CRWP Teacher Consultant Jeremy Hyler has created a resource on multimedia/multigenre writing for the NWP's "Digital Is" website.

Writing with cell phones and computers.

Writing about bodily functions and war.

Writing multigenre digital media projects.

This is how Fulton Middle School language arts teacher Jeremy Hyler gets 7th and 8th grade boys to enjoy reading and writing in his classroom.

According to Hyler, successfully motivating boys to write means giving them plenty of choices.

“Young adolescent boys are not given enough choices when it comes to reading and writing. I allow my boy students to write about murder, burping, farting, war, etc. I also give them different media to express their ideas, too, such as Wikispaces, Google Docs, Edmodo, Cel.ly, Glogster, Animoto, Toondoo and other 21st century tools” explains Hyler.

“If you don’t allow them to use technology, you will lose boys rather quickly. There are few adolescent boys who actually want to put a pencil in their hand and write on a piece of paper.”

Hyler describes reading as an important companion to writing, especially for boys, and allows his students ample opportunities to read and write about activities they are interested in.

To increase motivation, Hyler also focuses on his students’ writing as a whole, rather than just in terms of structure or surface errors. “I really focus on the positives in their writing to make them confident,” he says.

He also gives students plenty of opportunity to write every day using technology as way to further student engagement in more traditional literacy practices. For example, Hyler’s students use Glogster to create multimedia posters based on themes and characters from novels. They log in to Celly and Google Docs to create daily journal entries, store writing portfolios, and draft essays for peer and teacher review. Students complete multigenre research projects on topics of their choice using a wide range of technological tools. This year Hyler is adding two new technology tools to his students’ digital literacy repertoire: Animoto for digital storytelling and Edmodo for discussion posts.

But technology should not be used for its own sake, notes Hyler: “First and foremost, my students write every day in my classroom, and I write with them. I journal with my students and share with them what my mental process is as I write. They need to see how my writing process works as a model.”

For teachers who would like to learn more about using digital technology in their classrooms, Hyler suggests the National Writing Project’s web source Digital Is. The site contains collections of digital resources, created and posted by teachers, which can be adapted for classroom use, including Hyler’s own resource site on using multimedia and multigenre writing.

“As educators, we need to be open to different types of writing and be willing to call text messages, Facebook comments, tweets, blogs and comic strips writing,” says Hyler, who is currently writing his own adolescent fiction novel.

For teachers interested in learning more about how to motivate reluctant writers, Hyler suggests Ralph Fletcher’s book Boy Writer: Reclaiming Their Voices. This year, Hyler is forming a lunchtime writing club for boys, which he hopes will motivate more of his students to enjoy writing.

“Boys, in general, aren’t always comfortable sharing their writing with their classmates,” he explains.

“Bottom line—it is about giving the boys choices, and making them feel comfortable and confident in their writing.”

You can follow Jeremy’s blog, Jeremy Hyler 40, and his tweets @Jeremybballer

This article was authored by Karen Horwath.

Taking writers’ walks on shaded nature trails. Writing digital stories. Sharing writing pieces out loud. Learning how to revise without fear. Giggling with new friends. Proclaiming “I am a writer. We are all writers!” This is how six middle school girls, one high school helper, and two teachers spent their last week of June, 2011.

Founded by Central Montcalm Middle School teacher Shannon Powell and her colleague Kresta Train, an English major at Ferris State University, this new writer’s camp for middle school students was held at Montcalm Community College as part of their summer day camp series. Powell, 2009 participant in the Chippewa River Writing Project, was invited to attend the “Powerful Voices for Kids Program” held by Temple University Media Education Lab in Philadelphia in 2010 based on her writing project experience. Upon returning from the conference, Powell approached MCC with her idea to hold a summer writing camp for local young writers.

“I came out of the Powerful Voices program starry-eyed and thought, oh, I want to run a camp like that!” Powell explains. “The kids were so energized and having fun learning so much about writing.”

