an attempt at connecting

I wrote this email today and sent it to all of the 2010 Ozarks Writing Project Summer Institute participants. It was pretty exciting reading Sarah Keeth's blog. Part of what I'm identifying as a desire of mine is connecting people with one another in meaningful ways so that good work can happen. Sometimes people are hesitant to make those connections. Sometimes people don't know that the opportunities are there. Sometimes people think they are the only ones thinking or experiencing "that," whatever "that" is. I want to help people connect to one another. Yep, that's really it. From there, if they're really interested in becoming better people, or better teachers, or better writers, or better learners, or better _______________, then they'll work together.

Margaret Wheatley, in Turning to One Another, says, "When a community of people discovers that they share a concern, change begins. There is no power equal to a community discovering what it cares about." And later, "Somewhere in the description of how it all began is the phrase: 'Some friends and I started talking...'" (p. 26).

I want to connect people, to foster conversations. I guess the email below is one attempt at doing that.

Hello all!

I know that for some the school year has begun, and for others the start is very near. I hope that the experiences from this summer’s SI are fresh in your minds and supporting your plans this year.

With all of the planning and thinking that we do as teachers, we know that things didn’t end on July 9th. I’m looking forward to seeing each of you on September 27th for our renewal, and to hearing wonderful stories of how you are using what you’ve learned in the SI.

The renewal isn’t the only way to stay connected though. Remember the Ning is always a click away. Just today I read Sarah Keeth’s wonderful blog post, “So many ideas… Where do I begin?” and was challenged with each of her points.

I want to use her blog to remind everyone of some things. #5 for Sarah is “to keep communicating with the incredible people.” The Ning is a great way to stay connected. Also, many of you are on Twitter. I recommend we use each of these resources to maintain the connections we developed in the summer.

#6 for Sarah is “I need to keep writing.” I hope each of you feel the same way. I’m so glad that Sarah chose to write and share her thoughts with us. Writing groups would be a wonderful way to keep each other accountable, without big, ugly deadlines. Sara Allen and I have been reminding each other, and checking in on each other, since we’ve begun blogging and writing everyday. Below I’ve listed personal/professional blogs of some involved (and I know that some of you are not going to be happy I’m doing that, but I’m sharing anyway). I would love to help people get connected to develop writing groups by using blogs. And if you need/want help setting up a blog, just let me know. I’ll help with that too.

Sara Allen - http://saraallen91.blogspot.com/
Casey Daugherty - http://journey2learn.blogspot.com/
Cody Walker – http://www.popgunchaos.com/
Keri Franklin - http://writingteacher.blogspot.com/
Thomas Maerke - http://mundanebrain.blogspot.com/

There may be others out there that I’m not remembering. If you do have a blog and want to share, let us know.

Have a great beginning of the year. I look forward to seeing you in September.