Afternoon 6-29

Monday afternoon, our last Monday and my eportfolio seems to be complete, woo hoo!! :) Today we wrapped up a lot of things today and it felt really good. We've had so many things in progress and now its all starting to come together which is a cool feeling. I must decide what to share tomorrow and make sure we have our collaborative piece. In the morning we went over our professional development chart and then discussed the upcoming conferences and all that. I am honored to be asked to be a presenter for NDW and I am looking forward to this great event.
I feel at a loss for words because this has gone so quickly and I am looking forward to having time to really soak up all that I learned and experienced. I have a feeling tomorrow at Table Rock will be an amazing conclusion to an extremely fast paced but exhilirating couple of days. Perhaps more later when my mind is a little less cloudy. Below is the group piece we shared on Friday at Coffee Underground:
30 questions for Andrew Wyeth
All- Hey Andrew, we’ve got some questions for you

Kevin- 1. Why all the smashing pumpkins? Who are the people on the cliff?
2. Where did the pumpkins come from?
3. Why so many pumpkins?
Laura- 4. Why were you choosing these colors, why so dull?
5. Why is your color palette all the same?
6. What influenced your perspective?
Donna 7. How long did Hilda model for you?
8. Where did your fascination with hats come from?
9. How were you related to the person who drowned (hands out of ice)
Stacie 10. Did you mean for the painting apron to look like that or is it unfinished?
11. Where was the paper for the man in the painting the letter, was it a man?
12. In the painting 4 posters, is that your bedroom?
RK- 13. Was the painting fenced in a metaphor for your life at the time?
14. How did you divide your time between the seacoast and the farm?
15. How did you choose who to use as your female model?
Shelly 16. Are your paintings intended to be as sad as they appear?
17. Do your paintings parallel your life?
18. What are you trying to say through your painting?
19. Did the portrait of the woman in the glass house reflect her confidence?
20. What is the story portrayed in the letter?
21. Why did you choose the winter season to portray the glass house?
ALL- Andrew Wyeth your paintings inspire us to question, reflect and write!

Morning 6-29

This has been an unbelievable couple of weeks. I came into the summer institute excited and ready to learn a lot and aware that I had a lot of work to do. 6 credit hours sort of gives that away. :) I am learning to get over writing shyness and just write and share and be okay with it. I tend to share often but I still struggle with feeling like a better writing teacher than a writer. That is slowly shifting...
We have created a lot of writing, collaborated a lot, and I have been taken outside of my comfort zone which has been great. I mentioned in my reflection how I enjoyed being part of a writing community. I am always working to create that community in my classroom for my students and it was really fantastic to be able to truly experience it. Makes me remember why I want it so badly for my kids.
I am not sure what my role will be with the UWP. I am open but I am not sure that my current demo will fit with their current need. I am grateful for the experience and the group that I am now a part of and I look forward to continuing to grow as a writer, researcher and leader.

Fieldtrip to Downtown Greenville

Our last fieldtrip of the institute is already over. I cannot believe it. I live in Greenville so I have been downtown numerous times but it was fun to go as a writer this time around.

We started the morning responding to the Mice on Maine book and just being down by the falls in general. From there we had lots of fun wandering around. I wrote a lot in the museum about Andrew Wyeths paintings but it was rather all over the place. I was intrigued by his colors and dullness and what his state of mind might have been.

Our group spent a lot of time at Trio's eathing delicious food and creating our collaborative piece to share later. Then we wandered around the Mast general store where we all wished to have this sundress. :) But at nearly 60.00 we settled for a picture. :)

It was a great day full of lots of writing, laughing and sweating!! We ended the afternoon at Coffee Underground where I enjoyed a THIRD cup of coffee... Stacie made sure our group won the writing marathon with all her pages and many great pieces were shared! I love this group!!