Powell knew she had some students in her ELA classes at Central Montcalm Middle School who were hungry for more writing experiences than she could provide in a classroom situation, so she designed her camp’s format after the Chippewa River Writing Project’s summer institute.

“I hoped they would feel like I did after I first attended the Writing Project,” Powell explains. “I wanted them to feel that writing was fun—that you could do it on your own, share it with others, and not be embarrassed. Even though our camp was only a week, we definitely got the Writing Project feel—we got such a cohesive group. We were sharing our writing all the time.”

Powell structured her daily camp activities using the National Writing Project Summer Institute format. Young writers began with a “writing into the day” project, which tied into teacher-led demonstrations in a computer lab. Writers then had a chance to work on the day’s writing idea, along with an on-going digital story project. Students took daily writers’ walks along the college’s nature trails and spent time writing in an adjacent historical village. The day ended with students sharing their writing, then having fun swimming in the college’s pool facilities.

CRWP Teacher Consultant Shannon Powell, co-founder of the Montcalm Community College Middle School Writing Camp, held in June, 2011.

The last day of camp featured a writing showcase, where students shared and performed their writing for invited friends and family. “Every friend who came to the showcase wants to come back for next year’s camp,” Powell notes. “I think the [Chippewa River] Writing Project completely influenced the whole structure of the camp—even to the point where we walked away with an anthology at the end, so that what we wrote could live on even after the camp ended.”

According to Powell, students who attended the camp came away with a sense of how powerful their own writing voices could be. “Girls who already wrote for fun developed new voices and fresh perspectives,” she explains. “And for one girl who was a reluctant writer, the camp gave her an engagement in writing and a belief in herself.”

In conjunction with MCC and the CRWP, Powell plans to offer the summer writer’s camp next year as well. “We have so many ideas for how to expand and grow the program,” Powell says. “We even want to design different writing camps for other people to implement.”

Along with her work in the summer, Powell is currently developing a professional development program for K-5 narrative writing and has presented sessions for the Clare-Gladwin RESD. For more information, contact Shannon Powell at spowell@central-montcalm.org.

SI teacher participant Jonathan Case puts the finishing touches on a portfolio piece.

While the 2011 Summer Institute may be drawing to a close, for Chippewa River Writing Project participants, the writer’s journey is far from over.  To many of these writers, E-Anthology is a tool that will help carry their experiences at the SI forward into the months to come.

Developed in 1997 by a group of teachers through the Dakota Writing Project, E-Anthology was adopted into the National Writing Project site in 2003.  Today, it offers more than 2,500 participants from over 100 local writing projects continual opportunities for growth and collegiality.    The purpose of E-Anthology is multifold.  Various forums allow writing project participants to share “day in the life” snapshots of their summer institute experiences with colleagues across the nation, as well as participate in pedagogical discussions concerning both teaching and writing.  For many of the CRWP participants, however, one of E-Anthology’s most attractive features is a forum that allows members to share and respond to personal pieces of writing they wish to develop further.

“I more accurately define myself as an Internet ‘consumer’ than ‘producer’,” confesses CRWP co-director Liz Brockman, “but posting on the E-Anthology makes me a producer–at least this once!”

This experience was shared by CRWP teacher participant Jennifer McDougall, who used E-Anthology to help polish her final portfolio project for the SI.  Receiving feedback from other NWP members on a personal narrative she had posted allowed McDougall to view her writing in ways she had not previously imagined.

“I was a little hesitant at first,” McDougall admits.  “I started reading and responding to pieces I saw posted from colleagues I was familiar with.  Once I got more comfortable, I picked a piece and just put it up there.  I asked for suggestions to improve it, and I really got some good feedback from someone I didn’t know in Pennsylvania.”

SI teacher participant Jennifer McDougall enjoyed exploring E-Anthology as a tool for developing her professional writing.

McDougall’s experience highlights what, perhaps, E-Anthology does best: it offers participants new avenues for growth both personally and professionally.

