The Southwest Georgia Writing Project

The newest newsy news is that our Invitational Summer Institute has gone under the knife for a face lift.  This year, instead of the 4 week, 4 days a week format, we're changing things up to give our participants more summer.  We're moving to a 3 week, 5 days a week format instead.  We're also changing our focus to take a look into teacher inquiry.  This summer, we will all be taking a hard look at our classrooms and classroom practice to see what works, what doesn't, and then to find out WHY. 

We'll be sending out a new visibility letter to our service area schools and principals this week, so please keep a lookout in your school for this letter to show up.  Please also remember to nominate those teachers in your school who could benefit from our work in the summer and who could help us grow as a site.  We're also inviting back our participants from last year to join us for the full round this summer. 

Keep watching for new developments as we continue to shake things up.

Alright Ladies-

                            
It’s time to pack up and head out.  We’re meeting for what seems to be our second annual Leadership Retreat in Pine Mountain, Georgia, at FDR State Park.  I don’t have the skinny on the location of the huts just now, but I’m sure Bren. or Peg will be happy to email that out.  So far the plan seems to be show up when you can on Friday and plan to stay until Sunday lunchish. 

In order to make things a bit LESS painful this year for all of us, we’ve come up with a menu and a shopping list.  I spoke to Peg and Irm at the State Director’s Meeting last Saturday, and Laura, Keisha, and I have been chatting today, so I hope that we have a representative view of the food we’ll all want.  If there is something on this list that you wouldn’t eat in 100000 years (ah, hummus?), then bring your favorite to take it’s place that day/time.  Knowing what’s planned in advance can help us plan to make it gastro-happy for everyone!

·     Friday pm- Sammiches and Chili

o  White bread (Lacey -duh)

o  Wheat bread (ugh-Lacey)

o  Weird bakery bread (Peg?)

o  Meats:  Ham, turkey, roast beef (Lacey)

o  Cheeses:  American, provolone, swiss (Lacey)

o  Veggies: lettuce, tomato, pickle (Lacey)

o  Peanut Butter and Jelly (Lacey)

o  Chili- (Keisha)

o  Sour cream, shredded cheese, soda crackers for chili (Keisha)

o  Chips and dip- Genie

·     Saturday am- Muffins, toast, bagels, cereal

o  Weird bakery muffins- (Peg?)

o  Blueberry bread and cream cheese (Lacey)

o  Granola cereal (Lacey – yes, a shock)

o  Frosted Flakes

o  Bagels and cream cheese – Genie  and Irm

o  Juices: Apple, Orange, Grapefruit, Pineapple Orange, weird blends? Irm for blends

·     Saturday noon- Salads, Sammiches, leftover chili

o  Salad fixin’s: lettuce (romaine?), carrots, onion, cucumber, baby tomatoes, olives?,  dressings (oli and vinegar?, ranch, 1000 island Irm) The whole shebang - Bren

o  Hummus (gack!)- Genie

o  Fruits : apples, oranges, grapes( for Peg), nanners, fresh pineapple chunks- Irm

o  Granola cookies (for Peg)

o  Non-granola cookies - Genie

·     Saturday pm – Peg’s Spaghetti – mmm good

o  Stuff to make spaghetti – Peg

o  Garlic Bread-Irm

o  Cheese – the sprinkle cheese parmesan Irm says and will pick up

·     Sunday am- Laura and Keisha’s Breakfast Goodness Casserole

o  Laura has this covered along with the way to make it!

·     Sunday noon – Leftovers

o  Raid the fridge

·     Misc:

o  Cups (coffee and regular) -bren

o  Cutlery - bren

o  Coffee, coffee filters, creamer, sugar, sugar substitute – Irm’s bringing Café Campesino

o  Trash bags (we ran out last year!) – Genie, Irm

o  Wine?  :) -Irm

o  Sweet stuffs:  those little treasures variety bags always seem a hit

o  2 Cases of water - bren

o  Cokes (or sodas for those NOT from ‘round here):  Diet Coke (genie) - bren

o  paper towels, napkins, plates- bren

o  Mousetraps???  [Just a joke :o) Although, Keisha thinks we might should bring some, so I’ll pick up a set]

Everything in green is already spoken for, so that leaves the black text in those lists that need to be accounted for.

If there’s something up there that you think we need, feel free to bring it yourself.  If your name isn’t by anything, sign up and bring it.  To sign up for a thing, email me or comment here so that we don’t all wind up bringing wine and mousetraps. 

Also, save your receipts, and you’ll be reimbursed for your purchase (except for the wine). 

Thanks and I’ll see you all next weekend!

Lacey

Wow, this is an exciting time of growth for us. We'd like to invite
everyone back to see the changes we have made in our Summer Institute
and our year round events. Did you hear that 7 teachers were sent to
Philadelphia for our National Conference with all expenses
paid??? Next year it could be you.

I know your days are full, but I'd like you to take some time and
think about who would be a good person to participate in Summer
Institute 2010. Then talk with them about what the Institute offers
to teachers, share some personal experiences of what happened when
you shared what you learned with your students. One recent attendee
said a student she'd had as a 9th grader came back to her for 10th
grade and after the class ended, she asked, "What happened to
you? You are like on fire or something. Oh, I really liked the
class this time." The teacher didn't know she had changed that much
and perhaps she hadn't, maybe she had just regained some of her
passion for her work. Still Summer Institute clearly made a
difference in at least one student's experience.

Oh, and I hope, if you have forgotten what it was like to be a part
of the Southwest Georgia Writing Project, please call me--we've got
so much happening, so many opportunities for teachers, and we want to
spread the word.

From the heart to the pen,

Peg Ellington

PS I've uploaded the nomination form in the side bar[having a tech snafu, but I'll have it uploaded by the end of the day]--remember to talk with the
teacher first before you send his or her name in. Oh and pass this
on to your principals. This is a grant supported professional
development program, where teachers earn six hours of graduate credit
and the tuition is free.

We've been playing with text and image today at our Super Saturday Workshop on Using Your Digital Camera in the Classroom.  I snuck off to do this:

I "wordle"ed our homepage.  Seems that we work a lot and drink a bit of coffee.  Sounds about right.

That image was screencapped from their website.  They have a creative commons copyright on that image.  This one in fact.  Thanks Wordle for the cool image.

Whatcha' doin' Saturday?

We're  meeting to learn new things to bring to our classrooms.  Wanna join us?  Come on down to English 212 to learn how to use your digital camera in your classroom.   We have other fantastic tech oriented workshops planned throughout the year as well.  Check the listing below.  When you pick your favorite ones, you'll need the registration form to print and send in.  You'll find it located just to the right over there -> under Business Forms.  See you there!