Due to a class conflict, I was unable to attend the first writing workshop last Thursday. I was, however, able to make the one last Saturday and will also be there to help out this Saturday. The turn-out was disappointing--we had one woman outside of the CSU gang come. Although the turn-out was less than expected, it was still, I thought, a great writing workshop. We all wrote, shared, chatted and gave eachother ideas. I think the woman that did come was happy with how it turned out.

For next year, we have to figure out a better way to promote these workshops. We could put something in the Coloradoan in the "events" calendar...these listings are free....all you have to do is send in a Calendar Alert of your event to the calendar editor. We could also put more signs up in coffee shops and perhaps locally-owned book stores. 

As for the workshops themselves, I was thinking it would be cool if one of the promtps was more visual...since the theme is interngenerational, maybe there is a brief slideshow. We show a picture of a jukebox, and gve them 5 minutes to write, then a picture of Vietnam War Protests, then an 80s hair band, etc.  Maybe 4 or 5 different "generational" photos or paintings, and a bit of time for them to jot down what first comes to mind. Then they could elaborate on what they liked best. The only logistics would be reserving an overhead projector---but better yet, we could just print off the pictures and place them one at a time at the front of the room, negating the need for overhead equipment.

This week we have been working on the publicity of the Writing Workshops. We tied down the final dates and times of the workshop and with the feedback from Jan, Tobi and Lisa, I drafted and designed 11 x 13, 8.5 x 11 and 1/2 sheet sized posters. The half sheets will be mailed to all the IGLP participants, althought the Workshops are open to everyone and are essentially unrelated to the first part of the project, we still want to make sure we recruit and include the original participants. Larger posters and extra flyers will be hung at the library and at IGLP partners such as Aggie Village, U Village, etc. Lisa also translated the poster into Spanish and we are getting some printed out today to put at CORE and possibly other prodomintatly spanish-speaking populations. It's great having a former Spanish teacher as part of the team because she may actually get to lead a whole workshop in Spanish! I hope to help with this, although my Spanish is not at a high level.   I have followed up with Dave McKelfresh about the Student Voice survey. I am disappointed is has taken this long to get back, last time I worked with them it was a matter of 24 hours. Now, it has been a week and still no link to preview.     For upcoming events, we basically need to gather materials for the writing workshops (paper, pencils, snacks, and we've talked about making folders, which I think is a good idea, and I think could easily be "personalize" using label maker on Word). We also need to complete the planning of the workshop format. Also, I very much think we should send a Thank You of some sort to all the folks who have helped kick this project off....Peggy and Tova at the libarary particularly. I think we should brainstorm nice, but obviously affordable, ways we might do this. I am thinking a great way might be to give them their own copies of the publication that will be made from the writing workshops....maybe we should have a brief section in this publication to include some of the internet postings??? An idea.....

We're well into the IGLP program and have not had the online response I was hoping for. Reminder postcards went out a week ago, most of the responses are from LIsa and I. I think we need to also send out an e-mail reminder with a live link, so they can just click on it and go straight to their response site.

We are going to meet this week to plan the writing workshops. We will probably have 3 workshops throughout April, alternately led by myself, Tobi and Lisa.  I have minimal experience with workshops, let alone leading workshops, so I'm definitely hoping to get some help from Tobi and Lisa. I also hope to attend a Speak Out! workshop next week so I can 1.) see what the "other project" in the IGLP is like (I've been curious all semester what these workshops look like), and 2.) to get a feel of what leading a workshop looks like.

Hopefully some more web response will happen this week. I think sendig the e-mail will be detrimental.

We had some of the adult books left over for the IGLP project so we set up a display at the public library. Lisa went today to check if there were any new applicants and I'm going to go on Friday or Saturday to pick up any that remain. I'm still a little worried at how well the online chatting is going to go with the little kids books, so I'm hoping we have gotten some more participants for the teen and up books. Tonight I looked over all the web copy and put in a few suggestions, mostly just stuff to give it a little more personality or spunk. It looks great and i'm excited for it to be up and running. Next week lisa and i will meet to do the initial planning for the writing workshops. we also need to start checking the IGLP site to see if people are posting yet. that will be fun to see. Talk to you later!

