Oregon Writing Project 2001

I'll be perfectly honest. When the first day of class approached I was dreading it. I had only gotten out of school a couple of days before feeling physically, mentally and emotionally drained and ready to start my summer rejuvenation. The last thing I wanted to do was attend a 4-week class, especially about writing, and I wondered what compelled me to sign up for it a month ago.

Well, sooner than later, the first day came. I had my first assignment done, after much fretting, and was feeling very apprehensive about sharing it with others, people I had not met before, total strangers. I was glad to hear that we would not be in "response groups" until the second day. My feeling of relief was totally dashed when Nat told me I would be one of the first ones to teach my lesson! Oh well, I thought, I might as well get it over with.

This class has been nothing but wonderful from day one and I found myself thinking and/or talking about it for 4 straight weeks to everyone, whether they were interested or not.

I have experienced the value of response groups. I read my first narrative about my move to Iran with a nervous, shaky voice. I was quickly reassured that this was a non-threatening group and my colleagues were very kind and gentle, giving praise and constructive criticism. I have been thinking of how response groups will work with third graders. I will give it a try but make sure that I "teach" students how to respond and then "model, model, model". I plan to devise a checklist to help students keep focused and to make sure the response groups have meaning. I'm hoping this strategy will encourage students to "revise", which is something they are very reluctant to do.

The second paper I wrote was a third person narrative about my move to Iran. I had never written in this style before and found it very difficult at first, but then I realized that I had to stand back and look from the outside in and visualize the experience from a totally different perspective. Both my response group and I felt that the writing was much more descriptive than the first person narrative.

I decided to try a new mode for my third paper: Persuasive. I thought and thought about it for a long time and the letter to my grandmother kept popping up in my mind. I wanted to convince her not to sell the beach cabin that held so many memories for me. The piece was short but I thought, very persuasive. It was fun to try a different mode.

Another component of the class was the project members' presentations. These were very valuable and although the participants' teaching assignments range from kindergarten to college, each and every lesson could easily be adapted to third grade. I plan to use many of the lessons, in my class next year. For example, I have always had my students do some journaling but it always seems to peter out by the end of the year. The students seem to get bored with it and it loses its value. At the very beginning of the year, I plan to have the students make their own journals as shown by Greg. I think this will give the students more ownership in their journals. I will use a variation of his prompts and the idea that the students write at least half a page and then draw. Third graders will love the drawing part and it may encourage them to write more.

I enjoyed the way each lesson involved us as "students" in some way. Gerri's lesson on imitating authors was the biggest challenge for me as a writer. I almost had an anxiety attack when she asked us to write in the style of the author, Edwidge Danicat. I froze, but after a few minutes, I forged ahead and was able to write something I was not too embarrassed to share. This was not the first time in the last 4 weeks that put me out of my comfort zone and at the same time challenged me and helped me realize I "can".

The presentation by Bill Strong in sentence combining was very meaningful. I will definitely do many of these activities with my third graders next year. Third grade students write in short, choppy sentences. The exercises presented will help students become more fluent writers.

Ingrid Wendt gave me some ideas to use to teach poetry. I have taught some poetry but not as much as I like. I plan to read a lot of poetry and to add lessons to help students write in free verse ö not in prescribed forms like haiku and cinquain as I have done in the past.

The experiences I have had working with Power Point and Inspiration and designing my own WEB page, stress the importance that technology plays in education these days. I like the idea of having students do a Power Point presentation to satisfy the state speaking requirements. I will push for my school to get the software. Inspiration is a great tool to help students organize their thoughts in a fun manner. They quickly tire of making webs as a pre-write strategy. I realize that not all writers need to pre-write, but find that third grade pieces are much more organized if some sort of pre-writing is involved. Students will enjoy doing their webbing on the computer. It is a good tool to use with ESL students also. The WEB page has been fun and I look forward to seeing it completed and posted on the Internet. Chris and Tara have been very patient with us "old computer illiterate" folks.

Last but not least, I have enjoyed having Nat as our "leader" and am thankful that he didn't feel the need to monopolize the project and lecture. I wish more workshops would "involve" the participants as much as this one has. I believe I have gotten much more out of it.

All in all, in spite of the anxieties I felt at the beginning of this class, the OWP has been a wonderful experience and not only have I grown as a teacher, I have grown as a writer. Hopefully, I will continue to expand my own writing horizons. I will recommend OWP to everyone!