“It makes this community we share a lot larger,” McDougall observes.  “I love what we’ve been doing here at the Summer Institute, and this made the picture even bigger and more meaningful.  These are the kinds of sites that keep up going.”

For more information on the E-Anthology, or to learn how your site can participate, check out the National Writing Project’s website.

SI Participant Sheri Kuchek settles down to write at Mt. Pleasant's Nelson Park.

They gather in coffee shops, at libraries, at bookstores, and ice cream shops.  Sometimes you may find them huddled together at a picnic table in the park, pencils and pens scribbling feverishly across open notepads.  Other times, they may be settled at a corner booth of a local restaurant, quietly taking in the scenery of a hectic lunchtime rush.  Ask them what they’re doing, and they’ll all lend the same answer: “We are writers.”

Wednesday, June 29^th marked the third annual Writing Marathon for the Chippewa River Writing Project, headed once again by CRWP leadership team member Penny Lew.  For a full afternoon, Summer Institute participants gathered with friends and family to share their love of writing.  As participants divided into groups, each set forth with the task of exploring their world with the eyes of the writer, naturally drawing inspiration from the settings that surround them.  The journey took them beyond the campus of Central Michigan University, to shops, stores, parks, and restaurants all across Mt. Pleasant.

“It was fantastic,” Summer Institute participant Jonathan Case remarks.  “Having the opportunity to just sit and observe is something I normally don’t have the chance to do.”

Fellow SI participant Judy McAlvey echoes Case’s sentiment.  “The Writing Marathon awakened the writer in me,” she explains.  “In the area of observation, writers need to describe in detail.  Even by just listening to sounds, it helped me focus more on the things around me.”

SI Participants Rebecca Conway (left) and Angie Vandewarker enjoy the celebratory read-around.

Asked about her favorite Marathon experience, SI participant Angie Vandewarker recalls a quiet hour spent with a group of friends amid the sights and smells of a French-style bakery.  “The Marathon was wonderful—very informative,” she observes.  “A meaningful experience, and it went by so fast!”

As the Marathon drew to a close, participants reconvened on campus for a celebratory read-around with friends and colleagues.  Together, the lines shared served as a patchwork picture of the many different people and places making up the Writing Marathon.

For more information on the Writing Marathon and our Summer Institute, please see our wiki at http://www.chippewariverwp.wikispaces.com.

Summer Institute participants Judy McAlvey (center) and Penny Lew workshop a piece of writing with a CRWC writer.

At a glance, it may seem like just another classroom at Central Michigan University.

A writer stands before an audience of half a dozen people, calmly walking her audience through a software that allows her to upload one of her poems onto her personal wiki.  She smiles as she presses a button, and a digitally created avatar reads off the lines of her writing in a sing-song voice.  The audience cannot help but smile, too.

What makes this classroom unique is that the writer explaining this software is ten years old.

This experience was one of many the young participants of the 2011 Chippewa River Writing Camp have carried away with them at the close of their time together.  For four days, twelve students, aged third to fifth grade, have met daily to laugh, play, and explore with one another just what it means to be a writer in a digital age.

Highlights of the camp included a campus-wide Writing Marathon that brought students from the football field, to a greenhouse, and even a live recording studio.  As they drew inspiration from a variety of settings, students were prompted to support each other through peer feedback and collaboration in a model of “kids teaching kids.”

“There was never a time when they weren’t teaching something,” notes elementary-school teacher and CRWP team member Delia King.  “They were always collaborating.”

Joined by fellow CRWP teacher team members Elizabeth Miller and Bridget Rise, King helped guide the young writers through a variety of digital writing tools, including Vokis, Kids’ Blogs, Glogster, Wordle, and wikis.

Summer Institute participant Marcia Larkins collaborates with a CRWC writer.

“Technology was a big part of the camp,” explains Miller. “It’s part of the writing process and opens it up to a wider audience of writers.”

