This has been one of the most challenging yet utterly rewarding years I have ever had. Imagining and then creating the Mercy Reading and Writing Center has been a wonderful experience overall, and I am very proud of what we’ve done so far, and am even more excited to how we can build upon the base we’ve established.

Reflections:

When I say I have my dream job, I mean it. I have never been this excited to go to work every day, nor this personally and professionally fulfilled by my work. I am passionate about teaching reading and writing, passionate about our students in general, passionate about the benefits on conferencing with students individually, and passionate about LALAC (Language and Literacy Across the Curriculum). I feel like all of my schooling is finally worth something, and I know how lucky I am to be in this position, lucky to be able to use the best of my talents and education in an innovative environment.

I’ve been re-reading my professional blog entries from the past year, and am including the text of the first one (May 2006)

" Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I remember writing that on the white board on my first day of teaching, ever, and oddly enough, a number of students (they were high school freshmen then, now they are college sophomores and juniors) still remember it. Even though it is a trite saying, it still makes me happy that they know it, and maybe even sometimes think about it.

I like beginnings because they are so exhilarating. That probably also explains why I am always trying something new (this spring, SCUBA, this summer, running a half marathon) and also why I am addicted to travel (Slovenia or Turkey, Slovenia or Turkey): days open up, wide with the unknown, fraught with things that will work or not work, busses that will come or not come, and you move through it all, studying the chaos that will become a part of the stories you tell.

So, we begin this reading and writing center, this website, and we try to piece this together ex nihilo, out of nothing. Call it a blank slate, a room waiting for redesign, a template without content. Call upon friends, the guidebooks, the bits and pieces of experience that are threaded together like so much lint from the screen of the clothes dryer. Call yourself to make sure you are still there.

And then head out the door, because this is the first day of the rest of your life.

It has been nearly a year since I wrote that, and I am still feeling that sense of newness and exhilaration. While in many ways creating the MRWC was creating something new on a blank slate, it wasn’t an entirely blanks slate, and so one of the things that I know now that I didn’t know then is that so much of program building is public relations and, to a lesser extent, politics. Since I had been working at Mercy in a staff/administrative capacity, and since the room that houses the MRWC has been known as something else for as long as anyone can remember, I had a lot of things to break down and disassemble, while simultaneously tying to build up and assemble. Some people knew I had a background in teaching and was working as staff while finishing my MA degree, but many did not (including students), so from the beginning of the year I was faced with the challenge of not only building credibility for the MRWC but for myself as well. One of the best pieces of advice I received at the IWCA Summer Institute, and have since read it in several books on starting writing centers, is that faculty will generally fall into three groups: one group who will be on your team from the outset, one group who are in the middle and could be persuaded, and one group who no matter what you do you won’t ever reach. The advice was to focus on the first two groups and not worry about the third, and that single piece of advice has been most helpful. So, by initially working with the departments who were so excited they scheduled me into their classes for August in May (Social Studies and Religion), word quickly spread and as of March, I do feel like I have the support of almost everyone in the first two groups, and the number of people in the third group are very small.

The two things we at the MRWC are most proud of are the number of individual conferences we have had with students and the number of in-class workshops we have been invited to give. I was a bit concerned with how the block schedule might potentially limit the number of students who would have time to see us, and while I do think it is restrictive, between the lunch, collaboration and after school times, the online conferences, and the in-class sessions, we have been able to work with every Mercy student several times over (and some even more than that). The senior workshops for their application essays were really fun, and I predict that they will continue to grow in popularity. One students has received two handwritten notes from admissions officers at schools she’s been accepted to, each of them indicating how much they enjoyed reading her personal statement. Overall, I think the students are benefiting from the individualized support and I hope that it is translating into improved reading and writing in each of their classes. From the feedback we are getting from teachers, it appears to be.

