Topic: High School Writing Centers

I have the space. I have the cash. I have the gut feeling. What I don't have is a clearly articulated philosophical base from which to make decisions.

I am leading the efforts to establish a writing resource center in our high school. It has been a dream for a decade and a well-established need. I have already begun the research process, but I have not collected my thoughts, questions, and findings in a place that is public. So here we go.

The questions I am currently focussing upon include:
*How can we establish school-wide ownership of the center?
*What type of services do we hope to offer?
*How will our services not duplicate or complicate existing services?
*How can we involve students in leadership roles?
*What should the physical space look like?
*What are the top needs in the area of writing assistance?
*What types of models are already present in high schools?
*Why type of technology will best serve our purposes?
*What type of 'experts' are available to lend a hand?

The Missing W's

I watch and wonder way too much most days. Most of my watching happens in my mind's eye when I am driving, when I am walking, when I am sweeping, when I am reading, and when I am sitting in a meeting that I don't want to be in. This project challenges me to search of a topic that I can freely and excitedly explore. The sky is the limit.

I'm one of those people whose work and life closely overlap. The things I most enjoy doing in my free time are similar to the things my work requires me to do. My main hobby at work and home is thinking up ideas. Some big dreams, some immediate solutions, and some just plain absurdities. Some come to fruition in a day; some simmer for years.

So, here are some things that are in the percolator for this project:
1. How to raise a million dollars for a camp for kids with cancer.
2. How to connect with a movie director whose address I cannot find.
3. How can I get some of my son's graphic designs silk-screened on a t-shirt? (not by a professional)
4. How can I make effective fiberglass and rubber castings?
5. How to design a writing center for my school.
6. How to get podcasting going in grade 9 English.
7. How to incorperate geo-caching into our next family vacation.
8. How to create a grocery list and spread sheet for highly rated recipes (rated by my family).
9. What do t-shirt designs at Threadless.com have in common.
10. What types of simulations would be good to use with Model United Nations.
11. What good is text messaging.
12. Gourd history, growing, and crafting.
13. Getting 10,000 color changing orbs to fill and light a lake.
14. NYC oddities to share with teenagers on a trip.
15. Alternative schools
16. Kurt Hahn
17. Pie crust

Gentle reminder . . .

Ithaca

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
then pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
that you will enter ports seen for the first time
with such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,
and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
rich with all that you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

-K. P. Kavafis (C. P. Cavafy), translation by Rae Dalven