Web English Teacher

Check out this site for great lesson ideas, book report prompts and resources for novels: www.webenglishteacher.com

WNYWP at CVCV Conference!

The Western New York Writing Project was well represented at the City Voices, City Visions conference on digital video on Friday. Suzanne, Jon, Genevieve, and Jennifer presented to a standing room only crowd of teachers, principals, and superintendents in the board room at WNED.

Jon presented a few of the films from the Red Carpet Inquiry the past two summers. Alex Baker's Grammar Man was very well received, as was last year's film about cyberbullying. Several participants lingered to ask about using that video with their own students.

Genevieve shared a couple of films her Hamburg students created. One film, Indifference, was a statement her students made about race. She also shared her students' film on drunk driving.

Jennifer ended the program by sharing her Biology and Chemistry films, as well as explaining how these films fit into the grand scheme of her curriculum.

Overall, the crowd was intrigued, and there were several questions and lively discussion.

Kicking off Saturdays at 10!

Last Saturday's Meet the New Fellows got our year off to a rousing start. It was a wonderful reunion for the Summer Institute 2008 new fellows and staff, and everyone present enjoyed seeing the SI inquiry movies.

It was also a wonderful opportunity for everyone to meet the members of the Fellows Council and hear about the programs being planned for this year.

The next Saturdays at 10 will be on Oct 18 in Old Main 210. Mark your calendars for a Lesson Exchange!

• Bring a few copies of your favorite lesson
• Be prepared to give a brief explanation of the lesson
  
• Exchange it with someone else's favorite lesson

As always, this program is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring a friend.

FREE BOOKS~really they're Free!!

The Picnic Basket is a blog which brings together school and library professionals and publishers. They will send you free books! The Blog has a collection of books that the publishers want to be reviewed. You email the publisher with you school mailing info, they send you the book, you write a short review(a paragraph if you like).

http://www.thepicnic-basket.com/

Tom O'Malley in My View (and other interesting Buffalo News tidbits)

Tom O'Malley's essay "Take My Advice, Stay Out of the Attic" appeared in The Buffalo News this morning. It's a humorous essay about the tough decisions we all make in the effort to declutter. Here's my favorite line:

The word attic is derived from “Attica,” the name for the land of the ancient Greeks — a society that accumulated so much junk that museums had to be built all over the world to accommodate it. Thus, in the modern house the attic is the place to put things that don’t fit anywhere else.

Those few sentences rank up with the best that Dave Barry ever wrote. Good stuff. Read the rest of the essay here.

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Two other writing related stories in The News today:

• Read an inspirational story of a Canisius high school student drive to send books to Liberia.
• A pretty good profile of US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan.
  

Contemporary Writers Series at Canisius

Our very good friend and supporter, Mick Cochrane, has once again lined up an extraordinary array of writers for the Canisius College Contemporary Writers Series. This is a free program, open to the public.

The first writer, Uwem Akpan, will be reading in the Grupp Fireside Lounge in the Student Center this Thursday, Sept 18 at 7pm. The reading will be followed by a Q & A, reception and book signing.

If you'd like to know more about the author, or see the line-up for the year, click on the link below.

WNYWP at CVCV Conference!

On Friday, Sept 26, several fellows of our WP will be presenting at the City Voices, City Visions conference, "Digital Video Composing for Improving Student Achievement: Lessons from the the Buffalo CVCV Project." Come see WNYWP heart throb Jon Federick as he leads a group of potential digital video infusers through some of our projects.

“Digital Video Composing for Improving Student Achievement:
Lessons from the Buffalo CV-CV Project”

Friday, September 26, 2008

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Program

WNED Studios
150 Lower Terrace
Buffalo, New York

More information and Registration

Our Book Group

"You are all a lost generation." Thus opined Gertrude Stein of the post World War I expatriates in France. This group is the focus of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Are there connections between the soldiers returning from that war and the current soldiers returning from Iraq? Can damaged men and women truly find love? Why was Hemingway’s writing style so revolutionary? These questions and more can be answered when the WNYWP’s book group gathers for its inaugural meeting on October 28. Pick up a copy of this classic, start reading and email Greg if you are interested in joining us for deep literary discussion. Greg can be emailed at staniszg@aol.com.

Two Writing Teachers

I've been poking around the Internet the last few days searching for good writing instruction blogs. Today I found a site chronicling the teaching experiences of two writing teachers who tell the story of their teaching, share lessons and links and responses to other conversations on writing. I've just started perusing, but the site looks great. Check out Two Writing Teachers when you've got a few seconds to spare. Add it to your Google Reader if your interest is piqued.