MayaWest Writing Project

Today I arrived early with Hector Matias around 7:45am.  We were surprised to see that the classroom was closed and no one was around.  Then we saw Alma, Janice and Abimael and we talked about the experimental piece that was due for Thursday.  Dr. Caty Mazack saw us waiting on the hallway and finally opened the door, we saw Dr. Ellen Pratts coming in also.  We set up everything on the desk and then someone said breakfast is served.  Some of us ran to get some food.  That’s when I heard laughter coming from the computer room and I heard Peter talking about Mayra’s little friend.  Then Ellen called our attention for eating on the computers.  After that reminder we just ran to the tables to finish breakfast. 

Around 8:50am Abimael and Dr. Pratt began a talk show that seemed like Noti-Uno morning news.  They talked about the things that happened on Wednesday in a very refreshing manner.  After they finished Matias said that it was great, and Peter said that it was a good way to raise the barn.  Dr. Pratt told that she had no preparation for the show, that Abimael gave her that paper a couple of minutes before they began the show.  Abimael was worried because he had lost his inner voice and that he was worried because he does not have a master’s degree.  Angela told him that is good to learn from others and that a master degree does not mean that your better or worse if you don’t have one.  Then Ellen said that she felled in love with our group.  Angela then jumped and said that we reflect what we are for that reason our students love teachers like us.  Aida “todo se vale y se aplica”.  Matias also said that English teachers are a crazy bunch that loves their students.  Ariana then said that Abimael is Ego-based and that he is original that he is not copying from anyone.  Abimael said that he thought about many ways to present his scribe part but then he decided about the radio show. 

Maria Echevarria said that she felt she was exhausted because she had so many things.  Frances said that she froze during the teleconference because it was so much and she went blank for a while.  Angela talked about him, she suffers from ADD from trying to do the fruit.  Roselin said that she thought she was a lemon and that she woke up at 5:00am to finish her piece.  Then Dr. Pratt reminded us this is part of the learning process, we process the information in different ways but we are halfway thru.  Abimael works best under pressure.  Ariana then said something about input, input and then the inner voice comes out.  A week is not enough for writing a piece, we need to go through prewriting, 4 drafts and the final piece.  This is not a one shot deal.  Maria del Valle said that it would be a good idea to send the teacher’s demos by e-mail.

Then Ellen described how she had to sell her soul to begin the MWWP and told us about her disappointment with the administrators.  Especially with a lady named Mayra Borrero, she doubts that the teachers are going to continue in the project if they get paid a lump sum.  Then Dr. Pratt said that she was not going to talk anymore about this and she continued talking about the book talk presentation by Frances Vanessa.  Jennifer then said that she had a present for the fathers in our class.  Angela reminded that it was just a little gift.  She began with Peter, Abimael, Cedrick and Hector.  Let me say thanks again it was great and a wonderful detail from you.  Ariana said also that Abimael is the Puertorican Howard Stern.  Then Tito was sent to get 3 veggie pizzas, 2 cheeses and one pepperoni. 

Meanwhile Frances Vanessa began her book talk Writing Workshops with our youngest writers by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa B. Cleveland.  She explains that anyone can become a writer if we learn the craft of writing.  Young children just need encouragement to express themselves.  Writing is an amazing challenge for younger children and is a huge intellectual work.  Read to them and they will become better writers.  They can make booklets about what they want and after that they will continue improving their work.  Hector told us about a writers group that he had that became storyteller then Janice said that had seventh graders reading to elementary students.  Maria Echevarria replied with the idea that students change from k to 1^st grade because we expect them to be polished writers instead of giving them the time to grow as children.  Frances said, “children’s work is important and they are little authors”.  Angela explains that we can provide sentence starters to draw a story that we need to provide time for them to produce and that reading aloud is necessary for students to listen.  Janice immersion writing emerges from creativity and if the teachers gave students orders that kills creativity.  Maria prewriting for kids in a school is a 50 minute block where they should have a portfolio to show their work.  Alma students write with the heart. 

Then Peter’s demo begins - Using videos to respond to writing.  He explains that he teaches in Maricao and that his students expect to be on welfare when they finish school.  After that he presents a video segment of Sierra Pelada in Brasil where we saw people coming out of a mine taking huge “sacos” of wet dirt.  Zenaida said there should be a better way to ganarse la vida.  Ariana people take chances and work for their dreams.  On the author chair Peter ask us to give him some input about the activity that he presented.  Jennifer “avarice is a sin as the Bible says”, Hector “the Spaniard came to kill the tainos and to take their gold”, Zenaida, “ la isla es el ombligo del mundo”, Wilfredo, “gold reminds him of Mr. T and that in gold we trust because that’s the pinnacle of materialism”.  (Tito said this) Aida continues “no podemos vivir sin el oro, que pena que lleve a la ruina a todo aquel que lo busca”, Mayra, “la avaricia muestra el lado oscuro del ser humano”. Frances, “Sweat, gold teeth, slavery, gold rush, Richie Rich, the Wizard of Oz and the rings when got married a necessary evil.”  Ariana, “gold is survival; gold is destruction is alluring and attractive that’s why she is a silver person”.  Alma, “el oro es esperanza, abundancia, paz y armonia.

