Class notes: The Last Day :(

Class Journal Thursday, 8 August 2002 Beth Darby

Marshall University Writing Project Summer Institute: The Last Day

 We began the last day of our Summer Institute a little tired, a little sad, and with gratitude for the opportunity to be together one more time in our cozy writing circle.

Jeanette shared the class journal from yesterday. Then, Beth read a poem from one of the morning writing prompts: Teaching writing is a snowstorm. Her poem ends, she hopes, with a good omen for her upcoming English 101 class as: “a new landscape blanketed by transformation. Amy decided to “pass” for probably the first time in Writing Project history. Unsettled as we were with the knowledge that this was our very last day, a few of us had a hard time settling into writing. Karen didn’t read from the morning prompt, but shared her “Reader/Writer Bio” written earlier in the institute. She wrote of hiding and dreaming in the lilac hedges and of one of her 1st brave attempts to equalize power in the classroom. In grade school, Karen wrote an 18 page paper on a subject that fascinated her. She couldn’t wait for her teacher to see it, and was disappointed when her paper was returned with a “B” and the comment: “Tell only the important parts.” She was given the opportunity to remove sections and turn it back in for a better grade. Karen went home that night, deeply troubled, but couldn’t bring herself to hack the project on which she’d devoted so much time and enthusiasm. The next morning, before she left for school she finally made a change to her paper. In response to the teacher’s comment: “Tell only the important parts,” Karen wrote underneath: “I did.” Social action is obviously in her genes. Vickie shared 3 quick-paced poems from the prompts… too quick-paced for this transcriber to capture. However, let it be noted that her son, Tannen, (our guest that day) had a proud and amused look on his face throughout the reading. Doug shared an amusing poem using the prompt “Teaching writing is animal crackers,” comparing the head, body, and tail of the cookie critter to the intro, body, and conclusion of an essay. Marlene and Tonda both passed, ready to relax a bit and listen to our last day of sharing. Jeanette shared her expanded metaphor on “Teaching writing is a marching band,” noting that some students are loud, some delicate, and that rhythm, tone, and harmony are necessary for success. Martha compared teaching to a chain link fence, and teachers to the mesh that holds it all together. She also likened teaching to vegetable soup, a changing mix of ingredients stewed together to make a great dish and, incidentally, a great way to clean out the refrigerator. Bethana used the metaphor of a rosebush to describe teaching, saying, “When knowledge blooms the beauty of it is breathtaking.” As usual, our sharing provided many insights to laugh at, ponder and cherish. Grant writing doesn’t seem like the most thrilling of topics, but Bethana is a wealth of information and kept us all on the edge of our seats during her presentation. She shared information on where to apply for grants (community, business, state, and federal), what kinds of information needs to be included (statement of need, project description, scientific based research, budget, and info on how your program can be replicated), and gave a website: www.schoolgrants.org. She also relayed how Crum Middle School faculty and community members banned together to reverse their “seriously impaired status,” and increase standardized test scores. Bethana has written grants which have brought almost $270,000 to her school, with more to come in the next 2 years. The Crum Middle School staff is doing incredible things with technology and hope to become the technology server for southern Wayne County. She gave us tons of information on all kinds of grants available from the WV Humanities Council, Alliance, Reinvent, CSR, A.B.L.E. Families, and included info on publication grants for those of us who may be interested in preserving WV history and getting paid to do so! A school official once compared Crum Middle School to a bunch of turtles, saying that not everyone can be rabbits. He may have been right Bethana, but just like in Aesop’s Fables… the turtles are the ones winning this race! Our hats off to Bethana and her colleagues… true social action dynamos! After Bethana’s demo, Karen talked to us about the upcoming Electronic Writing Project which will be offered this fall. Several of us are looking forward to participating in this! Beth asked everyone to jot down a sentence or two on what this summer’s institute has meant to us. Here are some responses:

Doug: “Writing Project has given me a lot more ideas and confidence in working with students. I also am enjoying finding out how to get free government money.”

