Daily+Notetaking

Today we entered our new home for the next three weeks, for three days a week, for three hours a day in building 200 on Academy street. Teaching Nonfiction Writing with Style is our Summer Institute through the Delaware Writing Project co-taught by Robyn Howton and myself, Heidi Cebula. Sixteen teachers (four more to hopefully join us) entered, with various expectations but with the heat and parking concerns on their mind. Fortunately, after some brief introductions, Robyn eagerly shared that not only is each Fellow to receive the textbook and a $1000 stipend for their complete participation in the course, but also and I-Pad to be distributed the next day. Gasps and joyous murmurs followed this pronouncement. Then, it was on to the hard work that will earn these sweet rewards. Our first writing activity was in response to the mentor text by Frank McCourt, an excerpt from his book //Teacher Man//, often referred to as the Sandwich incident. After I read this selection we all wrote about our best teaching experience from the past year, using as many vivid details as we could. The fellows then shared this experience with their friends near by. Next, the fellows introduced themselves, sharing where they teach and what levels of students they teach. We learned that there are many 8th grade English teachers, quite a few elementary teachers, and even a Science teacher and a teacher who just completed her first year, in our midst. This diversity of experiences is sure to help everyone learn new ways to incorporate nonfiction writing with style in their repertoire of units for the next school year. Robyn and I next detailed the Syllabus in conjunction with Robyn's powerpoint. I followed this description up with a checklist (at the end of the day), at a fellows suggestion, to help delineate all of the assignments that are expected. The fellows will be working very hard these next three weeks, as the course has not only the in person component, but also an online component through this wikispaces site. A brief break provided some reprieve in this busy first day. Robyn then explained what a Socratic Seminar is from her experience through AVID. Handouts help to explain (which are also on this site). Fellows then split the first chapter of the text //Write Like This//, group one reading and posing questions for the first premise and group two working on premise one. Two lively Socratic Seminars followed. Highlights: **Group One**-Tabitha remarked how she sees the value in showing students how they can write about the same topic using various purposes. Elissa shared how she uses the fatp (form, audience, topic, purpose) acronym to help students find various ways to write and how the purpose part can now be expanded. Holly illuminated that even elementary students can use the purposes suggested (express and reflect, inform and explain, evaluate and judge, inquire and explore, analyze and interpret, and take a stand/propose a solution) and that they are savvy enough to use that sophisticated language as we teach the purposes. **Group Two**-Jessica shared how she finds modeling to be so important for her students so they see her struggles as a write too and see that writing in a process and takes time. Nigdra shared how she likes to keep in mind her students and what they need, modeling needs to be as long as they need and as much as they need, be sure they feel satisfaction and that they learned something. Vanessa shared how she likes to model with the I go/you go method and likes to have everyone contribute. Crystal posed a question at the end suggesting we think about whether mentor texts should be at grade level/above/below, especially with the Common Core focus of text complexity. Then we shared some ways we have modified Socratic Seminars in our classroom to scaffold the activity and to go beyond the typical format. Lots of good ideas were shared on how to get every student to participate and pay attention. The focus continued to be that students need to go deeper in their questioning and thinking to add depth of knowledge to their learning (Common Core focuses). To conclude, we spent some time in grade level groups brainstorming lessons to possibly tweak to meet the Unit/Lesson plan we will use for this institute or new lessons that we will use. Robyn and I will also be working on our units along with the fellows so we too can see what challenges they may face. After writing questions on the name cards and typing email addresses for the wikispaces invites, fellows left Day One, prepared to digest the course overnight and ready to receive their I-Pads the next day on Day Two. To prepare for Day Three on Thursday, everyone is reading Chapters 2 and 3 in their book and beginning to develop lessons for their unit.
 * June 25, 2013 Day One**

Day 2

I took our notes today on my iPad notes. I am going to try and paste them on this page