Workshop Presenter Catherine Arnold

Catherine Arnold taught for over twenty years in self-contained, multi-graded, K-8 classrooms in small, rural schools in Northern California. She's been associated with Redwood Writing Project, a regional site of the California Writing Project and the National Writing Project, since 1987 when she attended her first Invitational Summer Institute. She has been active as a Teacher-Consultant since that time and claims the Writing Project has had a profound impact on her professional career. At the present time, she is studying digital imaging and publishing, and is a member of RWP's Technology Team. You may contact Catherine at her e-mail address:
carnold6160@sbcglobal.net

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Workshop Presenter Vicki Kurtz

Vicki Kurtz has taught at Hoopa Valley High School since 1986. She completed RWP in 1987; although she says it was a major turning point in her career and "made her the teacher she is today," she did not become actively involved in the organization until 2004. Currently, Vicki is the Rural Sites Liaison and one of the Glamorous Ladies of Technology. In addition, she has been involved with the California Writing Project's Improving Students' Academic Writing (ISAW).

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Workshop Presenter Mauro Staiano

I grew up in the Salinas Valley and came to Humboldt in 1990. Aside from a couple of years in Europe, I’ve been here ever since.  

I am a three-time graduate of Humboldt State University (BA, Teaching Credential and MATW) and have been teaching for 15 years, two in the Czech Republic and for the last 12 years for Eureka City Schools. I am currently co-chair of the Eureka High English Department and chair of EHS the technology committee.

I have been involved with the Redwood Writing Project for many years, participating in the Advanced Technology Institute both as a student and instructor, the Summer Invitation Institute, and the Camp Mattole retreat.

Technology has been a part of my classroom from the beginning (my mentor teacher and I had the first high-speed internet connection at Eureka High way back in 1997) and I spend probably more time than I should figuring out ways to meaningfully incorporate technology into the curriculum.

Here are a few of my online projects:

• Advanced Placement Literature (assignment blog)
• 9th Grade English (assignment blog)
• My EHS Web Pages
• EHS English Department
• Humboldt Soccer League

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Workshop Presenter Anne Sahlberg

Anne teaches English in a computer lab at McKinleyville High School. Two years ago, she attended RWP’s Summer Institute, became a 2008 fellow and teacher consultant. “RWP saved me from viewing teaching as a ‘grind’ and made me fall in love with writing all over again.” Last summer, Anne continued her affiliation attending RWP’s Advancing Technology Institute and was inspired to bring new applications to high school students.

Additionally, Anne enjoys providing workshops and professional development opportunities locally and across the state by presenting for NHUHSD, HCOE, Fall English Studies Conference Uniting Educators (FESCUE), RWP Spring Writing Conference 2009, and at CATE 2009.

Contact her by email at asahlberg@nohum.k12.ca.us (There is a strong spam filter so be sure to include “RWP” and topic in the title).

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Workshop Presenter Sue McIntyre

I attended my first RWP Summer Institute in 2004. The opportunity to work with K-16 teachers from varying disciplines renewed my teaching spirit and set me on a course of ongoing professional development and teacher inquiry. I currently serve as Director of RWP, on the National Writing Project's Rural Sites Network Leadership Team, and on the board of directors for the Humboldt Literacy Project.

In my free time, I teach composition at Humboldt State University. While I've increasingly incorporated technology into my courses over the past ten years, participating in last summer's RWP Advanced Technology Institute turned a passing interest into a near obsession. I began by incorporating Virtual Fridays--online class activities in lieu of face-to-face meetings--into my composition classes in Fall 2009. I'm now working on a HSU-supported Class Transformation Project, and in Spring 2011 I'll be offering a "hybrid" version of the required freshman composition class, in which at least 50% of the class activities and work will be completed online. I also hope to work with a group of colleagues in the coming year to pilot an ePortfolio system for our composition classes.

Overall, I believe that the New Writing Pedagogy--incorporating online technologies into academics--engages students in authentic writing, builds on their existing expertise, opens up new opportunities for their voices to be heard, and better prepares them for the lives they will be leading in an increasingly tech-dependent society. With so many possibilities unfolding all the time, I'll never know enough about teaching with technology to consider myself a true expert. However, I truly enjoy the time I spend learning about tech teaching strategies, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share my experiences with others.

Thanks for joining me!

Sue

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Workshop Presenter Tracy Duckart

Tracy Duckart has been a grateful devotee of the Redwood Writing Project since her first Invitational Summer Institute in 1996, and she eagerly accepted the opportunity to serve as its Technology Programs Director in 2000. Tracy teaches undergraduate composition at Humboldt State University and serves as the English Department's Director of Composition. 






Please visit the following links for a sampling of Tracy's technology projects:

• The Cache: Tracy Duckart's Instructional Website at Humboldt State University
• The Redwood Writing Project Website
• Advancing Technology 2009
• Critical Writing Text Review Central: A Student Project
  
• CommonThreads in NYC: A National Conference Presentation Blog
• CompPort

Contact Tracy at tracy.duckart@humboldt.edu or 707.826.5958.

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Workshop Presenter Nicolette Amann

I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and moved Humboldt in 1990 to attend Humboldt State University. After completing my Master's degree program in English in 1996, I started teaching composition for Humboldt State University, College of the Redwoods, and Veterans Upward Bound.

In 2002 I attended the RWP Summer Institute, and I was hooked! I have been involved with RWP ever since that summer as a Teacher Consultant, member of the Site Council, and now as a proud member of the Tech Team. The thing I enjoy the most about my RWP work is the opportunity to work with and learn from fellow teachers.

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Workshop Presenter Rachel Davis

Rachel teaches 2nd-3rd grade language arts and nearly everything else for 4th-5th grade at Van Duzen Elementary in the tiny town of Mad River. As a recent addition to the Redwood Writing Project, (Summer 2008) she is exploring every opportunity that RWP offers. The summer Advanced Technology Institute was the latest such opportunity.

Contact her by e-mail at rdavis@tcoek12.org

Visit her classroom wiki at http://vanduzenroom2.wikispaces.com/

Links of Interest

Glogster rubric and tutorial for using as a wiki page

Educational Examples from Glogster.com

Click on images to see enlarged view

Student and Teacher Ideas for Glogster

Illustrations for a story

Report/Posters-use for captions and add sound/movie clips

Art projects with graphics

Poems-use Glogster to create backgrounds/illustrations

Language Arts posters

Use as a way to post videos on the internet/our wiki

Use as an alternative to Power Point presentations

Store pictures of our artwork online

Newsletters for parents

Online resources

Information for parents

Biography for teacher/students

Link to documents and use as a portfolio

Scrapbooking tool/report

Location for student movies

Creative writing project

Melding Power Point and other graphic/presentation programs

Introduction to a topic or unit

Review/Study guide for students

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