Chapterinternational
 
Chapters International Writing Institute
by Lester Laminack, Georgia Heard, Katherine Bomer & Dan Feigelson
20th - 21st October 2012,Singapore
 
Overview
Today, anyone can be a writer. Unlike in the past, when newspapers and publishing houses decided who could be a writer, anyone with access to the internet can be a writer--someone who publishes their thoughts on blogs or via Twitter, someone who can be read by people across the globe in a matter of seconds. In every sphere of our lives--academic, professional and personal--people are writing more than ever before. Writing, in fact, is a skill essential for success and fulfillment in all the dimensions of our lives.

Fortunately for students who are growing up in this new world, we live in a time where we have developed a rich knowledge base about how to teach writing. In this two day institute on the teaching of writing, we invite you to spend time with internationally recognized literacy experts who will share with you what they know about writing instruction.
Keynote
  • Day One Keynote: Katherine Bomer
     "Hidden Gems: Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student's Writing"

  • Day Two Keynote: Lester Laminack
    "Where Ideas Come From—An examination of the spark that ignites a story"

  • Panel Discussion Chaired by Dan Feigelson
Grade K - 2 Intitutes
Lester Laminack
Digging Into Details
We often hear ourselves suggesting to young writers, "add some details". That suggestion may lead to a loss of focus or confusion. I've been taken by the way children are using details. It seems that children are thinking of detail as a way to make their writing longer or that more is better. It's as if they are thinking a string of adjectives and physical descriptions scattered throughout the text makes it stronger. That has prompted me to return to my stash of picture books with attention to how writers use details. Together we will explore a collection of texts including narratives, fiction, poetry and an assortment of nonfiction formats to examine the critical role of detail. Digging in to details will lead us to deeper understanding of the power of specificity in all writing.

Lester L. Laminack is Professor Emeritus from department of Birth-Kindergarten, Elementary and Middle Grades Education, at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina where he received two awards for excellence in teaching [the Botner Superior Teaching Award and the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award]. Lester is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States. He is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English and served three years as co-editor of the NCTE journal Primary Voices and as editor of the Children's Book Review Department of the NCTE journal Language Arts (2003-2006). He also served as a teaching editor for the magazine Teaching K-8 and wrote the Parent Connection column (2000-2002). He is a former member of the Whole Language Umbrella Governing Board, a former member of the Governing Board and Secretary of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking. He served as the Basic Reading Consultant to Literacy Volunteers of America from 1987 through 2001. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Our Children's Place.

His academic publications include several books including Learning with Zachary (Scholastic), Spelling in Use (NCTE), Volunteers Working with Young Readers (NCTE), and his contributions to The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (NCTE), Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature (Heinemann) Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum (Heinemann) and two books from Scholastic Cracking Open the Author's Craft (2007) and Unwrapping the Read Aloud (2009) from Scholastic. In addition he has several articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher, Science and Children, Language Arts, Primary Voices, and Young Children. Lester is also the author of six children's books: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor's Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, Jake's 100th Day of School, Snow Day! and, Three Hens and a Peacock all from Peachtree Publishers. He has three new titles under contract including, Sam Loves Pink (Peachtree), BULLYING: Working Toward Kindness and Civility and Human Compassion. Taking a Proactive Stance Through Guided Read-Aloud and Conscious Conversations (Heinemann), and The Writing Teacher's Troubleshooting Guide (Heinemann).

Katherine Bomer

Reaching Reluctant Writers With Fun, Meaningful, and Practical Possibilities that Help Them Love to Write and Revise!
Children experience difficulties with writing for many reasons from struggles with shaping letters, to underdeveloped texts, to attitudes of "hating" to write. The answer can only be to provide more fun, meaningful, and quality instruction so that we can help students fall in love with writing. Katherine will offer practical strategies for how to use on-going assessments to plan our instruction for individual kids in conferences, and for the whole class through minilessons. We will learn (and create!) multiple fun, age-level appropriate ideas for encouraging motivation, revision, fluency, organization, and elaboration, and most importantly, we will know that beginning with students' strengths and hidden gems is the trick to teaching kids anything about writing!

Katherine Bomer taught for over ten years in primary and intermediate grades, and her classrooms have been featured in Annenberg Foundation video productions that are broadcast on public television stations across the US. She currently teaches "Teaching of Composition" courses in the graduate program in Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She worked for six years as a professional developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project with Lucy Calkins, and currently consults nationally and internationally, presenting workshops in school districts as well as demonstrating and coaching inside K-8 and high school classrooms about approaches to teaching reading and writing. Katherine's latest book, Hidden Gems: Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student's Writing [Heinemann] and its DVD companion, Starting with what Students Do Best [Heinemann], offer a transformative new approach to assessing and responding to student writing, even the most spare or difficult to understand. She also authored Writing a Life: Teaching Memoir to Sharpen Insight, Shape Meaning, and Triumph Over Tests [Heinemann, 2005], and For a Better World: Reading and Writing for Social Action [Heinemann, 2001], with Randy Bomer. Schools invite her to coach them in creating visions for their year-long curriculum in reading and writing, and to help them form teacher and administrator study groups to continue their learning. As a frequent and popular keynote speaker, Katherine combines a teacher's practical advice, a writer's love of language, and a powerful plea for social justice.
Grade 3 - 5 Institutes

