Writing Contests and Other Thoughts

I'm not feeling as desperate today about getting students to use the writing center. I just finished reading a chapter in The High School Writing Center: Establishing and Maintaining One, edited by Pamela B. Farrell. It's not a new publication (1989) but it is still considered one of the most relevant in terms of establishing writing centers in high schools. Each chapter is written by different writing center directors. Of interest to me at the moment is the one titled, "Filling the Room: Public Relations." I was heartened to learn of how much time one particular school had devoted to establishing credibility and relevance at their site.

They called their advance prep, "consciousness-raising" and began writing formal proposals almost 3 years before ever opening the site. I think of my preparation work last year and yet, that did not even directly involve the school I work with - it was my consciousness-raising about the concept of a high school writing center. This year I am trying to establish a presence in the building and in particular, get people to view me in a role very different from one they have seen me in in the past. So, it seems as though I still need another year to really get this writing center off the ground.

But, back to the book, I have many more ideas on how to involve teachers and students in the center. One thing I need to do now is find out the commitment of the English teachers on staff and then solicit their support in the continuity of the center after this year. I have contacted one teacher in particular who has been through the summer institute of the Minnesota Writing Project. Hopefully, she will know of other staff members who are pro-writing and who will be willing to visit a functioning writing center with me for a day and then give feedback on options for next year. I have the backing of the principal for this excursion.

If I get the English department on board and in support of the center, the principal will agree to continuing it next year. In that case, I see my role as a consultant until it's fully functioning. This chapter also gave me new thoughts on a high school-university partnership so I will explore that route as well.
The main point is that I don't feel nearly as discouraged as I have been about the lack of students in the center. I think with encouragement and motivation, students will use the center.

I also posted my flyers around the building today...

Soliciting Again

Not a satisfying afternoon...the teacher who requested help from me did not show up for our meeting. She seemed very serious about needing help for her 9th grade students before they tackle the MCA writing test. I have a feeling she may be out of the building today -
So, I was forced to focus on advertising for the center for most of my time today. I ran  flyers along with a note to all staff with passes attached that they can use with their students. This is my first attempt at an actual schedule and my first attempt at targeting students directly. So, while I sent a flyer with my hours on it to all staff, I gave English teachers packets of 30 flyers each that they could distribute directly to students. It's not enough for all of their students but they could focus in on one class or make more themselves. The important piece is for them to get the word out. I have been depending on teachers to recommend students to the writing center up to this point, thinking that they must know who needs support. But I haven't set a schedule before or tried to directly address the students with information. I am also posting information on each floor and in the cafeteria. Hopefully, students will respond.
I will recommend direct advertising to students to whoever takes over the center next year. That's something else for me to think about. How can this school staff a writing center without adding to the budget?

A Different Direction

I'm wondering why it has taken me so long to come to this conclusion but I'm just now thinking that I should individualize my invitation to students. Up until now, I have been relying on teachers to suggest to students that they visit The Write Place for writing support. Of course I have no way of knowing whether that message is being spread or not. For some reason, I seem to have forgotten that the strength of writing centers lies in student initiative and motivation to use them. Both of the girls that I have conferenced with in the last two weeks sought out my help because they WANTED to be better writers - not because a teacher told them to come to the writing center.

Anyway, after I have a friend look it over and give me feedback, I will hand out flyers to all students during their English classes on Wednesday. I will also put flyers in all teacher mailboxes emphasizing that students may visit the writing center for writing support in any content area.

Another thing I haven't done is post a definite schedule of when I will be in The Write Place for student support. Now I am posting definite hours for the month of March. Our state tests are early in April so this may be another motivating factor for students.

If this center is to continue into next year, I need to find a way to get students to use it.

Valentine Thoughts

Just got a note from the person who sends out a community newsletter for the school - asking for articles. seems like the perfect time to have pictures and sentiments from our all-school write included. I took the Valentines down today and typed up some of the more original sentiments and am including them in this post:

LOVE

           

Meeting you was fate,

Becoming your friend was a choice,

Falling in love with you was

Way beyond my control!

            -M. Yang

Let love embrace you…

            -Annie Carey

To love and be loved is everything!

Love is when you give your heart and soul to someone in hopes that they’ll return it.

If you have any tears to cry,

I will be there by your side.

When you’re sad and feeling blue,

I will be there to care for you.

If you’re scared and all alone,

I will kiss away your fears.

When you need someone to love you,

I will be here.

            -Karen Lee

Trust is the way of creating love.

Love is the closest thing we’ve got to magic. When we see the details, we start to see what really matters. There’s regrets and forgets, hearts and desires. You can’t WANT something to be yours. You have to KNOW it truly is. Missing someone is painful; losing someone hurts. Knowing you can’t do anything to change it is a living nightmare.

            -Sydney Yang

Everyone says that LOVE hurts, but that’s not true.

LONELINESS hurts.

REJECTION hurts.

LOSING SOMEONE hurts.

Everyone confuses these conditions with love, but in reality, LOVE is the only thing in the world that covers up all of the pain and makes us feel wonderful again.

            -Sheng Vang

Love is an uncontrollable passion that weakens even the strongest walk.

Love hurts!

Dislike it!

           

Love has a 1/1,369 chance on Match.com

Love is a strong word that you want to use carefully.

Love sucks and makes people do stupid things.

Love is a crime that makes everyone blind.

Love is good while it lasts, but you have to burn it at the end.

Love is unconditionally, blind and dangerous.

