Dakota Writing Project

Join us for the Vermillion Literary Project Poetry Reading and Poetry Slam this Thursday, June 25, 2009, at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Shop Gallery, 24 W. Main Street, downtown Vermillion. The reading features Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultant  and writer Lindy Obach. Immediately after the reading will be a poetry slam, a competition for poets. If you have written three original poems, come compete! Prizes awarded! Or just come listen to local poets and enjoy good coffee.

For more information about VLP poetry slams, visit http://orgs.usd.edu/projlit/poetryslams.html.

The Dakota Writing Project is hosting the DWP 2009 Holocaust Institute on July 26-31, 2009 at the University of South Dakota, with a follow-up meeting on November 7, 2009. Using identity as a central theme, the institute will focus on the
resilience of the Jewish and Native American communities when
confronted with traumatic events such as the Holocaust and the Wounded
Knee Massacre of 1890. Middle school and high school teachers at this
institute will explore these issues and develop lesson plans that can
be brought back to their classrooms. This institute is intended to help
teachers and their students appreciate the importance of tolerance,
acceptance, and respect of all cultures while recognizing the unique
challenges that our state faces.

As part of Vermillion's sesquicentennial celebration, the Dakota Writing Project and Vermillion Public Library are teaming up to offer a three-part series on memoir writing, "Into Our Making: Writing Memoir." This is an opportunity to receive guidance, inspiration, and support in writing down stories from your life or stories passed down from family members. Any adult, eighteen or older, is welcome to participate.

 The three-part series takes place from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Vermillion Public Library (18 Church Street, downtown Vermillion) on the three following Saturdays: March 21, April 18, and May 16. Participants are expected to attend all three sessions. Bring writing tools, such as paper, pen/pencils, and/or a computer laptop. Of course, you should be prepared to write.

Greg Dyer, a professor at the University of Sioux Falls and a Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultant, will lead this memoir series.

Registration is limited to fifteen participants. The fee is $25 per person. For additional registration information, contact Vermillion Public Library Director Jane Larson at jlarson@sdln.net.

Seventeen South Dakota educators signed up to participate in the DWP Study Group, a collaborative effort between the Dakota Writing Project and the ESA (Education Service Agency) 2. Leading this work are DWP teacher-consultants Cindy Nelson (Hayward Elementary), Sylvia Kroger (Harrisburg High School), and Anne Moege (Mitchell Middle School).

Teachers from the Sioux Falls School District and other schools in the ESA 2 region attend face-to-face sessions on Saturdays once a month, with follow-up activities online in Google.Docs, Tapped In, and Ning. Together, the participants explore issues related to writing, under a 21st-century-skills umbrella, such as  constructing an online identity; looking at student work; conferring with students about writing (revising, editing, and response); connecting writing and reading; writing to understand content; and digital storytelling.

Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultant Anne Moege will lead a three-hour session, from 9:20 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., on "Building Community Through Online Discussion" Thursday, June 5, 2008, at the Educators Summer Symposium being held at Washington High School in Sioux Falls.

She has provided this description of her session on the Symposium website:

"How can teachers encourage students, even quiet kids, to discuss what
they’re reading or studying?  How can we combine discussion
with writing?  How can we build community within our
classrooms as well as expand the walls of the traditional
classroom?  Learn several ways online discussion can be used
with your students.  Often less intimidating than face to
face conversation, online discussion offers quieter students
a voice, promotes critical thinking through writing, and
provides conversation opportunities outside of the physical
classroom.  Participants will discover how the presenter’s
7th grade students stepped into the worlds of online spaces
such as Nicenet, an Internet Classroom Assistant which
features a “non-public” conferencing option, and
writing/book blogs to practice and advance their discussion
skills.  In addition, participants will learn how easily
such spaces can be set up for their own purposes by becoming
part of an online community themselves."

For more information about the Summer Symposium, visit http://www.sfsdstaffdevelopment.org/.

A group of dedicated DWP teacher-consultants developed demonstrations intended to be used for professional development (in-service) and explored ways in which to help build community during a demonstration at the Dakota Writing Project Professional Development "Weekend Warriors" Retreat on April 18-20, 2008, held in Old Main 212 on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion. Sue Morrell (Wagner Public School) did a meta-demonstration on "Learning Dialogues" that helped the DWP educators to think about what goes into an effective DWP demonstration.

Nineteen DWP teacher-consultants participated in the Weekend Warrior Retreat, including Annie Christain (USD), Kris Anne Christenson (Harvey Dunn Elementary, Sioux Falls), Carol Christianson (Dell Rapids Public), Tim DeWald (Bowdle High School), Trish Freeland (Parkston), Sonya Gonzalez, Lori Hawley (Elk Point), Jeannette Jennings (Sioux Falls), Nancy Kampfe (Rapid City-Stevens), Marcia Kear (USD), Sylvia Kroger (Harrisburg), Connie Krueger (Rapid City-Stevens), Anne Moege (Mitchell), Sue Morrell (Wagner), Cynthia Nelson (Hayward Elementary, Sioux Falls), Sharon Olbertson (Kilian College-Sioux Falls), Karen Rahn (Rutland), Alyssa Siegfried (Lower Brule), Nancy Zuercher (formerly USD), and DWP director Michelle Rogge Gannon (USD). 

