HUDSON VALLEY WRITING PROJECT

Virtual Saturday Seminar

February 5, 2021 | 9 am-12 pm

Join keynote speaker Nicole Mirra and HVWP teachers to learn about promising ideas and strategies that support student writers in developing their voices as they engage with important contemporary issues and a variety of audiences.

COMPOSING THE FUTURE:

Fostering Civic Engagement through Literacy Education

Amid the stress of the pandemic and continuing social and political unrest, our students come to class trying to figure out what the future holds, not only for themselves but also for our democracy. As educators we have the opportunity and responsibility to prepare young people to use their voices to tackle the challenges our country faces with consciousness, compassion, and commitment to equity and justice.

In this interactive keynote, Nicole Mirra will demonstrate how the literacy activities that teachers already integrate into their practice, from textual analysis and discussion to research and argument writing, can be the basis for transformative civic engagement both within and beyond the classroom.

Nicole Mirra is an assistant professor of urban teacher education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. A former high school teacher in New York City and Los Angeles public schools, she is the author of Educating for Empathy: Literacy Learning and Civic Engagement and a co-author of Doing Youth Participatory Action Research: Transforming Inquiry with Researchers, Educators, and Students.

BREAKOUT WORKSHOPS:

MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD:

Inspiring Students as Artists and Advocates 

Tamara Natoli, Marlboro Central School District 

Xenia Incremona, SUNY New Paltz

What happens when students engage with media from powerful women artists and then are invited to create their own artistic media? This workshop will showcase writing from teenage girls who participated in Making Our Voices Heard, HVWP's youth program focused on feminism and intersectionality. We will explore how the work of feminist artists and advocates, including Amanda Gorman, Alison Bechdel, and Taylor Swift, can inspire and shape students' own voices. (Teachers of grades 4-12)

FOSTERING STUDENTS' CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:

Writing for an Expanding Audience 

Tom Meyer and Mary Sawyer, SUNY New Paltz

Students are motivated when using writing to sort out and solve real-world concerns. They are also motivated by writing for audiences that expand beyond the teacher. In this workshop, inspired by HVWP's youth program, Rise Up and Write, we will write for expanding audiences to share civic concerns whether close to home or far away. We will use a variety of tools to develop our ideas - Zoom chat, Padlet, and pen and paper. (Teachers of grades 5-12)

SPEAKING OUT: 

Developing Voice with Podcasting 

Bradley Diuguid, Marist College

Steve Masson, Hudson Valley Pathways Academy

How can podcasting offer an alternative pathway for young writers to find their voices? In this workshop, we’ll listen to students' work to investigate how audio storytelling can encourage learners to explore the world around them, write authentically, experiment with structure, speak with clarity and confidence, and carry on important conversations — all with simple technology that adapts remarkably well to virtual as well as in-person learning. (Teachers of grades 7-12) 

On ZOOM | February 5 | 9 am-12 pm

HVWP is a NYSED-approved sponsor of CTLE.

Certificates documenting 3 CTLE hours available upon request.

Registration fee: $15 | $5 for students

HUDSON VALLEY WRITING PROJECT

A site of the National Writing Project

newpaltz.edu/hvwp | hvwp@newpaltz.edu | 845-257-2836