Wednesday, 7/15

Katie emerged for her final leg of her triathlon ready to go, taking us along on for her presentation in Reader Response Journals. The handouts on the need for guiding our students through notetaking and listening skills rang true, particularly in light of the info Katie found connecting cheating with note-taking ignorance. I especially enjoyed the list of the 10 Bad Listening Habits (talking about you, Luis). Ronnie's suggestion from last week of found-poetry-from-boring-speakers and Katie's anecdote of the strategies of a minister's wife's strategies entertained. More good information to know and to pass along to my English and my Study Skills students, in particular. I'll also try to keep in mind Ruie's comment of an audience's tendency to "focus to the light" (the overhead, LCD), although it will make me think of my students as deer.



Paige reminded us of our moral obligation to limit OUR talk before filling us in on new personality categories: the teddy bear, the magnifying glass, the slinky, and the paper clip. Discussion of Louise Rosenblatt's reader response theory led to Ron's clarification between efferent (for the info) and aesthetic (past the facts to the emotions) reading.

Katie then led us into a look into the the lyrics of Pink Floyd's song "Wish You Were Here". Her student's performance of the song for his deployed father must have been quite an emotional moment. Our interpretations grew after picking apart key words, growing into a dialogue within our daybooks. I thought of using these lyrics while discussing the role of nostalgia in One Hundred Years of Solitude with my seniors. My search for cheap daybooks is on now!

New words so far:
4-Panel Thingy (scientific name, dialecta responsus)
SLANT (Sit up, Lean forward, and Not Talk)
Anchor chart

After the break, Ruie guided us toward time to begin writing our personal narratives, making distinction between a memory piece and a personal narrative. Our personal narratives will cover larger spans of time and consider some point/moral/epiphany/insight. Reminding us that it certainly need not be somber, Ruie read a former fellow's amusing narrative of the humbling realization of a daughter (and bad driver).

Other notes for our narrative:
think of an era 1st (post-12 yrs old, probably)
then--consider moments of
trial & tribulation
deep forgiveness
innocence
loss

There need not be a big, profound theme--it can be quiet, a sudden insight into the nature of our own character.

And so, we were off to write (and struggle) and lunch.

Upon our return, Jessica presented her look into involving combining literacy activities through a visual arts perspective.

Two points of interest early--

• The use of the term composition in considering each creative act
• Her presentation's title, "the itch to make dark marks on white paper," taken from a Picasso quote, of the urge artists (and via Jessica) and writers take part in through the creative process

After examining a portion of a 1930 Time article discussing Picasso's career, we wrote a letter to Time's editor in response to his painting Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher to judge whether it is good or bad art, providing reasons and support. Tanya's letter called into question the receipt tapestry's artistic merits as well. The cereal box sketchbook ideas and instruction-writing activity were more great materials included in her handouts. Others chiming in included Ronnie's vocabulary grid with a new word, Similar words/roots identified, Definition, and Picture of the word sounded useful, as did Ron's one-pager description of a quadrant in which 4 scenes of a narrative add to an analysis of how each scene (with quotes) contribute to setting, tone, character, etc.

http://www.clemusart.com/exhibcef/barcelona/html/5036514.html
The interpretation here seems to have been taken verbatim from my letter...

After Jessica's presentation, Ruie poured on the learning, taking us through a collocation exercise. Some were able to whip up connections easily to nouns in our early drafts; others strained. I kneaded a break.

After it, I remember thinking I was sad that Heather, Karen, Catherine, and Tanya weren't around for Ronnie's Roundtable Chat. I had no idea our afternoon would offer the opportunity to hear a discussion from the likes of Annie Dillard, Annie Lamott, Georgia Heard, and Stephen King. They came to examine up the apprehension that writer's often feel, highlighting the courage writing takes, the detriment of requiring control in knowing where you're going with your writing, and the requirement to just write. They shared hanging onto rituals, letting go of fears, and releasing something in your writing to which you're clinging. The CAWPers returned just after our celebrities left to lead a discussion into the implications of writing apprehension in the classroom using an article from English Journal. Very entertaining and effective.

After getting spiffied up, many CAWPers met at Jibarra for a fantastic meal and insights from Australian literacy luminary Brian Cambourne. The Malbec was tasty, the fajitas yummy, the company fun.