Happy Summer!
7/7/17
Check out the latest news from OWPC as you enjoy this beautiful weather! Please note the opportunity to connect with the site at our August 4 event. We would love to see everyone who has had some connection with the site come to this event and bring a friend who has never heard of OWPC. Come refresh your writing and find out more about how to partner with what your writing project site is doing.
Refresh & Reconnect with Oregon Writing Project
7/7/17
Teachers, TCs, and friends of OWPC! You are invited to a day of writing refreshment and reconnection with OWPC. Whether you’re a Teacher Consultant (TC) or have never heard about National Writing Project, we hope you’ll join OWPC for this special day of writing at with us at the Broadway Commons in Salem. This “Summer Institute Sampler” offers a wonderful opportunity to connect or reconnect with the site, refresh relationships with other TCs, and get reacquainted with your writerly self. Coordinated by TCs Tracy Velez, Angela Newport, and Susanna Thornhill, the day will offer multiple opportunities to write, collaborate, and reflect. Foci include notebook strategies for beginning the school year off well and writing to mentor texts. Other topic options may be available, depending on attendance.
Join us!
- Friday, August 4, 9 am- 3 pm, Broadway Commons Coffeehouse, Mongolia Room (3rd floor).
- Cost for the day is only $10. Lunch provided. Earn 6 PDUs! (Certificates available at the event)
College Ready Writers Program
7/7/17
The Oregon Writing Project Collaborative at George Fox has teamed with the Salem-Keizer School District to provide 15 secondary level teachers with a full year of support and resources to develop and implement subject-specific curriculum that strengthens their students’ ability read critically, explore multiple points of view, and take a stand on important issues. The College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP) answers the contemporary call for respectful argumentative discourse. Its goal is to assure more teachers have the ability to teach college and career-ready writing—with a specific emphasis on writing arguments based on nonfiction texts.
Funded by a U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation validation grant and additional funding from the Rural School and Community Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CRWP provides teachers with 45 hours of professional development through a district-embedded institute, along with coaching and ongoing study of effective practices in academic writing instruction, current research, and professional literature. The grant will cover tuition costs to offer each teacher one free Continuing Education credit through George Fox.
Led by Gary Dohrer and Karen Bezanson (Hamlin) this group of teachers will read and write together to explore the wealth of CRWP resources available through NWP and use Institute time to write units for specific courses to be taught during the 2017 – 2018 school year. The College-Ready Writers Program model integrates instructional resources, formative assessment, and professional development resources. It is built on the following principles and components:
- Routine argument writing builds the foundation for argument writing through frequent informal, low-stakes, writing and reading practice. Teachers can focus on specific skills that link with goals of more formal tasks. Routine argument writing builds the foundation for argument writing through frequent informal, low-stakes, writing and reading practice. Teachers can focus on specific skills that link with goals of more formal tasks.
- Routine argument writing builds the foundation for argument writing through frequent informal, low-stakes, writing and reading practice. Teachers can focus on specific skills that link with goals of more formal tasks.
- Mini-units are short instructional sequences that focus on one or two argument writing skills. They are designed to be used together as no one mini-unit covers what students need to know. Mini-units include a sample text set.
- Extended Research Arguments support going deep into a topic. Students select a concern that matters to them, research it thoroughly, weigh the evidence carefully, and take a thoughtful stand. This project takes the place of the traditional research paper.
- Regular formative assessment in CRWP helps teachers see where their students are and formulate next instructional steps. The Using Sources Tool is of particular value, as it zeroes in on how well students use nonfiction sources in their arguments. The project recommends periodic use of this tool (3-4 times per year) to track--and appreciate--students' progress.
With the potential for renewed funding, it is hoped that this OWPC program will expand for 2018 – 2019 into other local school districts. More information about CRWP can be found on the NWP website or by contacting Karen Bezanson (Hamlin) at kbezanson@georgefox.edu.
Summer Young Writers Camps
7/7/17
Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is a great combination with Oregon Writing Project Collaborative. With two Young Writers Camp offerings this summer, Karen Zielinski and Angela Obery created a vibrant and attractive camp built on a strong partnership. The first camp session (happening now) sold out and there are only a couple spots left for OBOB Camp 2 from July 31 to August 4, 2017. If you know of a person entering grades 7-9 in the fall who loved OBOB, tell them about this camp!
Writing and Art Camp July 10-14 promises to be a week filled with inspiration from and access to some significant works of art at the Hallie Ford Art Museum at Willamette University. Participants in grades 6-8 will explore various types of art within the museum and learn ways of “seeing” art, writing description and critique, learning the role of a docent, and writing expressively in response to art. This Young Writers Camp will culminate in a hosted reception from noon to 1:00 pm on Friday, July 14 where students will share their writing and take their families and friends on free, guided tours of the museum.