Also attending the Friday-night introductory session were Pat Hubert from ESA 2 and additional DWP teacher-consultants Michele Fleer, Lindy Obach, and Dennis Sjolie.  Hubert spoke about the needs of ESA 2, while Sue Morrell discussed Wagner's needs; both ESA 2 and Wagner are working together with DWP on professional development for the 2008-09 school year.

In just a few days (June 2), the Dakota Writing Project 2008
Invitational Summer Institute, housed at the University of South Dakota
in Vermillion, will begin.

Inspired by a special invitation from Kevin Hodgson (Western Mass.
Writing Project), who oversees "Day in a Sentence" and had suggested
trying  "Day in a Comic," I used the program Comic Life to create a sentence (and comic) about preparations for the DWP Invitational Summer Institute. See the comic at http://www.usd.edu/dwp/2008institute/Page_1.gif.

The two teachers in the upper left-hand corner are Carol Christianson
and Sonya Gonzalez; that photo was taken by former DWP director Nancy
Zuercher at the DWP Professional Development "Weekend Warrior" Retreat
in April 2008. The clever license plate belongs to Writing Project
teacher Timothy Duggan, who recently moved to Chicago. The rainstorm
photo shows us a very wet downtown Vermillion, South Dakota, looking
west. The photo of the three students is from the 2006 Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writers' Camp that the Dakota Writing Project and the Vermillion Literary Project co-sponsored. The picture in the bottom left-hand corner shows Cindy Nelson composing a text in the 2007 NWP E-Anthology. The bottom center photo and the larger background photo show us Spirit Mound, a site six miles north of Vermillion that we have visited every year during the
summer institute for the past several years. For the first time, we will be opening up this visit/writing adventure to the general public, inviting them to join us as we explore and write at Spirit Mound. In the bottom right hand-corner, you see Karen Rahn, who is co-directing the Summer Institute with me for the second year in a row. --Michelle Rogge Gannon

Experience Spirit Mound, a site of spiritual and historical significance, through multiple viewpoints—through Lewis and Clark’s journal entries, through the eyes of an educator with a strong American Indian viewpoint, and through your own hands-on experience and reflections in writing. Dakota Writing Project leader Lil Manthei, in a session entitled “Writing the Sacred Into the Real: (Re)visiting Spirit Mound,” will guide us as we discuss readings, visit Spirit Mound, and let this important place inspire our own thinking and writing.

The session begins in Old Main 212 on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, and will include a trip to Spirit Mound (located six miles north of Vermillion) where we will write together. The event will end at 12:30 p.m. Participants are advised to bring writing tools (paper and pencil or pen and/or laptop), comfortable walking shoes (for those who wish to walk to the top of Spirit Mound), bug spray, appropriate clothing for the weather, and an umbrella. Bottled water will be provided. You may wish to bring your own vehicle for driving, although we will also encourage individuals to carpool between Old Main and Spirit Mound.

Lil Manthei is a teacher-consultant for the Dakota Writing Project and has served on the DWP Board of Directors for several years. She is the lead English teacher at Takini School on the Cheyenne River Reservation and has also taught at Oglala Lakota College, Kilian Community College, Little Wound School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and the Crow Creek Tribal Schools. Areas of specialization include South Dakota Indian studies, literature, history, and writing. She has a Masters of Arts degree in Secondary Education from the University of South Dakota and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education from Black Hills State University.

This event is open to the general public. To register for this event, fill out the registration form available at www.usd.edu/dwp/spiritmound.cfm and send the form with a check or money order (no cash), postmarked by June 20, for $10, made out to the Dakota Writing Project , Dakota Hall 212, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069-2390. (If registering after June 20, bring the registration form with a $15 fee to the event on June 25. If possible, please email us at dwp@usd.edu let us know that you’re planning to attend.)

This event is co-sponsored by the Dakota Writing Project and the South Dakota Humanities Council.

Improving Literacy Through Writing:
A Dakota Writing Project Study Group for Teachers

The East Dakota Educational Cooperative and the Dakota Writing Project have developed a year-long study group with the title "Improving Literacy Through Writing," in which teachers in the ESA 2 region, from any grade level or subject area, will have the opportunity to explore effective strategies on the
teaching of writing, in order to strengthen literacy in their classrooms and schools.

