The WKU Writing Project presents... "Literacy Matters for the 21st Century" July 14-15, 2009 Join us for two days of the most relevant and helpful professional development you will experience this year.  The WKU Writing Project is bringing together seven of its most effective teacher consultants to present five exciting hands-on workshops. Your experience in these sessions will enable you to deliver the kind of twenty-first century instruction your students need to prepare them for success.

The Sessions

Tuesday, July 14

8-11am, 12-3pm (6 hrs) --"Navigating the PERKS Tool to Build a School Literacy Plan" By Pat Puckett (all levels)
Schoolwide Literacy Plans…Where are you on your Program Review? If you are like many, you are scratching your head about the literacy component. With Senate Bill 1's requirement that school writing plans be audited and with KDE's focus on schoolwide literacy plans, many schools are scrambling to determine what the plan will "look" like. This 1-day workshop will provide support in using the KDE Literacy PERKS tool as you revise the literacy plan for your school.
....

8-11 am – “Writing Craft” by Michele McLoughan and Sara Jennings (created with elementary teachers in mind)

Elizabeth Hale’s book, Teaching the Craft of Writing, offers a plethora of ideas for teachers to use that help writing instruction become more specific and tailored to your students’ needs. After hearing her speak and using her book in the classroom, we are excited to share some of her ideas with you. You will learn writing crafts to teach your students to avoid all those cookie cutter pieces!

…..

12-1:30 pm -- "Using EduBlogs to Entice Reluctant Writers" by Bobbi Taylor(HS)
We all have students who hate it when we say, "Take out a pencil and paper." These are the students who need the most help becoming writers for learning and writers for life. This workshop will trace one teacher's experience with creating a blog site that replaces much of the "pencil and paper" writing in class. We will explore creating an EduBlog where students can journal online, post work online, and perhaps begin to like writing responses to reading!

…..

1:40-3pm--“Critical Reading for Teens Who Don’t Want to Think, or Getting Teens to Wrestle with the Hard Stuff, or Leading Students to Their Own Meaning” by Larissa Haynes (HS)

 You share with your students a text that you happen to love and what do you know? The minute they finish reading it...“This is stupid--I don’t get it!” You are deflated, dejected, and demoralized. But you are determined not to spend the next three weeks lecturing them on just how every page of the text is layered with symbolism, archetypes, and commentary on the meaning of existence. So what do you do?  Come see what I stole, unabashedly but with regards, from the 2009 KCTE/LA sessions of Brandon Abdon (Fort Thomas-Highlands HS) and Richard Johnson (Kirkwood Community College).

…..

Wednesday, July 15

8-11 am – “Becoming a Digital Native” by Audrey Harper and Kim Thomason (grades 4-12)

Do you feel like a digital immigrant in your classroom or school? Are you welcoming and creating a space for your digital natives (i.e. your students) in your classroom?  This workshop will introduce you to three 21st Century Literacies that you can easily take back and implement into your classroom.  We will be exploring Google Lit Trips, a Social Networking Site (Ning), and Wordle through hands-on learning.  We will discuss how to safely implement these tools in your classroom, and we will even discuss how to work with limited technology resources.  By the time you leave, you will feel more like a native than an immigrant in your students’ techno-savvy world.

…..

12-3 pm -- "Innovating in the Classroom with Social Networking Software"  by Terry Elliott (grades K-12)
How can we make sense of the "rat's nest" of social networking tools available to educators personally, professionally, and for the classroom? This workshop will show you how to find the best tools, how to choose the ones that are just right for you and your students, and how to use them in the classroom. We will be coming to terms with a collection of core online technologies (Diigo, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Ustream, to name some possibilities) for the classroom, but don't be put off by the oddish names.  Our goal at the end of the workshop is for you to walk out with one tool and a clear path toward its use in your classroom. 

To register, go to http://www.wku.edu/wp/regform.html. After registering, send check to WKU Writing Project, English Department, Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd #11086, Bowling Green, KY 42101-1086.

Cost for 3 hours PD: $35 Cost for both days (12 hours PD): $90