Dr. Roxanne Henkin's Blog

Confronting Bullying

2011-10-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, October 15th I'll be talking about how we can Confront Bullying. This talk is part of the San Antonio Writing Project's Super Saturdays. It will be held at the University of Texas at San Antonio's downtown campus in the Frio Street Auditorium, FS 1.406 from 9-noon. You don't have to register. Just show up and participate.

I feel like there is change in the air. People around the world are getting tired of the bullying our children are living through either as targets of the bullies or as bystanders. Cyberbullying has brought bullying into students' homes and leaves no place to escape the harassment. Too many children have committed suicide in part because of bullying. People are starting to pay attention to bullying in a way that I haven't seen over the last 15 years that I've been researching, writing and presenting about it. States are passing laws that are meant to protect the targets of bullies. CNN, national and local television and radio stations are presenting programing about it. There was even a Summit on Bullying at the White House last year.

Bullying is a complicated issue and attempts to come up with one size fits all solutions don't work very well. But there is a lot of good will toward this issue. Parents, teachers, students, administrators and other allies are coming together and working earnestly to confront bullying and to make schools safe places for all our children. October is bullying prevention month. May no more children end their lives because of bullying. The time to act is now. Change is in the air.

LWP-The Flight Home

2011-07-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

I’m back home and I’ve been thinking about all the teachers at the Limpopo Writing Project. We had such an amazing time. I’ve been excited to hear from Esther, Mosima, Seipati, Ntevheleni Justice and also Florinah and Akani. Facebook and my blog have been wonderful vehicles for keeping in touch. The Rural Teachers Conference went beautifully, especially the demonstrations that our LWP teachers shared. When the conference was over, we had a difficult time saying goodbye. We kept running back and forth from our cars for one more hug.

That night at dinner with our visitors from Pretoria , we ate at a restaurant that was having a private event for a TV station. There were TV stars dancing and we were invited to join the party. It was exciting to see Ngokoana and Nakedi and Leketi taking pictures with the celebrities and dancing with them. It was a fitting ending to our last night in Polokowane.

While I was in Pretoria I had time with Cheryl Logan and Cathy Ikeda who are working to create a National Writing Project in South Africa. We debriefed at the US Embassy and worked on future plans for our South African sites. I also got to visit with my cousins, Ruth and Mark Dreyer and it was wonderful to spend time with them.
The flight home was long but it helped that Cathy was on the same flight with me to Atlanta. Our flight was delayed 8 hours before our 17 hour flight, so there was a lot of waiting around. Right before the flight was finally ready to take off, we had to go through a second round of security and then at the Atlanta airport we had to go through security again. I don’t think I ever felt so inspected. I came home tired but happy, and look forward to the next chapter of the Limpopo Writing Project.

The LWP 2011 Team

2011-07-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Limpopo Writing Project-The Last Day

2011-07-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today was a complete surprise. The teachers planned the program and they shared their insights and their thanks with us. They presented me with two beautiful African bowls which was unexpected and so meaningful. They called me Masechaba, the Mother of the Nation. They honored me with this title and I am humbled by it. There were thank-you speeches, and singing and dancing and happiness filled the room. It was an unforgettable morning.

Then just when we thought it was over, the drama students gave a surprise farewell party for Dr. Makalela. They had gifts and cake and we started singing and dancing all over again. Although the project was officially over, we spent the afternoon in the computer lab. The teachers were busy on many projects, but they also wanted to make sure that they emailed their American partners. After dinner, we watched the final performance of the student dramatic troupe. They presented a play, a poem and songs. These students are incredible actors and have promising stage careers. The students gave up their winter break to stay at the university to perform for us.

Most of us are staying over for the Rural Teachers Conference tomorrow, so we haven’t said goodbye. It will be difficult to do. I’m sharing my last LWP journal and two of the wonderful speeches that we heard today.

I am Grateful for LWP
By Roxanne Henkin

I am grateful for the wonderful experience of this writing project and for the past two weeks that we have been able to work together. Every person in the Limpopo Writing Project is precious and to be cherished. I am grateful that I have met Solomon and have been able to hear his stories about the realities of life and the uncertain consequences that follow. I am grateful for Mokgadi, for her strength and her leadership. I am grateful for Esther, for her stories about her childhood, and for the energy that she brought us. I am grateful for Thelma, for her experience teaching second language children and for her guidance in the project.

I am grateful for Seipati, for her incredible story about her brother and for experiences that she shared with us. I am grateful for Thoko for her strength and her beautiful hats that light up our room. I am grateful for Cony and I am glad that when she finally shared, she was a writer. I am grateful for Makoma, for her passion for education, and her desire to always learn more. I am grateful for Masilo for her commitment to social justice and to children’s rights. I am grateful for Sehume, for the laughter and warmth and just plain fun she brought to us every day. I am grateful for Hobs, for his enthusiasm and the quiet way he shares his questions.