Georgia Heard
Improving Qualities of Writing through Craft Tools and Revision Strategies
All writers have a supply of craft tools and revision techniques at their fingertips ready to use whenever they write. In this workshop, we will explore the craft tools our students need to develop so their writing is rich, varied and fluid, and that will inspire them to revise up a storm from their first drafts to their final pieces. Teachers will learn tried-and-true writing mini-lessons on voice, structure and language that will lift the quality of student writing. Together we will explore writing conferences as opportunities to provide support and specific revision strategies to our students as they write. The material in this workshop is based on Georgia Heard's book The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques that Work.

Georgia Heard is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project where she worked as senior staff developer in the New York City schools for seven years. For the past twenty years, Georgia has been a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, a consultant and visiting author in school districts throughout the U.S, Canada and around the world. She is the author of numerous professional books on teaching writing including her most recent A Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades (Stenhouse, 2009) and Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School (Heinemann,1999) which was cited by Instructor Magazine as "One of the Ten Best Books Every Teacher Should Read." She has also authored many children's books including her most recent poetry anthologies The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems and Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems (Roaring Brook Press).
Grade 6 - 8 Institutes
Dan Feigelson
Reading Like A Writer: Deepening Our Use Of Mentor Texts in Writing Workshop
In this workshop, teachers will learn a variety of strategies for weaving mentor texts into their writing workshops.  Among other things, we will think through:
  • using mentor texts to teach qualities of strong writing, ranging from the more descriptive/craft oriented (e.g., vivid language, sensory description, interesting word choice, voice, etc.), to the structural (transitions, beginnings/endings, etc.), to the "mechanical" (punctuation, grammar).
  • incorporating read-alouds and other texts into our writing mini-lessons, conferences, and share sessions;
  • teaching students to independently notice and learn from specific qualities of writing in books and authors they read;
  • coaching young writers in making decisions about how to effectively incorporate ideas from mentor texts into their own pieces.
Dan Feigelson is a literacy consultant who specializes in all aspects of reading and writing workshop, grades 2-8.  He has worked extensively in New York City schools as a teacher, principal, staff developer, curriculum writer, and local superintendent.  An early member of the Teachers College Writing Project (led by Lucy Calkins and Shelley Harwayne), Dan served as a fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Learning, where he helped develop literacy standards for cities across the United States.  He is featured in many instructional videos and web materials, and has led institutes, workshops and lab-sites around the country. A regular presenter at national literacy conferences, Dan is the author of Practical Punctuation: Lessons In Rule Making And Rule Breaking For Elementary Writers (Heinemann, 2008).  He is currently working on a new book about teaching reading comprehension in K-8 classrooms.
Agenda:
Day 1
  • Registration - 7.45am - 8.15 am
  • Keynote 8.30 -  9.15 am
  • Institute 9.30 am - 11.00 am
  • Break 11.00 - 11.15 am
  • Institute 11.15 am - 12.30pm
  • Lunch 12.30 - 1.30 pm
  • Institute 1.30 - 2.45 pm
  • Break 2.45pm - 3.00 pm
  • Institute 3.00pm - 4.00 pm
Day 2
  • Keynote 8.00 - 8.45 am
  • Break 8.45 - 9.00 am
  • Institute 9.00 am - 10.30 am
  • Break 10.30 - 10.45 am
  • Institute 10.45 am - 12.30 pm
  • Lunch 12.30 - 1.30 pm
  • Institute 1.30 - 2.30 pm
  • Break 2.30pm - 2.45 pm
  • Panel Discussion 2.45pm - 4.00 pm
Potential Audience:
All teachers Administrators Literacy coaches, for grades K-8.
Central office curriculum and instruction coordinators and university instructors in teacher training
Investment:
  You choose one presenter whose workshop you will attend for 2 days.
The Keynote and Panel discussions are common for the full group.
  USD 720/- Closing date 15th September 2012
  USD 670/- Early Bird offer till 1st April 2012
  Special Group Discount for 8 or more participants USD 620/- 15th February 2012
  Investment includes Certificate of Participation for 17 Professional Development hours.
  This also includes Lunch, 2 coffee breaks and workshop handouts.
Venue:
  United World College of South East Asia.
East Campus.
Contact:
  Shonal Agarwal
CEO
Website: shonal@chaptersinternational.com
chaptersinternational@gmail.com

Website: www.chaptersinternational.com
 
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