Something else which we have found really productive is meeting with the parents in various situations. The parent night we offered on reading was successful, and the meetings we have had with individual parents have been very positive as well. In addition, working with the parents on the homework committee reinforced the need for us to help “teach” the parents as well as the students. We have also enjoyed working with faculty one-one-one, whether that has been researching new curriculum (i.e. texts) they could use in their classes or disseminating new activities whenever we have come across them. To this end, staying current in the field through reading journals is enormously useful. Every week we get an email from NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) which has annotated links to the articles of the week, as well as to classroom activities of the week. We are also on several email list-servs in which teachers of reading and writing share advice and strategies, and since teaching is really about sharing, not about reinventing the wheel, it is very helpful to get ideas from people all over the country, and then share them with my colleagues here.

With the block schedule, our students are scheduled into classes all day long. Vvery few have any "breaks" and even then, they are assigned to the Library with the option of migrating to a subject specific study center.  When we were envisioning the MRWC, one of the obstacles was to figure out how to really be able to work with students if they were not going to be free to drop in to get help, like they would in a traditional writing center. I thought if they can't come to us, why can't we come to them?  So, the idea was to collaborate with teachers across the campus to create workshops that could take place in their classes. 

And that's exactly what has been happening since school started.  In the past few days, I've done workshops on reflection essays for Religion III and IV, on "3-2-1" notetaking for Religion I-IV, on triple entry journals and found poetry for Religion IV, understanding research based argument papers for U.S. History, and organizing notecards and creating outlines for U.S. History.  I've also thrown in mini-workshops on reading strategies like "PPP" and annotating. 

    Yesterday we had a really fabulous session on "Play" in the Writing Center.  We split into groups and went from station to station playing various improv-esque games that can be used to do everything from building community to tutor training.  Michele showed us how some of her tutors use "cootie catchers" as stress relievers or sort of a Main 8 Ball for use during tutoring sessions.  Scott had us take fortune cookies and write down the fortune, then pass it around, each of us rewriting one word at a time, until the final fortune had little resemblance to the original one.

    The thing about these activities, and why I don't think it matters how utilitarian they are or are not, is that it brings back that crazy notion that writing can be (and is)  fun!  Most of us who got into teaching writing got into it because somewhere along the line in our lives and in our educations, we discovered writing and were exhilarated by it.   When a writing class or writing center loses the possibility for fun, when it kills any chance for the writer to enjoy the process of creating and composing or even just listening to and relishing in the sounds of the words- then it becomes some sort of Platonic shadow of a Platonic shadow of what a writing class or center should be.  It is so far removed from the ideal that it becomes some grainy black and white copy made by a printer with low toner.

    And, unless we teachers/writing center people have a chance to revisit that fun and pleasure and passion that comes from writing, we forget, and when we forget, we can't pass it on to our students.  So, that workshop was really fabulous for just letting us get back to the place that inspired us to write and teach writing to begin with.

    Today (and it is only 10:20 am) we just had a session on high school/college articulation.  The Stanford Writing Center shared a video they have which shows some of the things their writing center does beyond ono-on-one tutoring.  They have community programs, like Project Write, which enables local high school students to come to Stanford one weekend day a month for an entire quarter and work on writing projects.  They also have open mic nights for their students and their students' parents.  In addition, and this is something I learned more about in my SIG, the Stanford Writing Center is training high school students in local schools to become writing tutors in their own schools.  The hope is the local schools will then be equipped to start their own student writing centers.  

    What is great about all this for me, and for Mercy's Reading and Writing Center, is that there are potentially three other high schools in our area developing writing centers, and already we could think about making a Bay Area High School Writing Center consortium- a network for us to support each other (and share information). 

    So let's do a quick round up of yesterday and today with some highlights in nor particular order.

1)  Ok, it is so hot, it is officially hott, as in hot with two ts.  I love hot weather when I am on vacation or have time to sit by the pool and drink Diet Pepsi on ice in a chilled glass.  However, like I have alluded to in a previous post, working in hot weather is more of a challenge, and sitting through meetings in hot weather is probably even harder.  But, nothing would be more difficult than hosting a conference of 40 people meeting in unairconditioned rooms in 100 degree heat (not to mention under the threat of the return of California's rolling blackouts).  So, I have to give mad props (as the kids said about 5 years ago) to the co-chairs of the conference, Clyde and Michele, for really going above and beyond to rearrange sessions, book a ballroom at a air conditioned hotel at the last minute, and switch out our tea party for an ice cream social. 