I am grateful for Nteveleni, who even though I was never able to pronounce his name led us on our writing journey and was always using the technology to check my blog. I am grateful to Joyce, for her powerful stories and the way she truly loved her friends and her dog. I am grateful for Dr. Leketi Makalela, for his incredible energy, his friendship and his commitment to the Limpopo Writing Project. I am grateful to Lehlogonolo, whose name I could never pronounce and so finally she told me to call her Blessing. And she was the biggest blessing to our project making sure that everything ran smoothly. I am also grateful for Pheladi, Blessings partner in checking all the details and facilitating the project. Thank-you, thank-you! And I am grateful to Ngokoana, my African sister, thanking you for devoting your time to this project.
Most of all, I am grateful to all of you for taking me into your hearts, for sharing your lives with me and for your love. As we say in Hebrew, Shalom, go in peace. You will remain with me always.

THANK YOU SPEECH
By MOKGADI LEKOTA

I am here on behalf of the group. Whatever I am going to say I will be representing you all because you all contributed towards this piece of writing. I am just a mouth piece to deliver the news of thanks to LWP.

This group is very much thankful about the contribution made by Pheladi, Lehlogonolo, Prof. Leketi Makalela and Dr Roxanne Henkin towards their development. We were led by an inspirational leader. The knowledge gained is really indispensible.

It is our pleasure to let you know that we do not regret ourselves by forfeiting all our family matters during this winter vacation. We are really developed, empowered, capacitated, reformed, born again and we also grew mentally.
We gained a lot and forward we go.

Amongst others we have take away to our schools
Development of writing skills.
Selection of learners for bursary.
Initiation of reading clubs.
Clustering with neighbouring schools for sharing what we gained – and even even community members

Thanks for our connections with our fellow Americans in SAWP the pairing done will keep the writing ball rolling.

This is going to be endless bonding – a chain starting with us locally, passing via Texas and proceeding endlessly.

As far as technology is concerned we are advanced, we are no longer novices. We now know more about skype, blog, face book, not forgetting the issue of been televised on DSTV channel CBNCA. What an exposure.

Challenges: No manna from heaven – you cannot appreciate and sit back
First is literature production – to write our own publications
To assess learners’ writing progress, ensure that they can write their own thinking, no matter how short.

As part of thanks, we must keep the LWP alive and producing. Go back and be writing addicts to keep the journey of incredible adventure on.

Sustain your e-mail addresses because as long it is not accessed then it will cease.

There is nothing impossible inside the willing heart.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Thanks from Nteveleni

Greetings everybody,

As a writer and a poet, let me start with a quote, though I won’t be quoting it verbatim. I quote, “One cannot choose when to be born, where to be born and you cannot choose parents, but you can choose who you want to be in life.” You can choose to be in the LWP like we did, and you can choose to love and share like Roxanne always does.

I have been given a very tough assignment. I have been requested by my colleagues, my brothers and sisters to present a gift to the precious gift of Limpopo, our one and only Masechaba (the mother of the nation), the one whose sense of down earthiness gives her a distinguished scholarly appearance. She is also my facebook friend.

San Antonio Writing Project Day 11

2011-07-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to start this blog today because we are so close to the end. We have our closing ceremonies tomorrow, and the Rural Teachers’ Conference on Saturday. But the good-byes are already starting. We shared our anthology pieces today and it was very moving. Our topics included childhood memories, a memoir of a long-dead dog, and a tribute to a brother who fought injustice. Solomon has been writing about social issues so beautifully that we all think he should publish them as a book. Every piece shared was captivating. We went through the whole range of emotions and marveled at the complexity of human life. Nteveleni said it all when he said that we are all members of the human race.

Today was the San Antonio Writing Project’s last day and they celebrated Visitors’ Day with both professional friends, as well as family and friends. We were able to Skype with them and we got to see the beginning of the day. When they were introducing the SAWP members, we couldn’t see them because they were out of range of the camera. We asked them to move the camera, but they misunderstood and put us in another room where we were meeting one on one with the TC’s. Because we didn’t want to take away from Visitors’ Day, we quietly hung up. At that moment, Dr. Hanlie Dippenaar Skyped us, and so we were able to have some time with her. It was great to see her back in South Africa, and our teachers want her to come up to Limpopo so that we can all work together.

The SAWP anthology was posted on our google site today, and I couldn’t wait to read it. They have a wonderful cover filled with pictures from the writing project, and their stories, like the Limpopo stories touch the heart. I felt sad that I wasn’t there with them, but the Skyping helped me to feel connected to them.

We finished Masilo’s demo today. It was a critical literacy demo that asked us to consider children’s rights. We had a rich discussion about children’s rights in the South African constitution which brought up the issue of corporal punishment. The South African constitution guarantees a child’s right to safety, and therefore, corporal punishment is illegal. This was a wonderful critical literacy lesson.

Our last demo for the workshop was presented by Makoma. She had us thinking about religions and diversity of religions that exist. I had already shared my piece about my Grandparents’ struggle in America and had spent a great deal of the paper discussing the major kinds of Judaism that exist. I had written about this in part, because of my writing conferences when people asked so many questions about Judaism. Then, when Makoma shared the section in the 4th grade social studies book that described the Jews, it was very short and only described a few things about Orthodox Jews. Reform and Conservative Judaism weren’t even mentioned. This led to a discussion about how important it is for teachers to read many texts and educate themselves about the issues that they are teaching. We can’t rely on textbooks to teach the truth and the complexity of history.