This past week we worked on compiling all the registrations. WE have had a great turn out so far for the childrens books, and not bad for the teen books, although we still do have several spaces open. We finished up the book insert, "help" section of the web site and book marks. So now, all we have to do is drop the books and materials off at the different sites and the participatns should be on their way! I'm interested to see what kinds of questions we get in these first few weeks...I'm sure we've forgotten something or haven't explained something quite clearly enough. It's so hard to know though, since we've all become so clear with the project, it's difficult to step back and see it through the eyes of someone who is finding out about it for the first time.  Next week or the week after we should go to the library and see if any responses have been made, and maybe post a comment or two so nobody has to worry about being the first or doing it "right." as someone at the pilot group put it, "Nobody wants to be the first one out on the dancefloor." I'm also getting excited about planning the Writers Workshops and have already come up with a few fun ideas. Lisa, Tobi and I need to start figuring out how and where we're going to arrange these.

Peace out!  

Came into the office today and drafted the letter to be sent to the E405 students. Am about to blow this popstand and head out to Office Max to buy a box to make into the book drop box to hopefully collect copies of Monster and Speak.

Have also started brainstorming ideas for the bookmark, which I'm quite psyched about. hopefully a more artistic intern can help me out when it comes to the actual design. anyone???

talk to you soon.

Whoa! Things have suddenly picked up and the project is underway and I have a "to do" list as long as Rapunzels stringy locks.....a little overwhelmed...but also very excited! this project has seemed a bit nebulous until this week and now i really feel like lisa and i have gotten "in a groove" and we know what we're doing and how to do it.

yesterday lisa, tobi and I met with Maggie and Sue Doe and discussed the pilot group with Maggie's IB program at Poudre. sounds like she is going to be a great help, very enthusiastic and involved, and I have great faith that this pilot group will be a big help. lisa and i also went to our training for AmeriCorps and that was...well....just a lot of paperwork.

today we met and make a huge grocery list of things that need to be done as far as pilot groups, on line discussion, documents, forums, etc etc etc. so much to do! but it's so nice to have it all down on paper now. this week, i'm going to get word and drop box out for E405 studnets to donate speak and monster. i'm going to encourage them to donate speak like...soon...since that is going to be the new pilot book. i'm also going to design project description and waiver forms for the high schoolers. we need to nail down dates with them to figure out when this project will start and when the focus group will be. also need to design some kick-ass bookmarks, since i think these could potentially be a cool discussion starter and just a cool thing for the participants to keep with them.

well, most of our work will be seen in the meeting notes lisa is typing up right now so i guess i'll make this brief. this is going to be a great project! so psyched! 

Hello all,

I am turning over a new leaf, making a life change, pulling my head out of my you-know-what and starting to do these blogs regularly...starting....NOW! I've had such a strugle getting back into the school/juggling schedule thing but I think I've just about got it down now, so hopefully my organizational skills will improve....

Okay, so the update for the last few weeks....

2 weeks ago, (wed. the 7th, I believe)...I met Tobi and Lisa at the Ft. Collins library where we met with staff members who are going to assist us in the IGLP. The web site is well underway and they had some great ideas for some book picks for the project. Recently found out they secured $500 so that calls for a thank you card for sure...which I should write this week....

Last week, I helped Lisa research/read some children's books that will be used in the IGLP project. We are still working on getting 2 nailed down and selected. I also drafted letters to Pam Coke and Publishing houses regarding the donation of books used in E405 and complimentary copies of selected IGLP books, respectively. I also did some research on writing centers around the country....wow that dave eggers....just opened another Valencia in my hometown, Seattle. Can't wait to go check it out.

This week I will be attending CLC training in the Student Center. Today I continued correspondance with Pam Coke regarding the E405 book donations. I will make a drop-off box this week and place it...(where should I place it?) somewhere in Eddy, then will have Pam distribute the e-mail to the students. I also plan to send out another "reminder" e-mail later in the semester, maybe late Oct or early Nov, to try to get more books in.

Today I contacted Peguin Books to ask for copies of Speak, Matilda and Color of Water. Hopefully they'll get back to me. If not, I'll keep bugging them. Also contacted HarperCollins for copies of Monster. I want to start making a database listing the contacts for different publishers, since we may have to work with them further in the future.

