You are cordially

invited to ...

Engaging Student Writers, K-12

WMWPs Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing Fall Conference
Keynote by Alicia Lopez, recipient of the Norma Jean Anderson Civil Rights
Achievement Award and the MTA Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Bartlett Hall Lobby, UMass Amherst
6 Professional Development Hours
12 PDPs available with extension

$50 Registration Fee

($25 for full-time undergraduate
students)
Includes Coffee and Lunch

Register Online at www.umass.edu/wmwp/registration.html (please indicate session preferences)

The Western Massachusetts Writing Project has a proud tradition of featuring selected workshops by its newest Summer Institute class and veteran teacher-consultants at its annual Best Practices conference. This years
program includes 10 morning workshops, followed by a luncheon featuring keynote speaker Alicia Lopez. Five
additional workshops will be held in the afternoon.

Schedule
8:00
8:30
12:00

1:30
3:00

Coffee & Registration

Workshop sessions A & B
Lunch
Keynote by Alicia Lopez
Workshop session C
Closing & 6 PD hours certificate pickup

A Sessions (8:30 10:00)

A1. Low Stakes Writing for Student Self-Expression
This workshop will focus on the question, If students
are invited to respond to low-stakes writing prompts as
a means of self-expression and verbally record rather
than write their first drafts, will their confidence and joy
in writing increase? The ultimate goal is for students
to develop an appreciation for writing. The hope is that
this will be accomplished by changing students thinking
about writing from exclusively dry and academic-based
to viewing it as a form of self-expression and empowerment. The final aim is to deepen students thinking and
improve their writing skills.
Michelle DAmore teaches 8th grade English at Baird
Middle School in Ludlow. She is also the English/Reading
Department Chair.
A2. The Role of Roles in Writing
This presentation branches from work on improving
students science argument writing. The National Writing Project has been studying what a prompt elicits from
students. Our Western Mass. science group has become

interested in sentence frames and other simple scaffolding. How well does casting students into a particular role
improve their writing? Most teachers include role and
audience in a writing prompt. This presentation pushes
toward more investment in casting students in a particular role to answer a scientific question. This can include
appealing to their own sense of social justicecasting
themselves as themselves. This session is appropriate for
teachers of all grade levels.
Karl Muench teaches 8th grade science at Collins Middle
School in Salem, MA.
A3. Content Area Literacy (and a few other surprises)
to Engage Learners
This workshop, most appropriate for teachers who teach
grades 3-7, will provide participants with an opportunity
to explore who they are as learners, writers, and teachers
of writing in the content areas. After they have had time
to reflect on their own learning on topics and to map out
topics they teach or would like to teach, participants will
embark on a short study of invertebrates and use this
study as a vehicle to explore Writing-to-Learn and other
creative experiences as they apply to the study of this
vast and important group of animals. Participants will
walk away with a combination of reflection about their
own learning processes and teaching practices, easy-touse writing strategies to implement right away in their
classrooms, and some life-changing information about
the animals that comprise 97% of our animal kingdom.
Marian Parker co-teaches in an upper elementary
classroom, grades 4-6, at The Montessori School of
Northampton.

Western Massachusetts Writing Project

A4. Writing Portfolios: Student Reflection and Goal

Setting
This workshop will explore the importance of reflection as
an ongoing process in the student portfolio. Some teachers
ask their students to set goals, but the students only reflect
on those goals a couple times during the year. Reflection
should be an ongoing process, and students need models
to work from when developing goals and writing more
formal reflections. Participants in this workshop will look
at student writing samples and discuss what this could
look like in their classrooms. Participants are encouraged
to bring student samples from their own classes as well.
The targeted audience is teachers in grades 6-8.
Sarah Gengel teaches grades 7 and 8 ELA at the Paxton
Center School in the Wachusett Regional School District.
A5. Whats the Brain Got to Do With It? Taking a
Closer Look at the Brain and Universal Design for
Learning for Readers and Writers
In this workshop, participants will take a basic path
through the awesome and mind-boggling brain. They will
understand the relationship of neuroscience and UDL.
They also will become familiar with the principals of
UDL and consider how to apply them to their lessons for
their diverse students. This workshop is best suited for
elementary-level teachers.
Elizabeth Devlin is a reading specialist at Wildwood
Elementary School in Amherst.

