See you this summer!

The “why” of writing requires continual exploration, which is what 60 Fox Valley area middle and high school students were discovering during the Fox Valley Writing Project-sponsored Young Authors Academy that concluded this week at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh College of Education and Human Services (COEHS).

“The key things we want students to come away with is that writing is a process; one that takes patience and a willingness to dive deeper into writing to explore multiple ways to make it stronger,” said Jeff Erdmann, director of the Young Author’s Academy and 6th grade literacy teacher at Perry Tipler Middle School.

Through a series of lessons during the six-day academy, the students explored how to use their five senses to write about a strawberry, learned how to provide and accept constructive feedback while using Play-Doh, worked in small groups to create original stories about random objects they were given and practiced reading their writing aloud in small groups.

In addition, students were challenged to express why they write. Among their responses were:

• “Because words, like fire, ignite change.”
• “Because it takes me to exotic destinations.”
• “Because my imagination has no limits.”
• “Because I can be myself.”

The benefits of the academy go beyond putting words on a page, however.

“Many writers are introverted, but the sense of community developed at the academy fosters self confidence and to not be secretive about something the students are good at,” said Erdmann. “We want them to also be aware having talent in writing is something to be proud of. Seeing other students who can illustrate their points strongly and articulately reminds them there are others who are artists with words as well and this new pool of talent builds friendships.”

In addition to Erdmann, the academy was led by Christine Hartjes ’01, MA ’08, English teacher, Oshkosh North High School; Kathy Coumbe-Horejs ’94, ’01 MSE, 8th Grade Literacy teacher, Carl Traeger Middle School; and May 2012 COEHS graduates Danielle Sommer and Abby Halverson.

Originally published in UW Oshkosh Today.

In 2012, the first RRWI was held with participants from Tigerton, Marion, and Clintonville Districts.  Because of the strong success of that offering, the Fox Valley Writing Project will offer a second 2013 RRWI  in Clintonville, WI, from July 29-August 2 and August 5-9.  K-12 teachers from districts in the Clintonville area are invited to participate; district administers may get more information about sending teachers to this professional development offering by contacting FVWP Director Pat Scanlan at scanlan@uwosh.edu.

For more information about the 2013 Rural Writing Institute in Clintonville, see this flyer.    Clintonville RWWI Flyer

Another’s pen painted a picture of kayaks dipping paddle blades in the ripples.

They are just two images inspired by the ebb and flow of life along the Fox River in downtown Oshkosh – moments captured as part of the 2011 Fox Valley Writing Project (FVWP) Summer Institute’s featured “writing marathon.”

“The writing marathon is a writing activity where we write about what surrounds us,” said Lisa Weiss, a classroom teacher, reading specialist and, most recently, a literacy coach with the Oshkosh Area School District who helps lead the FVWP.

Hosted within the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s College of Education and Human Services, the FVWP 2011 Summer Institute ran through July 8. The project, which launched in 1986, is affiliated with the National Writing Project, whose chapters have often featured writing marathons as part of workshops.

Downtown Oshkosh proved fertile ground for this summer’s FVWP writing marathon.

“People find places to write, observe the area, write, and move to another location to repeat the process,” Weiss said. “Besides providing another practice in writing, the marathon also focuses the group as individual writers; writers pay attention to things that slip by ordinary people, and the writing marathon puts our writers in a position to take in their surroundings, notice what might otherwise go unnoticed, and write about them.”

The broader project immerses K-12 educators in writing, bringing them together into “a professional learning community where language and literacy are central to learning in all content areas.”

The summer institute helps writing teachers hone their classroom teaching and personal writing talents. This season, participants hail from school districts throughout eastern Wisconsin, including Appleton, Beaver Dam, Campbellsport, Oshkosh, Shiocton and Slinger.

Weiss said each summer’s writing marathon, or “WM,” is always analyzed after each writer brings back his or her collection of work. The project participants discuss how the exercises might be woven into a K-12 classroom.

“The writing people recorded that day is writing of rough first drafts; it is not yet polished, but it is powerful and fascinating to see where a walk downtown took each person,” Weiss said.

She has a simple teaching philosophy, to move learning forward. Every day in the classroom she strives to provide students with an emotionally and physically safe and cooperative learning environment.

Schroderus was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, returned to achieve her masters in reading education. As she reflects back on her experience in the classrooms at UW Oshkosh, she sees how the rigorous quality of education prepared her for the tough job that teaching is. Her reading interventions class taught by COEHS associate professor Patricia Scanlan taught her about student learning and how to address individual student needs.  Schroderus learned how to evaluate where her students are academically and behaviorally and how to encourage them to move forward in learning.

