National Writing Project at Kent State University

Harris - Web 2.0 Tool Box: Xtranormal.com (part 2)

2011-07-21T04:34:00.000-04:00

Harris - Web 2.0 Tool Box: Xtranormal.com (part 2): "The xtranormal videos by baldeagleization are very funny. This one has a teacher and an administrator talking about working collaborativel..."

NWP-KSU Writing Technologies for 21st Century Learners

2011-07-11T17:55:00.002-04:00

So glad to have you with us for this workshop. Each afternoon you will be asked to make a contribution to this blog to promote the goals of our writing community.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions of Patrick or me. We are here to help.

Happy writing and learning! Ann Thompson

The Longest Poem in the World!!!! (Thank you, Twitter)

2009-08-27T00:04:00.001-04:00

"The Longest Poem in the World" is composed by aggregating real-time public twitter updates and selecting those that rhyme. It is constantly growing at ~4000 verses / day."

http://www.longestpoemintheworld.com/

You can see more verses by clicking the three dots at the bottom (• • •)

50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

2009-08-05T14:41:00.003-04:00

okay, okay...this is mostly aimed at college teaching, but NWP-KSU TCs are great at adapting ideas to fit their own needs.

"50 Ways to use Twitter in the College Classroom"
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/06/08/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-college-classroom/

Global Wiki Book Project for Students

2009-07-23T21:05:00.003-04:00

Below is a call for student participation in a global wiki book project entitled _In Our Word: Portraits of Communities across the Globe_. If you are interested in having your students participate in this book project, please contact the administrators listed at the end of this call.

_______________________________________________________________
Letter of Invitation to WiTTIE (Wiki Templates to Transform Instructional Environments) Project
Dear Friends,
We are planning an exciting new international collaboration and we hope you would like to be a part of it.

We are creating a new online book, In Our Word: Portraits of Communities across the Globe. This will be a collaborative text written by students and hosted on the Internet using Wiki software so that students from all over the world can contribute. Our vision for the book is this: We will solicit classes from around the world to participate. Each class will create a chapter in the book describing their community. Within this chapter, students working alone or in small groups will write articles/entries about different aspects of their community such as the following:
· What we do for fun
· Where we live
· What we like to eat
· How we get around
· Where we shop
· What our parents do
· Our sports
The articles would include information that other students, in different parts of the world, might want to know. We would encourage students to include their own original photographs/videos.

The topics could be selected by the instructors to align with topics of the course, or students could be free to select topics of their choosing. Most preferably, the class as a whole could brainstorm a list of topics that students from another country would be most interested in hearing about.

Besides posting information about their own communities, we would hope that students would also engage in the following:
· Reviewing and rating each other’s articles (within and between classes)
· Looking for similarities and differences between their own communities and other communities around the world
· Building relationships with other classes

We have plans for a second phase of the project where students would write a second chapter describing the needs and assets of their communities. By posting and sharing this information with other students world-wide, classes could create partnerships based on mutual benefit.

Purpose of the project:
· -To provide a world-wide genuine audience for students’ writing
· -To promote cultural exchange of ideas and information in the interest of fostering more harmonious cultural relations through shared understanding
· -To establish connections between classes across the globe for further collaboration projects.

We have created a very basic template for the book using the Wikibooks platform and we invite you to have a look: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/In_Our_World. We will be creating a sample chapter over the summer and should have this ready by the beginning of August.

We have received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation through the Digital Media and Learning Competition that will allow us to develop our own Wiki application hosted at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, USA. It will also allow us to create rubrics and rating templates so students can easily upload content, review and assess each others’ work, and teachers can monitor individual and class performance. The idea is to make this project technologically easy for students and teachers so you can focus on the content!

Project Particulars: The project will begin at the start of the fall 2009 semester (August 24th, 2009). We will provide free training and support to participating teachers and students. This first edition will be in English so the students should know or be studying English.

Students of any age can participate. If you are interested in participating, please let us know by replying to this email.

We hope you’ll join us on this international learning adventure. We look forward to hearing from you.
Jennifer Kidd, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Department of Teaching and Learning
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA 23529
jkidd@odu.edu

We Are All Writers Now

2009-07-07T15:18:00.002-04:00

An article, cited by noted pundit Andrew Sullivan, written by Anne Trubek from Oberlin College.
http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/anne-trubek/we-are-all-writers-now

Nice to see a local writing instructor being cited on the "national" level!

the Internet and student writing

2009-06-15T09:52:00.001-04:00

from the Chronicle of Higher Ed....studies explore whether the Internet makes students better writers.

