Leadership Team Meeting

January 19, 2008

The meeting started at 9:00 with a welcome from director, John Hagaman, followed by brief introductions from each member in attendance: Janet Martin, Angie Hughes, Mollie Wade, Laura Houchens, Donna Vincent, Linda Martin, Bonnie Honaker, Michele McCloughan, Mandy Browning, and John Hagaman.

A Leadership Team Directory was dispersed and the status of each member was identified. John made notes to a master copy designating the remaining amount of time left in each member’s term.

Summer 2008 Invitational Institute was discussed and possible candidates identified by many of the members present. John noted how important it was that fellows made referrals and recruited for each summer’s group of participants. Deadline was stated as February 15.

The group discussed the WKU Reading/Writing Advanced Institute to be held June 9-12. A flyer was dispersed to each member with specifics identified. Information has been posted on our WKU Writing Project site: WWW.WKU.EDU/WP . Deadline is April 26, 2008.

A report on the status of the new inquiry pilot group was discussed. Inquiry co-leader Mandy Browning made a suggestion of postponing the intended meeting until March 8, Saturday, so that members have an opportunity to complete some of the reading first.

A copy of the Advanced Writing Retreat Anthology from 2007 was passed around.

John reported that three groups are underway completing book studies: Grayson Co. ,Ohio Co., and Russell Co.

Donna Vincent reviewed her upcoming workshops schedules which include:

Feb 9: Depth of Knowledge

Feb 23:

March 1:

March 15: Transactive Writing

March 29: Transactive Writing

Members were encouraged to make this information available within their own school buildings and encourage attendance.

Updates were given on NWP initiatives that have been applied for by WKU WP. Mollie Wade and Laura
Houchens will be involved in an online Outreach discussion through the National Writing Project. Two fellows have applied for the Holocaust Institute in New York City during the summer: Nicole Jenkins and Marcus Whitley. David Lenoir and Terry Elliott have applied to be part of the Denver Web Presence workshop to help our local website be more user-friendly and resourceful. Information was discussed regarding the National Study of Writing Instruction which the WKU Writing Project has been selected to be a part of along with EKU. This will be a long term partnership to discover the effects of strong writing programs in four Kentucky middle and high schools. Details are still be ironed out and will be available soon. Rhonda Godby has applied to the Rural Sites Curriculum Retreat in Lincoln, Nebraska, this summer. And Mollie Wade and Laura Houchens have applied to be members of an Outreach national seminar in Mississippi in July.

After a quick snack, members divided into groups for topic discussions.

Group A: In-service programs: Laura Houchens, Mollie Wade, Mandy Browning, and Bonnie Honaker. First suggestion given was that Linda Martin and Bonnie Honaker present gifted writing workshop for Dr. Julia Roberts instead of Mollie Wade due to their level of expertise. WKU’s summer mini-conference to be held July 7-9 was discussed and it was suggested that the conference be themed to add an element of fun and encourage participation. A “cruise” theme was discussed. The presenters have been contacted and asked for proposals. It was reported as a great start and all proposals are due by February 29. A new teacher workshop in August was discussed and addressed the situation that there needed to be an elementary representative, middle school representative, and Mollie Wade would serve as the high school representative. Also discussed was the attempt to work with the department of education in introducing student teachers to the writing project model. Information was presented about a previous attempt to work with them that led to Nancy Huston presenting the Marker Papers to pre-service teachers. Dr. Alice Mikovich was identified as the person to contact. John reported that he’d contact her. Other department of education names mentioned was John Moore and Jennifer Montgomery. A workshop on the pilot inquiry project was discussed and recommended for the fall after Mandy and Shannon Anderson present preliminary results in June to the Invitational Institute. January 30: GRECC –On Demand Workshop.

Group B: Survey group: Janet Martin, John Hagaman, and Angie Hughes. Survey group took a closer look at the individual surveys that were collected. Specifically the group tried to decipher the responses to the question “What can we do?” Responses collected from the surveys included blogs, grants, writing retreats, writing cruise (the girls present really enjoyed this one), and social events. A discussion ensued regarding a writing party. Questions addressed were: Who would host? Who would present? It was decided that Janet Martin would create a flyer to distribute and see if there were interested fellows that would attend a writing party. Other ideas were pulling retired teachers to share favorite writing lessons at events.

Group C: Continuity in 2008: Donna Vincent, Linda Martin, and Michele McCloughan. “Electronic is the way to go.” ---Donna Vincent. Technology issues were discussed, including the importance of having follow-up blogs after a workshop. David is main administrator of our website and the website will be undergoing some changes.

Everyone was encouraged to get the word out regarding all writing project activities. George Ella Lyon’s visit was mentioned and is scheduled for April 12. Her focus will be “Encouraging Voice.”

It was suggested that we invite an author to visit that would focus on personal reading and writing versus professional reading. Names mentioned were Silas House (to be contacted by Laura), Sophie Kinesella (to be contacted by Donna), and Barbara Kingsolver (to be contacted by John). House turned out to be too expensive, and Kingsolver responded that she was not offering any speaking engagements for the next six months. Instead, WKU poet Tom Hunley will lead an all-day workshop in teaching how to write poetry.

Angie Hughes was assigned to write a letter to retirees requesting them to volunteer their services.

The next meeting was set for September 20, 2008 from 9-12 in Cherry Hall at WKU. A thanks from John ended our meeting.