2)   Last night, the Special Interest Group (SIG) devoted to secondary writing center related issues went out to Compadres for Mexican food.  Again, I take it for granted that we have such great Mexican food in California, so it is nice to be reminded that there are many parts of the country where it is not possible to get a good burrito, or maybe even any burrito at all (I don't know how I would have made it through grad school without 5 dollar burritos sized bigger than my little dog).  Anyway, more important than the food was the chance for those of us working with high school writing centers to get together and find out from each other what experiences we have shared.  Something that has come up in several sessions this week is the fact that HS WC people don't know about other HS WC people.  There are only three HS WCs that have websites, and other than meeting people at a conference (which means you have to know about the conference to begin with), there is really no way to find out that we aren't alone in our HS WC world.  So, something to think about for the future is trying to work on finding each other, somehow. 

3)   Something else I am really grateful for is the fact the Institute has carved out time in our daily schedule for us to be able to write.   I am a member of the Composition party line that believes teachers of writing should also be writers of, well, writing.  And I crave and miss and am wistful for my undergraduate days where I actually got to take classes where it was MY JOB to make time to write.  So, I want to make sure that it remains MY JOB to write, and in the meantime, it is fabulous to be around other people who feel the same. 

4)  The Institute writing time, and co-leader Scott Miller's mention of a faculty writing group at Sonoma State, made me wonder if I could run a faculty writing retreat at Mercy for one day.  I could give out prompts beforehand, or encourage people to bring something they are already working on, but either way, the point would be to create the time and space for my colleagues and I to do the things I mentioned in the above point. 

That's all for now- there is so much more but I am so so tired.

Ok, this is oddly indicative of current society- I am in a room full of people casually chatting about writing centers and stuff, and here I am blogging about it.  Or rather, blogging about watching them talk.  So that is a big hint I need to get out of this virtual conversation with some unknown audience and back into talking with real people in real time.  For reals! as the kids would say.

I'll try to write daily about what's going on here.  Stay tuned, folks!

Summer also means summer school!  This is my fourth summer teaching 35 or so incoming 9th graders, and we are now a week and a half in.  In addition to general reading strategies and writing conventions, I am adding a focus on information literacy.  Since so many students use writing centers to help with their research (in all its stages), I am interested to see how writing centers, perhaps in collaboration with computer science/technology departments, can work together to help our students develop their critical thinking skills and then extend them to the internet.  While that is something that I hope the MRWC will be able to move towards in the next school year, I am using my summer school kids as sort of a barometer to find out where they are at in terms of information literacy.

Something I learned today, then, is that they know how to use the search bar on a variety of search engines, but that they are not coming up with useful search terms to put in those search bars.  For example, one question they were trying to answer was "What is the size of Baja California, Mexico" and many of them typed the whole question into the search box.  Unsurprisingly, their searches yielded 1,590,000 results, and glancing at the first 10, none of them provided the information the students were looking for.  I prompted them by asking, "What is the information you need to answer this question?" and several volunteered "size." 

"Ok, so how do you measure size, especially land size?" 

"Ummm, miles?"

"Yes, miles, or square miles.  So, now that you know what information you need, what are you going to put in the search bar?"

After a few haphazard guesses, one student shouted, "Baja square miles!"

"Yes!  Exactly!  Now, try that."

The information they needed came up in the first hit (FYI, Baja is approx. 56017 square miles), so I hope they made the connection between 1) knowing what information they are looking for, 2) being able to choose search terms based on that information and 3) getting good results.

I suppose there is a crossover lesson here in terms of teaching reading.  Developed readers read with a purpose, they know what they are looking for, and they are able to single out important key words/predict what important key words might be in a given text.  Since they know what they are looking for, they know when they find it, and if they don't, they go back and either read more closely or revisit what it was they were looking for to begin with.

So, now that I have written my way through this, I suppose that the lesson for me anyway is that the so-called "habits of the mind" (it sounds so jargon-y) that my students need to have to be information literate are the same habits of the mid they need to have to be mature readers. And yet again, another reason for reading and writing to be learned (and taught) across the curriculum.

