From Bill's Heart
Thank
you
. . . for the outpouring of
love, moral support, and prayers on the death of my wife, Kathy Hessert-Tucker.
I was touched by so many of you who wrote or attended the visitation or
memorial service. Many of you knew her
personally, and she loved the work of the Writing Project, participating in the
2011 summer institute.
I am sorry if anyone did not
receive notice of her passing. Her obituary can be found at: http://www.niefuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Kathy-Hessert-Tucker/
Bill
Up and Coming Opportunities
June 6 -
“College-Ready Writers” Orientation
– Student Center 5 – 7:30 p.m. (Applications closed)
June
20-24 – Advanced Institute –
“College-Ready Writers,” Lake House, 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., daily.
Funded
by the National Writing Project, scaling up practices for teaching
argumentative writing.
June 23-24 – Basic Literacy Coaching Institute – McKenny Hall – 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Using literacy-based protocols to support adult learning, we will explore how collaborative working relationships, mindsets, and coaching norms impact learning environments in a positive way. Learn from coaching demonstrations and practice related to over-arching philosophies of literacy. Applications welcome! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FKG999T June 27 – July 1 – Writing Retreat, Parsons Center, Lake Ann, MI (For EMWP teacher consultants).
July 11- 22 – Invitational Leadership Institute – Student Center 320, 8:30 a.m. –
3:00 p.m., daily.
July -11-15
Inkstains Middle School Writing Camp, (entering 6-8th grade). 9 a.m. – 3
p.m.
July 18-22 – Inkstains High
School Writing Camp, (entering 9-12th grade). 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
July 26-28 – Telling Our Stories/ Raising Our Voices (Advocacy workshop) McKenny
Hall,
Alumni and Tower Rooms, 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. In this workshop, we’ll help you become part
of that conversation as you learn how to develop your personal stories into a
more public narrative, starting from anecdotes and building toward an action
plan. By the end of day 3, you should
have an action plan to take back to your classroom and school. Applications Welcome! https://sites.google.com/site/emichwp/research-advocacy/advocacy
August
3, 4 – Basic Literacy Coaching Institute -McKenny Hall, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (see above)
August
15 & 16 –Building a Sustainable
Coaching Network in Your District, McKenny Hall,
8:30
a.m. – 3:30 p.m. In efforts to train and hire high-quality coaching
talent, educators and teacher leaders will learn how to build a systematic
approach to their coaching program. Establish a relevant, scaffolded approach
for PLCs that emphasizes teaching and learning about literacy instruction at
all grade levels. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F9MXBBF
2X the Opportunity: Writing Retreats For Us All
The fall retreat will be on Friday, October 14-Sunday, October 16th. .
Please send e-RSVPs to angela.k.knight@gmail.com to reserve your sleeping lodge bunk.
Your registration will be confirmed when your payment is received.
The retreat costs $40 before June 1st for summer and before September 15th for fall. Late registration will be $50 after June 1st for summer and after September 15th for fall.
Please WRITE the check to EMWP.
Please MAIL the check to
Angela Knight
7364 Brookridge Dr.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
Disciplinary Literacies Institute
by Cathy Fleischer
Once again this summer, we invite teachers from all disciplines to join EMU college faculty for three days of exploration into writing in the disciplines: learning together what it means to write in our various subject areas and how we can help students make smooth transitions from subject area to subject area and from middle and high school to college. The past three years of institutes have been eye-opening for all participants: College faculty coming to understand more clearly the demands of schools, testing, and curriculum along with middle and high school teachers learning what college faculty are really looking for in their students’ writing. At the center of this work is a spirit of inquiry and collaboration as we try to figure out new ways of teaching that will support disciplinary expectations and to reimagine assignments and units we can use in our classrooms.
Join us for the three days: June 28-30 on EMU campus. This work is especially valuable for interdisciplinary teams across a school or district, but individuals are welcome as well. Sign up at https://www.smore.com/uu6u1.
Advocacy Workshop: Telling Our Stories/Raising Our Voice
By Cathy Fleischer
For the past two summers, committed teachers who are frustrated with the public narrative about teaching have spent three days learning to become Everyday Advocates: discovering ways to frame their stories, experiences, and knowledge into messages and actions that help change the minds of others. These teachers have begun to shift the conversation in their schools and communities about the best ways to teach reading and writing, the problems inherent in mandated assessment, the structure of middle school curriculum, and more—and have done so in ways that are smart, safe, and savvy.
This summer, we’ll continue the journey to make Everyday Advocacy a part of even more teachers’ lives as a new group will participate in another three day training: July 26-28 on EMU’s campus. We already have teachers from around the country joining us, and there are just a few more spaces left. Contact Cathy Fleischer at cathy.fleischer@emich.edu for more information or check out the application form at http://www.emichwp.org/research-advocacy/advocacy.
And if you can’t make the workshop, but are interested in this new way of thinking about teacher professionalism, be sure to look at the new Everyday Advocacy website that Cathy is developing for NCTE. (https://teachertoolkitblog.wordpress.com/) The website prominently features the work we’ve being doing, with examples from some of the amazing teachers who have participated over the past two years.