Angela and Abimael talked about the way that Spanish sounds and the way that English is understood by us.  Abimael describes that avarice is not good.  Rosemary ¿para que sirve el oro?  El oro no es malo es el hombre el que cambia y se apodera la maldad.  Maria Echevarria, “it is a symbol of a material world, gold by itself is not bad and also not necessary for living”.  Zenaida asks Peter about Mr. Bean and how it works.  Then Peter explains that Mr. Bean helps students to grasp the idea because he is so dumb that students learn from that.  Ellen what is the benefit of having a video without words?  Si fuera una película con palabras estas cambiaran la idea y el significado de lo que se quiere presentar.   Students learn that there are different cultures besides Puerto Rican culture.  Maria Echevarria then compares this type of life with how Puerto Rico was a few generations ago and how it is nowadays.  Then we took a break for lunch, is hard to be hungry and be a scribe. 

After lunch break we moved to room 122.  Everyone was excited it was like being part of the last Indiana Jones movie.  As we got into the dark room we sat and wait until Dr. Rodriguez began talking about what she was going to do.  Her performance P. Americana was breathtaking and I lack words to describe it.  She pour some salt over her face she added olive oil and some vinegar.  The smell was so hard that it invited us to have a salad.  The music beats provided a sense of savage movement.  Then the music pauses and she stabs a watermelon that was between her legs with a knife.  Everything turned dark and then all of us stand and applauded her performance.  Cuando se encendieron las luces todo el mundo estaba  como en shock.  Entonces ella se dirigió al público y explico el significado de todo lo que había hecho.  Fue después de este momento que comenzó el verdadero show.  Ariana presented a sexy banana while Angela performed a papaya.  Frances and the green eyed girl from WALKS presented the tam, tam, tamarindo which was very refreshing and moving.  After that followed Mayra, Maria del Valle, Zenaida, Alma, Jennifer and Rosemary or Roselyn.  Then Hector and Peter with his LEGO shirt.  Abimael stunned us with Isolation. . . Isolation . . . Desolation that’s how you feel when you are abandoned and don’t know where to run.  Wilfredo finishes it up with a piece of a woman revealing how the feminine figure is seen through the eyes of a writer.  We got back to our classroom and talked about the things that we are going to have on Monday and finish by wishing happy father’s day to our classmates and reminding us about breakfast, lunch, etc.  I had to say bye to everyone but I hope you the best of luck and I hope to see you the last day of MWWP.

Take care!           

Narrator: We are aboard the NWPRP Space Voyager. Captain Frances Vanessa is responsible for the W.A.L.K.S. Crew as they navigate their way through what seems to be an ordinary space mission; observe and record segments of oral history of life forms found near and around their own universe.

 

Captain: Good morning ladies.

 

Everyone: Good morning Captain Frances! What’s our mission today?

 

Cap: We are to observe the alien life forms and ez drop onto their daily conversations, take notes on the most important events and report back to the mother ship.

 

Maddy: What’s the purpose of this mission? And, who on the mother ship are we reporting to?

 

C: A purpose? A purpose, you ask? Just because you’re my big sister doesn’t give you the right to question my authority.

 

Maddy: I’m sorry Captain but I learned about PAW and we must always have a purpose and an audience and I was just wondering who we were reporting to Captain.

 

C: Since you put it that way I guess I could disclose this information with my trusted W.A.L.K.S. team. Well, our objective is to report to our superiors Master Commander Ellen and Sergeant Melissa and their close nit crew of the all smiling one Irmaris and of course Lord Tito.

 

E: TITO! TITO! TITO!

 

E: All hale our founding Mothers and Father, who guide us on our writing adventures.

 

C: Ladies, we are coming close to a small planet. Let’s see what we can pick up.

 

Aida: Captain, I hear lots of commotion but I can distinctly hear two male life forms discussing beautiful poetry that they found on the nwp website.

   

C: That’s great Cadet Aida! Is there anything else you can hear?

 

Aida: Well Captain they are also speaking about their frustrations; one of them seems unhappy because he is unable to express his feelings musically through the guitar, but feels content listening to others, he really enjoys listening to “rock melodico”. The other one is suffering from something, Gods only knows but he likes to question authority, this one is a bit rebellious. I hear he wears his earings to work.

