CWP Leadership Retreat

EASTCONN Hampton Annex

August 25, 2012

In attendance: Jason Courtmanche, Jane Cook, Denise Abercrombie, Marcy Rudge, Michelle Vigue, Kelly Andrews-Babcock, Katrina Bafumi

Leadership Rotation

Jane, Kelly and Jason have identified two new TCs, Shirley Cowles and Katrina Bafumi, to join the Leadership Council this year and be mentored to take over the Leadership positions for Inservice/PD (Shirley) and Student Programs/CSW (Katrina). Nadine is interested in stepping down sooner because of work commitments so the Student Programs Program Leader stipend may be split two or three ways this year between or among Nadine, Marcy and Katrina. Jason will meet with Nadine, Marcy, and Katrina to sort this out. Shirley has some personal commitments that she needs to consider before committing to the position, as well.

New Funding Sources

Though direct funding for the NWP was cut from the federal budget, they have received a competitive Title II SEED grant for which they then put out competitive Requests for Proposals (RFPs). We applied and received two new SEED grants – Stream 1 for Teacher Leadership and Stream 3 for Professional Development in a High-Need School. Connecticut (CWP at UConn-Storrs and CWP at Fairfield) landed two of the 75 Stream 3 Grants that were awarded. In the past we had $46,000 and we have managed to bring in $40,000; however, it is very targeted funding. The Teacher Leadership grant must be used to fund the work that we do during 2012-13. The High-Need School Grant must be spent on work with the English and Social Studies Departments at East Hartford High School. We are still waiting to hear if we received a grant from Pitney-Bowes.

Michelle wrote a small grant, which may also involve CWP. She is also looking for some help with developing curriculum for her department. Jason suggested Steve Straight or Monica Giglio or Kelly Cecchini or Jane Cook as potential facilitators to help Michelle’s staff write the curriculum. Steve is working with Manchester High to align their curriculum with MCC’s curriculum.

Resignation of Sharlene Smith.

Sharlene Smith has resigned as the CWP Program Assistant. The department’s plans are unclear, but Jason has a meeting with Interim Department Head Margaret Breen on Monday, the 27th of August. The CWP Program Assistant position is on their agenda. He thinks that there will be a reorganization of the staff and a pool of support staff rather than an individual assigned to CWP. Due to changes in staffing and an Interim Department Head, Jason is not sure how this will shake out. For the interim, the CWP is receiving financial assistance from the CLAS Business Services Center

Leadership Council Meetings for 2012-13

The new building next to CLAS is nearly finished and the parking lot behind CLAS has been restored. This means that we can return our LC meetings to the UConn campus. The dates will be on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays for 2012-13 and dinner will be 5:00-5:30 PM and the business will portion of the meeting will be from 5:30-7:00 PM. The dates are :

  • 9/13/12
  • 10/11/12
  • 11/8/12
  • 12/14/12 at Jason’s house for an end of semester party
  • 1/10/13
  • 2/7/13
  • 3/7/13
  • 4/11/13

Planning for 2012-13 Mini-Grant Research Projects

We need some supervision of the new TCs’ minigrant projects. Jason asked Michelle and Kelly to support these TCs with check-ins and reminders. By the end of the year, they will all need to write up a report about their research. See the Mini-Grant page on the CWP Web site at for examples of reports from past TCs.

TO DO’s:

  1. Jason will create a page on the CWP SI 2012 Wiki and post everyone’s projects.
  2. Jason will add Michelle () to the CWP SI 2012 LISTSERV and the Wikispace.
  3. Michelle will develop a plan on how to follow up and support these new TCs with their research projects.

Updates from Program Leaders and Planning for New Councils

We discussed the roles and responsibilities of the new Councils. Program Council responsibilities include:

  • Each Program Council will develop guidelines for their Council. These guidelines should include a job description/s, responsibilities for the work of the Council, and timelines for the year for their Council. These guidelines should be revised each year at the end of the year as needed.
  • We need to let our Program Leaders know how much we appreciate the hard work that they do for CWP. Having some kind of recognition for the Program Leaders when they rotate out of their CWP leadership roles, e.g., acknowledgement in the Recognition Night Program and a bouquet, certificate of appreciation, etc.
  • Recruit 2-4 people for each Council; they can be current TCs – that’s considered continuity – or they can be interested teachers who may become TCs in the future – that’s considered recruitment.
  • The number of meetings per year and the outcomes are delegated to each specific Program Leader
  • Each Program Leader is responsible for keeping track of numbers and anecdotal data about his/her Council activities

Plans for NCTE/NWP in November

Kelly is presenting at NCTE. Denise and Jason are co-presenting at NCTE. Jason was asked to sit on a roundtable discussion at NWP, which is on Thursday to talk about how CWP has worked with the UConn foundation and the alumni association to support the work of the site. Then Jason was accepted as an NCATE Reviewer and the Training is on the same day as the panel. Jason is going to try to get away for the 90 minutes to participate in the panel. However, Denise and/or Kelly may have to stand in for Jason on Thursday, November 17. Denise has promised Barry Lane that she will help him while they’re out in Las Vegas so she may not be able to be on the panel if it conflicts with her work with Barry.

TO DO’s:

  1. Jason will write up a list of the kinds of work that CWP has been doing that Denise and Kelly can use if they have to stand in for Jason on the NWP panel.

Fellowship and New Course

Jason got a fellowship and has designed a one-credit INTD course for English majors who want to become English teachers. It’s a mix of 14 freshmen and sophomores who haven’t gotten into the Neag School of Ed yet. Jason is looking for TCs (secondary English, ideally) to allow themselves to be interviewed by his new crop of students who are taking this course. He asked Katrina and Denise if they would be willing to be interviewed. He’s also in charge of a Learning Community, which will include these students and others. He can do field trips to conferences and other educational opportunities.

