Fall 2012

Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing
"Teaching to Change, Changing to Teach"
Saturday, October 13, 8:30 - 2:30, UMass Amherst.
WMWP's Best Practices conference features interactive workshops by Summer Institute participants, reunion meetings, and more. Workshop and session topics include ELL, digital literacy, literacy across the curriculum, tips and strategies for implementing the Common Core, and more. Keynote address by Kevin Hodgson, author, blogger, and National Writing Project Technology Liaison. Fee: $45.  (includes coffee and lunch). 5 pdps.  Register by September 21. Full program will be posted by August 30th.

Click here for the BP Program.

A little more about our keynote speaker....

Texting.  Social networking. Sharing. Youtube. Video gaming. As more and more young people use technology to communicate and interact with the world, our definitions of literacy have begun shifting. Kevin Hodgson, this year’s keynote speaker at the Western Massachusetts Writing Project’s Best Practices conference, will delve into the changing literacies of our students, and of our classroom, as part of an exploration about how to make connections between digital literacies and learning. His talk – entitled “Digital Kids, Digital Literacies” – aims to bring some of those “hidden” literacies to light.

Hodgson teaches sixth grade at the William E. Norris Elementary School in Southampton, and is the technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. A co-editor of the collection put out by Teachers College Press, Teaching the New Writing, Hodgson has been exploring the ways that technology is changing our notions of writing and literacy for a number of years. His students have designed and published video games, created digital posters about how to use technology in meaningful ways, crafted webcomics, and composed multimedia essay projects.

Awarded the Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching award as well as the Western Mass Writing Project Pat Hunter award, Hodgson is a sought-after presenter and keynote speaker across the country.

The topic of Hodgson’s keynote connects directly with this year’s inquiry theme of WMWP: the shifting nature of digital literacies and an exploration of ways that teachers can tap into those skills and interests of students for learning environments that are meaningful and authentic, even under the umbrella of the new Massachusetts Common Core curriculum.

Hodgson blogs regularly about these issues at Kevin’s Meandering Mind (http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/) and is a regular contributor to the National Writing Project’s Digital Is resource site (http://digitalis.nwp.org/). His classroom weblog site is The Electronic Pencil (http://epencil.edublogs.org/ )

Fall 2011

WMWP Leadership Team Meetings

Mondays, Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Dec. 5, Jan. 23, March 12, May 7, and June 11, 4:15 to 6:00.   Places for the fall meetings:  Sept. 19, Amherst Middle school, Room 12; Oct. 17, Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke; and Dec. 15, Five Colleges Office, Amherst, MA

WMWP Leadership Team meetings-- open to all WMWP Teacher-Consultants--are held for the purpose of reviewing ongoing programs, planning future programs, and discussing issues of importance to teachers.  The Oct. 17 meeting will focus on inquiry into our WMWP Inquiry Theme of the Year, WMWP Approaches to Teaching the Common Core.   TC’s who attend any five of the year’s seven meetings are eligible for 10 pdps. 

National Day on Writing

October 20, 2011. 

Participate in the Third National Day on Writing.  Submit some of your own writing, encourage your students to participate, organize a writing event at your school.   For ideas about events and to submit work, go to http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting. 

New England Association of Teachers of English Annual Conference: "The Common Core: Standards, Values, and Creativity in the Classroom." 
October 22-23, 2010 Holiday Inn, Mansfield, MA. 
NCTE President Carol Jago, author of numerous books, will give the Friday keynote speech, and and Bruce Penniman, another former MA Teacher of the Year and former WMWP Site Director, will speak on Saturday. Plus many interactive workshops.  More information at www.neate.org.

WMWP Teachers as Writers Contest
Submission Deadline: November 21, 2011
For submission information, click here.