Prairielands

I met with the PLWP site director and we spent time going over the mini grant proposal.  I planned to offer an advanced institute focusing on digital writing and using a blog for participants to reflect and respond to the activities during the institute and afterwards if they so desired.  It would give them a taste of how blogs could be used in a classroom setting. We submitted it about 2:00 pm. I have presented two open institutes about writing with technology each of the last two summers.  There seems to be a need for teachers to have the time to get familiar with the technologies available.  Several of them have told me how almost spiritual it was to sit down and write just to write.  For many the last time they wrote was that final masters paper or a term paper in a college class.  To write for the joy of writing and to then have time and others imput to create a final personal written project was a good experience for them.  I enjoyed being the one to give them this opportunity.  It makes me feel good to be the instructor of such institutes.

Missouri has 4 sites in its state wide network.  They are Gateway at St. Louis, Greater Kansas City, Columbia at Missouri University, Prairie Lands at St. Joseph, and a satelite site at Springfield.  The network meeting provided a half day session for site directors to plan before other participants arrived.  After about a 30 minute session where sites produced a presentation reporting on their yearly activities, someone at the site presented that product.  A dinner meeting was held with the guest speaker Ben Nelms, founder of the Missouri Writing Project. Jayne Marlink, National Writing Project State and Regional Networks Coordinator and California Writing Project Executive Director reported from the national writing project.  The following day was full of numerous breakout sessions.  The sessions were the true model of the writing project of teachers teaching teachers.  A final 15 minute session with ones site directors to set the stage for fall meetings and activities.  Aug. 23, 2006 Prairie Lands will celebrate Rural Poetry with a poetry reading for the public.  This evening will showcase the top 10 young poets from northwest Missouri along with several local published poets reading their pieces.  Next deadline is submission of the mini technology grant purposal.  After that is the Fall finish, the last official meeting for the Summer Institute fellows.  Then on to nationals where Chico friends will reunite.

Missouri Network Meeting 2006
A dead battery, a deffective waterpump was the start.
Once we arrived the directors meeting had things jump started.
The introduction and reflection of what is happening at individual sites made everyone feel

as if they had a working knowledge of the whole network. This made the retreat start with a

comfortable feeling.
Dinner meeting was a hit, with fine food and memories of the beginning of National Writing

Project.
Check in at the Stoney Creek Inn made for a rocky checkin when their computers went splat.
This morning came early, but this break out session looks to be on solid ground to start as

we were handed a paper copy of all the site addresses we will be visiting.
A true NWP meeting starts with the familiar writing prompt.