The writers’ ability to immerse themselves in these new tools often surprised even their mentors.  “They adapted and caught on to the technology a lot quicker than we often do as adults,” notes King with a smile.

The event ended on Thursday, June 23^rd with a celebratory reading from the students’ Writing Anthologies, but even as the camp drew to a close, not one of its participants was about to take a break from writing.

“I really, really like wikis and Wordles,” shared one writer, “and I’m going to do them all summer.”

Penny Lew (right) consults over a podcasting project with Liz Brockman.

Monday, June 2oth marked the kick-off of the Chippewa River Writing Project’s third annual Summer Institute on the Mt. Pleasant campus of Central Michigan University.  For the team of nine teacher participants, the opening week has been just the beginning of an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.  Under the mentorship of leadership team members Liz Brockman, Sue Steffel, Penny Lew, and Kathy Kurtze, participants have had the opportunity to take part in intensive workshopping, lesson development, and collaborative writing.  For writers like Sheri Kuchek, the Summer Institute has been a time for both reaffirmation and renewal.

“I love writing and the opportunity to interact with my peers beyond the classroom,” notes Kuchek, who is currently taking graduate courses through CMU’s English program.  “It’s great for my self-esteem to be able to get positive feedback from my peers.  It reaffirms my talents.”

Alongside collaboration, technology continues to be a key component in the Summer Institute’s overall vision. Throughout their time together, participants gain experience with a variety of digital tools they can take back to their classrooms, including wikis, audio podcasting, video streaming, and Google Docs.

Sue Steffel (left) and Rebecca Conway collaborate over a writing project.

“Technology is a challenge, but it’s a valuable one,” notes Kuchek, in considering what it means to be a writer in the 21^st century.  “It’s a struggle that opens up so many new avenues we can use with our peers and our students.”

The greatest value for participants, however, is the opportunity for growth—as both instructors and as individuals cultivating a lifelong love of writing.  Alma elementary school teacher Kristen Case sums up the SI experience best when she notes, “Being immersed in the tech has helped me to learn an amazing amount of new tools that I will use in the classroom, and in my own life as well.”

The Summer Institute will culminate in a celebratory luncheon on July 7th, when participants will share selections from their electronic Writer’s Portfolios and join one another in a screening of their digital storytelling projects.  For more information on the SI 2011, check out our wiki at chippewariverwp.wikispaces.com.

Photo provided by The Chronicle of Higher Education

While the debate continues about the funding for the National Writing Project, teacher leaders from the Chippewa River Writing project have made their support of the national network known in a variety of ways, from face-to-face meetings in Washington D.C. to interviews with national media, and participation in a grassroots blogging effort.

2011 NWP Spring Meeting

As a small part of a much larger contingent of teacher leaders from other National Writing Project sites in Michigan, four Chippewa River Writing Project leaders participated in the 2011 NWP Spring Meeting this past month in Washington D.C. Erin Busch-Grabmeyer, Kathy Kurtze, Sara Beauchamp-Hicks, and Troy Hicks journeyed to the nation’s capital to join hundreds of other NWP leaders in their annual congressional visits.

During the course of their visits, these leaders were able to meet with legislative aides from the offices of Representatives Dave Camp, Bill Huizenga, and Dan Benishek as well as Senators Levin and Stabenow. They shared stories of success from their own classrooms that were a direct result of participation in CRWP and NWP professional development and established relationships with these aides for future discussions about the substantive effects of the federal investment in NWP on their teaching practice and student success.

National Media Attention

Published on April 24, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education featured the Chippewa River Writing Project as a focal site in an article about the continuing NWP funding situation:”National Writing Project Is Innocent Victim in War on Earmarks, Educators Say.”

The loss of federal funds for a national project that seeks to improve how writing is taught could damage the quality of students’ writing on college cam­puses and in elementary and secondary schools, say faculty members who are now urging lawmakers to reconsider. And the cut, which Congress and President Obama made last month as part of their war on earmarks, comes amid growing concerns about the state of students’ writing.

