And After The First Week of Young(er) Writers @cwpfairfield I Can Thank @RyanPColwell For A Song I Can't Get Out of My Head

It's hard to describe what it feels like to see the first week of Young Adult Literacy Labs and the 2nd Week of the Invitational Summer Institute come to closure. All the instruction for one week culminates in a Friday prom where students can showcase their weeklong writing as solo artists, collaborators, and happy campers. I never know what the performances will look like, but I usually can count on Ryan Colwell's exhibition to be memorable, joyous, catchy, and community-oriented.
Yesterday, his young(er) writers shared their books, their poetry, their poems in two voices, their visits across campus, and the "Kitty High Five" video they used to break up the monotony of the day (a song the twins and I can't get out of our heads).

Similarly, I was awed by the incredible growth of 15 young poets and playwrights who attended our SPEAK YOUR SELF lab - a vocal performance held in Gonzaga auditorium. The variation of voice, the range of issues, the evidence of total friendship, and the strength in written language far achieved the goals of the lab. The quirkiness worked and each student left with a collection of ready-to-go prose.

Meanwhile, in the teacher institute, we finished our week of creative meandering and are getting ready to think about political, real-world, and transitive writing (this after a jam-packed week of workshops and collaborating with the young adult literacy labs - phew!).

Next on the agenda: another round of Little Lab for Big Imaginations and the first romp of Dark and Stormy Night - The Novel Lab.

Let me rest a little and I will be right back at it!