MayaWest Writing Project

Dear teachers:

It was almost time. I was patiently waiting for all of you to come. Although everybody wanted me, it seemed like this crew of writers tend to forget how to seduce me. A warning sign at the door transformed every face that read it: Writing time, be silent, think about the power of teaching… Somebody is coming to my rescue so early in the morning? This act of love made me feel really special. I have to understand humans are “easily entertained” when it comes to food as Madeline stated two days ago. Héctor, one of my servants, also known as the “Timekeeper”, is the first one to arrive at the round table with his plate of scrambled eggs. People of little faith, nobody believed a simple and humble man like Abi could’ve done such a delicious breakfast.  I know his heart, he uses me a lot, he’s also one of my servants.
Some of you resisted me, but the Timekeeper was assigned to gather all of you around me. María del Carmen was the scribe of the day. She did a great job at the task, in fact she even got too excited, and included sexual references about some ‘boobs’; but that is another genre that will not be discussed here.
Then, something fantastic happened; this was what I have been waiting for, a “rebellion”. Those who attempt to murder me will be severely punished! All of you came to my rescue as one of my children tried to betray me. The beauty of my manifestation cannot be disgraced by time constraints. Let the artist embellish his piece! All my servants defended me fiercely against Ellen’s suggestions.
Melissa, one of the chosen ones, was so amazed about the posted work on the NWP site, she stayed up until one in the morning. There is no doubt I captivated her. Those of you who have danced with me are celebrating the glory of publishing for the first time.
It was time for the book talk. Peter, one of my precious sons, held my hand as he tried to enlighten you with his wisdom. Some of you did not see the purpose of his movie list. It took you some time to see that all he wanted to do is suggest you to use movies in order to promote writing. Ellen, the other chosen one, worries me.  She couldn’t see this. Have I lost her in her effort to run this Institute according to planned? Themes and plots from movies can model new work from the students, widen their horizons; stimulate their imagination and help proficient students cope with their difficulties in comprehension. Zenaida expressed gratitude for the knowledge that she received. After a while, all my children were suggesting movies to each other. This was so beautiful… it almost made me cry.
Schedule lead you to Mayra, the one who thinks of herself as a plain artist, a plain person. She is so wrong. Her honesty and eloquence, her charming personality and her particular way of changing from formal Spanish to street “Boricua” Spanish is a testimony of her talent and creativity. Alma, my messenger, read the words that I softly whispered to her always attentive ear. Maria and Peter were in the tropical music mode with bombas and congas. Zenaida, the grateful one, again thanked Mayra for the writing activity she offered. Comic Strips are an opportunity to write about anything at any stage of the writing process. They are also fun and entertaining for students. I saw all your work on the comic strips and I felt proud. You, my children, are valuing this moments with me, by my side, taking all that you can from me.
There was a change in the schedule because Alma made a smart proposal. The response groups will be meeting after lunch for the “shitty first drafts”? This is outrageous! Ellen, my chosen one, my loved one, she has betrayed me for the third time today!  How can she refer to our foreplay as “shitty”? She needs to overcome this desert, this time of silence. She needs to get in contact with me again. Rush!
At lunch, some of you recycled breakfast and made it into a lunch. Others decided to go on a field trip at Santillana’s demonstration to “cachetiar” potato salad, “flan” and cornbread.  The Timekeeper took more time to come back, I guess he didn’t want to share. Ellen spotted Abi’s potato salad and hoped that he would share. My beloved child, that potato salad came to you as a gesture of my gratitude for your efforts. Maybe, I thought, all you needed was some comfort food to come back to me.
The afternoon activities began with the response groups. You were fabulous! You let me dance and explore the depths of your mind. You flourished into intellectual minds driven by passion as each one discussed the ideas for the position paper, no longer called “shitty”. Finally, Ellen was alive! She started dancing and singing “I got the power!” originally sang by Snap. This is a weird way to manifest her rebirth; but what the hell! I have her back. I think it was the potato salad I gave her. My prodigious daughter was back in the paths of enlightment.
At the end of the afternoon, Maria del Carmen also presented the Collection Portfolios for Authentic Assessment. Portfolios are one of my favorite playgrounds in the classroom.  They give me the opportunity to present myself and start flirting with the future servants. I strongly recommend that all of you copy this very convincing line she gave you: “The word can’t is not in the dictionary”. This word is venom for me, so try to avoid it at all times. María invited you to write an essay called “What I Do”. The work that Abi, Janice, Melissa, Frances and the successful Mayra interpreted was a glorious way to say goodbye to me yesterday.