CRWP Director, Troy Hicks, and one of our K-12 Co-Directors, Kathy Kurtze, were both interviewed for the piece. Subscribers to the Chronicle can access this premium content.

To find out the latest on the NWP Funding situation, please visit the NWP Works! Ning and view this video from April 30, 2011, where NWP’s Executive Director, Sharon Washington, is interviewed on C-Span.

Finding Our Voice: The #blog4nwp Initiative

Additionally, CRWP teachers have been contributing to the blogging effort: “#blog4nwp” (with archives available at the Cooperative Catalyst blog).

Our #blog4nwp campaign began as a mid-March weekend push to restore federal funding to the National Writing Project (NWP). At the beginning of March – as part of a continuing resolution to fund the government during its budget impasse – Congress and President Obama cut funding to the NWP and several other educational programs considered to be “earmarks” – programs that receive their funding directly from Congressional legislation, rather than from a departmental budget.

CRWP teachers who have blogged include:

• Sara Beauchamp-Hicks: “Advocating for the NWP: A Mother’s Perspective“
• Troy Hicks: “On Scholarship, Significance, and the NWP“
• Jeremy Hyler: “NWP – I Am a Writer“
• Delia King: “Planting the Seeds of Writing“
• Kathy Kurtze: “Fire and Ice”
• Penny Lew: “The NWP and Me (or How to Revitalize a Teacher)“

Troy Hicks was also featured as a guest on the weekly webcast, “Teachers Teaching Teachers,” on March 30, 2011, in their episode: “Why we love the National Writing Project and why Federal funding is important.”

Future CRWP Plans

While the situation for federal funding for the National Writing Project is still very much up in the air, CRWP leaders have decided to use our limited NWP funds for this year to sponsor our summer institute and plan for continued professional development in the 2011-12 school year.

We continue to look forward despite the uncertain future that we face, and we appreciate the support of CMU administrators and K-16 educators and colleagues in our region.

Focused on the broad theme of “Teaching Writing for Middle School and High School Students,” the Chippewa River Writing Project’s latest professional development partnership with the Clare-Gladwin RESD continues through the spring of 2011. Over the course of six sessions starting last fall and continuing through May, nearly 20 participants have engaged in conversations and activities about the teaching of writing in an era of the Common Core State Standards.

CRWP Professional Development Coordinator Rita Maddox has headed the CGRESD seminars since their beginning in October 2010.

Facilitated by CRWP’s Professional Development Coordinator, Rita Maddox, the series has been an exciting opportunity for K-12 teachers across nine local districts to explore their identities as teachers and writers.  Focusing on key texts such as Penny Kittle’s Write Beside Them and CRWP’s Troy Hicks’ The Digital Writing Workshop, sessions have been directed on a variety of topics ranging from assessment, conferencing, and genre study, to digital writing tools such as blogs, podcasts, and wikis. Since its opening session in October 2010, participants have met on a monthly basis to collaborate through discussion, mini-lessons, and workshopping.

“This has really been a unique experience,” notes Maddox. “Even though we’re all teachers, some of us have never had the chance to teach in front of peers before.”

The fact that participants are able to meet and share with fellow teachers from across the district has also contributed to the unique, collaborative feel of sessions. “It’s a nice way to give a regional feel to things,” explains Maddox.

From their inception, the CGRESD sessions have truly been shaped with a collaborative approach in mind, drawing in fifteen guest speakers from across the state to lead discussion on various topics throughout the seminar. Spotlighting key issues has allowed each meeting to take on a unique flavor and approach. The next session, “Grammar Rocks!” headed by CRWP’s Erin Busch-Grabmeyer, will focus on mechanics and peer editing.

“What we teach is changing,” explains Maddox, as she notes the philosophy behind the seminar, “not so much in content as in the depth of knowledge students are expected to achieve and in expectations for critical thinking by students. Standards will have to be unwrapped for educators and then critically examined in order to begin to understand what it will take to achieve proficiency for ALL students. With new instructional practices needed, and more technology requirements in the classroom comes a need for continuing, embedded, meaningful, professional learning for educators.”

