Prairielands

Prairie Lands Writing Project (PLWP)  met with their SI07 fellows on March 24th to get the SI started.  Tom opened by asking the participants to write to one of three different prompts.  Rebecca kicked off the introductions with a liaing game.  Give three facts about yourself, but one should be an untruth.  Others were to determine which was the untrue fact.  Jane then did another introduction by having participants do a poster of the significant things in our lives and families.  By the end of those two activities the group was well ready for a break and to learn more about fellow participants by chatting over snacks. Christy lead the group in constructing a pencil holder with play dough.  She went through the steps that simulated the writing process.  Most people were envious of the art teacher among us.  We then wrote a reflection about the processes and how they compared to each other.   On April 24th the group held their second meeting with an opening of writing to one of three prompts.  Tom ask teachers to write about “teachers in the trenches”  ie our classrooms.  Very large three ring binders were passed out to each member along with the text Tom, Christy, Rebecca, Terri, and Jane selected to use for this years invitational institute.  Participants were given two choices.  One text was more suited to elementary teachers, while the other had a middle school/high school slant.  The this meeting focused on the research demonstration participants would be doing.  June 15th is the next meeting and it is entirely focused on research for information about the “burning question”.  Check this site as there should soon by pictures of the March and April meetings.  http://www.missouriwestern.edu/prairielands/archives.html  I will try to post the text information at a later date.

Mary in Missouri