Frontier School Division English Language Arts teachers gathered in Winnipeg for a 2-day writing workshop in April on "Why Does Writing Matter? Social Justice, Human Rights, and Being Writers." The first day began with a Writing Marathon at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The “writing marathon” has a long and rich tradition in The National Writing Project (nwp.org), designed to engage groups of teachers in a day of exploring a place through writing and sharing their writing with one another. As a site for a Writing Marathon, the CMHR prompted powerful writing--explorations of injustice, trauma, and pain as well as resiliency and hope. On the second day, we explored ideas related to place-based writing at the Forks. We began with a "spirit reading" in the Oodena Celebration Circle, and spent an invigorating morning "writing in place" through writing and digital photography. The afternoon was dedicated to "workshopping" our writing in writing groups, ending with a collaboratively written digital story and our own celebration circles--sharing our writing and affirming our identities as writers with one another.
Thank you to Frontier School Division (English Language Arts) for the invitation to lead this workshop and for your investment in teachers as writers and teachers of writing. --Michelle Honeyford
Thank you to Frontier School Division (English Language Arts) for the invitation to lead this workshop and for your investment in teachers as writers and teachers of writing. --Michelle Honeyford