The Southwest Georgia Writing Project

Stories from the 2008 Southwest Georgia Writing Project Summer Institute

This forum will become a place to share snapshots of our 2009 Summer Institute. This first journal entry, however, is a recap of the SWGWP 2008 Summer Institute. Each day during the institute, participants posted descriptions of writing exercises, teaching demonstrations, and major highlights on the National Writing Project E-Anthology.

Here are some of their entries.

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Day One: Events Report, June 2nd, 2008

By: Lacey Pitts

General Information

Attire: Varies: Jeans to skirts.
Purpose: Day 01 Summer Institute
Location: English 212, GSW Campus
Date: June 02, 2008
RE: Profile of a Slow Day at SWGWP in Americus, GA

Detailed Report

8:30: Individuals arrive and are seated haphazardly around tables.

Observed Activities: At 8:30ish woman(codename: Laura) stands, reads book (The Dot by Peter Reynolds), obviously not morning person, Vashdee main character, warm fuzzies from moral of the story.
Directives Given: Journal 10 minutes on topic- A time when someone believed in me
Suspicious Activities: Woman lost keys- already on the first day
Information Acquired: Mandy- doomed thespian; Malcolm- easily influenced by women; Deb – hates long division, but thanks to 4^th grade, can do at will

9:00: Individual observed taking leadership role, change in group power?

Observed Activities: Individual addresses congregated suspects and reads from book (House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros) something called “vignette” [look up for later use- possible gang affiliation] and then personal account (House on Amherst St. by Patrice Mills). Woman unable to accomplish said task to full abilities, left glasses at home. Another individual offers to hold materials in the back to facilitate accomplishment of task-declined. Woman leader gives information on blackboard written, with difficulty, in chalk. Information unclear- notes follow: 4 nested circles labled [ outer: Memories/Events, next toward center: Places, next toward center: People, center: Neighborhood.
Directives Given: Brainstorm using “notes” and then share with 2-3 individuals. Suspects observed talking during time. Then were told to come back, discuss, and then to “draft” on one specific incident for 30 minutes. Suspects then directed by woman leader (codename: Patrice) to share in small groups to look at introductory material- engage the reader.
Suspicious Activities: Something referred to as “perspective” mentioned and how it changes the tone and meaning of a “narrative.” Also discussed the “craft” of the writer and the use of extended monologue to tell story.
Information Acquired: Building communities of writers takes time.

10:30: Individuals take break in meeting

10:45: New group leader emerges following another power shift, still female

Observed Activities: New group leader (codename: Peg) reads book (Knots on a Counting Rope by John Archambault and Bill Martin, Jr.) about Native American boy and Grandfather, boy is learning his story. Rope is being passed around and suspects take pieces of varying lengths- usage unclear. New group leader finishes, tells another story about boy with strength of blue horses.
Directives Given: New group leader instructs individuals to tie knots in rope to indicate “dark mountains” in individuals lives. Then group leader instructs individuals to share knots with 2-3 others. Individuals share and then return. New group leader tells individuals to write about one knot or “dark mountain” for 30 minutes.
Suspicious Activities: Rope passed around was cause for alarm- but later discovered true usage.
Information Acquired: Activity for use in classrooms as a community trust building exercise.

12:15: Individuals break for lunch but told to return for “response group” model.

Observed Activities: Last group leader and new female individual (codename: Deb) address class and read poem from new female individual to discuss purpose of poem, effectiveness of techniques, and how to make poem better. Discussion included the group as well.
Directives Given: Get copies made prior to response groups for group members. Have specific questions to address. Make sure to share- don’t wait until pages are due for Drafts.
Suspicious Activities: First female leader (codename: Laura) bursts into songs dealing with topic “I believe” after a stray comment by one individual. Others join in. New technique of torture?
Information Acquired: See directives

1:15: Individuals felt the heat and moved locations to computer lab

Observed Activities: Another new group leader, still female, introduced E-Anthology and helped those who were not registered.
Directives Given: Introduce selves to cohorts online, post to Open Mic, respond to Open Mic posts, explore E-Anthology.
Suspicious Activities: Uproarious laughter broke out multiple times- cause unclear
Information Acquired: Baked goods are funny

2:45: Individuals took another break and removed to classroom 212.

