Western New York Writing Project

Confessions of the Log Keep

July 15^th, 2008

Breakfast

This beautiful sunny day began with breakfast served in the form of Waffles and Donuts and was well received by all.

R&R

Beth began the day by reading a chapter from the book Okracoke Odyssey by Pat Garber.

Ellen shared her appreciation for the inquiring minds of scientists, but clearly enjoys the simpler things in life, such as good shoes and reruns of Seinfeld.

Brenda shared her writing piece on Buffalo in all its glory. She imprinted on our imaginations the picture that she took of Buffalo and the Peace Bridge. She spoke of this photo op as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Finally, Katrina shared her recipe for “Okracoke” and though it is an original and creative recipe, I secretly hope she keeps it off the breakfast menu.

Writing Groups

Demo Lesson 1- Come Together-Write Now

by Nicole

Nicole presented her demo lesson on determining Thematic Connections between two pieces of writing. She started by having us connect Disney Movie themes. Next, she had us use a graphic organizer designed to look like a math addition problem to help us write a Thesis Statement.

The second portion of the lesson was differentiated to meet the needs of the Social Studies, Elementary ELA, and Secondary ELA teachers (Nice touch), providing each of us with appropriate resources for our group. Each group member was assigned a role and then asked to connect themes in two writing pieces and compose a thesis statement.

Lunch-The outdoor lunch group was disappointed to find Goldie Locks sitting on Mama Bear’s bench, but managed to act as if they were not bothered.

1:05 Patty realized that she was supposed to be taking the daily log and broke into a sweat. After a good mental berating, she began reenacting the day’s events.

Demo Lesson 2 – Postcards from the Past…Postcards to the Future

By Karen

Karen provided the group with authentic postcards from days gone by. She had us fill out a graphic organizer to get us seeing through the eyes of the characters on the cards. Then she had us compose a postcard from that character. After sharing our postcards, she provided pictures of each of us and asked us to tell our story. Mine was the story of “The Woman With No Hairbrush”, but we will save that one for another time.

Socratic Seminar Tutorial

Keri read us an excerpt from Socrates Café by Christopher Phillips. After discussing what we know about Socratic Seminars she provided a brief overview and assigned us the task of developing two questions to be used the following day. She also distributed 3 popsicle sticks with no popsicles. (cruel joke)

-Patty