I’m closing with two journals—one mine and the other from Nteveleni whose words capture the spirit of how we are all feeling in LWP.

My Journal:
This is our last full day. I feel sad and I am clinging to every minute. My parents Skyped me last night and my mother asked me to tell everyone that she feels that she has been on this trip with me and that she loved meeting all of you and that it has really made her life exciting. Last night, Teko Facebooked while he was watching the performance of the students and he said that that he has loved his time here and has never felt so stress-free.

Each day of the LWP has been a blessing and the days go fast and they are packed with so many gifts. We have the gift of the people, each LWP teacher brings their own talents and insights to our group. From the first song that is shared in the morning to the last insight offered at the end of the day, we are enriched. How lucky we are to be part of the Limpopo Writing Project, and to be able to have learned and grown together.

I will never forget your powerful stories and our discussions about life, aging and death. I will never forget our singing and dancing together and how we encouraged each other to grow not only in our writing, but in our lives.

Thank-you for coming on the adventure of the Limpopo Writing Project, for giving up your days, for taking a chance, and for going on this journey with me. The wonderful thing about the writing project is that it is not over, when you walk out the door, but rather, it is just beginning. The Limpopo Writing Project will continue to meet. You have your American partners who are anxious to exchange teaching ideas with you and would like their learners to write and interact with yours. And you have me. Please email me or write and keep in contact with me. Let me know how you are doing and how the teaching of writing and reading is going. Most of all let me know what is going on with your life and that you are well. This is not an ending. We are parting, but we will forever be joined in our hearts.

From Nteveleni:
I am a citizen of the world. I am a member of the human race. This is my wish. These words are always echoing in my ears. I wish that one day, I’ll wake up and find this to be a reality, where people will refer to one another as a brother from another continent, a sister, a father, and a mother from another continent. There is only one creator and you do not need to be a rocket scientist to prove that we are one. We are all members of the human race. The time is now for all the citizens of the world to stand up and hold each other’s hands for the total development of all members of the human race.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 10

2011-07-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Many of us expressed the desire to slow down time so that we can enjoy our last days together. We want to savor every moment, because we know that our time is limited. Teko filmed our sharing time, so we once again felt like celebrities as we read our journals and shared our comments. Teko worked on the opening part of the video he is making about the Limpopo Writing Project and shared it with us. Among the many interesting things that he put into it, he wrote, “They write, they share, they dance,” which is all true.

Later, Teko interviewed some of us about The Limpopo Writing Project for the film. Teko’s friend, Akani Mabasa, an education student at The University of Pretoria talked with us in the morning. When I asked him if he knew of Dr. Hanlie Dippenaaur, he said that she was his lecturer. What a small world! His professor attended our SAWP summer institute 2011 and just arrived back in South Africa yesterday!

Today we focused on editing our final pieces for the anthology, and they were handed in. Our cover is the wordle we made together about the Limpopo Writing Project. We also had two demonstrations, one by Thelma and one by Masilo. We waited for SAWP to Skype us this afternoon, but they were so busy they forgot about us. Finally, they called and they were able to tell us which teachers were matched together from both countries. We are hoping that through these matches, our students from both sides of the ocean will be able to contact and learn from each other.

I’ll end with a journal selection from today. Mokgadi wrote a piece about aging that is included here:

Aging by Mokadi

Aging
Here I am,
At the age of fifty.
Still on the journey of my life,
Having so many memories in mind,
Good and bad

From a young joyous girl with nourished skin,
Here I am in fear of wrinkles on my face.
The signs are there.
The nourished skin is gradually, gradually fading away.
Will I admire myself in front of the mirror any longer?

Gone are those days when I was called “Sylvia”.
Oh! My days!
Here I am now,
Now called “Mrs so and so”
The title going with its respect, responsibilities and dignities.
I am now called “Gogo-granny”.
What a title! Coupled with Aging.

Health status,
Deteriorating as days go by.
Characterised with Aging,
suffering from diseases with labels.
Most parts of the body getting dilapidated

Starting with my eyes,
Refusing to read without spectacles on.
My legs refusing to carry my body
With my high heels on.
My joints strengthened by supplements.
Here I am with my confused
Ovulation cycle forgetting its normal route