Love has a 14% chance on ABC’s The Bachelor.

Love sucks:

It kills,

It hurts,

It burns,

It is the worst thing ever

It will always pain you…

Never leave the one you love for the one you like

Because the one you like

Might leave you for the one they love.

FRIENDSHIP

True friendship is no fistfights or hurting,

Not here one day, gone the next.

In friendship,

Everything is better for those

With the ability to love and hate,

Make war, then peace;

To dream and hope and always

Be by their friend’s side,

Never leaving.

            -L. Cody Jackson

Friendship is helping one another through thick and thin.

It’s something you need to survive reality

when you’re at your worst.

            -KLH

Friends are like stars.

You don’t always see them,

But you know they are there.

            -Nina

Best friends are people who know your whole life story and your flaws yet, they still love you.

Valentine's Day

I was apprehensive coming to school today since I was out-of-town all last week and did not know how the plans for an all-school write had worked out.

I guess I should back up a bit...I thought that Valentine's Day would be a perfect time to celebrate "the love of writing" with another all-school write. Two weeks ago, I purchased a variety of doily hearts from the $ store and peeled about 1000 of small, medium, and large red, white and pink ones into piles for each homeroom. My intent was to have the students write about either love or friendship on the hearts, the week before Valentine's Day. Then, on Valentine's Day, I would post all of the hearts on the wall in the lunchroom and set up a table in front of them and hand out suckers and chocolate hearts (more $ store purchases) to those who stopped by...

Because I was gone last week, I arranged for the newspaper staff to introduce the hearts and the topic to students in activity classes at the end of the day. Although I was worried that all students wouldn't get the opportunity or that teachers might not collect them and turn them in to me, the newspaper staff did a beautiful job. When I got to school today, I picked the hearts up from the mailroom and posted them. Next, I set up my table in the lunchroom. I had many paper hearts left over so I spread those out on the table with markers. My plan for handing out suckers and chocolate roses was not quite as successful...my table was mobbed! Almost everything was gone by the end of first lunch...if I had it to do over, I would have portioned my supplies and treats out. Even without the treats, many students stopped by just to write out a valentine for someone special.

I did get in a number of conversations on writing and writers. One girl even got a pass to come back with an essay she was writing so that I could sit and conference with her. A very fun day!

 

Student Connections

Today I met with Tara, a 9th grade student writing a novel about shape-shifting humans, werewolves and vampires. Two days ago, she handed me her notebook for feedback as I looked through 9th grade papers in her classroom. I wasn't prepared for the amount of writing that she had done on her "novel" or for the tiny, single-spaced, light pencil that it was written in. I struggled to read it, but was amazed by the intricate plot structure she had devised and the complicated code that involved what the characters could do and how their names were created and what each name signified. How do you give feedback on such a big piece that is still a rough draft? I wondered where she was going with the piece - which authors she read on a regular basis - and what kind of feedback she wanted from me. I left her a note to come to The Write Place to talk about her piece, and today she showed up.

She was nervous, swinging her foot rapidly as we began to talk. I asked her to tell me about herself as a writer and she apologetically recounted how she started out by "plagiarizing" other authors. That led to a discussion of the difference between plagiarizing and emulating. I told her about using books as mentor texts and inspiration which is very different from stealing an author's plotline. That seemed to calm her down. She told me that when she reads, she gets inspiration for new plots and characters. Once she started talking about her story, she seemed quite at ease.

The feedback that she wanted was an evaluation, really, of whether what she wrote was any good. I gave her lots of praise about the intricasies of her plot and the character relationships. I pulled out Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, Orson Card's Ender's Game and J.K Rowling's Chamber of Secrets and talked about how she might use her own mentor texts to create description and detail that would help the reader follow the story. (Her piece was filled with dialogue.) She said that she adds description when she types up her drafts. I don't know if I gave her enough, but I wanted her to think of this as a positive experience, so I'll just have to wait and see where this goes...

I encouraged her to come back with new sections or any other writing that she wanted to have feedback on - I also encouraged her to send her friends to The Write Place to talk about their writing.

What's My Focus?

I guess January is made for reflection. The last two weeks I've been thinking about The Write Place and trying to really center my work as well as look ahead to possibilities. I'm in an awkward position since I'm funded by ARRA money and unless I can find a way to fund this Center next year, it will cease to exist in June. This is compounded by the fact that I need to establish the presence of the writing center in order to attract the attention of people who would see this as a viable funding opportunity. I've been in this position before, acting "as if" great things are already happening or building my bridge as I walk across it.

So, I drafted some possible options for 2nd semester and some thoughts about next year...I met with the principal and we narrowed my ideas down to another all-school write; work with the 9th grade teacher on preparing for the state writing test in April; and work with students preparing to enter the History Day competition this year. I also plan on hosting at least a couple of "Writing Excursions" for interested students.

Then, I met with others in a Writing Center Symposium format and started re-thinking my role once again...Is this writing center for the students or for the teachers? I want it to be for the students, but I am unsure how much summative writing is actually assigned, and I wonder if it is being assigned, do teachers understand the process approach to writing and how a writing center could be used by students to develop their final drafts? I'm only thinking this because in the 3 instances in which I have worked with teachers, I have not seen final products. In each case, I was asked to help develop and deliver the assignments but my work with students and their writing was minimal. Should I be visiting Professional Learning Communities here and give them a menu of possible writing topics I could explore with them? Or is that really branching away from my focus?

More later...