For more information on CRWP’s professional development services, please visit our PD page.

Debbi Meister, celebrating her achievement with friends and colleagues during the CRWP holiday event.

This past holiday season brought even more to celebrate this year for Chippewa River Writing Project team member Debbi Meister.

Meister, a teacher at Fellowship Baptist Academy in Carson City and alum of the CRWP 2009 Summer Institute, recently completed her master’s degree program at Central Michigan University.  CRWP team members joined Meister in the celebration during their annual holiday party on December 14th.

For Meister, the conclusion of her master’s work is both exhilarating and edifying.  “It’s a great sense of relief, and a great sense of accomplishment as well,” she confesses with a smile.

However, while the holidays offered her a little time to relax, Meister isn’t about to take a break.  She is currently planning how to integrate her experiences as a graduate student into her own secondary-level classroom.  “I really appreciate that I was able to construct a program that I could use in my teaching because I really wanted practical classes that I could use in high school,” Meister observes.  “I was able to get a really wide variety of classes at Central.  I got a combination of composition, reading, and literature.”

Meister’s culminating paper reflects this integration of ideas.  Under the supervision of literature professor Kristen McDermott, she explored the representation of social attitudes in Jane Austen’s novels as reflected in character response to landscape design.

Motivated by her daughter’s experience with the Red Cedar Writing Project’s Summer Institute, Meister felt certain that the CRWP Summer Institute would offer her a valuable support system as she pursued her graduate work.  This ultimately led to her decision to join CRWP’s Summer Institute in 2009.

“The SI was great for me in terms of encouragement and motivation,” notes Meister.  “Both in light of my role as a writer and in helping me complete my master’s.”

Since her participation in the 2009 summer institute, Meister has stayed actively involved in CRWP work including her trip to the NWP Annual Meeting in Orlando last fall and her continuing participation in continuity and professional development events such as “Be a Teacher and a Published Writer” and the Clare-Gladwin workshops.

All of us at CRWP congratulate Debbi on her dedication and hard work!

Partnering with CMU’s Center for Excellence in Education, the Chippewa River Writing Project has kicked off an exciting new year in professional development with the K-12 Statewide Writing Conference.  Four members of the CRWP leadership team led the event, which took place Monday, January 17th, alongside the direction of CEIE facilitator Andrea Abke.

Erin Busch-Grabmeyer directs "Collaborative Writing with Wikis and Google Docs"

Liz Brockman, Penny Lew, Beth Nelson, and Erin Busch-Grabmeyer combined past experience and expertise to offer conference participants a wide range of opportunities for using technology in the classroom.  Teacher participants representing schools across the state experimented with digital storytelling in Brockman, Lew, and Nelson’s session, “Personal Stories, Poetry, and PSAs: Crafting Digital Videos,” while Busch-Grabmeyer offered insight on forging cooperative writing opportunities through Google docs and wikis in the session “Collaborative Writing with Wikis and Google Docs.”

The conference not only served as an introductory course to new technologies but explored the possibilities in using digital media to build bridges both inside the classroom and between schools.  Lew notes the potential in offering students a digital-ready learning environment.  “Technology is vital to classrooms today,” she observes.  ”Not only does it keep our kids engaged while we teach them our subject-matter material, but technology is also an important end itself.  We have a responsibility to our kids to do all we can to ready them for the world we live in.”

Participants share ideas to develop classroom wikis

Teachers participating in the event echo Lew’s enthusiasm.  “It rocked,” notes one participant, reflecting upon the conference experience.  ”It’s exactly where we need to start heading.”

This conference conference highlights the ways in which CRWP teacher consultants are mentored into professional leadership, as well as a particular strength of the Chippewa River Writing Project’s work — a technologically-rich and pedagogically-sound approach to teaching writing with technology.

For more information on CRWP’s professional development opportunities, please visit the PD page of this website.