Limpopo Writing Project Day 9

2011-07-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

So many of us wanted to share our journals this morning! We write all the time, we’re truly a community of writers. It was also wonderful to have Dr. Makalela back with us. Thoko shared her demo on genealogy, and had us develop family trees. This led to a discussion about how there are all kinds of families, and we need to add extra lines to accommodate step-children, step-parents, step-families and other kinds of families.
We looked at Sean’s demo today and were amazed by his detailed Prezi. He shared poems, pictures, letters, writing and writing exercises. Later when we were on Skype, Modkadi complimented him on his demo and noted that it was more detailed than the ones we are doing here. Sean explained that his demo was for 90 minutes, a much longer time period. When we Skyped, Barry invited Joyce to Skype his classroom to watch him teach. We were also able to talk with Dorothy and Vicki about their demos. It was great seeing Pam, Aurelia, Shannon, Justin and the others if only for a moment.
The filmmaker Teko Sgegede Nhlapho and his friend joined us today. He’s making a film that will be shown on TV stations about the Limpopo Writing Project. He was able to film us writing lunes (from Sean’s demo, and Skyping with the SAWP Summer Institute. He brought us a surprise, a bag of gifts promoting the South African Census which will take place in October. We took pictures of all the LWP teachers in the yellow shirts and hats that were in the bags.
Teko shared that he had spent time in the United States and that he graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where I met him as did Ngokoana and Dr. Makalela, when they visited San Antonio. All three of us were so excited to see him and very grateful for his support. We ended the day with dancing to song This Time for Africa. The theatrical students who have been performing for us at night came and joined in and soon Teko was filming all of us dancing together. Teko even joined us in the dancing. Later he commented that when he visited SAWP, he never saw us dancing. We were dancing with delight, we were dancing with happiness, we were dancing because we knew this was a special moment that might never come again. For one magical moment, we were unified and all was right with the world.

I’m sharing Nteveleni’s journal to end this blog:

What I Have Learned in 8 days So Far
By Ntevheleni

I never thought that talking through one’s pen could be healing and I never thought of myself as a writer. In a week’s time I have realized that I am a poet. Now I also know that I have the potential and that the only person who can unleash it is myself and no one else. I have also realized that all people belong to one big family. I have also learned that one must make a remarkable contribution in life. I have been to various academic institutions, but most of the things I have acquired within a few days. I had not known them for the longest periods that I have spent in those institutions. I am even thinking of going to “those” institutions for a refund. I have also realized that through sharing you tend to know the realities of life through other people’s experiences.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 8

2011-07-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

We began the day as we always do singing beautiful songs and with a prayer. Then in honor of the 4th of July, I sang My Country Tis of Thee and This Land is Your Land. The teachers suggested that I share the words with them so that they could sing it with me. We did this at the end of the day and we also watched a video of fire works on the 4th of July. They asked me about Apple Pie and Ice Cream and I explained that they are part of the American tradition. I thanked the teachers for helping me celebrate the day and they thanked me for inviting them into America.

Today we talked about writing conferences and we practiced as a group both as the author and the questioner. We discussed the ethical responsibility of the author to be as clear as possible in the writing and when answering questions. We also discussed the ethical responsibility of the questioner to ask good questions and to really listen to what the author is saying. As we practiced this, we practiced how we would teach our learners about it.

Today was Cony's day. She shared her journal for the first time today, was a volunteer for the writing conferences session, and shared her demonstration today. Her demonstration was on invitations and she had created some invitations for us to look at. It was an exciting day for Cony and for all of us.

Ngokoana is here for the week and we are so grateful to have her wise words and insights in the workshop. Teko comes tomorrow to make a film of our project, and we are very excited about it. We looked at Ilna Colemere's incredible technology Prezi that is on the Prezi site, and at some other educational videos.

Today Hobbs announced that he joined facebook and we were excited for another way for us to keep in touch. I shared Sean's story on Facebook about his stepping into the hall at the university to get some help for skyping. We loved the story. Then I passed on Kalpana's request that we share some of our participant's writing on the blog. I received a number of them, and I'll share one or two of them each day.

This is from Cony, her first journal that she has shared with the group:

Thanks for everything LWP. I had never said anything about LWP until today. I am blessed and special. I am not here by mistake, never mind the slow pacing of my grasping the ideas. I came here blind and blank, but now I have realized that I can do it.

I never thought that I could write something that can be read to people and that would make sense. The Limpopo Writing Project taught me that whatever comes into your mind, write it. It is of importance.

I am dreaming of publishing a book soon. Thoughts, sweet and bad memories were there before, but I could not vomit them out. The project taught me to take whatever is in me and share with others to get relief.

Authors are not born. A pen and a book are going to be my friends henceforth. I know that I am going to do it. I thought that I should have known about this project before, but it was not the time. This is the right time.

By Cony
July 4, 2011

Limpopo Writing Project Day 6

2011-07-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

The university was quieter because it was a Saturday, and the feeling of Serenity wrapped around the room. The beautiful African songs that start our day added to the peaceful feeling. I played Carol King's You've Got a Friend and some of us quietly sang along. Many of us wrote about friendship and shared our pieces. We have been together for over a week, and we are a community of writers. One of our blog readers, Kalpana has asked if we might share some of our journals in the blog. What a wonderful idea, and I'll ask the teachers if they would like to share some of their work here. For today, here's my journal:

You've got a friend.

Four simple words, yet they mean so much. You've got a friend to rely on, to care about, who will be with you in good times and in bad. You've got a friend.

This workshop is about friendship to me. It's about bridging two oceans and two countries and navigating through multiple cultures and languages. It's about reaching out and making new friends and caring, truly caring for each other.

