Reflections on OWP Summer
Tracey A. Stevens
Anwar Sadat once said "He who cannot change the very fabric of
his thought will never.. .make any progress." The Oregon Writing
Project, which I will refer to from this day forward as my personal
"Journey" has opened my eyes to a world that once bewildered me. This
journey has taken me to a place where I am able to make progress
because I am no longer bound by the constraints of perceived
limitation.
I absorbed a great deal of information on this introspective
journey. My new found skills range from a higher level of computer
literacy, to exploration of cooperative peer response groups to
enhance my writing ability, and finally to methodology and hands-on
best practices.
According to the "Antichrist" William (Bill) Gates, "Software is
a combination of artistry and engineering.., it's like a part of
yourself that you have put together." Full of its endless
possibilities, I am ready to jump on the technological bandwagon.
Look out world here I come!
Feeling incredibly inspired and excited, I am ready, willing, and
able to begin using the computer software program Inspiration in my
classroom. I incorporated the use of Inspiration this summer during
my presentation on "Integration" for my OWP peers. I recognize the
value of Inspiration, not only as a personal organizational tool, but
also as a new teaching tool. I'll add it to my teaching toolbox.
The World Wide Web with all its magical mysticism is now do-able.
I now understand that there is more to the Web than "Surfing" and
downloading curriculum and graphics. I see the Web's value as a
publishing mechanism for my students in this increasingly
technological universe of ours. I'll add it to my teaching
toolbox.
Gyberschool, who would have thought! Moving beyond the futuristic
cartoon world of George Jetson, distance learning has become a
reality. Where was Gyberschool when I needed it? I remember being
turned away from over 4 years of French language training because the
new high school I transferred to did not offer classes at my advance
level. No one seemed to want to go out on a limb to help me. All my
years of French went down the drain partly due to ignorance and
partly due to district limitations. Cyberschool offers kids a chance.
Hoorah for Gyberschool!
U.S. author Virginia Hamilton once proclaimed, "In all ways and
all times people have a need for sharing life with others and the
search for community." I see the OWP response groups to be a
close-knit community of educators who aren't afraid to 'Read the
Crap.' High respect for my response group members provided me with a
much needed comfort zone to share the complexities of my life through
the written word. During my OWP creative excursion, constructive
criticism was delivered in such a way as to assist me in becoming a
better writer.
Although one might think I did not take many risks with my OWP
writing assignments, I had a definite purpose in mind. Since learning
to put pen to paper, 'Point of View' writing has been difficult for
me. As a child I wrote prose centered on third person because it was
easier and far removed from myself. I struggled with first person
narrative because of my introverted nature. I did not want to reveal
the inner me, for the outer me (according to the hurtful ones) was
bad enough. It is true I have seen my share of heartache (who
hasn't), so I used these OWP writing assignments as a sort of therapy
on many levels. Hats off to my supportive response group who held my
hand and welcomed 'the crap'.
The book Peer Response Groups in Action: Writing Together in
Secondary School by Karen Spear notes that "Response groups also make
sense as reference points for the kind of classroom life in which
creating community and creating knowledge are closely related." (P.3)
I strive as a classroom teacher to create a harmonies classroom
community where each child is a "family" member in our safe
environment. I see how naturally response groups can evolve in an
environment of trusting risk-takers. It is my hope that my elementary
students can pull together in such a way.
The following insight illustrated in the above-mentioned book by
Spears reinforces Anwar Sadat's earlier notion that one must change
the very fabric of thought to make progress. "Response groups require
that teachers weave together multiple threads in order to design a
strong fabric of learning through collaboration." (P. 20) Spear goes
on to say, "Writing is not just something held off for the final
performance; it is woven into the fabric of daily activity and is
integral to creating and sustaining the community life of the class.
(P.51) I like the imagery of response groups as fabric, how they
blanket risk-takers, and how these peer relationships safely support
and educate members in comforting ways.
Bill Strong's sentence combining methodology is intriguing. His
OWP group presentation clearly illustrated what he states in his book
Creative Approaches to
Sentence Combining. "Creating sentence combining (SC) from
student prose (or from reading materials) is an important first step
in promoting transfer of learning." (P.18) Bill Strong goes on to
suggest "To improve the likelihood of transfer effects, you can some
times begin with a challenge..." I like this creative approach a
great deal! Little kids, as well as adults seem to rise to a
challenge. When demonstrating such a SC mini-lesson with my OWP peers
during my 'Integration' presentation and food riddle activity, the
idea of sentence combining seemed to follow suit naturally.
Challenging my peers to see how low they could go in terms of number
of sentences seemed to work well. My plan is to weave mini-lesson
sentence-combining activities into my classroom integrated thematic
writing lessons. I'll add this new teaching method to my teaching
toolbox.
Having read one of Kenneth Koch's books regarding poetry writing,
I thoroughly enjoyed Ingrid Wendt as a guest speaker. I had already
begun to mull around the idea of daily poetry writing in my
classroom, and Ingrid's passion confirmed my belief that "I could do
this!" For some strange reason unbeknownst to me I had a difficult
time relating to poetry that did not rhyme, but Ingrid put me to ease
when she provided us with 'Teaching Exercises' that . . . "abandon
rhyming imitations of greeting card verse." (Starting With Little
Things, P.5)
So, as I sit here pondering all that I know, all that I want to
know, and all that I will learn, I close with a poem:
Spirits
My dark spirit cries
Winds of heavenly grace try to lift me
But-
Forebodingly, my spirit remains paralyzed
Motionless-
Soiled-
Brittle-
Bound-
Gagged-
Broken-
What's this?
A gentle breeze?
A flickering flame?
A baby's sigh?
The touch of your hand?
Hold my heart and let the spirit move me...
Restrained no more-
Soaring boundlessly-
I am free!
Free to dance...
Free to sing...
Free to speak...
Free to learn...
Free to prosper...
Free to believe...
Free to hope...
Free to love...
Free to be!