B Sessions (10:15 11:45)

B1. Writing Makes Sense in Math: Supporting Student
Writing in Mathematical Problem Solving
This workshop will explore strategies for improving
students writing in math as well as ways to increase
the amount of joy that students take from their written
math work. Helping our students become more adept at
sense-making in math is becoming even more important
to teachers of math at every level. This is especially challenging for students who are anxious about math. How
can we help students write with clarity and feel successful
about the written expression of their mathematical thinking? When students gain confidence, their attitude toward
math will certainly improve. Grade level: 3-8.
Johanna Greenough co-teaches in an upper elementary
classroom, grades 4-6, at The Montessori School of
Northampton.
B2. Prewriting Techniques: How to Intrigue Different
Types of Learners, Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic
This session explores different types of prewriting techniques for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners to
further their writing process. Each technique we go over
will touch base on one or more of the different learning
styles, as well as focus on either narrative, persuasive, or

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argumentative writing. These techniques are appropriate

for 8th-12th grade.
Kasey Leslie is pursuing a Masters in Education at Elms
College.
B3. Making Student Writing Portfolios More Interactive and Engaging
This presentation will engage participants in activities
that explore how to revive student writing portfolios in
the middle grades. Participants will read an article and
reflect on what it means to make the writing portfolio real.
Two strategies will be shared and discussed: (1) Sentence
frames for feedback and (2) Electronic portfolios on
Google Drive with reflections. Lastly, participants will
have conversations about how teachers can engage their
students in feedback and reflection.
Michelle Eastman is a Grade 6 Teacher of Math, ELA,
and Reading at JFK Middle School.
B4. Rhetorical Analysis and Moves: Strategies to
Support Students in the Art of Persuasion and Argumentation
For middle and high school students, the ability to argue
based on evidence rather than opinion is a key component
of being college and career ready, and it is an expectation
of the Common Core. In this session, participants will
perform a rhetorical analysis and be introduced to strategies for effectively utilizing templates from the book They
Say/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
Amber OReilly is a science teacher and Department
Chair at Duggan Academy in Springfield, MA.
B5. Planning and Differentiating Online with the
Literacy Design Collaborative
The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) allows teachers to create and share online instructional plans. This
workshop will introduce participants to the power of
this collaborative tool, customize a bank of skill-based
prompts to the tasks they assign students, and add specific
demands to the task to differentiate the prompt while
staying true to the same core skill. With a skill-based task
in place, LDC guides teachers through the development of
instructional strategies and mini-tasks that focus learning and formative assessment. Participants will learn how
to use LDC and enjoy results they can use on Monday.
Damian Konkoly teaches at Minnechaug Regional High
School; Karin Kayser teaches at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School.

C Sessions (1:30 3:00)

C1. 2015 Summer Institute Reunion
For 2015 SI alums only.
C2. Google Apps for Writers and Readers
As more and more schools move over to Google Apps
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for Education, more educators are wondering how best
to use the tools in the Google suite of programssuch
as Slides, Docs, Forms, and Sitesto engage students as
learners. In this workshop, participants will dive into the
collaborative nature of Google programs with hands-on
writing and reading activities as we reflect on the possibilities for classrooms. Note: Participants ideally should
have an account with Google (such as basic Gmail) but it
is not necessary for participants to be part of the Google
Apps for Education program. This workshop is appropriate for teachers of all grade levels.
Kevin Hodgson teaches 6th grade at the William E. Norris
Elementary School in Southampton, and he is the WMWP
co-director of technology.
C3. Science Writing InquiryExploring Argument
Writing in the Sciences
WMWP members of a national SEED Science Writing
Inquiry group are a little more than halfway through a
two-year study of writing arguments in the sciences,
thanks to a federal grant awarded to the National Writing
Project. They will share what they have learned so far
from their work, the work of the four other participating
WP sites, and will invite participants to look at some of
the student work that has resulted from this inquiry. The
session will end with a whole group discussion of how
this work can be shared with other teachers, schools and
districts. Grade levels: Middle and high school teachers.
Jack Czajkowski teaches at Elms College, Susan Fisher
teaches in the Pioneer Valley Regional School District,
Hollington Lee teaches for the Ludlow Public Schools,
Eileen Lynch teaches for the Westfield Public Schools,
and Lisa Rice teaches in the Southampton Public School
District.
C4. The Holocaust Education Network
Joanne Wisniewski, retired West Springfield Middle
School teacher, and Cara Crandall, facilitator of the
Holocaust Teacher Institute, will lead a panel discussion
about this summers institute. They will include glimpses
into the workshops, resources shared, and tell about field
trips they took. If you are interested in teaching about
the Holocaust or already do, this session will give you
more insights into the topic and a preview of next summers session. This discussion is aimed at middle school
and high school teachers, especially English and history.
C5. I-Search: Engaging Student Writers through
Independent Inquiry Projects
Developed by Ken Macrorie, the I-Search reinvents the
traditional research paper and encourages students to

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take ownership of the research process. Using studentgenerated questions as a starting point, I-Searchers seek
information that will benefit them in some way, creating
motivation that helps them through the research process.
Along the way, high school students learn essential
research skills, including how to access and evaluate a
variety of sources, synthesize information, cite correctly,
and organize their work. The end result is a narrative
research paper that tells the story of the writers search
and reflects thoughtfully on what has been learned.
Jonathan Weil teaches English at Longmeadow High
School.