You've got a friend. I am here for you and I want the best for you. I will share all I have to offer and support you as you learn and acquire new skills. I have learned so much from my time with you and I promise that I will never forget your kindness. During this workshop we have laughed together and cried together. We have sung together and danced together. We have shared our writing and in so doing, we have opened up the deepest parts of our hearts. When I return to my side of the ocean, I will be changed because I have a friend.

We also had a discussion about what writing does for us, how it opens up our eyes and heals old wounds. I talked about how writing and reading should be every child's right, that it is part of the heritage of being a human being. We also discussed the power of writing response groups when we enter the I-Thou relationship that Martin Buber has written about.

Our two demos had us thinking about vegetable gardens in Mokadi Lekota's lesson, and working with freewritng in Sehume's lesson. At the end of the day, we Skyped my Mother to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was completely surprised and excited when she realized that all the teachers were on Skype and singing Happy Birthday to her! Both she and my Dad were amazed. "I can't believe you are over 12,000 miles away," he said. " It seems like you are next door." My Mother said that this was the best birthday of her life.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 5

2011-07-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

We have bonded and gelled so much as a group. We truly feel like family. At the end of the day today, we were sharing the love we have for each other.

Ngokoana joined us again today and led the journal time. Solomon shared a moving piece about a woman dying from a botched abortion. Joyce then shared a part of her life that was so beautifully written and heartfelt. The day had just begun and it was already memorable.

We looked at The San Antonio Writing Project website and viewed the video. Then we started to look at Ilna Colemere's Prezi on technology which is an incredible resource. We just viewed the beginning of the Prezi and have already learned so much. We then collectively designed our own Wordle for the Limpopo Writing Project. It can be viewed on the Wordle website.

We had three strong demos today. Joyce began by teaching us about poetry and having us write poems. Then Solomon asked us to consider if the world is falling apart, and how can we make changes for the better. Finally Ramovha taught a lesson on wants and needs. He pointed out that things like IPods and IPads are wants not needs. People were curious about the IPad and IPod so later I showed them mine. We discussed how in the future we might be doing everything on smart phones, especially as the prices go down.

Ramovha welcomed me to the real South Africa, as he explained that he is the 37th child of 44 children. He explained that he has 10 mothers. We marveled at that. We also looked at a map and saw where San Antonio, Texas is located. We ended the day singing and dancing to African songs and Dolly Parton's song, Island in the Sun.

During Joyce's presentation, she showed us a picture of people walking in the rain and to then do a stop and write. Here's what I wrote:

I remember days like that,with thenrain slowlyndripping lightly on my umbrella. I imagine that it is a summer day so that the air is warm and intoxicating and it is ever so pleasant to be walking in the rain. I took the rain for granted all the years I lived in Chicago. Rain came so easily, it was in abundance. Now I live in a water-starved state where we've had enough rain to count only once or twice in the last months. The earth is gasping for a tiny drop of precipitation.

The Limpopo Writing Project Teacher Consultants 2011

2011-06-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Day 4 The Limpopo Writing Project

2011-06-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

We've settled in to the routine of LWP day. We begin with a song and a prayer and then we start writing in our journals. Joyce wrote about her life and all the changes she has gone through. That led Dr. Leketi Makalela to reflect on the change in his life as he leaves the University of Limpopo for his new faculty position in JoBurg. We discussed that even as change is good, "parting is such sweet sorrow." He remains committed to the Limpopo Writng Project and to it's long term continuation.

We then heard the daily log and started on our writing time. During writer's response groups, we had a visitor, Professor Lukas Mkuti who shared his poetry. Afterwards, he shared that he had studied at The University of Arizona with Drs. Luis Moll, and Drs. Ken & Yetta Goodman. When I shared that I am good friends with the Goodmans and their daughter Debi, we marveled at how small the world actually is.

Later we went on the SAWP SI 2011 and marveled at the quotes the SAWP teachers submitted for the anthology. They seemed to capture the essence of writing beautifully. We also uploaded pictures from our LWP site to the google site.

We had two demonstations today, one about the problem of eating nutritious food for South African children by Seipati which led us into the discussion of obesity in the US, and how we are trying to combat it. Then Esther led us in a demo with a film clip of the student's uprising in 1976. One of our participants had been living there during this time and talked about the wounds it still holds. We had a fascinating discussion about healing, sharing history with our learners, and encouraging learners to build a better life for themselves. We discussed how drugs and other forces are problems for young people in both countries. This critical literacy lesson was moving, emotional and an important one to share with students and learners.

Day 3 The Limpopo Writing Project

2011-06-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

After 2 days of struggling with the computer center, we decided not to go there. Instead, we worked in the room and had a very productive day. Since we knew that we would Skype with SAWP teachers today, we spent journal time writing questions that we had for the teachers in America and describing the teaching situation in The Limpopo Region of South Africa. This led to quite a discussion about the difficulty of teaching 21st century literacies when you don't have computers or the Internet in your classroom. They wondered if the teachers could help them get computers. When I explained that many classrooms in San Antonio don't have computers for every student or even a few in each classroom, they were shocked. They imagined that every classroom in San Antonio had a computer for every student.

