How will you celebrate the National Day on Writing?

[Mila M. Fuller]

America's writing will be front and center on October 20, 2009—the National Day on Writing. On that day, writers from every walk of life will pause to share their work. Communities across the nation are planning events to celebrate local writing, and NCTE will open the virtual National Gallery of Writing for all to appreciate the rich variety of work on display.

Please use this discussion forum to share a few examples or ideas of what you plan to do on October 20, 2009 to celebrate the National Day on Writing.

[Kent Williamson]

Here are just a few of the outreach strategies that NCTE Executive Committee members helped to brainstorm to get this community started:

Host a family writing night
Showcase student work using poster sessions, computer lab presentations, etc.
Hold a back to school writing celebration night
Hold an open house
Conduct a spoken word/poetry slam celebration
Hold a writers showcase or “composition of the day” leading up to the National Day
Invite well-known local/regional writers to share their writing processes and samples of their work at school or local group events
Create a thematic writing event that focuses on a specific cause—this could include showcasing “chalk art,” people writing on sticky-notes or cut-outs that could be posted on a wall or public display, graffiti art, letters to the military, writing about trauma or loss, etc.

To promote the local celebration, Curators could run a series of personalized outreach efforts, including:
Letters to local media editors;
Personalized press releases;
A model email for wide distribution through your gallery participants

Events Could be Hosted At
Libraries, Senior Citizen Halls/Residences, Coffee Shops, Restaurants, Boys and Girls Clubs, Scouts, Parent/Teacher Nights, Tech Showcases, Churches, Back to School Nights or Parent Open-Houses, Community Festivals or Events, Book Club Meetings

[Yvonne Siu-Runyan (PANA)]

Right now, I don't know exactly how I will celebrate the National Day on Writing. What I am doing is leaving flyers everywhere I go. Today, I had to go to the eye doctor and I made sure I took flyers with me to leave in the doctor's office.

Also, I have been encouraging people to go to NCTE's Web site.

Do you suppose people could be encouraged to put something on You Tube about how they are going to celebrate the National Day on Writing?

Yvonne

[Jason Simpson]

I just got approved to do a local gallery. I would like to celebrate by building a gallery of work from students, faculty and alumni from our own school and then create an event to celebrate. It might be a reading, a parent/teacher/student reading maybe. I am not sure yet how it will form.

One question I can't find an answer to in the literature is whether or not the local galleries can be viewed from the NCTE website by anyone or if it stays inhouse for whomever you give the URL/password to. Anyone know the answer to this?

[Mila M. Fuller]

Congratulations on your local gallery being accepted!

Visitors to the National Gallery of Writing, including local galleries, will be able to view submissions within all galleries. As writers contribute, they will have an opportunity to determine which fields of information they want to share with the public about their writing contribution. As a local gallery curator, you will eventually receive a URL to your gallery. This URL will not make your local gallery private, but it will make it easier for you to share your specific gallery within your community and encourage others to contribute to your local gallery.

[Mary McFarland]

Writing empowers each of us, and I'd like our whole school to share this sense of empowerment. I'd also like to take it a step past the "sharing" and, also, to expand the "sense of sharing" to the joy--and the actual act--of caring. So we'll have our day of personal empowerment through writing, but I'd like to invite community organizations that provide community support and care (in just about any capacity) to join us and to write as well. I feel that each of us can benefit from sharing through writing while receiving the gifts offered by community caregivers and volunteers.

[Mila M. Fuller]

What a wonderful idea! I really like your idea to expand the "sense of sharing" beyond the classroom and into the community. As you develop more ideas about what your students and the community will do to celebrate personal empowerment through writing please don't hesitate to share your ideas in this forum.

[Mary McFarland]

Thanks, Mila. I live in a farming area where the sense of community is strong, so I know we can strengthen our literacy and our desire to write by leveraging this strong sense of caring within our community and among our care givers. I also like the idea of inclusiveness, of bringing our online--and offlilne--communities together. I have begun the organizing process by writing a press release and inviting interested care givers to contact me to put their names on a list.

[Jodie K. Scales]

I have a local gallery set up. We had a student death this last school year. One of the teachers has asked me to post a poem writen by the student who has passed. Is that possible and how would I do that.

[Dawn Miranda-Fraser]

Hi Mila, I guess I'm jumping into this conversation rather late. However, I want to do something very big but meaningful on my campus to celebrate Oct. 20th. I have some ideas but I would like to collaborate with my colleagues on this one. I think if we put our heads together we can come up with something not just on campus but also in the community. In our community we have many universities and colleges and lots of city schools so we should really come up with something interesting. Also, we need to think of giveaways like door prizes and books that writers may want to promote. Mila, I'm thinking on my chair here so forgive me but thanks for letting me "spark" off your question. Will keep you posted.

[Marilyn Barber]

I am participating in the Writing Project Class at University of Maryland College Park. I am going to invite all the colleagues participating in this class to participate in the National Day on Writing by planning a project with their students.

I am also going to have a topic theme for my students in the entire middle school to write and have discussions. They would have choices of five starter statements to select. Then post all comments for everyone to view on the website.

I was also thinking about doing a story starter that morning announced on the school morning news and when students put them up where most school traffic flows. Each person can pause to add a sentence to the story. At the end the story would be posted for all to read.

[Lucille Van Alstine]

I was very impressed with the South Carolina leadership conference. I returned to my GSLETA board just bubbling with possibilities. Here are our board's responses:

*Let's work with the Missouri History Museum. We will use the Ritenour School District as an example display for our lobby. We will invite the Greater Saint Louis Area to submit hard copy examples of the on-line submissions with a few details as to how they began. The Museum has a possibility of allowing us to use a tri-fold display poster, in addition to offering suggestions in presentation.

*Our newsletter is also a great place to start. In our fall edition, let's put the web address for the NCTE website so that schools can create their own methods of display.

*Let's go to our district and propose writing.

*We also need to apprise media of our project and invite them to talk to our schools and share the good responses.

[Shangaleza Robinson]

I was also just approved for a writing gallery. They said it would be up and running on July 27th. I still have not been able to access this online. How is it going for you?