Saturday Seminars

Teaching demonstrations on the teaching of writing presented by the Teacher-Consultants of the Indiana Writing Project. Open to all teachers and administrators interested in improving the teaching of writing in their schools. All sessions will be interactive and applicable to students/writers of all ages. Attend one, several or all!

Please note: there is a choice of session on the first Saturday only.

All sessions will be held 8:30-11:30 a.m. at Selma Elementary School 200 S. East Street, Selma, Indiana 47383.

COST: $30 per Saturday or $150 for all six seminars.

REGISTRATION FORM: Download the registration form as a Word document

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call 765-285-8414 or email Bea Sousa beals42@iquest.net

SEPTEMBER 15

Choice of Session: Primary News (K-1) OR Writer’s Notebooks and Memoir

Primary News (K-1) 

Kindergarten students are learning to read and write through their own words during the first few months of school. “How?” you may ask. Kindergarten News is the answer. Two experienced teachers of writing share strategies that engage students in literacy from the earliest days in school.

Featured presenters: Tammy Taylor (K, Little Turtle Elementary, Columbia City) and Shirley Thacker, (1st-2nd, Wes-Del Elementary, Gaston)

Writer’s Notebooks and Memoir

A writer’s notebook is a place where writers (teachers and students) keep the scraps of words and sights they encounter in their daily life. As Ralph Fletcher puts it, a notebook “encourages you to pay attention to your world, inside and out. It serves as a container to keep together all the seeds you gather until you’re ready to plant them. It gives you a quiet place to catch your breath and begin to write.” Many times those seeds grow into memoir, where a writer steps back and makes meaning of what he/she has experienced. Participants will explore ways to use writer’s notebooks and experiment with the genre of memoir.

Featured presenters: Jane Snider (5th GT, Westview Elementary School, Topeka, IN) and Marcia Maple (Elwood Haynes Elementary School, Kokomo Center Schools)

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OCTOBER 6

But How Do We Get Them to Revise?

“Our students don’t know how to revise (even if they want to) because they don’t know many specific strategies.” (George Heard) But writing IS revision. “The purpose of revision is not to correct, but to discover.” (Lucy Calkins) When we revise we look again at our writing. We clean up confusing places, reorganize, rethink word choices, dig deeper. Participants will experience specific revision strategies applicable to writers of all ages. Bring your writer’s notebook or a piece of unfinished writing.

Featured presenters: Carrie Thomas (5th grade Excel, Lakeside Elementary, Warren Township) and Tammy Underwood (5th/ 6th grade language arts, Cowan Elementary)

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NOVEMBER 10

Reading/Writing Connections

Like many teachers, Katie Habansky uses Literature Circles in her classroom. But there was something missing; students didn’t go beyond their assigned roles and their talk lacked the richness she knew they could bring to discussion. Reflective writing was what was missing. “…deep and thoughtful reading and writing instruction is situated in interacting with a text, expanding and documenting thinking, and using texts to build theories.” (Janet Angelillo)

Uneasy about teaching poetry? This is the session for you. Ann Meiring found that her reluctant third graders became enthusiastic writers when they discovered free verse poetry. “Released from the structure of rhyme, kids can focus on content and language, and they express themselves easily.” (Regie Routman). Ann will share strategies and poems for a poetry cycle that will work with all students.

Featured presenters: Katie Habansky (9th, 11th English; AP Literature, Yorktown HS) and Ann Meiring (3rd grade, North Side Elementary, Union City)

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JANUARY 12

Getting Students Ready to Write on Demand

It is August and students will be writing to the ISTEP prompt in a month. What to do? Several years ago IWP developed a unit of study on prompt writing, treating prompt writing just like other genres. And it works! When we tested it in third and sixth grade classrooms, student scores exceeded state averages. Participants will leave with a model of a four-week unit that not only prepares students for ISTEP, but also establishes the writer’s workshop for the rest of the year.

Featured presenter: Bea Sousa, Co-Director and Inservice Coordinator, IWP

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FEBRUARY 9

Teaching Grammar in Context

Forty years of research have failed to show that completing grammar worksheets, learning terms and studying errors have any impact on student writing. Student papers are still full of errors. What does work? Brief mini-lessons in the writing workshop, then time for students to practice the concept with their own writing. Teachers will participate in model lessons applicable to writers of all ages.

Writing for Change (Social Action)

Richard Sterling, Executive Director of the National Writing Project, writes, “Young people in our society need to be engaged in learning, in designing projects that are bigger than themselves, and in doing work that brings them into frequent contact with caring adults.” Alena Bogucki will share her experience “engaging students in authentic… projects that require… the complex uses of reading and writing necessary for later success in college and in life.” Students of all ages can use writing for change.

Featured presenters: Julie Perkins (9-10th grade Language arts, Eastbrook HS) and Alena Bogucki (9-10th grade honors language arts and English remediation, Yorktown HS)

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MARCH 8

Writing to Learn/Writing in the Content Areas

“Writing and thinking and learning are the same processes.” (William Zinsser) While formal school writing is writing to inform or persuade, writing to learn is the informal writing we do to help us understand AS we learn. Writing to learn activities are usually short and ungraded; they engage students in active learning and social interaction. Once you start collecting these strategies (applicable across all grades and content areas), you will wonder how you ever taught without them. And you won’t want to miss “Battery Man!”

Featured presenters: Kathy Flatter (5th grade, Selma Elementary) and Alysha Scott (5th grade social studies, Northside Elementary School, Hartford City)

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