National Writing Project

The National Writing Project is a professional development program for English teachers from kindergarten to college.  NWP teaches teachers how to develop writing skills in their classroom and then sends them out as teacher consultants to other classrooms to further students' education in English studies.  

I was invited to participate in the NWP Summer Institute at the university where I attend graduate school.  I had to apply, go to an interview and then waiting for an invitation to the summer institute, which has always been a 6 hour graduate credit course which NWP pays for.  It's an investment for the NWP--they train teachers who in turn become teacher consultants within the school systems.

Today I received an email that informed me that the NWP had had their federal funding cut in half.  This means they will no longer be able to offer the month long summer institute.  Instead, they will offer an abbreviated summer institute for 3 hours credit.  I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and am very excited to work with my other teachers.  However, NWP did ask if we had any words we would like to share with the policy decision makers in Washington.  This is the letter I sent.

To whom it may concern: 

The benefit of the National Writing Project extends far beyond the teachers who have gone through training with the program.  I have personally benefited from NWP before I ever became a part of it as an educator.  The two most influential professors that I had during my undergraduate work were both NWP teacher consultants.  One served as my advisor during my education as an English teacher in training.  The other served as my boss within the university Writing Center.  Both of these women actively engaged me in discussion revolving around the field of teaching English and the way students learn. 

In my classes with professors affiliated with NWP, I have been encouraged to actively reflect as a learner and teacher and to develop a theoretical approach to pedagogy that illuminates the connections between different genres of life. They exposed me to NWP strategies for learning and making meaning including use of the Daybook, a writing notebook designed to allow writers to get their ideas out in messy, creative, and honest ways and reflect and a tool which I still use for each of my classes today.  I implemented the Daybook within my classroom as a student teacher, and my students were able to reflect on their work throughout the semester and think about their thinking--a skill which is useful no matter what field of study or profession the student may choose to pursue in the future.  

I have seen the discussion NWP prompts not just about current education issues but also about the trajectory of the field of education.   When my undergraduate professors found out I would be attending UNC Charlotte for graduate school, both of them strongly encouraged me to participate in the Summer Institute.  They said that it would be one of the most influential and developmental times in my life as a teacher and a professional.  I was ecstatic to be extended an invitation last week to participate in the Summer Institute at UNCC.  I am very disheartened by the decision of the federal government to cut funding from projects with wide reaching effects such as the National Writing Project.

I ask you to reconsider cutting funding from the National Writing Project and other similarly valuable educational resources.  I'm proud to stand alongside professionals who have a passion for the future of education in our nation and to speak up for something that really matters, not just to us now, but to our futures as teachers and students' futures.

Thank you.

House Scorecard

Remember Tyger?  

He's just about the cutest thing you've ever seen.  He's getting taller (by a LOT) and he comes to greet me every day when I walk in the kitchen door.  Well, Tyger has become something of an amateur escape artist.   For instance, the other day while both my roommate and I were gone to school, Tyger proceeded to escape from his cage.  Did he figure out how to open the door?  No, my friends--that would be much too simple!  Instead he discovered how to pop off the side panel of his cage.  This is one smart puppy, folks!  He didn't wreak too much havoc on the house.  He spared all of Sarah's and my belongings (thanks, Tyger!), only bothering to tear up the trash.  :)  

However, due to this persistent pup, we've had to take some measures to ensure that if Tyger does escape from Alcatraz he can only go so far.  Sarah (my roommate) set up a doggy gate to keep Tyger in the kitchen and she barricaded our swinging door to the dining room so he couldn't get through.  This is all well and good except for the fact that Tyger is expected to end up weighing approximately 60 lbs.  For a puppy he's already pretty tall.  So last night, Tyger got it in his mind to leap the doggy gate--and he did!  He's stubborn like his Mom and his Aunt Carrie.  :)

And the scorecard read:

Tyger--1 / Doggy Gate--0

Sarah set out to look for a remedy to this.  She decided that placing two chairs in front of the puppy gate would keep Tyger in the kitchen (Tyger--1 / Doggy Gate--1).  Good plan.  Then she went to bed, and Tyger seemed content to stay in his cage as I puttered around, whipping up The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.  YUM!  I cook for myself, often once a week.  If I make a big casserole of something, I am able to take it for lunch and/or dinner throughout the week.  So, I have to make sure that I make something delicious that I'm not going to hate by the end of the week--and PW's casserole is just the thing!