Always yours,

The Muse of MWRP at the Author’s Chair
P.S. Jennifer, Alma and Zenaida are secretly planning on getting some “cold ones”. I hope they take me with them!
Scribe: Prof. Janice M. Irizarry Torres
June 18, 2008

To whom it may concern:

It is relevant to everyone involved that for today, I have formally become scribe of this intensive summer institute.  Trying to take the lead I have arrived at 8:28 a.m. to secure the possibility that I can view and try to account every single detail that takes place.  Realizing as I entered the Lab room, I was totaling wrong.  For a change there was a multitude surrounding the new facilities of our improvised “Foodmart,” you name it we had it.  Fruits, muffins, American and Puerto Rican style brewed coffee, and a wide range of all sorts of goodies.  As I accommodated my belongings, I was mentally jotting all this information so that I could later replicate in words what was taking place.  From the corner of my eye I recognize Peter as my hearing picks up his voice as he states, -“The frosting is good, yo le metì el deo”, referring to the carrot cake that Jennifer had made.  Meanwhile, Angela decides that she is going to take advantage of skimming and scanning through the books that are sitting in boxes on the floor in front of the computers for us to chose and take.  Throughout the process, Héctor Matias decides to take a closer view at what Angela has her hands on.  He says to me while having his mouth busy munching on some food - “This book is good”, referring to the book From Great Paragraphs to Great Essays.
Angela rapidly replies: - “These are mine, pero yo negoceo”.  Definitely, she made her point crystal clear which I personally quite understood very well.  Nevertheless, she did negotiate and she let me have the book, which I considered gracious of her.
As I discreetly look around Mayra is discussing her demo with Melissa and Maria Echevarria is “waist deep” in her chain of thoughts pertaining to the writing process and has isolated herself; nothing seems to bother her.  Suddenly, at 8:35 a.m. Frances appears and with her usual “Good Morning” she greets everyone in general.  Ah! But this W.A.L.K.S gang, they are something serious.  I was impressed and somewhat surprised on how Maria Echevarria was quick to break her chain of thoughts and engage in a conversation with Frances.  I’m telling you guys, I have really fallen in love with this Brady Bunch.  They are like “crazy glue”, inseparable.  That’s what I call a team! I would love to see how they interact with their colleagues at their jobs when they commence the new school year on August, with all the new innovative activities that we have discussed throughout the summer institute.
During the transition the improvised breakfast area got crowded again.  Roselyn and Héctor are discussing major issues regarding the students in the classroom environment.  Mayra has a taste of everything she can get her hands into and while doing so, with a mischievous remark, asks Hector - “¿Héctor tú sabes como se le dice a esta parte del pan?” Héctor answers back with another question.  “¿Cómo se le llama?”  Mayra replies:  “Hay no te hagas, a la punta del pan se le llama la teta”.  I swear this woman has an awesome sense of humor.  With Mayra you have to always be prepared because you never know what she is going to come up with next.  I guess the crowd got so rambunctious that Dr. Pratt decided to call time-out.   -“Tenemos cinco minutos para ir a la mesa”.  As we all gathered at the “round table” Melissa says: “ I guess everybody is bouncing off the wall with the delicious carrot cake”.  At this point while still gathered at the “round table” Madeline commences reading her scribe in which she recaptured issues and events that took place during the institute the day before.  Once Madeline was finished, Melissa stated that Monday had been really tuff for all.  Ellen on the other hand focused on the contact hours or credits towards graduate courses.  That was a nice way to enlighten our spirit and look at the bright side of the small sacrifice during this summer.
As we tried to rap everything up, Peter added that once again the bar had been raised.   Ellen on the other hand spoke about having a fishbowl for July the 2nd, while Melissa suggested that we had to rethink of what was going to be done for the agenda on such day.  Aida suggested that we could have a piece of  writing  based on, “Las memorias de nuestro mes”.  Janice thought it was an extraordinary idea.  Finally, Mayra, in her distinctive voice, distributed the task among Janice and Aida for the Collaborative Collective Memoir as Ellen reminded us about the letters we had to write in Spanish and English to invite superintendents, directors, and others.