3:00: Individuals divided- possible rift in community? Later discovered it was individualized study groups with leaders

4:00: One Minute Pagers

Observed Activities: Third group leader (codename: Peg) reviews activities of the day using group members to complete chart on board.
Directives Given: Give an honest assessment of how your day was spent today.
Suspicious Activities: None at this time
Information Acquired: Anonymous comments given to leaders- typed to hide identity. No further information available at this time

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Day Three: Multi-Genre Day, June 4th, 2008

By: Laura Gerlach

Poem: If SWGWP were in Charge of the World

If we were in charge of the world, people who took hall monitoring too seriously would only get part of the world, and then we would ban beauty pageants so 4 year old little girls could stand on a chair and yell “F-You, Mom!”

We’d be able to walk over and talk to the neighbors and buy vegetables at fresh farmers’ markets and there wouldn’t be any time to have a job.

If we were in charge of the world, we’d slap our faces on the euro (with a mean face and a pink hat). We wouldn’t find fault in others, and we’d bring love to everyone.

Cars would run on water and electricity; we’d live in a safe America.

If we were in charge of the world, the world would look like Wonkaland. We’d have fun every day because school wouldn't start until 9AM.

Teachers would get paid like actors, and they’d have gold desks in their rooms with crowns like royalty.
There wouldn't be any paperwork because grades don't show what a student really learned.
The teacher really would be our princiPAL, and knowledge would be free.

If we were in charge of the world,
summers would be carefree, and
there would be no alarm clocks.
There’d be no bills,
we’d all have house keepers,
everyone would look good in a bathing suit, and
band members would be resurrected for summer concert tours.

Lost and Found Ad 

Found: Class act, down-to-earth, MWM willing to provide TLC in the form of A/C repair. Not-so-tech savvy, but willing to write. Will return on June 26th to highest bidder or maybe pregnant wife.

Story Board

Story Boarding with Beth Herrin
A cartoon of a WP activity…

Frame 1

Narration: Have an idea for a story. Return to journal entries for ideas if needed.

Illustration: Light bulb lit up.

Frame 2

Narration: Jot down a list of details related to the story idea.

Illustration: Journal with pencil and writing on page. Have bullets on jot list showing.

Frame 3

Narration: Begin using story board to sequence events. Match narration with an illustration. This is a rough draft and you may draw stick people and sketches.

Illustration: Show person drawing a person. Write a caption under the illustration.

Frame 4

Narration: Use web and Word resources to create the frames.

Illustration: Computer screen shows PowerPoint slides with a cartoon on it.

Obituary: June 5, 2008

A’Roe Chiza Bugg (aka Juicy), 2 years, Americus, GA resident for 24 months, died Wednesday morning, June 4, 2008, in a brutal umbrella-podiatry slaying. Juicy was born at the lake house, on the edge of campus where he later met his wife, Critter. The two were joined together at the Campus Chili Chapel some 19 months ago.

Survived by his loving wife, 267 children (16 of which are nymphs and 2 egg cases are on the way), countless brothers and sisters who asked to remain nameless, even more nieces and nephews, two cousins - Blackbeetle of Singapore and Crontonbug of Hamburg, his dear paternal grandmother - Miss Hissy of Madagascar, and his best friend – Megaloblatta Crawly who is in the mission field in Central and South America. Proceeded in death by his parents, maternal grandparents, and paternal grandfather.

A greasy, damp, dark night service will be held during a private ceremony to be announced.

Sample Readers’ Theater Script

Ms. Cornwell: Okay, class. We’re going to use children’s literature today to write scripts that can be used in a variety of ways! Let’s get started.

Kristen: But, I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna! Scripts are for grown ups!

