As the culminating event of my self-assessment, I am responsible for organizing a day of writing workshops for high school students. As of right now, the event is scheduled for Thursday, May 1, 2008. It will be a five-hour day, beginning at 9am and ending at 2pm. I am going to send out invitations to each high school in my county (there are ten of them) and invite each one to bring between five and ten students.
Soooo, here is where you (hopefully) come in.
I need your ideas and feedback!
What types of workshops should be offered?
Should the registration fee be per student or per school? How much should I charge?
What information is essential on the application? (I have some thoughts in mind as to what the application should look like, but I feel like I am missing something.)
How do I keep the invitation from becoming another piece of unwanted teacher junk mail?
Etc.?
I have never done this before, so I am very nervous. I want it to be a fantastic experience - not only for the students, but for the accompanying teachers as well. I know that planning a field trip is a lot of work and stress; there is nothing worse than going through all those steps only to learn that the event you are attending has been poorly planned and organized.
Any insight and information you could offer - regardless of how seemingly simple or obvious - would be *greatly* appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated assistance. I hope you are all enjoying a happy and healthy holiday season.
Next topic: What does a midterm exam look like in creative writing?
2 comments:
Since it's a one-day event, I would say that you should definitely include poetry writing. Easy to write several poems, revise them, read them out loud, etc. I'm sure you've got some good ones, but I have several poetry exercises if you need any. Just let me know.
As to the amounts to charge, the application, I don't really have an idea, since I've never done anything like this either. But maybe you could promise some form of publication, as an enticement? On a web page or in print?
When you invite teachers from other schools, ask them to submit their favorite/most successful writing activity before the workshop. You can compile these in a booklet to share with all participants, use some of the activities at the workshop, and give credit to people who will be thrilled to share their successes. I used a similar approach for a department workshop on teaching poetry, and it was a great experience. Another highly successful experience involved a Saturday morning workshop for area-wide students in which one of our alums who is now a college prof directed a workshop largely based on open-ended writing prompts; students wrote for short period and then shared their work. The prof offered some positive criticism.
Charging a fee is a tricky issue because it may very well deter potential participants. Can you get someone to sponsor the workshop? Any money available from your school or district? Maybe you can charge a minimal fee for publishing the students' work (as Dr.BA suggests) and include the teaching ideas in publication? If you do charge a fee, I suggest it cover lunch at the least; people are willing to pay for food!
Good luck! Keep us posted. : )
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