Generation We

Check out this great video about millenials.


Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

Book Club News

The WNYWP book club met for its first meeting at Dog Ears Bookstore on October 28th. Our group discussed Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. A lively bunch, our discussion topics ranged from fishing, drinking and the power women hold over men. The bookstore and literary arts center (www.enlightenthedog.org) is a new non-profit organization that hopes to host more WNYWP events. Our next meeting, which will be held in January, will focus on a discussion of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Please grab a copy and start reading so you can join us this winter.

Nicholas Carr on NPR

Listen to Nicholas Carr defend his position about the Internet on this thought provoking NPR podcast.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

How do you spend your reading time - Dickens or the internet? On a grey Buffalo winter day, do you settle in with a lengthy Russian novel filled with deep description, intersecting plotlines and probing political rhetoric, or do you frenetically Google your way through the day moving from hyperlink to hyperlink. According to Nicholas Carr, the author of this article you've already lost interest in this short paragraph. Is he right? Is Google changing the way we read and think? And if it is, what are the consequences?

Virtual Social Spaces and Teachers

I found this article about Facebook and teachers very interesting.
Inside this article is another one about My Space and teachers. Do virtual social spaces like Facebook and My Space put a teacher at risk and why? What are your thoughts?

Watershed Poetry Contest

From Suzanne/Jennifer:

The competition is hosted by River of Words, a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise environmental awareness. The organization trains teachers and other professionals in ways to "incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people" (http://riverofwords.org/home/introduction.html).

Every year in affiliation with the Library of Congress, the organization conducts a poetry and art contest for students from age 5 to 19.

For more information about the contest click on http://riverofwords.org/contest/index.html

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.

* * * * * * * * * * *

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.

Orwell Diaries

A few weeks back I shared a link to a blog which is posting George Orwell's diary. They are posting each entry exactly 70 years from it's original date of publication. I fell behind immediately, but tonight decided to empty my Google Reader and go back and read the 14 or so entries so far.

It's an extremely interesting site, both because of Orwell's reputation but also because of the insight into his writing process. The entries I've read so far are all between one sentence and one paragraph, and they are simply observations about his day. He is accounting the different species of snake, owl and moths he is encountering, the weather, and other natural observations. What's really cool is that the creators of the site have linked any reference to specific objects or places to their Wikipedia entry and have created a Google Map with push pins in the places he mentions.

I guess that Orwell starts to get political in his September entries, but so far it's been all snakes and weather descriptions. If you get the chance, it's rather fascinating.

Mary Jo Gill in My View

Make sure to venture over to the Buffalo News to check out WNYWP fellow Mary Jo Gill's personal essay "Rainy Days at the Beach Aren't So Bad After All."

It's a wonderful account of her recent summer trip. If you've ever stepped into the muck of Lake Erie and wondered what you were stepping in, this humorous essay will resonate.

Great Opportunity at Notre Dame

Notre Dame Club of Buffalo and Western New York to Sponsor Attendance at Excellence in Teaching Conference on the Notre Dame Campus October 17-19, 2008.

Application deadline: Monday, Sept. 15, 2008

Educators in kindergarten through senior high school from both private and public schools are invited to participate in the Excellence in Teaching Conference to be held on the Notre Dame Campus on October 17-19, 2008. The conference is designed to stimulate more charismatic and effective styles of teaching. Ideas learned in this workshop help deepen the participants’ appreciation for their vocation and contributions they make to their students.

Once again in 2008, the Notre Dame Club of Buffalo and Western New York will sponsor one teacher’s participation in the conference. Sponsorship will include payment of the registration fee and lodging plus a stipend to be used toward the cost of transportation. Selection criteria will include financial need of the school and the teacher’s willingness to serve as an ambassador to enhance the relationship between Notre Dame, his/her school and its students. A participant does not need to be a Notre Dame graduate. Teachers involved with honors/advanced placement students from Catholic high schools with a significant population of ethnic minority students are particularly encouraged to apply. To see the conference brochure go to: http://www.alumni.nd.edu/atf/cf/{5F212737-0C98-46E9-B450-01EFD9518DEB}/eit_08_brochure.pdf

To apply, please forward a completed application (attached), including an essay and letter of recommendation, to Nancy Langer at the address listed on the application. Questions may be directed to the Excellence in Teaching Committee c/o Nancy Langer at NMLanger@aol.com or (716) 984-5146.

Call For Manuscripts

Have you been part of a tour at the Albright Knox and been inspired to write a poem about a work that "spoke" to you? Would you like to try putting into words what a piece of art means to you, to describe it or how it makes you feel or what it makes you think? If you have, please submit a copy of your work to WNYWP for possible inclusion in an anthology of poems and short pieces about works at the Albright Knox. We hope to interest the gallery in such a work to be placed for sale in their shop. Send submissions or questions to Suzanne Borowicz at borowics@canisius.edu or to Julie Ricci at julricnow@roadrunner.com.

Announcing the WNYWP Book Club:

The WNYWP will be reconvening it's book club. If you're interested, we'll be holding book discussion groups three times this school year. Our first meeting will be a discussion of the classic novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. We will meet on October 28 at 6pm...place TBA. If you are interested, please email Greg to let him know and then start reading. Hope to see you then.

Greg Staniszewski staniszg@aol.com