In 2008, Schroderus attended the Fox Valley Writing Project (FVWP), which brings K-12 educators together to help them grow as teachers of writing and become better writers themselves. It gives teachers an opportunity to learn more about student learning and writing, while also improving the teacher’s practice.

“I love writing myself and wanted to improve my teaching of writing. I heard so many great things about the FVWP and was looking for a new challenge professionally,” said Schroderus. “I became a better writer myself and a much better teacher of writing.”

“In the Summer Institute we each choose a professional book group to join. Mine was a book on mentor texts. Up until then, I was not using mentor texts in my teaching of writing. Now I use them all the time with students. We surround ourselves with amazing authors and we use their words, voice and writing styles to inspire us. My students have become better writers and they see themselves sitting next to these authors and trying to be like them. It is a beautiful thing,” said Schroderus.

Since attending FVWP, she has seen the impact the program has made on her. She now sees herself as a developed educator, both personally and professionally. Shroderus continues to be involved in the program because it has given her multiple opportunities to present workshops to other teachers and become more involved in leadership roles within her school district.

By Carlyn Brown

Currently a teacher at Read Elementary School in Oshkosh, her teaching philosophy of collaboration, authenticity, inquiry and differentiation gives her the ability to provide to her students.

“Students must be engaged in meaningful and authentic work that real readers, writers, historians, scientists, etc. do in their disciplines. Students should work to construct their own meaning through engagement…the goal of the teacher should be to create critical thinkers with the skills and habits to be lifelong learners,” said Ponzer.

Ponzer says she would not have been able to be the teacher she is today without the additional instruction she received from the Fox Valley Writing Project (FVWP). “Teachers teaching teachers” is the premise of the FVWP. Educators are given the opportunity to work in a professional learning community to help them become better teachers of writing and proficient writers themselves. It also gives teachers the ability to tap into the knowledge of professionals for all areas of education.

“My instruction in the classroom is more purposeful, authentic, motivating and rich (since attending FVWP). My students are immersed in reading and writing throughout the content areas over the course of each day and each one of them grows to love reading and writing,” said Ponzer. She is a teacher who goes above and beyond to provide her students with the materials and education they need to be successful in and out of the classroom.

Her experience in the FVWP became a springboard that helped her discover and build upon her strengths. “I believe in order to be a successful literacy educator you need to be an avid and prolific reader and writer yourself. FVWP challenged me, supported my growth and ultimately made me a better teacher and a better learner.”

When she is not teaching in her classroom Ponzer is teaching teachers. She has taken the skills she has learned from FVWP and applied those skills to coach other teachers on how to improve their literacy instruction through teaching various workshops at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  She has presented at numerous national events including the National Math Recover Conference in 2011 and currently is a member of the FVWP Leadership Team.

Currently she is leading a school wide literacy program that collects, distributes and exchanges books for students who qualified for Title I reading support. Title I focuses on improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged for children in elementary and secondary education. Ponzer is an outstanding educator in her field because she gets her children excited about reading and learning, and continues to extend her knowledge to teachers too.

By Carlyn Brown

“With every concept I teach my students, I try to think of ways to get them thinking and actively involved in the process of learning. Whether that means using plastic army men and a Flip camera to reenact Revolutionary War battles or guiding students in peer revisions using Google Docs, I try to put them in charge of their learning,” described Walter who uses a constructivism teaching philosophy. “Teaching at the seventh grade level, active engagement is especially critical as it’s an active age that doesn’t lend itself well to prolonged sit-and-get sessions.”

Putting his schooling into action, Walter has served on numerous school and community committees to write the School District of Slinger’s guidelines to mentor new teachers and has assisted teachers to meet their PI 34 requirements. He has also facilitated a Professional Learning Community workshop that implemented Google Doc technology and trains teachers and staff to use SMART Board technology.

Walter attended the Fox Valley Writing Project (FVWP) Summer Institute in 2010. FVWP teaches educators how to approach the teaching of writing in the classroom.

“The program is an internal tug of war between vulnerable writer, presenter and confident professional in a nurturing and stimulating environment” said Walter. The FVWP gave him the opportunity to collaborate with other professionals to improve his writing.

Teachers are able to use the skills they learn in the FVWP and implement them into their classrooms.

At the end of this past school year Walter received an email from one of his students that read, ‘You inspired me to write’. What else could an English educator ask for?

By Carlyn Brown