We looked at the google-site and read every introduction from the SAWP teachers. Then we looked at their pictures, and I helped them associate the writings with their faces. At lunch we took several group pictures that we will put on the google site tomorrow. We held up our name tags so the SAWP teachers will know who we are. We are hoping to connect every South African teacher with a SAWP participant. The challenge will be how to keep in contact without computers and email to rely on. We want all the learners in the teacher's classrooms to connect with American students through writing.

As we prepared for SAWP to contact us on Skype, my Mother and Father Skyped us. We only had a minute before the SAWP call came in, but the teachers were glad to meet my parents and amazed that they were so computer proficient.

We were very excited to Skype with SAWP and this time we knew each other better and had more questions to ask. Barry from SAWP was amazed that the SA teachers meet for 12 hours a day and he promised to help SAWP look for technology grants for the Limpopo teachers. Shannon gave us a tour of the SAWP room. The SA teachers encouraged Dr. Hanlie Dippenaar to return to SA soon and lead the Writing Project with them. But the funniest moment of the day was when one SA teacher asked for Justin to come to the screen and told him that Roxanne has said that he was single and available and was that true? This caused teachers on both sides of the ocean to burst out laughing.

Day 2 Limpopo Writing Project

2011-06-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today Ngokoana & Nakedi spent the day with us and shared some of their experiences with the San Antonio Writing Project and the Limpopo Writing Project. We spent time discussing the presentations and looked closely at Vicki's demonstration. Her demo and the videos she shared had us thinking about our lives as digital immigrants. There is so much to learn! Later when we went to the computer lab we finally got everyone an email and invited to the google site.

I had dinner with Nakedi, Ngokoana, and Ngokoana's friend who is a professor. We found that we had so much in common as we talked about the importance of bringing writing to all the learners in South Africa.

Here is what I wrote during our journal time today:

I am so happy to be back at The University of Limpopo with all of you. This is truly a dream come true. Yesterday was a long and productive day that ended with a dramatic program and dancing. Then as we went to the lodge, the electricity went out and the sky was spectacular. Everywhere I looked the stars shimmered and they seemed to almost touch the earth. I've lost that view living in the city by a highway with the cars whizzing by leaving a perpetual hum and the stars obstructed by the city lights. I needed to come back to Africa to restore my sense of peace.

Day One of the 3rd Limpopo Writing Project Institute

2011-06-27T13:17:00.001-07:00

Today was a fun, packed first day of the writing project. We skyped with both Mashaba and the San Antonio Writing Project 2011 ISI. It was amazing to see the teachers in the US. Really technology is mind-boggling. Then after dinner we had a theatrical performance by the Limpopo students that ended with us singing and dancing to "It's Time for Africa," a happy song. On the back to town, we stopped at the lodge where the teachers are staying. The power had gone out and it was completely dark outside. The sky was filled with thousand of stars that reached across the horizon and seemed to touch the ground. The Southern Sky in winter is spectacular!

The Limpopo Writing Project 2011 Institute

2011-06-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have arrived in South Africa and the 3rd Limpopo Writing Project Institute begins tomorrow. We are very excited to begin our 3rd institute and I can't believe that I am back to help with the institute. I feel very grateful to be here and to be able to work with Dr. Leketi Makalela and the South African teachers. Today I was lucky enough to spend time with Ngokoana and Nakedi, who stayed with us during the 2008 San Antonio Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. We had a wonderful time together and we all feel so connected and lucky to be together. These are magical times.

Confronting Bullying by Roxanne Henkin

2011-02-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education
By Dr. Roxanne Henkin
Published by Heinemann

Everyone has a stake in bullying especially when we know kids who are bullies are much more likely to end up in jail as adults. In many of the recent school shootings the victims have experienced bullying themselves.

Even though as individuals we can’t stop every act of violence, we can in schools work to reduce bulling on our campuses. “Everyone must identify a personal role in the formal and informal policies that seek to reduce violence, harassment, and bullying…Only when individuals are aware of a problem can they begin to consider taking action”. (Hazler 1996, p155)

Although bullying is receiving attention in schools, Confronting Bullying is the first to offer the inclusive inquiry cycle and the critical literacy perspective on bullying. Most books about bullying in classrooms offer suggestions that aren't embedded in literacy practice. Most character education books don't provide rich literacy instruction and quality book recommendations. Confronting Bullying provides all of these.

Confronting Bullying is available in over 223 libraries across the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. It is also included on the parentbooks Violence and Bullying booklist and the Action Alliance for Children Booklist.

Avaliable at Heinemann, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other retailers.

Please Donate to the Limpopo Writing Project

2011-02-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

Please Donate to the Limpopo Writing Project in South Africa

The purpose of the Limpopo Writing Project is to have teachers at all levels focus on the teaching of writing in their classrooms and after the Invitational Institute, to have these teachers share their knowledge with other teachers. Please consider making a donation to the Limpopo Writing Project. 100% of funds are tax deductible and go directly to the project.

