November Site Update

NWP-KSU November Site Bulletin

Save the Date! ___________________________________________________________________
NWP Annual Meeting: The National Writing Project Annual Meeting will take place Thursday, November 20th—Saturday, November 22nd in San Antonio. The meeting is held in conjunction with the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English. For more information visit http://www.ncte.org/profdev/conv/annual.

November 25, 2008: Westside Writing Group. All TCs are welcome. The group will meet at 6:00pm at Borders in Strongsville (on Rt. 82, across from Westfield—South Park Mall). For more information, contact Kate Walley (kwalley@bright.net).

December 10, 2008: Themed Book Club. This club is for readers of picture books, middle grade books, and YA literature—all TCs are welcome. The group will meet from 4:30pm—6:00pm at Starbucks in Hudson (located on Rt. 91). The theme for this month is “Holiday Books.” Come ready to share your favorite book about any holiday. For more information, contact Laura Barracato (eve_sixty_six@yahoo.com).

January 22, 2009: Riverside Book Club. All TCs are welcome. The group will meet at 7:00pm at Riverside Wine Bar on Rt. 43 (Mantua St.) in Kent to discuss Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise. Nemirovsky’s best-selling work of historical fiction depicts the German occupation of France during World War II from the perspective of this Russian, Jewish immigrant. An engrossing tale perfect for warming the cold December nights! Contact Lisa Rosenman (lisarosenman@hotmail.com) for further details or http://www.riverside-wine.com/ for directions.

NWP Special Focus Mini-Grants: NWP's special-focus networks (English Language Learners, Rural Sites, Teacher Inquiry Communities, Technology Liaisons, and Urban Sites) offer Mini-Grants to strengthen site work in areas that support the networks' missions. Interested TCs should contact Dr. Deb DeBenedictis (ddebened@kent.edu), who will connect you with personnel to construct your grant proposal. The deadline for submitting grant proposals is January 8.

June 15--July 10, 2009: Summer Invitational Institute. Applications and brochures for next year’s Summer Institute are available at http://www.nwp-ksu.org/. Application deadline is March 13, 2009--encourage your colleagues to save the dates and apply early!

Write Here! Write Now!: NWP-KSU’s annual day of writing for teachers will be held on Friday, June 26, 2009 from 8:30am—3:30pm at Kent State University, Kent campus. More details coming soon at http://www.nwp-ksu.org/.

Other News: __________________________________________________________________
Applause! Applause! Congratulations to TCs Marie Williams and Leslie Eiben, who join NWP-KSU Co-Directors Dr. Deb DeBenedictis and Judy Sewell for an invited presentation at the NWP Annual Meeting in San Antonio this week! NWP-KSU Site Director Dr. Alexa Sandmann will facilitate a session at the NWP conference and will present a session at the NCTE conference as well.

*NEW* NWP-KSU Email Address: Have a question about NWP-KSU but not sure who to contact? Email our site at nwp@kent.edu and we will make sure your queries are accommodated.

Advanced Institutes: After the successful launch of our Advanced Institute this summer, NWP-KSU is looking for TC’s interested in either facilitating or attending Advanced Institutes and workshops exclusively for our site. Advanced Institute facilitators are paid and attendees can earn graduate credit. Suggested topics include:
-Assessing and Responding to Student Writing
-Implementing Technology into Writing Pedagogy
-Teacher Research on Writing
-Using Graphica in Reading and Writing Classrooms
-Visual Rhetoric
Other suggestions are welcome! Please contact Patrick Thomas (pthomas4@kent.edu) for more information.

Mini-Grants: A reminder that NWP-KSU has funding available in the form of Mini-Grants for TC’s interested in implementing professional development initiatives in their schools. Applications for Mini-Grants are available on our website (http://www.nwp-ksu.org/) under the “Learning for TCs” tab. For any questions, contact Patrick Thomas (pthomas4@kent.edu).

NWP-KSU Website: http://www.nwp-ksu.org/ is the one-stop spot for all NWP-KSU activities. The site is continually updated with the latest information on upcoming events, professional development opportunities, and links to other NWP resources. Special thanks to Ann Thompson, our technical liaison, for her diligent work in maintaining our site. Be sure to check out the new and improved NWP-KSU blog at http://nwp-ksu.blogspot.com/.

The NWP-KSU site bulletin is published monthly. If you have an announcement for NWP-KSU participants, please send it to Patrick Thomas (pthomas4@kent.edu) no later than the 10th of each month.