Danielle's Teacher Mission Statement

I am a teacher who believes that everyone has a voice and a purpose. I believe everyone can learn and is an individual.  I value choice, freedom, and connection.  I strive to create an environment where everyone feels heard, valued, honored and respected.  I will create change by using writing to learn strategies with my students, colleagues, administrators, and other teachers to hold space, motivate, encourage, empower and guide them to be the best THEM they can be!

Final Research Reflections - Jen Liddy

I came to SI wanting to revamp my college-level writing course so that my writers could continue to improve without continuing to burn myself out. However, once I began Summer Institute, more questions quickly arose: “How can I encourage my students to write more without needing my approval and feedback on every piece? How can I empower them to own their work and care whether they’ve been heard?” From there, many more questions were generated. I read numerous texts to help me answer these, but what truly inspired me and really shaped my research was what I saw happening in real time during Summer Institute.

In Summer Institute, there is authentic and high-level learning going on everyday in a fairly unstructured environment. Teachers are treated as professionals, a novelty for most of us, and we are provided tools and encouragement to reach our goals. In this environment, I am thriving as a writer and a thinker. I am challenged, but not overtly or coarsely. No one tells me what to do, but I am inspired by what I see others doing. From day one, I wondered how to replicate this model in my classroom.

Ultimately, NWP’s Summer Institute is student-centered, and this is why it works. I have always said my classroom is student centered and that I am merely a facilitator, but I realize now that I have a long way to go before making that claim as truth. As I undertook the task of revising my first unit in English 098, a non-credit Fundamentals of Writing class, I had to revise and revise and revise my approach to teaching. I rewrote a unit plan on teaching the narrative essay by using the modeling, interactions, demos, and prompts I had experienced in SI.  However, I found it difficult to do because, since I’ve been teaching for so long, I have some teaching habits that needed to be explored and expunged. During this unit revision, I was mentally exhausted at the end of each day because I fundamentally re-wiring my brain to approach teaching (and specifically the teaching of writing) in a truly student-centered manner.

At the end of these three weeks, I have been exposed to excellent resources in the form of published authors, but it was my personal interactions with the directors, assistant directors, and participants that most effectively, vehemently, and powerfully affected the changes I now see in my revised curriculum. I would like to thank the NWP for this valuable professional development opportunity, as well as those with whom I worked closely, these women who taught, modeled, and provided feedback for me in an inspiring, supportive manner.

In honor of Friday love letter writing, this is my love letter to NWP. I think my students will thank you too.

Sincerely,

Jen Liddy

Adjunct Instructor, Cayuga Community College

Jen Liddy's Mission Statement

My Mission Statement, My Purpose:

I believe that teachers are professionals who can effectively solve problems if they are not oppressed and depressed by the overwhelming demands of educational tasks that do not propel student engagement and learning.

I am a teacher who values others’ perspectives; I focus on considering someone else’s experience and needs. I strive for student engagement, accountability, learning and growth.

I will create change by...

       forging communicative, supportive relationships with people, whether they are above or below me in the established hierarchies. I listen, ask questions, share my understanding & experiences, and ask more questions to further develop and support these relationships.

 
              empowering my students to explore their identities and stop making assumptions about  the identities of others. I will inspire them to ask questions and understand how their choices & behavior affect their outcomes.

Mission Statement

I am a teacher who believes in the the power of teacher inquiry as a major motivator for school reform. We live in a dynamic nation with many races, cultures, religions, and socio-economic situations.  To claim that there is one way to address these differences is to be color-blind to culture of teaching.  If we, as an institution, ignore the problems, they will go away.  But they won’t.  It is just hiding the problems. I am the co-owner of my classroom with my students. We exist in a building with other classrooms in which we have formed relationships with and work together to solve common problems.  We respect each other and share and learn from each other.  I value authentic learning.  I value writing for knowledge and reflection, both about myself and for my students.  Through using this process in multi-modalities, we will begin to create a community of learners and thinkers who stop to ask the question now what? I will create change in my classroom. I will be a facilitator of learning. I strive to address the needs of my students and their parents while keeping myself healthy and happy, for my well-being is tied into my classroom’s well being.  

Marianne's Teacher Mission Statement

I am a teacher who believes I can teach every student anything, including math.

I value learning by asking questions, writing, talking, and analyzing.

I strive for healthy, happy, positive interactions (for myself and others).

I will create change by engaging the people around me in deep thought through writing and discussion.

Thank you.

My Teacher Mission

I am a highly skilled, thoughtful and passionate professional who has been given the opportunity to change the lives of my students, but I only have 180 days to do that in. Every moment of those 7,200 is critical. I vow to make every one of those minutes count. I refuse to have that time wasted by anything that is not in the best interest of the students that I have the honor to teach. They deserve my attention, and my presence; for that there is no acceptable substitute!

Bird Cramer and Elinor Boisvert Demo- "Who Are You?"

Who AreYou?  

Bird Cramer, Teacher Consultant                                                       Elinor Boisvert, Teacher Consultant                                            

4th-8th Grade Teacher,  Peachtown Elementary School                Support Teacher, Dewitt Middle School

anne.cramer@7vwp.com                                                                      elinor.boisvert@7vwp.com

The Big Idea

Adolescents construct their identities through relationships with their peers, the school environment, and their teachers. It is important to build a classroom community as soon as possible.  A way to understand how these identities form is to construct identity posters to create a museum in the classroom.  These identity posters can be used  to form relationships and thread together common interests to start to create community. It will also give the teacher a window into others’ perceptions of self, giving each other a breath of others’ interests.