New GA, New Interns, New Mentor

The new GA is Joel Nebres; he will be doing the kind of work that Laila did last year and that Sean did the year before. Jason will also be working with another grad student, Heather Horning, on her section of freshman English. There may be opportunities for her to work with the CWP more broadly. The two new interns are Kristin Weisse and Lindsey Volz. Kristin is a straight English major and will be working at the Tech Intern. Joel or Kristin will be updating the Web site. Lindsey is an English and Education major and will be the Writing Intern. Lindsey will be in contact about the newsletter, fliers for the Writing Retreats and SI recruitment, and the magazine of writing by teachers—Teacher-Writer. Jason will also have an undergrad mentor for the INTD course, too; her name is Sarah Falcetti. Jason went over some of their roles and how they might work with the CWP Program Leaders and Councils.

Writing Retreats

There will be no fall retreat. There will be a March 2013 retreat. There will be two Saturday sessions per semester for Teacher as Writer. Denise is coordinating these efforts as well as the Barry Lane Literacy Cabaret.

CSW 25th Anniversary Plans

We have Wally Lamb set up as the keynote speaker but are still waiting on news about the Pitney-Bowes grant. The tentative date is May 14, 2014 at Jorgensen. We have two secondary level teachers who are willing to serve as guest editors who were published in the CSW as kids. We could use an elementary level teacher to serve as a guest editor who also was published as a student. Jason is looking for a teacher or teachers who were published as students and who are now teaching at the elementary level (Grades PreK-6). See Program Leader notes above about the transition from Nadine to Katrina and Marcy as the Student Programs Program Leader.

TO DO’s:

  1. Marcy will go through the old CSW magazines and compile a list of potential students who were published who might now be elementary level teachers.
  2. Nadine, Katrina, and Marcy will coordinate the CSW writing contest and the 25th Anniversary plans. Together they will develop a manual that can be used to keep track of the kind of work that the Student Programs Council is responsible for which includes timelines and contacts for the contest and the recognition night.

Barry Lane Literacy Cabaret Update

We need to get our butts in gear preparing for the Barry Lane Literacy Cabaret on September 28th from 7:00-9:00 PM at the ACT Magnet School on Main Street in Willimantic. It will be a $20 suggested donation. Barry is under contract. CWP has the insurance through UConn for this event. Document Production will do tickets. We need to advertise and promote it.

TO DO’s:

  1. Jason will meet with the new CWP staff to outline the activities that need to happen to make this evening successful:
  2. Create a brochure; include Barry Lane Web site link in the publicity so people can check him out
  3. Post the information on the CWP Web site and calendar
  4. Have tickets created
  5. Send the info out on the CWP TC LISTSERV and wherever else we think will bring in people
  6. Contact Lizzie about selling food and non-alcoholic drinks in the lobby and charging enough so she can make a profit and give CWP a small cut
  7. Contact Suzy Staubach at the UConn Co-op about setting up a book table; ask if they are willing to give us a small cut
  8. Create a press release for the local paper.Lindsey will contact Barry Lane for a phone interview (802-345-9193 or or )
  9. On the evening of the event, set up a promotional table with CSW magazines, Writing Retreat and Teacher as Writer flyers, SI postcards (June 24-July 19, 2013 with orientation on May 18, 2013), posters, etc. NOTE: Michelle can get posters printed at her school.
  10. Denise will send a “Save the Date” e-blast to the CWP LISTSERV by the end of next week. Include a link to Barry Lane’s Web site.
  11. The LC members should promote this event in their schools and on any literacy LISTSERVs they can access. Use Denise’s e-blast as a template.

New England Reading Association (NERA) Conference and Award

The NERA Conference is on September 27-28 in Nashua, NH. Jason is accepting the award for the CWP State Network on Thursday evening. Kelly will be attending. Kelly said that it is a good literacy conference if anyone is interested.

Fall TC Writing Contest Update

This year’s magazine/chap book will include contributions from the Writers Retreats and Teacher as Writer programs. We don’t have a date for the deadline yet. It should be early to mid-October at the latest. Jason suggested October 12th as the deadline. Joel and Kristin can start working on the submissions of the SI participants and the Teacher as Writer and Teacher as Researcher pieces. The Aetna Awards Ceremony is October 25th. Jason will have them add a recognition page to the magazine for Kathy and Penny, the Program Leaders who have rotated out.

New Haven PD Opportunity

Jason has been contacted by Glen Worthy, Principal at Hill Central Music Academy, a K-8 magnet school. He has $20,000 for PD to help them improve their writing scores. This is a huge opportunity but will likely have to work with Fairfield in order to have sufficient human capacity to deliver this PD. Jason and Bryan will follow up with Glen to get specifics about what their needs are. He’ll keep us posted.

CWP3 State Network.

The new CWP-Fairfield Director Bryan Crandall wants to give the State Network another, better try, and has some ideas from Kentucky, where he was involved in an active and successful state network. Jason told him that CWP at UConn-Storrs is happy to work on re-energizing the CWP3 State Network. Kelly suggested having our network run a conference like the one that we attended in Rhode Island. Bryan thinks we should apply for state money through higher ed funding to support some of our collaborative activities.

September LC Meeting on 9/13/12 at UConn in Stern Lounge from 5:00-7:00 PM

  • CWP Site Profile
  • Standing Agenda Items:
  • Updates from Councils
  • Grad Assistant Update on the work of the CWP staff
  • Upcoming events
  • Build agenda for next meeting (last 5 minutes)
  • Other items that arise prior to meeting

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- CWP Leadership Retreat Minutes from 8/25/12