Welcome to the 2013 Hudson Valley Writing Project Summer Institute

 

Revisiting an Old Friend at the HVWP

What can we learn from Finland?

Meet Viljo Kohonen

SI 2013: Remembering & Reflecting & Moving on with HVWP

Use this piece as a way to spark your memories of the SI?
What did you take with you?

Thinking about the Dorsky Museum

Click here to add to the notes from the work you participated in at the Dorsky Museum this summer.

A Summer with 14 Very Cool Chicks

New TIW Reflection

In hindsight I would definitely do a number of things differently. My TIW didn’t have any real hands-on work for participants to enjoy which is something I need to have and what my students had gone though as they made their personal ads. I also should have shown the ads my students had become engaged in before doing their own. I really didn’t like my TIW but I was glad to get it done!

Jasmine’s Photostory

A New Digital Piece Created by Joseph McCaleb

I just found this in my You Tube library. What do you notice?

Letters to Christine and Bonnie for week 3

What were some highlights of the week for you AND what exactly was it that you appreciated?

What did you struggle with? What are some suggestions you might have for the last week of the SI? (Please be as honest and open as possible…these are very helpful for us in designing the structure of the day)

What are some new ideas percolating about how you might pull work from this year’s SI towards your classroom?

Remember, next Thursday is our potluck celebration at Christine’s house in Newburgh.  We will be passing around a food sign-up sheet on Monday and are looking forward to spending the morning celebrating our digital pieces and the afternoon sharing our writing.

Food for Thought

I came across this (very short) article this afternoon.

I think, perhaps, the most interesting part of the article is the following quote:

However, Vonnegut notes, “The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor… She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that.”

I wonder if we should consider our practice in this same light.  We may have to slightly redefine the rules, but I think the principle remains the same.  When reflecting on past students and teachers I think that some of the best ones, the ones that have had the most lasting impact on us or the ones that have taught us the most, are the ones who broke practically every “rule” but the first.  And, maybe one of the most important things to keep in mind is that no one should feel their time wasted.

A Slice of Life on our 3rd Tuesday

Afternoon Slicers and members of our SI 2013,

Just before the Thruway entrance this morning,  I  brake quickly to avoid crashing into the truck in front of me, almost at a dead stop. We are surrounded by trucks everywhere, crawling in all the 3 lanes, soon to increase to 5. Good thing I left even earlier than usual.  I had time to send a text to  Christine, (shhh, don’t tell) adjust my ipod and click to a playlist that I hadn’t listened to in months.

Lately, I’ve been listening exclusively to anything on WNYC 93.9, but the news is making me a bit crazy, so I have folded music back in my riding life. I put on a playlist entitled: Party, probably from my anniversary party to celebrate our 10 years together.  I had a few Israeli tunes to begin, for equal time. When the second song began playing I was starting to move in my lane but the music caught me off guard and I started tearing up to a song that is a Tuvia favorite.

Even though I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, fluent in Hebrew, as you might remember, I can connect and make sense of my favorite songs, especially songs that Tuvia and I both love.  “The Last War”, caught me unawares.  A man sings to his young daughter, pledging to her that she will never know war.  I love  the way  Yahoram Gaon. pronounces his words with passion and commitment.

Of course he was unable to make good on his commitment. Israel is still in search of peace.

I was stopped in time, realizing  that this song connects us deeply. . We are both aching these days, for peace, for humanity.