Marlene: “Writing Project has been fantastic for me. The demonstrations have given me ideas to take back to my classroom. The writing prompts provided by Amy, Toodie, and Beth were great resources for me. The participants were friendly and helpful, and we became a close knit group of friends.”

Tonda: Those who encourage Who share as they go Giving themselves While helping me grow….

Bethana: “The sense of collective caring within the group allowed me to find the courage to share things that I had written, and to speak in front of people for the first time in years. As a teacher, WP has helped me gain confidence in my abilities to teach writing. I have also learned several activities than I can use in my classroom. I am so thankful for this opportunity.”

Jeanette: “A great 4 weeks writing with new friends.”

Amy: “Writing Project almost kills me every year, but it is my life line!” (We can tell on both counts Amy, considering how much you give to the project).

Martha: “Writing Project has been a wonderful learning experience for me. I have learned to be a better writer, which is what I wanted from this class.”

Vickie: “A super learning experience. One of the most enjoyable experiences ever. Fun! Fun! Fun! The best summer ever! Created ZEN in my writing; motivated me to get back to my writing. Produced great friendships with some super nice people.” Ah! Writing Project is true love and parting is sweet sorrow. We head for the Writing Lab to give a parting glance at the E-Anthology, eager as students to see the comments addressed to our postings. We polish our pieces for tonight’s banquet and one by one saunter out the door. But hey folks…. It ain’t over yet!

Writing Project Banquet. Thursday, 8 August, 2002 6:00-?

Dolores welcomes us by saying we are all Teacher Consultants, which means we have the credentials to go out and teach other teachers in addition to being able to use the WP strategies ourselves. We are now part of the Writing Project family and, Dolores adds, there is lots of room for all of us.

Toodie, the high priestess of ceremonies, shares a note from Vickie and one of Karen’s quotes, before introducing the first presenter: Amy.

Amy reads her poem, “Rocks and Rubble” which she began writing while visiting Rome with her students. Amy also reads “Demystified” asking “Who are our prophets?” She reminds us to contemplate mystery instead of “demystify[ing] miracle, pull[ing] apart the poem, nam[ing] all the stars.”

Karen and Jeanette read Karen’s two-voice poem on, what else?, “Social Action”. Who needs it? We do!

Charles repeatedly moves us from near tears to laughter with the reading of his short memoir, “The Table.” Charles presented the etymological roots of the word, which means “a flat loaf on which offerings are placed.” This makes sense because Charles was born on this table and we have all been blessed with that offering! His memoir recounted the many and varied offerings place on the table, and the support and sustenance his family experienced around this sacred object. The table in now being used by his surrogate daughter, Elizabeth. Suggestion for Charles: Send a photo of this table when you submit your memoir for publication.

Our guest, the poet Mary Moore, then read two incredible poems. “An American Tale” is about her father who was “innocent as water” and whose “Grandma Mary raised him Catholic but irreverent.” Her father, “ate fish on Fridays but shirked the Holy Days.” Mary’s second poem, “Word Girl” is a tribute to her mother’s influence: “You shaped me as worry shaped your world…/ You shaped me mother like a word you formed and loved.”

Another two-voice poem, written by Marlene, was read by Marlene and Vicki. “Just In The Depth Of Time” celebrates the rescue of 9 miners who survived a cave-in in Pennsylvania. Marlene’s connection to this subject was very descriptive, probably owing to the fact that her father was also a miner.

Martha had the room doubled over with laughter as she read “Bicycle Built For Two,” which describes her childhood exploits with her friend Wanda. Don’t worry Martha; your secret is safe with us. We don’t know anything about your brother’s bicycle or the ravine it’s buried in.

Beth read her short poem “Alpha Leaderless” which presents a metaphor for the classroom inspired by her Jack Russell terrier, Quixote, who did not satisfactorily complete obedience school. The poem’s implied message: school isn’t about obedience, but joint participation by students and teachers.

