Santee Wateree Writing Project’s Fall Poetry Contest

During the month of October, students from Districts 2 and 17 submitted poetry to the Santee Wateree Writing Project’s Fall Poetry Contest. The contest was an initiative of the Santee Wateree Writing Project in cooperation with the University of South Carolina, Sumter School District 2 and Sumter School District 17. As a part of the poetry contest, students were placed into categories (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12). Each student was able to submit a reflective piece of poetry that expressed their concerns, inspirations, hopes, dreams, passions, and fears. Students could write the poems in any format; however they were asked that the poem be reflective and less than 20 lines.

On November 5, 2009, over 50 people joined at the University of South Carolina to share in the celebration to honor the students. The following is a list of all of the poems that placed in the 2009 Santee Wateree Writing Project’s Fall Poetry Contest:

Grades K-2

My Worst Fear ~ Trinity Lucas (Pocalla Springs, 1^st Place) Mrs. Hicks

Baseball Player ~ Descere Summers (Pocalla Springs, 2^nd Place) Mrs. Hicks

Grades 3-5

The Lonely Road ~ Hunter Pritchard (Wilder Elementary, 1^st Place) Ms. Black

All About Me ~ Anitra Anderson (Rafting Creek, 2^nd Place) Mrs. Harrington

Here I Am ~ Tie Wan Frierson (Wilder Elementary, 3^rd Place) Ms. Black

Where I’m From ~ Kaitlyn Hodge (Pocalla Springs, 3^rd Place) Mrs. Hilton

Where I’m From ~ Gavin Rich (Pocalla Springs, 3^rd Place) Mrs. Hilton

Grades 6-8

My Spirit ~ Brandon Wilson (Mayewood Middle School, 1^st Place) Mrs. Edwards

The Fear Hidden Inside of Me ~ Zikera Glover (Mayewood Middle School, 2^nd Place) Mrs. Edwards

The Pain ~ Ricky Scott, Jr. (Mayewood Middle School, 3^rd Place) Mrs. Edwards

Grades 9-12

My World ~ Aaron Jefferson (Sumter High School, 2^nd Place) Ms. Creech

The Idyllic Field ~ Julia Dingle (Sumter High School, 1^st Place) Ms. Tesenair

A Cluttered Girl ~ Shavondria Carter (Sumter High School, 3^rd Place) Mrs. Champion

Love Me, You Give Me Strength ~ Taylor Hill (Sumter High School, 1^st Place) Mrs. Champion

We gratefully acknowledge these sponsors of the Fall Poetry Contest and Awards Ceremony Day:

Bi-Lo Grocery Store IGA Grocery Store Food Lion

JC Penny Red Lobster Office Church Supply

Fire House Subs Chili’s Golden Corral

Sonic’s Outback Steakhouse Applebee’s

Walden Book Store Shoney’s Ward’s Bar-b-Que

The Gift Shop

-Written by Ureka Hilton

October Book Club

On the afternoon of October 24, 2009, Jennifer gathered with a group of Sumter women at Baker's Sweets to discuss Beverly Tatum's book, Can We Talk About Race? And that is exactly what we did that afternoon. The women who showed up for the discussion shared their experiences, asked pointed questions, and reflected on what it meant to live and teach in a world where race is still a deciding factor. The discussion was generative and we began to look at ways to help teachers and students who are struggling to come to terms with of race in the classroom. We look forward to continuing the dialogue throughout the year and addressing these issues.

Anyone who is interested in reading the book, can find it online at Amazon.com or can check it out at our Santee Wateree Library now housed in the USC-Sumter library.

Last, we want to thank Baker's Sweets for reserving a table for us. It was a wonderful venue, that promoted rich conversation about tough issues (but then again, who wouldn't want to talk about tough issues if you can have some of those desserts with the discussion!!). :)

-writtten by Jennifer L. Wilson

Reunion Potluck

On September 14th, we had a reunion potluck at USC-Sumter for all former writing project participants. The evening included wonder excellent homemade biscuits (that turned out to be very much in the theme of things that evening), fried chicken, hashbrown casserole, plus tons of drinks a dessert. After sharing the new website and some of the upcoming events (check the website to get a complete listing!), we had a wonderful presentation by Amy Mikell on "Kneading Topics for Young Writers."