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i39/39writing.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Hamlet, as told through Facebook

2009-01-27T12:55:00.005-05:00

Read it here:
http://tinyurl.com/9kpr3s

The English Teacher Equivalent to Facebook...

2009-01-10T02:35:00.002-05:00

Jim Burke (author of The English Teacher's Companion) has started a social network for English/Language Arts teachers through Ning.com.

Check it out here!
http://englishcompanion.ning.com/

FYI: Ning.com is a web hosting site that allows users to create their own online social networks--so teachers can create their own classroom-based online networks.
Enjoy...and happy new year!

2008 report from Center for the Digital Future

2008-12-05T11:50:00.002-05:00

The USC Annenburg School for Communication has released the results on a global, seven-year study of Internet use, and provides data on Internet use from 13 countries across five continents.

The World Internet Project is the first of its kind to take a 'global picture' of how people use the Internet and the social impact of the Web.

The Project reports on major similarities and differences of Internet use, including issues of reliability of information, school Internet use, and multiple other social practices mediated by the Web.

A summary of their findings (complete with very nifty charts and graphs) can be found HERE

Link to the USC Annenburg School's *Center for the Digital Future* HERE.

Check it out!

2008-11-19T18:05:00.005-05:00

Google has opened an online archive of images from Life magazine...

The photos date from 1750 to the present day; many were never
published in the Life magazine, but were in Life's archives.

Many, many possibilities of using these images across disciplines...would love to hear how some of you might utilize this archive!

Enjoy! http://images.google.com/hosted/life

November Site Update

2008-11-17T12:39:00.002-05:00

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.

OCTELA '08...the Blizzard of '08

2008-04-25T21:47:00.011-04:00

Excellent job to the OCTELA staff! For those of us that made the journey you did a great job continuing on with the conference. Presenters...great job adjusting to the madness. Susan Campbell Bartoletti was great. Actually one of my students alreadyfinished her book!! She talked about research and why she writes. I really appreciated her stories! Outstanding speaker!! Luong Ung, excellent as well. Her extra presenation was great. I really appreciated her positive attitude. For those who survived, the Blizzard of 08, it was a conference we will always remember!! Even the weather can't stop English teachers from learning new strategies for our students!!

Nikki Matthias

NWP-KSU 2007

Teacher Consultant

Submitted 3/08

A Day at the Cleveland Botanical Garden

2008-03-02T20:10:00.010-05:00

On Saturday, March 1, 2008, a group of writers from the National Writing Project-Kent State University joined together for a writing marathon at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. It was a splendid environment that inspired some amazing writing. As several writers mentioned, it was the perfect place to find your soul.

Peace

Where did you go?
I let you slip away.
You did not go willingly.
I did not really let you slip - I pushed you away.
I filled each moment with deadlines, projects, and "must-do's".
How sad.
How thoughtless.
I should have surrounded each day and filled them up with you.

By Ann Thompson (3-1-08)

I took the photos that accompany this page were taken at the orchid exhibit this weekend. I hope others will post some of their writings and photos here, as well.

Ann Thompson
Technical Liaison
NWP-KSU

National Writing Project at Kent State University

2008-02-27T15:46:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

For many people, writing is not only a means of communication, but a passion. If you're passionate about writing and/or the teaching of writing, then this is the place for you!

The National Writing Project at Kent State University (NWP-KSU) has a newly updated website (http://www.nwp-ksu.org/) that will provide you with information on outstanding professional development opportunities where teachers teach teachers to be effective instructional leaders - both in the classroom setting and out. One of the professional development events is the Summer Invitational Institute 2008 (SI 2008) which will be held June 9, 2008 through July 3, 2008.

I attended the SI 2007 and found it to be one of the most inspiring and rewarding professional development sessions I've ever attended. All types/levels of writing and writers were graciously accepted and honored. An atmosphere of collegiality and support was fostered throughout the SI. I came away from SI 2007 with a breadth of knowledge and practical application like never before. This was no accident. Each SI is carefully planned and executed. The success of each SI is due in to extremely dedicated NWP-KSU staff. For them, I am ever thankful!

Please visit the new website at http://www.nwp-ksu.org/ for an informational brochure and SI 2008 application. Feel free to contact anyone on the NWP-KSU staff with questions or for additional information. Contact information is available on the site.

If you'd like to find out more about NWP-KSU and meet SI "graduates", also known as TCs (Teacher Consultants), then join us for a Writing Marathon at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens this Saturday, March 1, 2008. See the website for additional information.

Ann Thompson
SI 2007
NWP-KSU Technical Liaison