The 2012 Maine Writing Project Young Authors Camps will be held in multiple locations this summer:

• University of Maine campus at Orono on July 9-13, M-F from 8:30 am to noon;
• Blue Hill Consolidated School in Blue Hill on July 9-13, M-F from 8:30 am to noon;
• Benton Elementary School in Benton on July 9-13, M-F from 8:30 am to noon; and,
• Bowdoin College in Brunswick on July 16-20, M-F 8:30 am to noon.

Students entering grades 3-12 will write and share their writing with other interested student writers under the expert guidance of Maine Writing Project teacher-consultants.

To learn more and/or register, download our brochure for the Young Authors Camp of your choice:

• UMaine Orono brochure.  You can also contact our Administrative Assistant, Roxanne Lee at (207) 581-2412 or by email: roxanne.lee@umit.maine.edu for more information.
• Blue Hill brochure, Blue Hill Consolidated School
• Benton brochure, Benton elementary School
• Bowdoin College brochure, Brunswick

Summer is a popular time to further your writing, learning, and teaching practice or pick up needed graduate credits!  Our Graduate Program in Writing and the Teaching of Writing continues to grow with online as well as on campus courses.  It’s not too late to register for the following summer programs:

• EDU 580-0001: MWP Advanced Institute in Teacher Leadership
• July 5-6 and 9-13, University of Maine Campus
• Three (3) graduate credits with Kenneth Martin
• Renew the writing project summer institute experience – open to existing  Writing Project teacher-consultants only.

• ERL 590: Seminar in Nonfiction Writing
• July 23-27, University of Maine Campus
• Three (3) graduate credits with Rich Kent

• EDG 657-0003: Writing Practicum, online
• May, June, & July
• Three (3) graduate credits with Rich Kent

• EDU 590-0003: Designing Online Learning Experiences, online
• May, June, & July
• Three (3) graduate credits with Dave Boardman

For more information, contact our Administrative Assistant, Roxanne Lee at (207) 581-2412 or by email: roxanne.lee@umit.maine.edu.

Writing Ourselves, the annual spring gathering of Maine Writing Project teacher-consultants, will be held on Saturday, April 28th, at the Maple Hill Bed & Breakfast in Hallowell.  Once again, this will be a chance to re-connect with other members of the Writing Project, to write, talk, eat, and laugh together.  As always, there is no charge for this members-only event.  Please join us!

For more information or to register, contact our Administrative Assistant, Roxanne Lee at(207) 581-2412 or by email: roxanne.lee@umit.maine.edu.

Schedule for the day:

• 10 – 12 Writing and sharing of writing
• 12 – 1   Lunch provided
• 1 – 2:30 Time to write, chat, walk…
• 2:30 – 3 Dessert social

Also, this year from 1-2:30 we will hold an orientation session for 2012 Writing Project Fellows on their way to becoming new teacher-consultants.  These individuals have completed a three-credit online course, Introduction to the National Writing Project, this spring, and this summer they will take a three-credit Institute in Teacher Leadership on the Orono campus.

We’re pleased to announce the publication of Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports by Richard Kent, site director of the Maine Writing Project and associate professor of Literacy at the University of Maine.

For more information about this innovative book, check out its resource website: WritingAthletes.com

Available now at Amazon.com

Praise for Writing on the Bus:

“Kent offers a systematic approach to writing that has already assisted coaches to cultivate athletes’ reflection and improved performance. What an athlete needs, he makes clear, is writing.”

Julie Cheville, Ph.D., Illinois State University
Author of Minding the Body: What Student Athletes Know about Learning

“Team notebooks create a different way for players to learn.”

Mike Keller, Head Coach
University of Southern Maine Men’s Soccer

“No one likes skiing with a cluttered mind, so put it on paper and free some space.”

Carter Robertson, Alpine Ski Racer
Burke Mountain Academy

Art Teacher Lindsay Hartwell, Central Middle School in Corinth  presents Encouraging Student Voice with Handmade Journals

On September 30th, educators from every grade level and multiple disciplines gathered at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast, Maine for the  2011 Effective Practices Conference, hosted by the Maine Writing Project and the Southern Maine Writing Project. This special day of “teachers teaching teachers” featured new teacher-consultants of Maine’s two National Writing Project sites.  Eighteen workshops ranged from building writers’ fluency with freewrites to introducing mentor texts with read-alouds, interpreting texts with role play, collaborative note-taking with Google Docs, and writing to problem solve in mathematics.  Pictures from this exciting and collegial day can be found on Facebook.

