The Teachers Are Here! The Teachers Are Here! @CWPFairfield @writingproject Invitational Leadership Institute

 Last summer, for pre-dossier reasons, we did not have a traditional teacher leadership institute; rather, we held a two-week College Ready Writers Program institute for teachers. This allowed me a few extra hours each day to write for tenure.

This summer, the teacher institute has been resurrected and thanks to the kindness of a Fairfield University colleague, 10 teachers are funded to participate once again. This has been a tremendous gift given that nationally and on the state-level, excellent programs for teachers have lost funding gradually to the point that many of us are fighting for our lives. I'm grateful that a friend kept his eye on the shenanigans out his office window and wanted to invest in it, especially the teacher collaborations with youth, including Ubuntu Academy.

So, we're running again and today was the first workshop day since orientation. The beach "pals" are filled, the books distributed, the room secure, and the workshops set.

Today, we were invited to do a workshop with the Little Lab for Big Imaginations and used our 5 senses to think about narratives, essays, stories on things we love and other Ralph-Fletcher recommendations. The little kids, with the aide of Starbursts candy, taught the teachers exactly what they love to write about and how to craft stories in their own notebooks.

This was a great exercise after Ali Adan spent the morning doing team-building activities and helping the teachers learn a few new handshakes: milking the cow, the oceanic, and the NYC greeting.

The 18-hour days are back and my grays are well-earned. I'm grateful, however, that I have so many stellar teachers and CWP friends to work with. We are rocking and rolling and today, on deck, we have another series of phenomenal opportunities to spark the best writing instruction possible.