Checked out Laurie Halse Anderson's web site and discovered that she's appearing at a writing conference in Greeley in a few weeks. I'm thinking it might be great to try to see if I can attend (hopefully, for free). Their agenda looks like it could provide some helpful tools regarding leading discussion groups, issues in adolescent literature, etc. Definitely worth checking out.

I also spoke with Lisa regarding the event and we have decided we really need to get on a schedule. We're going to meet on Wednesday and make a grocery list and a calendar outlining the "to do's" for the pilate program, on-line discussion and writing workshops for the IGLP. I also am starting to look over and edit the brochure for the IGLP project. I am happy to adjust the text (needs to be much more bulleted, to the point, etc.) but I really don't know much about lay out and graphics so maybe our friends at the library (or Blaine?) can help with that.

To Do List:

(So I don't forget)

-Thank you to Ft. Collins library for their help and donation
-Brainstorm ideas for "Ask Mom"/ "Ask Kid" bookmark....I really like this idea!
-Make schedule for projects, brainstorm things like kick-off, book distribution, events, reservations of space, etc.
-EDIT BROCHURE!!
-Read Color of Water, get from Lisa?
-Add to database (where is the database? Do we have one yet? can I add publishers to it?)
-Brainstorm possible business partners for food/beverage donations
-Brainstorm publicity push and recruitment effort ideas
-Meet with Doe's daughter, if possible
-Blog, dammit, BLOG!!!
-Explore research project ideas

Sweet! My first blog! So exciting that what....thousands?...millions?....of people will be reading what I have to say every week!!!!!....(okay, at least 3 or 4 people might look at it every month or something, right???)

Just picked up the project descriptions from my very own mailbox in the CLC office and think they both look like wonderful programs to invest our time in this year. I am, at this point, particularly interested in the Intergenerational REading and Writing Project. With my PR background, I'm thinking I could think of some clever (and cheap) ideas to get word out about this program. We could put out a PSA on a local radio station. I need to familiarize myself with these stations, since I've been out of the Fort for 2 years now. Do we have a public radio station in the area? I have a few "connections" at Regent Broadcasting Co., which includes 93.3 (alternative rock, probably not the best, "family freindly" channel), K99 (country, could work here...), 94.3 (classic rock), Tri 102.5 (lite rock...maybe....), and 102.9 (oldies....again, maybe).... Anyways, PSAs are free and we could maybe get them on a rotation a few weeks before the program kick-off.

I am wondering, when we say "parents and their children..." are we talking children in elementary school? jr. high? high school? or is each of the three books aimed at a different population? i'll bet we could get schools in the area to send home flyers about this project to parents....maybe we could even coax some teachers into giving extra credit points for people who participate in this project....or would that defeat the purpose of making it not school-related?

it would be great if we could make a sort of ambiance at the writing workshops for the parents and kids. maybe we could get the CSU drama department to let us borrow some props that could make the selected room look like a "hip" coffee shop and we could get local companies to provide food and beverages. or...we could see if alley cat or another coffee shop would be on board to let us use their space. maybe we could use the top half of alley cat or something, so it's still open to the public, we're just taking a little of their space. maybe they'd be willing to do this on a weekday that is typically not so busy....like tuesday or wednesday.  there's also some long-lead parenting magazines i've seen in the fort collins area.....if we talk to them a few months in advance, we could for sure get on their event calendars and maybe even get them to write an article if we pitch it right. i'll look into the different pubs and see if a story like this might fit into their editorial calendar somewhere.

are there any more festivals in old town, or are they gone with the summer? it would be really cool if we could get some kind of booth at one of these and have a computer there....then parents and kids could sign up for the workshop right then and there....hmmmm.....

when we say we'd like to have a kick-off reading event, is this an on-line event or an actual "real people" event? if it's a real, live event it would be great if we could get an author to come in and do a reading.....are there any semi-big name authors around here that tobi or other english departmenters might have an "in" with? it's going to be a bit difficult to find an event that kids actaully want to go to with their parents...but again, that depends on the kids' ages.

whew, that's all the thoughts for now. can't wait to get further into the planning process with these projects.