We sure had our engines running but we had to move on to the next topic.  Now it was Zenaida Sanjurjo’s Booktalk: The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom.  She discussed the fact of being Puerto Rican and how the color of our skin influences the way we speak or the way people judge us.  Wilfredo commented that we use more than words to communicate and Janice added that we carry with us our experiences and culture.  Angela discussed stereotypes such as black gospel, at which Zenaida responded “it is all about inter-race”.  Ellen was prompt to bring the stigma behind Obama, and Héctor reinforced other issues behind this presidential candidate.  Zenaida discussed a personal experience when she lived in Penn State where she was discriminated by white kids due to her color.  Melissa spoke of her experience while living in Westchester and migrating to P.R. as she replied:  “The skin that I speak and the voices I have say numerous things”.  Ellen spoke about a letter she sent to her mother and Janice spoke about her experience in Texas with her daughter.  I have to admit that the topic that Zenaida chose to do her book talk was alluring, appealing, polemic, and as stated by Peter provocative.  As Héctor reminded us that we had one minute left we narrowed it down and kept it brief and concise, to close-up Zenaida cited from the book specific misconceptions of English.
Afterwards the podium became Melissa’s due to last minute changes on the demo‘s scheduled for the day.  Melissa shared her college student’s future teacher experiences with us.  She addressed the topic of children’s literature for elementary level, picture books, styles, and genres and discussed how literature had to be contextualized.  She circulated books for us all to view related to Latino writers and picture books for young readers created by her students.  Maria Echevarria expressed her point of view related to Hispanic culture and supplement reading on Hispanic books.  Melissa emphasized on the importance of moving from basel reading or hard-core anthology which is structured reading and that we should move towards a communicative approach by using literature reading that is “falling in love with the reading”.
By this time I was mentally exhausted, I just wanted my space and time to re-boost the computer within my mind so that I could think and rethink clearly without locking up.  When time was up regarding the discussion of Melissa’s topic we were allowed to use the computer and search into the database engine of the university to browse for articles and journals related to our position paper.  I have to admit being a scribe and keeping track of a day’s work is not an easy task,  in addition to writing and commenting.
At 12:15 we took our usual lunch hour.  I guess we were in the mood of staying in the Lab Room and munching on the breakfast leftovers.  Honestly, this thing of alternating who will bring breakfast the next day comes in handy because we don’t have to shed money out of our pocket for lunch.  During the transition Mayra, Angela, Héctor, and Frances were going berserk and having the best of both worlds, that is munching on food and gossiping.  In the meantime, Wilfredo decides to join this new crowd on the block.  They started recalling memories of different soap-operas  such as: “La usurpdora,  Derecho de nacer, La verdadera Eva, Laura Guzmån culpable, Coralito”, and so on.  “ En medio de la tertulia estos chiflados recordaron novelas de la década de los ochenta, hasta caricaturas como: Whitey Coyote y Mazinger.   The conversation got so heated that they even spoke of singers such as Franky Ruíz and Juan Gabriel.  Abi and Mayra even started emulated them.  I swear, these two in the near future are going to be heading towards fame and glory.  At the end what had started early in the morning with “las tetas del pan” ended in the afternoon with “las tetas de Zayaka”.
At 1:15 Maria Echevarria gave her demo on:  Dialogue Journals Achieving Interactive Communication.  Throughout the process she had us think about what the scribe read during the morning.  Express in what we agreed and/or disagreed and then she lead us into writing for 5 minutes.  She set us in groups of  three and we read each ones entry, responded and reacted to it. Then it was time for Author’s Chair and feedback.
What seemed like an eternity locked in time finally dwindled down to an ending, for me it meant, more writing.   What came to my mind was the fact of putting all the bits-and-pieces of the scribe together in addition to writing a “shitty” 1st draft on my position paper, with no reference, using first point of view,  jotting the ideas coherently and cohesively then emailing it to Dr. Pratt, . . . and  getting prepared for my next day demo presentation on  Authentic Assessment: Writing Portfolios.  I genuinely have to admit that for me it was a tedious, hectic, and overwhelming day.  I don’t have any brains to function with anymore, they have been fried to their utmost capacity.