Pure Manaʻo

It's the first week of school in Hawaii. Have you been reading to your kids? I saw a post on Martha Stewart Living that listed favorite back to school books so I decided to make a list of my own. Please add on. These are children's books meant for all grade levels (everyone deserves to be read to), with an emphasis on nurturing writers. Harold and the Purple Crayon  has been around for more than 50 years, but the power of a pen - or in this case a purple crayon - still sticks with me. The dot  is a cute little book about a student who does not feel like an artist until her teacher "publishes" her art and has her own it by signing it. This recognition spurs her to do better and in the end she is able to mentor a child who also does not believe in his abilities.  Yes it's about art and not writing, but the students get it and it sets a good tone for writing expectations and the kind of environment they can expect to work in. These two books by Doreen Croni...

I am not, by nature, a cocktail party person. I am introverted, more comfortable on the sidelines, and I do not, like engaging in small talk. Writing Project leaders, though, by nature are outgoing, friendly people persons. What do Writing Project people schedule for their first activity at a new site director's conference? A cocktail party of course. An introverts strategy at a cocktail party is to stick close to the person you came with, and if you find yourself separated, then find one person you connect with and stick to them. That's how I met Cheryl Canada Logan, director for the mid Ohio writing project. Something just clicked with us. She was just back from Jamaica, having worked with teachers there. I talked about my interest in culture-based education and we hit it off. Who knew that the encounter at a cocktail party in Arizona would turn into an opportunity to join Cheryl in South Africa two years later, but that's how things seem to happen in life, so I...