 

C: I see what you mean; we should steer away from that one.

 

Aida: Captain you better than anyone should know not to judge a book by its cover. For example this same male life form is deeply in love with his female companion and speaks highly of her and their offspring.

C: Let’s just keeping moving this is far too complicated and we have time issues. I hear Private Hector constantly in my ear piece saying time, time, time…

Alright ladies, anything else from this planet? How about Cadet Maria? Got anything?

 

Maria: Yes, Captain I do hear something about a time keeper but its coming from the planet, apparently they to have a time keeper. He also goes by the name of Hector but this one seems to be A-Wall. He has gone out to speak to his son and the people are desperately awaiting his arrival.

 

C: Why would they be waiting for a time keeper?

 

Maria: The Muse on their planet has a narrative on past events she wishes to read to her people but the people do not want to begin until his arrival. They seem to value his sense of time and authority.

 

C: Well is he back yet? Are they going to start or what?

 

Maria: Oh yes Captain he’s back and the Muse has taken her place. Time has started and she begins to give her very eloquent and unique piece that has everyone deeply engaged.

 

Maddy: CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN! Our vessel is moving away from the planet. It seems some kind of force is pulling us! I believe it’s a BLACKHOLE!

 

C: Alright ladies buckle-up this is going to be a bumpy ride.

 

Maddy: CAPTAIN WHAT DO WE DO?

 

C: The same thing we always do stick our head between our legs and pray.

 

Narrator: As the NWPRP Voyager whirls and twirls its way out through the other side of the blackhole they are met with clear blue skies and they are able to continue on their journey.

 

C: Is everyone ok?

 

E: Yes Captain; but could we break for a cigarette?

 

C: There’s no time for that! We have work to do! Let’s get back to our jobs ladies. Cadet Alma what do you have to report?

 

 

 

 

Alma: We have a very highly energetic being that goes by the name of Angela. This one seems very motivated about writing and continuously snaps her fingers and emphasizes on the importance of Standards and Curriculum. She guides her people into writing in Spanish and English using illustrations to get their thoughts flowing. This Angela person is overly caffeinated and stresses that the writers use nouns, verbs, and adjectives. She’s also very proud to lead those in her community. Angela feels a sense of responsibility to the offspring of her neighbors, friends, and colleagues. It’s very admirable!

 

C: I agree, and it would be nice to come back and visit this one; if we could take her off the coffee!

Ladies, this has been a long morning, why don’t we break for lunch.

 

Narrator: The NWPRP Voyager and its crew break for some spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, salad, roasted chicken, and cheesecake. After lunch they continue onward and come across planet A2Z. The inhabitants of this planet seem very suspicious; let’s see what the crew members have to say.

 

C: Ladies it appears that the beings on planet A2Z our watching us and giving us the evil eye.

 

Maddy: DO WE GET TO FIGHT CAPTAIN?

 

C: No! No! There’s no need for fighting. Jealousy I see in their eyes plus we are ladies and we never fight that’s what are pen and paper is for. This is how we vent our frustrations. We record it for those that follow.

Cadet Maria, what do you got?

 

Maria: It appears to be a book talk about graphic novels.

 

C: Graphic? Ohhhhhh Graphic!

 

Maria: Not that kind of Graphic, sucia!

 

C: Right, you mean illustrated, why didn’t you say so.

 

Maria: Well Captain this very intense male species is quizzing his followers.

            WHAT ARE GRAPHIC NOVELS?

            WHAT’S VISUAL LITERACY?

            WHAT’S CRITICAL THINKING?

YOU! YOU! FINISH, CONTINUE! He says as he points to his followers, apparently they are willing to participate. I guess it’s a cool thing amongst their youngsters to read these novels. We must take note of this and look into later.

 

E: Captain we can hear him to!

 

C: Well what is he saying?

 

E: PICTURES MESSAGE – PICTURES MESSAGE

 

C: What are graphic novels crew?

 

E: PICTURES MESSAGE – PICTURES MESSAGE

 

Maria: Captain, he’s finished with his book talk and ends by asking;

QUESTIONS! – DOUBTS! – COMMENTS! This was followed by applause!

 

C: What a day! Ladies I believe it’s time to head back to the mother ship.

 

Narrator: As the NWPRP enters the Mother Ship’s Port they are met by Sergeant Melissa who reminds them to split into smaller groups to discuss a draft for the infamous Position Paper. A daunting task to some but once doubts have been cleared over and over again it seems very doable as they begin to brainstorm or brainbloom on their ideas.

 

The day ended peacefully and all were filled with joy and excitement for the desperately needed long weekend. We hope you enjoyed our travel through the Universe, until next time I bid you a fare well, and be careful you never know whose watching or listening.