There will be two cohorts, a grades K-5 cohort and a grades 6-12 cohort, with topics tailored to each group. Some of the topics that will be addressed are implementing 21st-century skills, tools, and teaching strategies; writing to understand content; helping ESL/ELL students write and learn; connecting writing and reading; and using differentiated instruction effectively. Other topics may be added as teacher/school needs are identified.

Teachers will have the opportunity to write, participate in discussions, and make connections between current research and the classroom. DWP teacher-consultants Cindy Nelson (K-5 cohort) and Sylvia Kroger (grades 6-12 cohort), who have completed the rigorous DWP Invitational Summer Institute, will be leading the DWP Study Group, with additional assistance from a DWP technology liaison yet to be named.

Six hours of graduate credit will be available from the University of South Dakota Continuing Education at $40/hour, pending approval. Participants will be eligible to receive a stipend, amount yet to be determined, which depends in part upon our receiving a grant (pending).

The two-day kick-off event will be held in Sioux Falls June 23-24, with follow-up, face-to-face meetings in Sioux Falls to be held once a month beginning in September, supplemented by required online activities.

To request to be part of the DWP Study Group, contact Pat Hubert at phubert@edec.org . Requests must be received by June 10, 2008.

Prairie Winds Online Literary Magazine is accepting writing submissions for their 2008 edition. Some work has already been accepted and may be viewed at www.prairiewindswriter.org.

They are accepting writing (1000 words or less) and art (no larger than 2MB in JPEG format) from elementary, junior high, and high school students, as well as teachers. Simply email submissions to Julia Monczunksi at  jmonczunski@tie.net.

For more information visit the website (see above) and click on the
Submissions link.

Karen Rahn promoted the Dakota Writing Project and shared DWP materials with teachers at the SDCTE (South Dakota Council of Teachers of English) Spring Conference February 22-23, 2008, in Chamberlain. Also attending and/or leading sessions at the conference were DWP teacher-consultants Tim Duggan, Anne Moege, Sue Morrell, Sharon Olbertson, Linda Rothermel, and Nancy Zuercher. Tim Duggan was a featured speaker.

The Vermillion Literary Project is hosting two very fun events, that are open to everyone--and bound to stir up writers everywhere.

The first is the VLP
Poetry Festival, scheduled for February 28, with professional writers leading workshops and doing readings of their work. The festival culminates in the VLP poetry slam in the evening, with prizes offered to slam winners. To get additional details and to register, see http://www.usd.edu/orgs/projlit/poetryfestival/ .

The VLP is also holding the first-ever 24-Hour Comics Contest, which starts on Friday, February 29 and ends on Saturday, March 1. To get additional details and to register, see http://www.usd.edu/orgs/projlit/comics/ .

The SDCTE (South Dakota Council of Teachers of English) is having its
spring conference  on Feb. 22-23, 2008, at Cedar Shore in Chamberlain.
This is an opportunity for English teachers to renew themselves professionally and connect with their fellow English teachers. DWP teacher-consultant Anne Moege is president of this fine organization. For more information about the conference, see  http://www.sdcte.dsu.edu/conference.htm.

All current Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultants are invited to attend the DWP "Weekend Warrior" Professional Development Retreat April 18-20, 2008 at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. During this retreat, DWP teacher-consultants will focus on strategies that will help the DWP to offer effective professional development in the schools. This retreat will help participants to grow professionally and also strengthen the work of the DWP. More information on this retreat will be offered at a later date. Contact the DWP director at dwp@usd.edu for more information.

Teachers and elementary students, grades 4-6, are invited to participate in the Sioux Falls Writing Workshop, which will be held Saturday, March 15, at the Sertoma Park Butterfly House in Sioux Falls. Annie Christain, an award-winning poet, PhD student at the U, and DWP teacher-consultant will lead this workshop, with students participating from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and teachers from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The registration fee is $15 for students and $20 for teachers. Contact Julia Monczunksi (jmonczunski@tie.net) to register, or phone 605-394-1876. This is a collaboration between the Dakota Writing Project and Prairie Winds, with additional support by the South Dakota Arts Council.

Annie Christain is a teaching assistant, Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultant, and third year English PhD student at the University of South Dakota.  She taught writing poetry and poetry performance at The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a creative writing camp for high school students co-sponsored by the Dakota Writing Project.  Christain also taught a poetry class to gifted high school students at the University of South Dakota’s Ambassadors of Excellence Camp.  At the South Dakota Governor’s Camp, a camp for gifted junior high students, Christain led students in creative projects and taught classes on writing poetry and creative writing/meditation. 

Christain has read her poetry at such venues as the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma; the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, and the Vermillion Literary Project Poetry Slam.  She is the two-time recipient of the University of South Dakota’s Gladys Hasse Poetry Award and the 2007 winner of the Southwest Texas Popular Culture Jerry Bradley Award for Creative Writing.  Her poems have appeared in Poetry Bay, The American Drivel Review, The Arabesques Review, and Beeswax Magazine.