Moreover, she even contributes pieces to GenTwenty, an online publication that describes itself as “The Twenty-Something’s Guide to Life.” Olivia particularly enjoys writing lifestyle and career pieces for GenTwenty. She clearly has experience writing in a variety of genres.

Olivia’s passion for writing flows into her teaching, as she uses her own writing as mentor texts in the classroom. She not only shows her students her work but also demonstrates how she revised these pieces over time so the students can understand revision processes. Through this modeling, she instills in them an understanding that writing can never be perfect the first time and that revision is essential to become a stronger writer. Olivia also believes that writers must write daily to become better writers, which is why she provides opportunities for her students to journal every day on various topics.

Much of what fuels Olivia’s strengths in writing and teaching is what she spends her time reading outside of school. She says that she reads primarily to stay informed and foster imaginative ideas. Her desire to learn about the world is what inspired her to read about a variety of topics and begin her nonfiction writing. Above all, she considers reading “an opportunity... to broaden [her] horizons and grow as an individual.”

Olivia’s desire for individual growth is apparent from the book she is currently reading, Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith. The book provides an in-depth discussion about the American education system as well as strategies for better preparing students for the future. Olivia began reading this book after seeing the documentary based on the book at the Fargo Theater a couple weeks ago. After learning about these revolutionary teaching strategies through the film, she decided that she needed to learn more to better her own knowledge and teaching. Thus, Olivia’s reading significantly fuels her aims to learn about the world and strengthen her writing instruction.

Monday Announcements

 Karen V. Hansen, leading our writing workshop, with a photo of her grandmother, Helene Haugen, on the screen.

Visiting writer Karen V. Hansen gave a writing workshop for us yesterday from 2-4pm. Hansen is in the region to talk about her recently published book Encounter on the Great Plains: Scandinavian Settlers and the Dispossession of Dakota Indians. Hansen, a professor of women's and gender studies at Brandeis University, was moved to research this topic because her grandmother, an immigrant from Norway, was one of many Norwegian settlers who homesteaded on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation. Hansen conducted scores of interviews and transcribed 70 oral history narratives from archival sources in doing research for this book. In the writing workshop, we listened to one of her interviews with a 105-year-old Norwegian immigrant, saw the transcript of this interview, and read the section in her book where she incorporated this material. Hansen talked about her writing process and answered questions about approaches to interviewing people. She also led us through a writing activity based on sociologist Sara Lawrence Lightfoot's conception of the art and science of portraiture. We wrote a description of a family member and shared it with the group for feedback.

A leadership meeting was held on Sunday, October 3 from 4-5pm, attended by Kim Rensch, Angie Hase, Karen Taylor, Olivia Edwardson, and Kelly Sassi. Olivia Edwardson shared a tentative date for a teacher workshop on how to promote the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and enter student work through the online system. It is scheduled tentatively for October 28th at the Plains Art Museum--details forthcoming. Angie is working on details for our winter writing retreat. Kim is both leading the writing group and providing Saturday morning writing prompts. Karen Taylor is preparing for the Assignments Matter meeting in November.

Monday, October 5th noon-1pm Mandan Room. NDSU Memorial Union. Hansen will speak with Michael Yellowbird and Louis Garcia on a panel about settler colonialism. Monday evening, she will speak at Breckenridge Publich Library at 6:30pm about her work. 

Tuesday, October 6th. 6:30-7:30pm. Karen V. Hansen will be speaking at the Sons of Norway about her book. 

Saturday, October 9th. 9am. Atomic Coffee on Broadway in Fargo. First meeting of the RRVWP Writing Group, led by Kim Rensch.

CALL TO ACTION: Erika Dyk and Celena Todora have taken up the work initiated by Pam Fisher and Nancy Devine on the blog. There are daily thematic postings. To get a notice in your inbox of what has been posted on the blog, scroll down the blog until you see a box on the right side labeled "Follow by email." When you type your email address in the box, then you will be signed up to get blog notifications. As you scroll through your email, if the title is of interest, you can click on the link that will bring you directly to that blog post. PLEASE SIGN UP THIS WEEK. It takes just a few seconds to do, and then you will be connected to some really great resources!

Weekend Writing Prompt: What's in a Digital Name?

Welcome to the weekend!  Welcome to weekend writing!

Today's writing challenge:

Nonfiction: What names have you been known by online? Any quirky email addresses from your youth? Is there a story behind the name? How have you changed since that name?

OR

Fiction: Create a quirky screen name. Have that name be significant in a short story.

Friday Rejuvenation: Gratitude

A Note

To Those Reading This on the Other Side of the Screen,

Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your gifts, intelligence, and passion for learning and writing with your students, your colleagues, your friends.

You are appreciated.

With gratitude,

 Me on this Side of the Screen

AuTHor THursday: Karen V. Hansen

AuTHor THursday focuses on Karen V. Hansen, professor of women and gender studies at Brandeis University, who will be in the Fargo-Moorhead area this weekend and leading a writing workshop for the RRVWP on Sunday from 2-4pm in the Mandan Room of the Memorial Union on the NDSU campus. 

Karen V. Hansen recently published Encounter on the Great Plains: Scandinavian Settlers and the Dispossession of Dakota Indians, 1890-1930.  This book “explores life on a remote Indian reservation [Spirit Lake] in the early twentieth century where Scandinavians began homesteading, with the sanction of the U.S. government. In effect, they dispossessed Dakota Sioux while living as their neighbors on the reservation. Based on oral histories with elders and analysis of landownership records, the book explores the land taking and in its wake, the coexistence of two profoundly different peoples as they sought to maintain their language, practice their culture, and honor loyalties to more than one nation” (author website).