Dolores shared 3 love poems chronicling her love moods. I love him. I love him not. I love him. I love him not. But what she really loves is the motion of, “That dance, that dance, that dance.”

Everything Jeanette needed to know she learned at Writing Project. For example, “Encouragement is given to all” and “Social actions plans and sacred writing go hand in hand.”

Doug’s poem, “Defining Moments,” moves through his own thoughts and experiences of war while in high school to those of his students in the aftermath of 911. His poem illustrates the lack of definition that these “defining moments” have imposed on many lives and speaks of teaching as students grapple with a loss of innocence.

Shirley read “Jottings and Quotations” which have come from her habit of “collecting” during different Writing Project institutes through the years. She shared memories of her father and his red glass ring (which is often mistaken for a ruby) and his class ring, both of which Shirley now wears. “The rings are a true emblem of the mystery of [her] connection” with her father.

From our list of favorite words writing prompt, Karen concocted a poem, which she shared. Quite a feat! You try combining words like nebulous, susurrus, exhume, and quixotic to create not only a beautiful poem… but a teaching metaphor too!

Vicki recites her ode to “Jeans” which are her favorite thing to wear and are extremely versatile since they can be dressed up or down. Vicki thinks “the more distressed the better (especially for the wealthy)”.

Tonda and Beth collaborated on a 2-voice poem entitled “Blaze of Glory” which presents both sides of the flag-burning issue. Tonda dedicated this poem to her husband and all the others who are fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom, and Beth dedicated it to all those who’ve acted on their right to protest.

Bethana read her teaching metaphor, “The Steam Engine.” Bethana is the engine and “George Bush is the caboose making sure no child is left behind.” Bethana’s energy pulls her students up “literary mountains of Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Poe, and Thoreau….” And she doesn’t run out of steam when she comes to the “fallen trees of discord”. She just has them removed from the tracks.

Toodie reads a piece she has been working on for her play about a young girl who is battling anorexia. The powerful voice of this piece is of a young man who questions an absent father concerning what he “should do about this damsel in distress?” Toodie then shares the extra “fortunes” from our fortune cookie freewrite which she claims she found in the room after we had all gone. But we know these were actually pulchritoodinous proclamations gleaned from what she overheard in Writing Project. Here are the fortunes handed out by the high priestess of ceremonies:

Martha: Creating conflict is a cinch. And so is cooking up a vegetable soup, especially one that boils over.

Doug: Space to Doug! Space to Doug! Do not put ice cream cones in your pocket, it’s against the law.

Diane: Don’t bet on the mare; the dead horse will rise and win the race.

Amy: Do not be offended by this world. Your intellectual patience will allow you to see challenge, not as a threat, but as a chance to change, a chance to learn.

Karen: Continue to create safe places for change and remember, change one thing and everything else around it changes.

Marlene: Make sure to use all the eyes of your whole body to tell the stories of the bones.

Tonda: For success to come to a classroom, all parts must work well together.

Vickie: You can move others well beyond their own front porches with or without the help of Bob the Builder, or Baby Wipes.

Jeanette: True change comes from within but sometimes one must practice technology tough love. Be a facilitator not a provider.

Bethana: You will be crowned queen of fudge and the mini-grant. Write girl write!

Beth: Work, write, teach, and live for social action. You do not have to be a fighter.

  What a wonderful night of sharing.  We were happy to have our guests: Amy’s mother, Marlene’s daughter and granddaughter, Toodie’s (and Amy’s!) colleagues from HHS, Toodie’s partner Donna, Jeanette’s daughter Ashley, Betty Gail (who will return next summer as a WP fellow), Beth’s friend Mary Moore (and anyone else who was there that I missed).  We also appreciated the wonderful writings of those who came from the MU/Logan institute.  Another Writing Project has come to a close.  We say our good-byes, hug each other… a few more good-byes, one more hug and home we go filled with a rare satisfaction, ready to put our thoughts and theories into practice, and looking forward to September 28th… our first fall follow-up when we will meet once more to share, in the most sacred room of Corbly Hall.