After the casserole came out of the oven, I got myself a heaping helping!   Then I headed to my room to buckle down with Paradise Lost and questions of nature, gender, and science.  The casserole was so good that I needed seconds!  I carefully stepped back over the gate and scooped out some more Chicken Spaghetti.  Then I turned the kitchen lights back off, and stepped across the gate with my left foot first.  However, my left knee rammed into the black chair that I didn't see, sending the heavy wooden chair falling over and me limping around.  I kept my Chicken Spaghetti safe though--fear not, readers!  I'd swear that Tyger laughed at me.

In case you are keeping score that means:

Tyger--2  /  Doggy Gate--2  /  Carrie--O

That's right, friends.  A graduate student in English was defeated by a doggy gate, a 5 month old puppy, and a wooden chair.  

But I did get a good meal out of it. :)

Monday Musings

I stole this from Marriage Confessions' archives.  It seems a good way to kick off Monday morning of the week after Spring Break.  

I am:  a grad student who is a horrible procrastinator.

I think: there are a lot more things to be joyful about than to complain about.

I know: I am extremely blessed.

I have: an intense desire for Dr. Pepper.  Or coffee.  Or both.

I wish: "to go to the festival!"  Into the Woods reference . . . anyone?  ANYONE?  *crickets*

I hate: how I give into the flesh.

I miss: my family. 

I fear: failure and mediocrity.

I hear: library sounds and a tutoring session.

I smell: mint and I get really happy.

I crave: turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy.

I search: for my calling.

I wonder: if I'll do something that really matters.

I regret: nothing.

I love: Dr. Pepper.  Did I mention that I'm craving it?

I ache: for people who don't know the Love that I do.

I am not: your average girl.

I believe: that God is sovereign and good.

I dance: while I'm doing the dishes.

I sing: all the time, all genres.

I cry: at every single musical I've ever seen.  Something about musical theatre just gets me.

I fight: feelings of mediocrity.

I lose: my mind periodically.

I win: no giveaways on the Pioneer Woman.  :(  Please give me things, Ree!

I never: really imagined going to grad school--but here I am!

I always: can use a good laugh.

I confuse: myself as I walk around campus (this place is huge).

I listen: to friends in lots of places and situations.

I am scared: if I'm ever home alone at night.

I need: dinner with friends every so often.

I am happy about: spending part of my spring break with my twin, Sarah! :)

I can usually be found: reading a book.  And don't you ever interrupt me while I'm reading a book!


Happy Monday! :)

On my shelf . . .

I hate to read.  

Okay, so let me back up and explain.  Lately,  I have hated to read.  And hated is not the right word either.  

So, lately reading stresses me out, therefore removing all the joy I previously had in the event.  I read so much for school that at the end of the day, I want only to eat chips and salsa (my Achilles' heel), and catch up on some TV show that I'm behind on--like Bones, Outsourced or Alias.  (Okay, I'm not really behind on Alias--it ended six years ago and I've already watched the whole series once from beginning to end.  I may have a problem.)  

Anyways.

See, as a student in an MA program in English, sometimes I feel like all I do is read.  Currently I'm averaging about 400-500 pages of reading a week.  As this week is spring break, I'm trying to step away from all my academic reading and rediscover why I love reading.  

Let's get a glimpse at where it all began.  They started indoctrinating me early.  I'm so gangsta, I'm so thug.  Okay, not really, but check out my backwards hat.

Perhaps I was foreseeing my future days as a disinterested MA student?  Dad, on the other hand, seems thoroughly engrossed.  

We read a lot.  In that chair.   

"Look, Daniel, reading is FUN!!!!"

After I reached about age 5, my mother subjected me to the Dorothy Hamill haircut, and I stopped being cute.  For years.  But I didn't stop loving to read.  

And I really STILL love to read.  For all my whining, grunting, groaning and pouting about the sheer amount of reading that I have this semester, I still love to read.  Weeks like this, spring break, are when I get a chance to remember what it was like to experience books before deadlines and papers and proposals.  

As part of my New Year's Purposes I determined to read more outside of school reading.  I thought it would be good to give you, my readers (since I'm narcissistic enough to imagine there are invisible reader folk waiting with baited breath for my next post) a peek into what I've been reading lately.  Some of the following are books but a few are also blogs.  I've become quite an avid blog reader (read: stalker) since August.  So, in no particular order and just for the fun of it, here is what's on my shelf (real or virtual):

1. The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde -- This series is easily the most English nerd-y thing I've ever read.  It's all about a woman (Thursday Next) who is a LiteraTec--a person who insures the validity and safety of literature--in an alternative 1985 where the Crimean War still rages and people travel by Gravitube through the center of the earth.  Thursday learns how to read herself inside books, has her husband eradicated by the ChronoGuard and comes under the tutelage of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations.  This series highlights all the things I love about books and reading while picking at the things that I find annoying or snooty.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this series.

2. Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff -- I've been an avid reader of Mr. Acuff's blog for a over a year now, and it can make me laugh until I'm crying.  Whether he's discussing Christian side hugs with 3 or 4 blessing pats or the differences between the "cool" and "uncool" van on church youth group trips, Acuff captures Christian culture in a way that is funny and poignant.  His book includes many of his bests posts as well as some other posts yet to be featured online.  Check him out.  Just don't Jesus Juke him--or he'll get mad.

3. The Pioneer Woman blog by Ree Drummond -- This blog/woman may be the sole reason I started blogging.  Awesome recipes, photography and humorous life stories about living on a ranch with her own personal Marlboro Man and four punks (read: children with said Marlboro Man).  Check her out, buy her cookbook, make her recipes, and stalk--I mean follow--her like I do.  Maybe I'll quit grad school and go live on a ranch.  

4. Marriage Confessions blog by Katie Brown -- I found Katie's blog through the Pioneer Woman--they were both up for Bloggie awards.  Seeing as only a million of my friends are getting engaged/married right now, Katie's title caught my eye.  And I have been reading through her archives ever since.  Seriously--I'm reading backwards so it's a little odd, but Katie is one of the most engaging, honest, and open writers I have ever come across.  I feel like I am sitting in her living room, watching Bean (her son) crawl around and talking about what to do with a degree in English.  Katie's candor and her frank discussions of her relationships, faith and family put her high on my list of favorites.  

5. Living Beyond Yourself:  Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit by Beth Moore -- I am actually doing the Bible study for this, rather than reading the book.  But Beth's sweet way of talking to me as if we were friends all the while confronting me with the (sometimes) difficult truths of God's Word make this Bible study priceless.  Beth has clearly studied up, and I'm enjoying digging deeper into the Fruit of the Spirit.  She's very transparent with her struggles and the lessons she has learned along the way.  It's an encouragement because I'm a slow learner, but God is always so well-timed in bringing me to a lesson that He is trying to teach me just when I need it most.  I love that.  

Of course I follow numerous other blogs and have about a million other books that I have begun but not yet finished.  I'm really looking forward to having some time this week to dig in with my books.  I plan on having a library like the one in Beauty and the Beast one day.  

For now, I'll keep reading.  Even when I don't always feel like it.  Because I know deep down inside, I'm still this kid:

A new friend

Meet Tyger!

He's the newest member of our household.  My roommate Sarah--the blond in all the pictures below--rescued him from a shelter a little over two weeks ago.  He's a puppy who weighs 18 pounds (as of yesterday) and is 2-4 months old.  The vet said he'll probably be 50-60 pounds when he's full-grown, so we plan on using him as a horse. :)  Just kidding!

Tyger's favorite activities currently include hiding under Aunt Carrie's legs

Chewing bones (see above picture)

Snuggling

Giving kisses

And using Aunt Carrie as a chew toy.  Unfortunately there are no pictures of this, due to the fact that I normally spend that time saying, "No, Tyger!  I'm not a chew toy!" and trying to escape the puppy jaws of death.  

Tyger has been a funny addition to our house.  It's been an adventure for two twentysomethings to train a puppy.  Well, mainly for Sarah.  I sit around and laugh as she chases Tyger around the house.  But sometimes I am helpful!  Like the time when Tyger decided he had to go potty in the house and it was pouring rain.  Sarah ran around, collecting rain slickers and leashes, while I made sure Tyger didn't stand still for too long, if ya catch my drift. :)

Tyger has been learning commands such as "sit", "stay" and "fetch" and I must say I'm quite impressed with my little puppy nephew.  He's smart and already has such a personality.  And I'm learning too--all about puppies and training.  Also a tiiiiiiny glimpse of what it will be like to be a mom someday.  Wow!

Also, in culinary news, I baked my very first cheesecake!  Cheesecake is my absolute favorite dessert in the whole world.  I had never made one before.  I was intimidated by how tough cheesecake is supposed to be to make.  So, I googled Easy Cheesecake Recipes.  This was the one I found that I ended up using:

NY Cheesecake Recipe and Video  

I didn't actually watch the video.  I just followed the instructions.  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the process because I was in a bit of a hurry.  Also, I didn't photograph the finished product because, well, like I said, I like cheesecake.  :)  But, I did find the recipe very simple to follow.  The cheesecake did not crack and I was pretty proud of myself!

Well, I'm off to pack for Spring Break!  I can't wait to relax and read.  I'll catch you up on what's on my bookshelf in a few days. :)