Associate Director of the Maine Writing Project Ken Martin successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, Learning to Discuss Literature Online: Where Technology Design and Instruction Intersect. Ken’s dissertation committee included Julie Cheville, Associate Professor of English Education at Illinois State University (Chair); Richard Ackerman, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at UMaine; Susan Bennett-Armistead, Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at UMaine; Richard Kent, Associate Professor of Literacy Education and director of the Maine Writing Project at UMaine; and Troy Hicks, Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature at Central Michigan University.

Joining Ken’s committee for the open defense were Jan Kristo, Associate Dean of Instruction at UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development; Janet Martin, Ken’s wife; Dr. Cynthia Dean, co-director of the Maine Writing Project and Assistant Professor of Education & Coordinator of Teaching Certification at the University of Maine at Augusta; and Maureen Montgomery, co-director of the Maine Writing Project and University Coach (7-12), Maine Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy at the University of Maine.

A native of South Weymouth, Massachusetts, Ken grew up in Norton, Massachusetts and graduated from Mount Hermon School (Gill, Massachusetts). A cum laude graduate of Harvard College (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Ken holds a B.A. in English.  Following 25 years employment in banking and retail, Ken worked in eastern Maine for ten years as a high school English teacher and for three years as a technology integration coach. He earned a Master’s degree in Literacy Education from the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine in 2003 and is now a UMaine Instructor of Literacy and associate director of the Maine Writing Project.

Debra Butterfield, MWP ’03, traveled to Chicago on August 3-6 to participate in the 2011 National Writing Project Evaluation Scoring Conference.  Debra joined teacher-consultants from across the country to read and evaluate student writing from sites conducting research as part of NWP’s Local Site Research Initiative.  Over a three-day period, participants learned to use and apply NWP’s Analytic Writing Continuum in reviewing more than 8,000 writing samples at various grade levels.

The scoring conference contributes to research findings on writing achievement in classrooms where teachers are NWP participants.  Key findings from the 2010 conference indicated that students in writing project classrooms showed comparatively greater progress in writing conventions as well as in those aspects of writing that distinguish Writing Project teachers–developing ideas, organization, and stance.

Debra described her experience as intensive yet validating.  “I knew I would love thinking so deeply about writing, but to be part of such an extensive and important research project was just incredible.  The National Writing Project supports the vision of teacher as researcher, and it was exciting to see the impact our work plays in the lives of our students.”

Debra Butterfield is a seventh grade teacher at Gardiner Regional Middle School.  She the 2011 MWP Tanya Baker Scholar and is a recognized leader in literacy, middle level education, and technology.  Not surprisingly, her work at the scoring conference included instigating a forum for participants to share and record ideas on writing evaluation.

We are pleased to announce that William “Pete” St. John has been named the Maine Writing Project Jeffrey D. Wilhelm Fellow for 2011. The Wilhelm Fellow is awarded annually to a member of the Summer Institute who exemplifies devotion to teaching, collegial spirit, and scholarship. Pete’s dry wit and cordial manner with others helped to build the institute community. In his teaching demonstration, Pete showed his adventurous spirit by applying Google Documents, a technology new to him, in a collaborative approach to taking notes. He engaged his audience with characteristic humor, scholarship, and practical ideas for classroom use.

William "Pete" St. John, 2011 Jeffrey D. Wilhelm Fellow, center with Summer Institute co-directors Ken Martin and Karen Girvan

Pete St. John has been in secondary English teaching and administration in western Maine for the past twenty five years. He is currently on the adjunct staff of the University of Maine at Augusta and Central Maine Community College in the Humanities departments. This fall Pete will be a Graduate Assistant in the Literacy Department at the University of Maine at Orono where he will also work on Maine Writing Project programming. Pete holds a Masters degree from the University of Massachusetts and lives in Weld, Maine with his wife Margot.

2011 Wilhelm Fellow, Pete St. John chats with Nancy Minott during her teaching demonstration.

The Wilhelm Fellow award was established in celebration of the contributions made to the Maine Writing Project and the educational community of Maine by our former site director, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Recent recipients include Teri Brown ’09, Susan Sandler ’09, and Patsy Baldus ’10.

The Young Authors paid a visit to the 2011 Fellows last week to share their writing. With prison dramas, haikus, ninja wolves, and six word memoirs the campers wowed the fellows with their creativity and literate use of language.

YAC camper, Brooke leads the group in an opening moment with a poem.

The older YAC group presents their opening moment of, "Fortunately, Unfortunately".

After the opening moments, campers paired up with a fellow for some sharing and feedback. They used the fellows’ technique of PPQ – Praise, Polish and Question – to guide their time together. Fellows and campers alike took something positive from the experience having learned something form each other about their writing life.

I think I learned more about writing and teaching writing from that little girl than I did my four years in college.   -2011 Fellow

Campers and fellows share and discuss their writing.