Monday, April 6, 2009

Writing Ourselves
with Monica Wood

On Saturday, April 4th, seventy teacher-consultants of the Maine Writing Project and Southern Maine Writing Project gathered at the Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast Inn and Conference Center in Hallowell for an inspiring day of writing, sharing, and reconnecting. 

Organized by Heather Pullen, Maureen Montgomery, & Rich Kent and sponsored by MWP Professional Development, led by Kristen McCollum and Maureen Montgomery--and the many teacher-consultants (TCs) who present statewide--Writing Ourselves began with an intimate keynote by novelist and longtime writing project friend, Monica Wood. 

Following Monica's keynote, we got down to work in a fast-paced workshop that had TCs creating a personal toolkit for our own writing.  We left the morning session with pages of ideas and tired hands and brains. 

Lunch was a scrumptious buffet of gourmet veggie lasagna, chicken, a wowza salad, and a homemade custard. 

The afternoon kicked off with writing time and then small group discussions on fiction/nonfiction writing, finding time and space  for our writing, writing centers, technology and writing, poetry, and publishing. 

And we capped off the day with a social "hour" (Insert: 90 minutes) filled with conversation, great food & drink, and friends. 

You may click on many of the photos below to enlarge.
Monica Wood offering a very personal keynote prior to her workshop.  

Click on photo to enlarge. 
Monica Wood and Rich listen in to a sharing. 
We filled pages upon pages during Writing Ourselves and left with a toolkit of writing exercises, ideas, and prompts. We'll be sharing the toolkit prompts in the next MaineWrites newsletter. 
MWP & SMWP teacher-consultants busy writing during Monica's workshop. 
Claire Moriarty reads to a few of her TC friends from her Summer Institute class of 2005. 
Bailey Hill reads from a piece she wrote during the workshop. 
Lynn Roach reads a piece she composed in Monica Wood's "Word-a-minute" exercise. 
Chris and Karen chat after lunch. 
Kate Kennedy facilitates a session on fiction and nonfiction writing. 
Rich makes a point in a session on publishing. 
Poet Woody Woodsum leads a discussion on poetry in the B&B's living room. 
Other poets chat in the living room.  
The writing and technology session led by Dave Boardman and Ken Martin.
Ken Martin and Sandip Wilson chat about teaching, learning, and writing. 
Rich and Monica toast to an inspiring writing conference. 
Our afternoon social went from 3pm to 4:30pm with lots of laughter and sharing.