Afternoon 6-25

I cannot believe that all our demos are done. This time has flown by. Jennifer started us up with a great demo on helping our students create enticing leads. I really enjoyed her variety of books and the way she let us work through the different steps. Kevin finished off our demos with a fantastic letter writing strategy. I loved his choice of books and the way he worked his students through the writing style. I can tell he offers his students a lot of choice and they feel safe in his room. After the demos we moved into our own writing. I am really scattered when it comes to my article because I have had so much feedback and have spent a lot of time working on it. I feel like I still have a whole lot to do but it'll happen.
Our video is done and it looks pretty good.
Erika and Jason brought us sundaes to ease tech time. :)
I like all the reflecting but I can feel my brain shutting down... so I am compiling a to -do list and we'll see how far I get with all of this. The weekend is coming and tomrrow is our fieldtrip downtown. I love our fieldtrips because we really have time to hang out and laugh with each other in a different environment. We have a great group!!

Afternoon 6-24

Life is crazy busy right now but I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of not freaking out. :) We started the day looking again at how much we want to be involved with the UWP as far as in-service goes and then we were able to interact with the young writers camp members. That was super fun for me because we got to see these young students having the chance to really express themselves. They aren't little kids writing random things they are WRITERS and it was amazing to hear what they have written so far. Justin had an amazing twist on the Titanic. Olivia get making me laugh with her disclaimers. She didn't want us to be worried about anything being real. She has an amazing imagination and her writing was SO powerful. Gabriella wrote about daily drama but her writing had a lyrical quality to it w/her use of various repititions- she likes to sing so this made sense. Lily is an extremely powerful poet. I was really impressed by her ability to use a few words create an amazing story and rythm. Nicole was a bit more timid but when she shared her writing was so unique and fun to listen to. Having the young writers also was good for my teacher heart becasue I was able to experience the joy and power of writing through their eyes again and was reminded why it is important for us, as teachers, to give them time and opportunities to write. I have a feeling that we will hear great things from these writers. Lily already has plans to be published. :)
After that time, Amanda shared her demo and did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed the activities she had us do and I will definitely use this strategy in my own classroom. Even if I don't teach English 1 next year.
Time to write, write, write... here is where everyone's stress comes to the forefront but only a few tears were shed and I think we'll get it all together. I am at the point right now where I feel like I am stuck. I need a printer, I need feedback, I need to know what to do. But other than feeling like that, I think I am okay... we shall see. Perhaps I need to write another to do list, must go figure out what to put on that list. :)

Morning 6-24

In-service-
That word ususally makes my stomach turn as I remember the countless hours of sitting through meetings that makes me crazy. :) However, I know from experience that in-sevice w/ the UWP would be time well spent. I can see myself presenting my demo wherever if asked but I am also quite happy to go behind the scenes. I know that I have some good ideas but sometimes I worry about teaching teachers who have been doing it so much longer. I know that age and experience don't necessarily equal good ideas but still...
I know we will be involved with the fall conference and I imagine I will do some other things if my demo fits. I am looking forward to pariticpating in all that the UWP will let me. I am hoping that as time goes on presenting will not be so scary. :)
They say if you don't like how things are being run or happening, change them. I think working with UWP could be my way to help bring about change.

Afternoon 6-24

What a jam packed day!!! Anna and Mindy both presented today and they were fantastic. Anna pushed through even though she didn't feel well and showed us a great strategy to help our students develop setting. Mindy got us out of our seats and let us have fun role playing. I always want to do that w/my kids but sometimes I get overwhelmed with actually doing it.
We worked at connecting the different pedagogy books that we are all reading and then we launched into tech. I am looking forward to podcasting in my classroom. It was fun to play around w/audacity and publish our work verbally. :) My head just keeps filling up w/all the cool things I can do w/my kids. I hope I remember it all.
I am a little overwhelmed w/the amount of work I have to get done in the next few days but I know it'll happen and I got a lot of work done on my article w/Inga assisting with the editing I just might have something. :) Once that is set I am onto the reflection.
Our movie is coming along and I know everything will be great. Woo hoo!! :)