Remind your students that other students all over the nation are focusing on writing as well. Take five to ten minutes to promote writing in your classroom and consider asking students to share their writing.

The “quick tips” for writing below have been provided by Southern Colorado Writing Project Teacher-Consultants:

• Begin the class by writing in a journal or notebook with prompts as varied as a reflection, prediction, or response to a famous quote, line from literature, tag line, or slogan.

• Encourage private, shared, or Sacred Writing based on a prompt that springs forward from a simple word, key word, or phrase, from a current reading assignment or a concept being covered in class.

• Conduct a write-around where each student contributes one sentence that furthers the idea, theme, mood, plot, story, or concept of the prompt.

• Use a famous piece of art as a prompt. For younger students you can discuss out loud what the class thinks about the piece of art. You can ask them questions like: “What do you think might be going on?” “What do you think is the story behind this piece of art?” “Do you think this is really ‘art’?” Etc. Then let the students study the piece on their own and write a reaction or response to the visual prompt.

• Construct a reading log.

• Combine a short reading with a quick writing prompt by using a strategy like Morning or Afternoon Pages.

• Use a journal entry in math or science to document problem-solving as a written response to an equation, word problem, hypothesis, or experiment.

• Lead the students into the writing prompt concerning literature by giving them a starter sentence such as: “In the above quotation, Nathaniel Hawthorne is saying…”

• Encourage multi-genre writing based on a concept or prompt. Some genres are as follows: birth certificate, obituary, help wanted ad, WANTED poster, police blotter, memoir, greeting card, family recipe, advertisement, song, poem, rap, etc.

• Adopt and write to a pen pal.

• Introduce quick feedback strategies like Stars and Wishes.

• Write a letter to your former or future self.

National Writing Project News:
Writing project sites across the nation are gearing up for the National Day on Writing, October 20. Teachers have planned writing marathons, family writing nights, author readings, student readings, and more.
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2960

Learn how to start a local gallery as part of the National Gallery of Writing:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2922

Check out sites’ local galleries:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2950

Title: Making Learning Relevant: Place-Based Writing Across Disciplines and Grade Levels
Location: Mountain Park Environmental Center in Beulah, Colorado
Description: The Mountain Park Environmental Center is conducting a conference entitled, “Facilitating the Nature/Child Reunion.” Three SCWP educators—one elementary, one secondary, and one post-secondary—who have developed strategies for helping students to better understand, connect with, and succeed at writing through a connection with place will present at the conference. This panel will be relevant for those interested in thinking about ways to engage and motivate students of all ages through authentic and real-world writing and learning experiences. Presenters will provide strategies for working with students formally and informally and integrating place-based writing opportunities into the learning process in manageable, efficient, and effective ways. Come support your SCWP colleagues and enjoy this local conference!
Date: 2009-09-19

Title: Entre Lenguas: Bilingual Literature and Literature in Translation
Description: This year’s Big Read / All Pueblo Reads selections, one a text that fluctuates between English and Spanish and the other an English translation from Spanish, raise an important question: What are the challenges and opportunities for readers and writers when a text exists between languages? This discussion will include perspectives from three panelists: a professor of Spanish language, literature and literature in translation; a writer who uses Spanglish in her work; and a student who discovered worlds beyond her own during a course in literature in translation. The panelists will reflect on personal experiences while discussing theories of translation, the role of language in writing, and reader response to bilingual and translated texts.

Title: A Celebration of Writing: Local Anthology Launch and National Events
Description: Come and celebrate the launch of the 2009 Collection of Summer Institute Writings: Write On! We will hear from authors published in the collection, celebrate this new site publication, catch up with one another, and discuss plans for the 2009 National Day on Writing on October 20!
Start Time: 17:15
Date: 2009-10-17
End Time: 19:00

Title: Community Writing Marathon
Description: Come and enjoy a celebration of writing and our community. Writers will be given a list of participating businesses and suggestions for outdoor writing spots. Much of the afternoon will be spent exploring these locations, writing about them and the overall experience, and sharing writing with others. At the end of the day, we gather together and share our writing in a read-around. To encourage, promote, and engage writers is our goal! The event is free but requires a reservation. Email or call the Southern Colorado Writing Project office for more information or to make a reservation: scwponline@gmail.com or 719-549-2595. This marathon is for writers 18 and older.
Start Time: 13:30
Date: 2009-10-17
End Time: 17:00

Title: Youth Writing Workshop – “Write That Down!”
Location: Rawlings Library
Description: Has anyone ever told you to write down something because it would make a great story someday? This is one technique that writers use to create fictional and non-fictional stories like the ones in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. Come to this workshop and experiment with capturing and creating stories that you can share with family and friends! The event is free but requires a reservation. Email or call the Southern Colorado Writing Project office for more information or to make a reservation: scwponline@gmail.com or 719-549-2595.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-10-24
End Time: 12:00

Title: Adult Writing Workshop – Comida y Cuentos: Food and Stories
Location: Rawlings Library
Description: The smell of coffee brewing in the morning. The memory of peeling roasted green chile in your kitchen surrounded by your sisters’ laughter. Calling your tía for your grandma’s bread recipe. Whatever our relationship is to food, we all have one. In this workshop we will concentrate on the genre of creative non-fiction to explore how food (production, saving, preparation, and consumption) can be a rich field for cosechando (harvesting) stories from our experience. We will frame our discussion and workshop in brief excerpts by Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Barbara Kingsolver, and Sandra Cisneros. Please join us for an evening of writing and good food memories! This event is free but requires a reservation. Email or call the Southern Colorado Writing Project office for more information or to make a reservation: scwponline@gmail.com or 719-549-2595.
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2009-11-09
End Time: 20:00

Title: Writing Workshop: Finding the Storyteller
Location: Rawlings Library
Description: Selecting the right subject matter can be one of the most challenging steps in writing a poem, story, or nonfiction piece. In this workshop, we will write, share, and collaborate on how to not only pick the right subject matter, but we will also discuss how to find the right point-of-view, tone, and form that matches the storyteller we want to be while looking at examples like Sandra Cisneros and other inspirational writers. The event is free but requires a reservation. Email or call the Southern Colorado Writing Project office for more information or to make a reservation: scwponline@gmail.com or 719-549-2595.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-10-24
End Time: 12:00

Attached you’ll find the forms: registration, consent, and scholarship, to download for the Be Creative Youth Writing Workshop. If you have any questions, please feel free to email SCWP at SCWPonline@gmail.com. You are welcome to mail the forms back to SCWP or drop them off at the Rawlings Pueblo Public Library.

Youth Workshop Poster

Youth Workshop Registration Form

Youth Workshop Scholarship

Youth Workshop Press Release

Youth Workshop Consent Form

Due to the weather, there is a slight change regarding tomorrow’s plan. The SCWP Pre-Institute meeting will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at CSU-Pueblo in Life Sciences 116. You will all be receiving a phone call regarding this change as well.

If the weather conditions continue to deteriorate overnight, an email message will be sent by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning informing about next steps. Hence, be sure to check your email before you leave for our meeting and/or call the SCWP office at 719-549-2595 at or after 9:00 a.m. Staff members will be in the office at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Do not hesitate to email us with questions and/or concerns.