New place, new voices, new writing.

The open-mic reading sponsored by EFLJ will take place in a new venue: Whiskey Mansion on the corner of 18th and Francis.

The reading wil take place on Thursday, November 11, 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM.

Our hosts will have bottomless cups of coffee and pastries, and will make available a menu for anyone who wants a meal.

Please come by and read, listen, eat, and enjoy.

More information on the Whiskey Mansion:

http://www.whiskeymansion1885.com/index.html

Faculty defeat Student Government Association

On Wednesday, October 20, The faculty basketball team, 1/3 comprised of EFLJ faculty, defeated the Student Government Association (SGA) 37-35. Bob "Sweet Knees" Bergland and Mike "No-Look-Pass-Oops-Sorry" Cadden represented EFLJ with some dignity if not actual ability.

The game was part of the seventh annual basketball tip-off party in the MWSU Fieldhouse. After the actual SGA staff fell woefully behind to the collective and considerable talent of the MWSU faculty team, the ringers were brought in to close the gap.

Considering that the game featured a continuous 15-minute clock, the faculty were at a clear disadvantage toward the end. Most faculty are not built to run for more than a few minutes at a time. Our strategy of looking ridiculous enough to reduce the opponent to laughter proved effective as they were unable to block our shots while doubled-over on the floor giggling.

The rest of the year will be devoted to resting in preparation for next year's game.

LeAnn Neal Reilly Book Tour Underway

Follow LeAnn on her "Pump Up Your Book" blog tour. Details about her virtual and actual stops are on her web site: http://www.nealreilly.com/events/

If you've wondered how an author works in self-promotion (or were unaware that creative writers have to do that), this is a good vista into the process.

Good luck, LeAnn!

National Writing Project Monograph Published

Jane Frick and Tom Pankiewicz have had their description of the Prairie Lands Writing Project 2003 retreat published in a monograph itself published by the National Writing Project and the U. of California, Berkeley. The publishers describe the work:

"This monograph captures how two sites who are at different points in their institutional lives use visioning retreats to take stock of their sites and look forward, to align programs with capacity, to distribute leadership, and to engage teachers beyond the summer institute.

Live Oak Writing Project and Prairie Lands Writing Project use visioning retreats to explore the continuity opportunities that their respective sites need and can support. Through their intentional work at visioning retreats, both sites have expanded their leadership, built site capacity, and supported new learning.

(Re)Visioning Site Work: Extending the Reach and Relevance of NWP Sites includes rich material that other sites might adapt or replicate to plan visioning or other types of retreats. Extensive appendices include documents that are appropriate for immediate use.
Each site has different objectives in engaging in visioning retreats, but both share a reliance on a vehicle (visioning retreat) to bring together key leaders at a site to think collectively about the sustainability of the site. The monograph describes in detail both sites' planning process and subsequent results."

Download " (Re)Visioning Site Work: Extending the Reach and Relevance of NWP Sites"

Congratulations, Jane and Tom, on the publication itself and of raising the profile of the PLWP as a national player in writing instruction.

When Writing Teachers Write IX

Join us for a reading by writing teachers in celebration of the National Day on Writing

Wednesday, October 20, 2010
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Missouri Western State University – Blum Union Hoff Conference Room 219

Area writing teachers will share their poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. John Minnick from North KC's Staley High School will be your host. The event is sponsored by Prairie Lands Writing Project.

See you there!

September Accomplishments

Dr. Kaye Adkins attended the international meeting of the Council of Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication. She co-presented "Multi-purposing Portfolios: Student and Program Assessment with a Single Instrument." She is also the new treasurer for the organization.

English faculty members Dr. Jane Frick and Mr. Tom Pankiewicz are the co-authors of a monograph, "(Re)Visioning Site Work: Extending the Reach and Relevance of NWP Sites," with Elaine White at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, which has been published as a part of the National Writing Project's "At Work" series.

Prairie Lands Writing Project has received a $5000 Carnegie Foundation National Reading Initiative extension grant awarded by the National Writing Project to work with content area teachers to improve their reading teaching during 2010-2011. Western's National Writing Project site is using the grant funds to support a "Developing Content Area Literacy with Web 2.0 Tools" Professional Learning Community (PLWP) this fall. Eighteen teachers, grades 7 -12 in all content areas, are participating in the PLC conducted by PLWP Teacher Consultants Valorie Stokes, Platte County High School media coordinator (PLC director); and Jen Vermillion, Mid-Buchanan high school Spanish teacher, and Michelle Irby, Lathrop High School math teacher (PLC facilitators).

Dr. Jeanie Crain completed reaffirmation review and recommendation for Butler County Community College (KS); she completed reviews of ten AQIP Action Projects.

Banned Books 2010

About two thousand people (Okay, maybe only seventy people with large auras) gathered this past Wednesday evening in recognition of American Library Association's Banned Books Week and read from some materials previously considered armed and dangerous.

Readers & Books:
Ms. Sarah Lawson, Anchor and Producer, News-Press 3 Now read from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain;
Mr. John Minnick, Member of the Prairie Lands Writing Project read from And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson;
Dr. Cindy Heider, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President, MWSU read poetry by Shel Silverstein; Mr. Steve Silvius, President of the student chapter of the International Reading Association (IRA) read from Hatchet by Gary Paulsen; Ms. Mary Beth Revels, Director of the St. Joseph Public Library read from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; Ms. Jessica Wilkinson, President of the student chapter of the National Council of Teachers of English (SNCTE) read from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; Dr. Allison Sauls, Chair of the Department of Art, MWSU read "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso” by Gertrude Stein; and Dr. Cynthia Jenéy, Associate Professor of English, MWSU read from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adam

No arrests again this year, though we think that any event that includes lemon bars and iced tea can't be that seditious.

Join us again next year, and bring a date!