Teachers Teaching Teachers
The San Antonio Writing project (SAWP) is raising money to help the teachers in Limpopo, South Africa start their own writing project. Funding is needed to subsidize 12 teachers at the University of Limpopo for the Invitational Institute in June 2011. These teachers will be coming from all over Limpopo province and will need room and board, as well as computers and supplies.

We need your help:

$50 would allow one student to pay school registration fees, receive a school uniform and provide lunch for the entire school year.

Please support The Limpopo Writing Project.

Send your donations to:
The Limpopo Writing Project
207 Northcrest Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78213

If you have other contributions or questions, please contact us at
maryloud99@gmail.com.

Thanks for helping this dream come true.

Limpopo Writing Project
African Proverb
“ Until the lions get their own
historian the tale of the hunt
will always glorify the hunter”

San Antonio Writing Project's 5th Annual Conference

2011-02-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Our SAWP Conference will be on Saturday, February 5th, 2011. Reporter James Munoz will be our keynote speaker. The Power of Story is our theme and we have many wonderful presentations from our San Antonio Writing Project's Teacher Consultants. Go to www.sanantoniowritingproject.org to see the full program. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

San Antonio Writing Project October Events

2010-10-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

We have two big events that we are sponsoring in October. This Sunday, October 10, 2010, we are having a Cuentos Project Open Mic in the downtown Central Library from 1-3 p.m. Everyone is invited to write and share family stories with us.

Then on Saturday, October 23rd, SAWP is sponsoring Memoirs to Stories to Publication at UTSA's downtown campus from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. For more information visit www.sanantoniowritingproject.org. We look forward to having you join us at these events.

San antonio Writing Project's Open Institutes

2010-07-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

The San Antonio Writing Project is hosting two Open Institutes this summer. To read more about them visit our website at www.sanantoniowritingproject.org
or visit the UTSA site at http://www.utsa.edu/today/2010/07/wrinst.html.

San Antonio Writing Project's 2010 Summer Institute

2010-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is our last week of the 2010 SAWP Summer Institute. We've had an incredible time writing, participating in writing demonstrations and reading the research on writing. Our Visitors' Day is this Thursday from 9-noon at UTSA in the Business Building BB2.06.04. We'll be sharing all of this with you and we love to have you join us.

Limpopo Writing Project Institute 2010

2010-05-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

The 2nd Institute of The Limpopo Writing Project is scheduled to start Monday, May 17th at the University of Limpopo in South Africa. The San Antonio Writing Project is proud and excited that this event is becoming a reality. We wish them a wonderful time writing and sharing. We can't wait to read their stories.

Honor Moorman's Wiki with the link

2010-02-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

Here's the link

Honor Moorman's Wiki

2010-02-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

Honor Moorman has an amazing website with lots of information about 21st century learning. Take a look at it! http://21stcentliteracy.edublogs.org/

The Limpopo Writing Project

2010-02-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

We are continuing to raise money for the Limpopo Writing Project. Dr. Leketi Makalela hopes to have the second institute in May, 2010. During winter break, one of our teachers from the first Limpopo Writing Project came and stayed with us. Mashaba Mashala is in the US on a Fulbright Fellowship studying for her Master's Degree at Iowa State.

We invited Mashaba to spend the holidays with us and we had a wonderful time together. We talked about education in South Africa and how important the Limpopo Writing Project is for children in Northern South Africa. The San Antonio Writing Project had a reception for Mashaba and we experienced a magical evening as she told us about her life and her students.

Mashaba will be in the US until May 2010. We all support her and hope to see her again soon.

San Antonio Writing Project's 4th Annual Conference

2010-02-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

The San Antonio Writing Project's 4th Annual Conference is this Saturday, February 6th from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the UTSA downtown campus. Author Diane Gonzalez Bertrand is our keynote speaker and then our SAWP teacher consultants will be sharing their writing across the curriculum demonstrations. This event is open to the public. We look forward to seeing you there! Our program is listed below.

SAWP Conference Presenters-Session 1
Presenter Room Level Title Presentation Summary
Serena
Bahe
3.406 Late
elementary
through
secondary
Writers As
Reflectors and
Reflecting About
Writing
This research-supported presentation will demonstrate how
reflecting during and after the writing process creates clearer
understanding of ourselves as writers and a better finished piece.

Therese
Fleming
3.512 All The Cuentos
Project
Classroom demonstration of The Cuentos Project* at work. Stories
don't die, but their vessels do. So what? Well, pardner, then you're
left with a tall drink of imagination quenchin' nothin', a plate full of
history dust, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing." Get on board with this essential endeavor to
seek out and record the missing pages of world history. Put the
dousing rod in your students’ hands and get ready to make history.
You know you want to, yes you do. The train's leaving town, and the
only thing missin is YOU. Welcome aboard, pardner.
*boots and lariats optional, enthusiam and commitment required

Kelley
Meyer
3.528 Secondary To Grammar or
Not to Grammar
This workshop is designed to help integrate grammar and
conventions lessons into the context of the writing process.