Disciplinary Literacy: PD for the Up & Coming
by David Kangas
What is disciplinary literacy? On a recent wintry morning,
a group of students from Bill Tucker’s
English 408 class, Cathy Fleischer, Michelle McLemore, Jeff Taylor and David
Kangas, all gathered together to
explore this very question. Disciplinary
Literacy emphasizes that writing and being a writer in different disciplines
requires that we let students in on the practices-- the ways of knowing and
believing specific to the disciplines we teach.
Cathy Fleischer shared how EMU teachers from different
disciplines were collaborating to explore writing within their disciplines; she
also offered insight on the challenges students face in the transition from
secondary writing to college. Disciplinary literacy emphasizes that teachers need
to share with students how real world writers fashion genre and voice within
their disciplines. For example, young scientists need to know what is implicit
in composing a lab report, or how we communicate the knowledge we make in
literary study using blogs.
Disciplinary literacy provides students with ways of
connecting things, and Jeff Taylor presented to everyone how he supports middle
school scientists with a writing project that explores how claims are made in
scientific arguments. Michelle McLemore demonstrated how she engaged her
students in an authentic writing experience by providing opportunities to write
and research psychology and community problems. David Kangas shared his version
of the literature workshop, and how he teaches both texts and student writers
in studying literary texts. In each presentation, teachers shared what they
found valuable when teaching writing and the ways of knowing, believing and
action required by these values. After
these presentations everyone circulated to explore student artifacts and to
describe what they found, leading to questions about the teaching of writing
and learning. The morning was truly professional development for all. If anyone
in the EMU community wants to learn more, Cathy Fleischer will be running a Disciplinary
Institute again this summer.
Positions filled for 2016-2017
For the 2016 Summer Leadership Institute (July 11-22, 2016) with one
afternoon pre-institute meeting in
May and five Continuity meetings in
2016-2017.
2016-2017.
- Institute
Coach
Assists director
with planning, teaching and coaching the Summer
Leadership Institute and co-leads continuity meetings. Graduate credit
available, but tuition not included.
Stipend: $1,500.
Leadership Institute and co-leads continuity meetings. Graduate credit
available, but tuition not included.
Stipend: $1,500.
Kristin Smith
- Technology Assistant
Stipend: $ 625.
by Karen Chichester
Director of Youth Programs
For the two summer writing camps, July
11-15, and 18-22, 2016
Director of Youth Programs
Plans summer writing
camps for middle school and high school students,
recruits and trains teachers,supervises camps, prepares financial and grant
reports, recommends new programs supporting secondary writers.
Stipend: $2,000
recruits and trains teachers,supervises camps, prepares financial and grant
reports, recommends new programs supporting secondary writers.
Stipend: $2,000
Aimee Eldon
For year-around sustaining of programs
- Website Manager: Keeps www emichwp.org updated and provides instruction for program leaders to update their own web pages. Stipend: $1,000
Karen Chichester
- Youth
and Family Programs Coordinator
Administers promotion and registration
of Inkstains Writing Camp and mentoring, deploying, and compensation of teacher
consultants in the Family Literacy Initiative.
Stipend: $ 6-8,000, contingent on funding.
Stipend: $ 6-8,000, contingent on funding.
Kim Pavlock
- Media Editor
Solicits and
prepares articles and announcements for three online newsletters and website.
Stipend:
$700.
Michelle McLemore
Summer Camp Preview: EMWP's Inkstains Writing Camp
by Kimberly Pavlock, TC’92
Inkstains
applications started coming in weeks ago, and, as always, we’re thrilled to see
registrations from returning campers as well as new campers! Young writers tell us why they value their
week of writing time at EMU so much. As
one high school camper explained, “Inkstains offers opportunities that you
wouldn't normally do on your own like listen to a song and use that as
inspiration for your writing. It pushes you to try new things, and you
become a better writer because of it. The adults in charge were more like
older friends than instructors and I felt comfortable taking risks and sharing
my writing. My ideas and overall quality of my writing are better now.”
We still have spots available in both the middle and high
school sessions of Inkstains. The middle
school session (for incoming grades 6-8) runs July 11–15, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The high school session (for incoming grades
9-12) runs July 18-22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students interested in applying should complete the
following steps:
- Fill out the application form included in the Inkstains 2016 brochure. The brochure is available on the EMWP website.
- Include a short piece of polished writing (1-4 pages in length).
- Submit one letter of recommendation from a current or former teacher. (Emails of support from teachers are also welcome. Please email Kim Pavlock at kpavlock@emich.edu.)
- Enclose a check for $225 for camp tuition made payable to the Eastern Michigan Writing Project. ($200 for each additional sibling). The tuition rate increases to $245 for applications postmarked after June 20.
·
Send completed application to
Eastern Michigan Writing Project
c/o Inkstains Writer’s Camp
612 Pray-Harrold
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti,
MI 48197
We hope all EMWP TCs will share this opportunity with their
students. If you have any questions,
please contact Kim Pavlock at kpavlock@emich.edu.