The National Writing Project - Wasatch Range Writer's Institute

Ok, Because it is summer I know I should be dying to sleep in each day, hang out and read the newspaper each morning and eventually get dressed, but I am not. I am actually sad that the Wasatch Range Writing Project will conclude next week. After meeting with about 18 other teachers Monday through Thursday from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm for the past two weeks to talk about teaching writing, you would think I would be done and over it. However, it has been a great process. We participate in demonstration lessons given by our peers each day so we go through the same process a student would in our classes. It is a chance to experiment, try something radical or improve a lesson you have given numerous times before. The teachers range in age, years of service, types of experience, and schools they represent. What a cool group of people. All of these teachers are interested in doing a better job. Yes, there are sometimes digressions into various frustrations of the job, administrators, bureaucracy, etc. But all in all, the people are positive and inspiring.

We are bringing up all kinds of revolutionary ideas by asking "burning questions." These questions sometimes seem elementary but the root of all of them is the key. We really want to find out how can we help students learn enough about themselves through our classes to become confident writers. We are exploring the many ways we can help students use writing to learn, to express, to clarify, to process, to create, to instruct, to become better thinkers. If you want to find out more visit http://www.nwp.org or http//community.weber.edu/WRWP/
If you are a teacher, I highly recommend this institute. You will become a better writer and teacher of any subject. You also gain a community of like-minded teachers who are always looking to better themselves for the sake of their students.

I also have to do a big shout out to Weber State University as they offer the four-week institute for 6 graduate credits for free! Thanks WSU!

What Makes a Community?

While lying in bed (as an insomniac often does) this morning, my mind races in many differing directions pondering the issues of the day. Today my heart is aching and broken because I have been wondering how my school community has become so torn apart. I thought I was a part of something important and valuable in the world. I have made choices regarding my own career and my childrens' educations based on some ideals I thought I shared deeply with others. This effort was being expended to create a place/community that was different and special. But something has gone terribly wrong for my community has shattered. Factors beyond my control and my ability to completely comprehend have changed the essence of the community I thought I was building. That very essence being the actual people involved. So now what? How do I begin to build again? Can I muster the strength and pull it together to trust that there might be others that will again share the same vision for my children? I am not asking for much. Only some evidence that some believe in the same kind of community I do.

What makes a community? To me it is a group of like-minded individuals that care deeply about the essential elements of something enough to have some feelings of loyality and commitment to it. This might entail some trails, but it should also involve communication at a deep enough level to incur some real feelings of responsibility to our relationships with one another. Some argue that all of these choices are not personal, but to me a broken community has some lasting effect on me (and my children) personally.

Any thoughts about what makes a community? How do we build one that will last?