Method

Step One: Two minute free write; answer the question “Who Are You?”

Step Two: Look at your writing and share one thing with the group

Step Three:  Five minutes:  Go back and review what you wrote.  Pick your hotspots, expand on these, and give examples.

Step Four: Getting into groups of three, share what you wrote with each other. As you listen to the people in your group, jot down your impressions.

Step Five: Using magazines, papers, and markers, make identity collages based on what you wrote: a visual representation of yourself.  You can pick from your hot spots or you may revisit your writing

Step Six:  When you are done, hang up your collage.

Step Seven: Using post-it notes, we will conduct a gallery walk for ten minutes. Comment on as many posters as you can.

Step Eight: Chose one or all of these writing prompts- For three to five minutes, write about:

1. How would you use this in your classroom?
2. Dump your brain (how are you feeling)
3. What are your thoughts about the process?

Step Nine: Choose one idea to share with the whole group

The Wrap

Creating a classroom community is a long process.  Through their “Who Are You?” collages, students instantly see themselves in their classroom and can begin to collaborate with peers and teachers. In this teaching demonstration we used the write-talk-write model to think through ideas and collaborate. The writing we did was not graded, but was used as a means to engage in thinking and discussion. By working together we were able to create a useful “product” specifically tailored to our own individual needs. This model works here, and it works in classrooms!

Thank you for your time and willingness to write, share, think, speak, and listen. If you have any questions about this teaching demonstration, the Seven Valleys Writing Project, or just want to talk about teaching, please contact us by email. anne.cramer@7vwp.com or elinor.boisvert@7vwp.com

July 22-26, 2013: Demo Week

Our 2013 class of Teacher Consultants are on fire! Please join us next week to participate in their teaching demos. Our workshop schedule is listed below. Bring yourself, a friend, and something to write with. You will be so excited that you did!

2013 Summer Institute Demo List

Monday, July 22: 1:00 PM

Hot Spot Poetry: Taking on other voices to gain new perspectives

Marissa Mims and Kelley Weaver, Teacher Consultants

Marissa.Mims@7vwp.com, Kelley.Weaver@7vwp.com

The Big Idea

People sometimes get locked into their own perspectives and fail to give enough value to those of others. In this workshop we will use deep reading and poetry to connect with current events. We will explore strategies that can help students define their own voices and gain a deeper understanding of other perspectives.

Tuesday, July 23: 1:00 PM

Who Am I?

Bird Cramer, Teacher Consultant, anne.cramer@7vwp.com

Elinor Boisvert, Teacher Consultant, elinor.boisvert@7vwp.com

The Big Idea

Adolescents construct their identities through relationships with their peers, the school environment, and their teachers. It is important to build a classroom community as soon as possible.  A way to understand how these identities form is to construct identity posters to create a museum in their classroom.  These identity posters can be used  to form relationships and thread together common interests to start to create community. It will also give the teacher a window into others’ perceptions of self, giving each other a breath of others’ interests.

Wednesday, July 24: 1:00 PM

Introducing New Breakthroughs

Kathryn Cernera, Teacher Consultant, kathryn.cernera@7vwp.com

The Big Idea: Breakthroughs come from a lot of places, but in all breakthroughs there is some element of change in response to dissatisfaction. Breakthroughs are often necessary in moving forward, but talking about the precipitation of a breakthrough is very personal. In this workshop we will examine the impetus for professional breakthroughs, and explore how to write about those experiences in a way that is positive and relevant to an audience.

Thursday, July 25: 10:00 AM- 4:00 PM

10:00: The Future is Ours To See:  Education Reform Exploration

Danielle Sullivan, Teacher Consultant: Danielle.Sullivan@7VWP.com

The Big Idea

There are so many ideas floating around regarding “education reform.”  Everyone seems to have an opinion or idea on what should and should not happen in schools.  In this demo, we will examine different perspectives on education reform, using close reading and writing strategies.  We will use videos, cartoons, Facebook groups and articles as “text” to form a framework of understanding, and then synthesize these views into possible solutions of how we can affect positive change in our own classrooms and schools.  

1:00 PM Say What?!

Haley VanCox, Teacher Consultant

haley.vancox@7vwp.com

The Big Idea:

People love to be heard, but often feel as though they’re talking to a wall.  In this demo, we’ll explore the ways we communicate together, specifically how we listen.  We’ll explore the blocks that get in the way of being the type of listener we want to be, and learn different active listening techniques to ensure speakers feel understood.

2:30 PM Math-Writing Connection

Marianne Desario, Teacher Consultant, marianne.desario@7VWP.com

Jen Liddy, Teacher Consultant, jen.liddy@7VWP.com

The Big Idea

How many students come into our classrooms with the belief that “I’m not good at writing” or “I’m left-brained”? We want to help teachers begin to reverse the mentality that there is a divide between the math and writing processes.  By building confidence & breaking down walls between these two subjects, we will explore the ways that teachers can help all kinds of thinkers succeed in classes where they feel generally unsuccessful.  

And as always, there is Open Mic on Friday!