Lacey: Hey Kristen, but they’d make great teacher gifts!! And we could make up stuff where cupcakes get a bad name!

Jason: Oooo…We weally want to wite skwips fouw weaduhs’ theatuh. When can we get stawted?

Ms. Cornwell: Well, boys and girls, lets read a story first that we can then use as our storyline.

Genie: I think we should use a trashy novel!

Brennan: Now, Genie, don’t be a meanie! Let’s vote on it.

Lauren (Narrator): After much discussion, the students agree on something student friendly and trashy: Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle.* Everyone took part in reading their books, helping to write scripts, and then finding performers to act out the characters in their scripts.

Melissa: Mmmm…mmm…hmm…..mmmm…! (Translated: This was an exceptional activity. Although we didn’t use props this time, I think detachable fish eggs would be perfect!)

Jason: Yah! Weally puhfect!

Genie: So there!

* Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle is in no way a trashy novel, but -whenleft in the hands of out-for-the-summer teachers in Writing Project quarters…there was no hope for the book. Sorry Mr. Carle. Please forgive us. We love your work.

What I’d like from my response group during lunch:

• Do my genre choices make sense?
• Is there enough detail in each piece to explain the day’s events?
• Can you tell who my audience is?
• How would you show that we worked in e-Anthology today where everyone was supposed to comment on at least one post?

Letter

Dear BJ,

Thanks so much for showing us all the fabulous stuff on Web 2.0 today. Some of us really needed a gmail account! Thanks. Also, the website www.thewriteliteracy.blogspot.com will become a wonderful bookmark. The article on Co-authoring identity: Digital storytelling in an urban middle school by Alan Davis will be super helpful in understanding our next task: Digital Stories.

Thanks also for sharing the example of a digital story from Patrice’s son, Dexter. I can’t wait to story board something from our new GPS standards in Social Studies. I’ve been thinking ever since we all started talking about the many uses for digital stories. See you in the morning!

Sincerely,

Loquacious

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Day Seven: Art Finds Us!, June 11th, 2008

By: Genie Bryan

Today was an invigorating day at the Southwest Georgia Writing Project. We had a guest Teacher Consultant, Lia Britton, who began our day with a Taoist writing prompt. I thought some folks outside our project might enjoy it as much as we did, so I'm taking the liberty of sharing it.

To look is one thing,
To see is another,
To understand what you see is yet another,
To learn from what you understand, still another,
To act on what you learn is all that matters.

As you might imagine, that started some deep thinking! Lia said a beautiful thing today, "I teach students how to think, not what to think." I think she definitely succeeded with this group.

Next we were awakened by the art of Romare Bearden. His collage "The Block" came alive for us as we explored the Metropolitan Museum of Art's interactive website. This was truly an amazing experience. Whilemuseums hold us so far away from the art we can't seeall the intricacies, this site allowed us in so close we could almost feel the reality ofthe Harlem street.Responding to Bearden's piece was a delight and produced some powerful writing. Art made us alive today! I truly hope our fellows will post the results of their writing time. Youshould have been there!

Our working lunches with responsegroups were certainly lively today.

Because Bearden was such an important part of the Harlem Renaissance, we had the opportunity to hear some of Langston Hughes' poetry read byHughes. One fellow said, "Hughes sang the words." I thought that description was rather poetic itself. The fellows were challenged to write a poem in Hughes' style or one which addressed his themes.

Tomorrow the group will embark upon a writing journey boarding a train for reflection and writing. The discussion was rather lively as participants tried to get directions and understand the particulars of the day. One participant, upon being told that flip-flops were not allowed on the train for safety reasons, realized she may have noother summer shoes! Sounds like an excuse for shoe shopping to me!

Our groups met as the days tick by and due dates loom. Serious work is definitely happening in Southwest Georgia!

Since trains are such an important trope in blues and Bearden's work, I wonder withLangston Hughes and Romare Bearden on the mind if anyone will write a bluesfor us tomorrow?