Amy brought in a wonderful poem by Freda Quenneville, "Mother's Biscuits," and walked us through a wonderful lesson that included a shared and choral reading of the poem, creating a T-chart on our noticings and response, creating a list of foods that we have emotional ties to, and then giving us time to talk, write, and share with one another.


Some of the writing we shared together included a haiku by Ureka entitled "Help:"

Help!

If you taste momma's
Jiffy cornbread dressing you'll
sho nuf hurt yourself!

And last Diane shared a piece about her experience with biscuits, entitled "Those Biscuit Holes":

Few people know the true art of drilling biscuit holes.

Warm, palm-sized biscuits,

a sticky can of Cane Patch syrup,

an index finger for a drill—

and a jeweler’s precision as he cuts into an oil well—

in reverse—

for biscuit holes come first

before the mother load of syrup fills the cache.

The slow,

slow

pouring

of the w a t e r y t h i n black nectar

is crucial for success.

The smiling syrup at the hole’s precipice

proclaims the child’s lip-licking, ephemeral victory

of a perfectly drilled

ready-to-eat

syrup biscuit.

After all this writing and talking about biscuits, I have to admit I stopped off at KFC on my way home and got a biscuit!

-Written by Jennifer L. Wilson

Leadership Retreat

I just wanted to let everyone know what a great time I had at the leadership retreat last week. I was disappointed about not having the summer institute at first, but we got so many important items taken care of in such a short time that it was worth it. I'm especially excited about the advanced summer institute that Suzanne Koty and I are going to do for TCs. I've already talked to several TCs who are also very excited about it. The workshop will be an advanced writing workshop for our TCs who just didn't get enough writing workshop when they did the summer institute and want to write more. Suzanne and I have been furiously planning that workshop. We'll have more information on the website in August. We will have an application on the website for those who are interested. I very much enjoyed seeing Frank Baker on Thursday, June 18th. I wish all of you could have been there, but his website is great too. Check it out! I have so many ideas from his presentation not only for my own classroom, but for our broadcast media class that the English department at Sumter High offers. I'm very excited about sharing some of the information and ideas with my department. As many of you know, I have had the SWWP library at my house for two years, and this was not only inconvenient for me, but a pain for all of you to check out books. Those books are now housed at the USC Sumter library, and I will be getting a complete list of all those books on our website. I'll have that list finished by Friday July 3rd. We will be getting all TCs cards so that they can check the books out of the library. If you need a book before then, please feel free to go to the library and ask where they're housed, and you can use them in the library. Hopefully this will be a more user-friendly way to run the library. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Let me know if you have any questions or comments about anything involving the SWWP.

-Written by Lynette Creech

Media Literacy Workshop

"Our students are moving and advancing in today’s technological society.
This workshop allowed me to seek new avenues to
bring media into the classroom to use in teaching the standards!”

-Sheila Ragin

On June 18, 2009, we sponsored a workshop with Frank Baker at USC Sumter. The event, which was open to all TCs, focused on Media Literacy: Incorporating Film into the Writing Classroom. Frank had us sharing, watching, and discussing favorite clips from movies we loved; brainstorming our own PSAs (Public Service Announcements); gaining screenwriting skills; discussing novels made into films; viewing real artists’ storyboards; and analyzing films in small groups. Frank suggested we all Google “The Cost of Copyright Confusion” to help us better understand the ins and outs of copyright laws and see that many of the things we thought we couldn’t do in the classroom are in all actuality legal!

Frank reminded us how important it is for media literacy to go beyond talking about propaganda, but moved us into thinking of more complex understanding. He quoted Heidi Hayes Jacob when he said, “If video is how we are communicating and persuading in this new century, why aren’t more students writing screenplays as part of their schoolwork?”

We laughed, we wrote, and we learned! Candi summed it up best for us when she said, “What an enlightening Day! I will never watch a movie in the same way again! My students will think I am cooler than cool!”

For more information, news, and resources about media literacy, please visit Frank’s website The Media Literacy Clearinghouse at http://www.frankwbaker.com/.

Frank also donated a signed copy of his first children’s book, Coming Attractions: Questioning Movies, to our writing project. This is a non-fiction picture book published by Capstone Press that helps elementary students begin to question the messages in film.

His newest book, Political Campaigns and Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide, which comes out on June 30th, focuses on the role of media in politics. Check it out online at Amazon.com or at your local book store!

-Written by Jennifer L. Wilson