Even though the sun stays a bit lower and leaves more quickly during the winter months, that doesn’t mean that we can’t spend time outdoors and do some writing. The Writing Project teacher-consultants and National Park Service Rangers behind October’s Write Out don’t want you to stop going outside just because it’s December! Nature can help us get the creative juices flowing, engage learners, and support important connections. To help extend Write Out into the holiday season, the team has pulled together a few simple activities and resources to get you started writing outside with friends and family over the winter holidays.
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826 Digital is a free online platform for educators that hosts a robust collection of lessons, projects, writing prompts, and student writing, developed and field-tested by educators, volunteers, and students affiliated with 826’s national network of writing and tutoring centers. In this post, they have curated a special set of activities and “sparks” they think are perfect for December.
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Holiday season can mean hard conversations as well as joyous ones. In this reflection on the 3D Digital Democratic Dialogue Project, Molly Robbins of the Denver Writing Project demonstrates that students can be helped to have those hard conversations, even with people with whom they fundamentally disagree. Robbins tells the story of how her students were empowered to speak at a professional development day for teachers, creating a powerful experience that shifted the conversation toward creating a more generative space where students felt included in their education.
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Gifting for the book lovers in your life? Shop online at Bookshop.org!Not only do you support independent booksellers, but a small portion of each purchase supports the National Writing Project. And, for all those holiday books you receive or want to add to your list, join the Book Clubbers group in the Write Now Teacher Studio to trade reading suggestions, tips for managing a book group, and thoughts about how book groups can build community today. Speaking of The Studio…
Stay tuned for new ways to find and access content, designed to make the Write Now Teacher Studio more welcoming and easier to navigate. If you haven’t joined The Studio yet, now’s a great time—it’s free! Here are some great things you can expect in The Studio this month:
Screenings: We will host three screenings of Disney’s “Growing Up,” an innovative, hybrid docu-series that explores the challenges, triumphs, and complexities of adolescence told through coming-of-age stories. Each episode uses narrative, experimental, and documentary film making to follow one individual, age 18-21, as they tell their story. Join us for a viewing and discussion. Wednesdays, December 7, 14, and 21 at 4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET(each screening will focus on a different episode and more info about how to participate will be available in The Studio soon).
Reading Group: What better time than a nice long winter break to join, or think about a book club. Join The Studio’s group Book Clubbers where you’ll find book recommendations, discussion ideas, and all talk about books and bookclubs. You do not have to be in a bookclub to join, but you might decide you want to start one after you join.
Writing Groups: Thinking about writing more in 2023? Why not get a jump start over your winter break? Join Teachers as Creative Writers or Teachers as Poets and find some other teacher writers to hang out and write with.
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