However, in creating the MRWC, we are also looking at doing some redesign.  Redesign is different from redecorating because in redesign, you work with what you already have instead of going out and buying new things.  By moving some furniture in and out, and utilizing donations from various staff and faculty, I am hoping the MRWC will be transformed from its current utilitarian computer lab/AV storage/land of filing cabinets to something with a Writing Center ethos (which in my mind looks vaguely like the former Jahva House coffeehouse in Santa Cruz (Jahva, we miss you!). 

I have drawn a sketch of the potential new layout: 

I am really interested in finding out more about the reading and writing lives of our students. What books do they read on their own?  Who write poems?  Journals? Stories? The same goes for faculty- I know one teacher who is a science fiction novelist on the side. Who else writes for fun?  What do the people I work with read when they aren't reading student work?

And parents!  We probably have parents who write professionally, but we don't know it.  Or maybe one mom or dad has an entire library of historical fiction, or a penchant for Jane Austen, or maybe they read extensively in several languages- who knows? 

Then, there are the reading and writing lives that most people don't think about: the reading they do for work, the emails, the instant messages, the notes they leave for their friends or family- all these little literacies that go unnoticed because they are so ingrained in our lives.

And then there are the reading and writing lives we would like to lead: when I was in grad school, I kept a list of all the things I wanted to read after I graduated.  Or, like many teachers, books we plan to read once school is over.  Or when we go on vacation, or retire.  The same goes for writing- we speak of taking time off "to write" or, if we are students,  maybe we plan our futures around the romance of writing.

Right now, I am looking at the students in the study center who are poring over the yearbooks they received today.  Three others are on the computers: two are checking email, and one is working on a Power Point.  I'm sitting here writing this.  It is the steady but imperceptible hum of literacy, but the term literacy itself almost seems to formal (or is it our perception of the word as form); it is the buzz of people communicating with and from and by texts.

It is a nice sound if you can hear it. 

· First, it will be a space for students from any subject area to drop in and get support
and/or feedback on any writing or reading assignment.

· Second, since the students will not have breaks in their schedule, the MRWC will also host an Online Writing Lab, which will be a web based version of the physical writing center. Many of the same resources that are available in the MRWC will also be available online, including the option for students to submit their questions and works-in- progress, via email. Feedback will be guaranteed within 24 hours (during the school week).

· Third, the MRWC will be staffed by a full time Reading and Writing Specialist, who will be available to come to any classroom to support any reading or writing assignments or projects.

· Fourth, the MRWC will be dedicated to fostering a community of literacy, which means that faculty and staff will have opportunities to share what they are reading and/or writing, and that there will be several community service projects for the students, including a peer tutor training program.

The Mercy Reading and Writing Center will be located in Room 109, in the Main Building, in the home of the former ESC.. Please note that the MRWC will not be a new reincarnation of the ESC, nor an extension of the English Department. Rather, the Mercy Reading and Writing Center will be its own autonomous program. One of the main reasons for this is our strong philosophy that reading and writing are skills that are learned in every class, not just in English classes. In order for students to excel at both reading and writing, they need to learn strategies that are specific to each academic discipline, i.e. since reading a science textbook requires a different set of skills than reading a short story, the MRWC will support reading and writing across the curriculum.

Several faculty have already expressed interest in the potential of the MRWC, and a couple are already thinking about ways we can support them in the classroom.  This makes me happy to no end. 

    I like beginnings because they are so exhilarating.  That probably also explains why I am always trying something new (this spring, SCUBA, this summer, running a half marathon) and also why I am addicted to travel (Slovenia or Turkey, Slovenia or Turkey): days open up, wide with the unknown, fraught with things that will work or not work, busses that will come or not come, and you move through it all, studying the chaos that will become a part of the stories you tell.

    So, we begin this reading and writing center, this website, and we try to piece this together ex nihilo, out of nothing. Call it a blank slate, a room waiting for redesign, a template without content.  Call upon friends, the guidebooks, the bits and pieces of experience that are threaded together like so much lint from the screen of the clothes dryer. Call yourself to make sure you are still there.

     And then head out the door, because this is the first day of the rest of your life.