Dakota Writing Project

The Dakota Writing Project held five successful events this fall: the DWP Fall Reunion, the Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp, the DWP Writing Marathon at the SD Festival of Books, the Teaching Shakespeare Workshop, and, most recently, the DWP Echoes and Reflections (Teaching the Holocaust) Workshop.

DWP Fall Reunion

Nancy Kampfe (Stevens High School, Rapid City--recently retired) and Kathy Rose (Douglas School District, first grade) co-led the DWP Fall Reunion on Saturday, September 18, 2010 at the University of South Dakota, in which a group of DWP teacher-consultants made paper books, wrote, and learned strategies for improving student writing through research.

Nancy Kampfe shared her research from the past year and demonstrated how her analysis of students' sentence patterns helped to strengthen students' sentence fluency and use of homophones. Kathy Rose helped teachers to create two different kinds of books, an accordion book and another marbleized book. The teachers also wrote throughout the day-long reunion, reflecting on how they might use the demonstrated strategies in their own classrooms and creating pieces to include in the paper books.

Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp

The Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp, co-sponsored by the Vermillion Literary Project, took place on Saturday, September 25, 2010, at the University of South Dakota, with DWP teacher-consultant Rebecca Mehrens as camp co-coordinator. The camp featured several DWP teacher-consultants leading workshops, including Dan Schweitzer (University of South Dakota) on "Poem Parody," Lindy Obach (University Center, Sioux Falls) on short fiction, Sue Zueger (Memorial Middle School, Sioux Falls) on "Found Poetry," both Sue Morrell (Wagner Community School) and Dennis Sjolie (University of South Dakota) on revision, and Connie Krueger (North Middle School, Rapid City) on performance. Lee Ann Roripaugh also led a workshop on flash fiction, and for the first time ever, student volunteers from the Vermillion Literary Project led a workshop on poetry slam. Schweitzer, Obach, Zueger, and Krueger also assisted with the revision workshops. Twenty-two student writers registered for the camp, including students from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City, Iowa; Irene-Wakonda High School; Lincoln High School in Nebraska; Parker Public School; Santee Community School in Nebraska; Scotland High School; Tiospa Zina Tribal School; Washington High School in Sioux Falls; West Sioux High School in Hawarden, Iowa; White River High School; and Yankton High School.

The culminating event was the public reading at 4 p.m. in Farber Hall, with family and friends in attendance. Students performed pieces they had written, and the VLP conducted a mini-poetry slam, with volunteers from the audience serving as judges. This was the fifth year of the Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp.

DWP Writing Marathon at South Dakota Festival of Books

DWP teacher-consultant Cindy Nelson (Hayward Elementary, Sioux Falls) led a group of area writers in a writing marathon from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Dakota Festival of Books in downtown Sioux Falls on Sunday, September 26, 2010. Eight writers, including some educators, participated in the marathon.

"Teaching Shakespeare" Workshop

DWP teacher-consultants Connie Krueger (North Middle School, Rapid City) and Sharon Olbertson (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), together with Assistant Professor Darlene Farabee from University of South Dakota, co-led a day-long workshop on teaching the works of William Shakespeare on Saturday, October 23, 2010, at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. A group of twelve teachers and pre-service teachers attended this workshop, including teachers from Canistota, Roosevelt High School, Dell Rapids, Summit (Watertown), Remsen-Union (Iowa), and Castlewood, and pre-service teachers from the University of South Dakota, with two of the teachers connecting via the Dakota Digital Network. The group also developed a wiki for the workshop. This workshop was co-sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council,
an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 Echoes and Reflections Workshop

More than thirty teachers and pre-service teachers attended the Dakota Writing Project Echoes and Reflections Workshop at the University of South Dakota, with teachers learning strategies for teaching the Holocaust.  Leading this day-long workshop was Deborah Batiste from the Anti-Defamation League, a former schoolteacher. Each workshop participant received a complimentary copy of Echoes and Reflections—A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust from the Anti-Defamation League, USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem.

Participants included teachers from Vermillion High School, Mitchell Middle/High School, Tripp-Delmont High School, Chester Area Schools, Deubrook Area Schools, St. Mary's School (Salem), Edison Middle School (Sioux Falls), Centerville School, Memorial Middle School (Sioux Falls), Hamlin High School, Ankeny High School (Iowa), Andes Central Schools, Rutland Public School, and Patrick Henry Middle School (Sioux Falls), as well as pre-service teachers from Mount Marty College and the University of South Dakota. The Echoes and Reflections Workshop was co-sponsored by the Holocaust Educators Network, the Anti-Defamation League, the USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem, with Professor Jan Hausmann from Mount Marty College acquiring a grant from the Holocaust Educators Network that helped to make the workshop a reality.