Best Practices Keynote Speaker

Alicia Lopez

Alicia Lopez has been teaching for over 20

years. At first a French, then Spanish teacher,
she now teaches English Language Learners.
Currently, she is in her 11th year of teaching
at Amherst Regional Middle School. Alicia
received her Masters in Education at UMass,
and she has been involved in the Western Massachusetts Writing Project for eight years,
presently as co-director of the Summer Institute. Alicia was the recipient of two awards last
year: the Norma Jean Anderson Civil Rights
Achievement Award and the MTA Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award. Alicia lives
in Amherst with her husband and three children, ages 14, 12, and 10.

Western Massachusetts Writing Project

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WMWP Fall Planner

Engaging Student Writers: Best
Practices in the Teaching of Writing
Saturday, October 24, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. UMass,
Bartlett Hall. See pages 1-3 for details.
WMWPs annual conference features three rounds
of concurrent sessions on such topics as digital
portfolios, writing in science and math, and Universal Design for Learning, plus a luncheon and
keynote speech by Alicia Lopez, winner of MTAs
Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award.
12 PDPs with extension option. Registration fee:
$50 ($25 for full-time undergraduate students)
National Day on Writing
Tuesday, October 20
Participate in the Seventh Annual National Day
on Writing. Submit some of your own writing,
encourage your students to participate, organize
a writing event at your school. For ideas and
information, visit: www.ncte.org/dayonwriting/.

Empowered Teachers, Engaged Students:

Building Our Capacity to Reach All Learners: NEATE Fall Conference
October 30-31. Holiday Inn, Mansfield, MA
Keynote addresses by Sonia Nieto, author of many
books on multicultural education and teacher
resilience, and Tom Newkirk, a leading authority
on writing and literacy, plus almost 15 concurrent
sessions on Friday and 3 three-hour workshops on
Saturday (including one by WMWP Technology
Co-Director Kevin Hodgson) in these strands:
Journeying toward Justice, Designing for Differentiation, and Teaching with Technology. For details and registration forms, visit www.neate.org.

Reaching and Teaching All Learners: ELL/

SPED Workshops/Grad Course
Mondays: January 11 and 25, February 8 and 22,
March 7 (ELL portion); March 28, April 11 and
25, May 9 and 23 (SPED portion); June 6 (synthesis); 4-7 p.m. Boland School, Springfield.
Teachers as Writers Contest
This program consists of two 15-hour workshops
Deadline: Tuesday, December 1
that fulfill the Massachusetts DESE requirement
WMWP invites all Massachusetts educators to sub- that all teachers renewing their licenses earn at
mit manuscripts of up to 750 words for its annual least 15 PDPs related to supporting ELLs and at
Teachers as Writers Contest. Winner receives a least 15 PDPs related to students with disabilities
gift certificate for WMWP programs and publica- and diverse learning styles. Teachers may enroll
tion in the newsletter. Submission guidelines are in either part for 15 PDPs or both for 3 credavailable at:
its. The full course may be counted as an elecwww.umass.edu/wmwp/events/teachersaswriterscontest.html. tive in the Certificate in the Teaching of Writing
Program. $150 for one 15-PDP workshop series
(ELL or SPED), $250 for entire course. $345 adWMWP Leadership Meetings
Wednesday, September 16, 4:15-6 p.m. Five Colditional for 3 UMass credits.
leges, Inc., Spring Street, Amherst; winter and
spring dates and locations TBA.
WMWP Spring Symposium
WMWP leadership meetingsopen to all WMWP Thursday, March 24, 4-8 p.m. Westfield State
University. Save the date! Details TBA.
teacher-consultantsare held for the purpose
of reviewing ongoing programs, planning future
programs, and discussing issues of importance to Questions? E-mail WMWP office manager
teachers, including the WMWP inquiry theme for Jess Ouellette at wmwp@english.umass.edu
the year, to be decided at the September meeting.
or call 545-5466.