Nora
Gonzalez
3.402 Elementary Shhhhhh.....Not
in this Class!
In this session participants will unearth the importance of interaction
and conversation for English language learners in a regular
elementary classroom. These activities promote interaction through
a variety of ways to include reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Lennie Irvin
and Frances
Crawford
3.520 All Celebrating
Writing for
Learning in All
Subjects: How to
Integrate More
Writing into
Your Curriculum
No matter your subject or grade level, writing is an important tool to
help your students learn. This presentation will discuss the important
role writing plays in learning, and it will introduce teachers to
concrete activities they can use in the classroom to get their students
writing more (without increasing their grading load considerably).
Participants will engage in a teaching demonstration of one such
technique that has been used successfully in the classroom.

Honor
Moorman
1.522 High
School
Navigating the
Digital
Landscape: 21st
Century
Research Skills
The new Research Strand of the ELAR TEKS requires that students
be able to gather information from electronic sources, use advanced
search strategies, and distinguish between reliable and unreliable
sources. But in the Age of the Internet, it is easy to find ourselves
adrift in the sea of information, drowning in the digital ocean that
engulfs us. In this session, we will get our feet on solid ground again
by exploring effective search tools and strategies, examining how
social bookmarking can be used to tag, save, highlight, annotate,
share, and organize online resources, and investigating the critical
characteristics to consider when evaluating websites.

Jeanette
Pierce
3.406 All Telling Their
Stories: The San
Antonio
Holocaust
Survivor Project
This presentation will share the history, creative process,
and curriculum product resulting from a three-year effort to record
the stories of San Antonio's Holocaust Survivors. The project is
nearing completion and the efforts of the small team of teachers to
retell our survivors' stories based on their videotaped interviews will
be featured. The original videotapes were created by Steven
Spielberg's Shoah Project which began after the release
of Schindler's List. The final curriculum unit and writing activities
will be published and included in the learning trunks shared by the
San Antonio Holocaust Memorial Museum with area schools.
Participants will have the opportunity to "test drive" some of the
activities and to discuss how we can connect these stories to the
lives of our students.

SAWP Conference Presenters-session 2
Presenter Room Level Title Presentation Summary

Pam
Piedfort
3.402 Elementary Revision in
Living Color
In this session participants will learn to use the power of students'
own self-selected writings and highlighters to teach revision and
editing.

Mike
Moran, Kelli
Wilder,
Janet Flores,
Lauri
Humberson
3.520 High
School
Classroom
Experiences with
San Antonio's
Big Read
We will share our experiences incorporating Tim O’Brien’s The
Things They Carried as part of The Big Read during the Fall 2009
semester. Presenters will describe sample assignments and discuss
working with administrators and the surrounding community.
Attendees will receive free teacher’s guides, reader’s guides, and
bookmarks.

Angelia
Hudson
3.528 Secondaryadult
From ELL to
American
Citizenship: A
Spiritual Journey
to Self-
Fulfillment.
Imagine driving along IH-10. On the horizon is the magnificent
structure of a rollercoaster, baked in hues of red, blue, yellow, and
green. Now visualize standing in anticipation of getting on the ride,
itching with excitement. With each movement of the ride you,
screaming with your hands in the air, feel the soothing reassurance
of the wind as the knowledge journey takes place. Welcome to the
world of ESL: Welcome to a journey to success for all.

Kalpana
Iyengar
3.536 All Kahani Project Kahani Project is a literacy endeavour modeled after the Cuentos project
where Indian and International students wrote family oriented stories. The
stories project the Indian ethos and help students explore their ethnicity,
culture, and country. It is a wonderful opportunity that enables students to
compose, share, and talk about the stories in an open mike session at the
Institute of Texan Cultures of UTSA.

Dan Kaderli Audit High
School and
Adult
PoePourri Kaderli presents a perspective on Edgar Allen Poe's life and work
through a masterful impersonation of him. It's a look at Poe's life
through his own eyes involving recitation of some his major works,
such as "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee," and some indirect
references to other poets, such as Keats and Shelley. The
performance also looks at how masterpieces get written, in Poe's
view.

Lisa
Kalinowski
1.522 Elementary Using Culturally
Relevant Texts
to Inspire
Writing
This session will provide teachers a research-based platform for
using multicultural texts in the classroom in various contexts as a
way to inspire writing. It will explore the introduction of texts with
familiar themes/characters, etc., as a bridge to broader writing
possibilities. The presenter will also make available a resource list
and ideas for classroom implementation.

Jennifer Hall 3.512 Secondary
and Adult
Showing vs.
Telling : Writing
Emotions with
Physicality
Student writing can be lifeless and liable to info-dumps. Yet these same
students run, jump, sing, dance, and otherwise move around every day. This
lesson is designed to bring that physicality and interest to student writing.

NCTE 2010 Elections

2010-02-03T21:21:00.000-08:00

I'm running for Vice-President (which leads to President) of The National Council of Teachers of English. Here's the link to the announcement. http://www.ncte.org/volunteer/elections

2009 Halle Award Winner

2009-10-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Roxanne Henkin is the recipient of the 2009 NCTE Richard W. Halle Award for Outstanding Middle Level Educator. This award honors a junior high/middle level educator who has worked to promote understanding of the developmental needs and characteristics of young adolescents, especially in the English language arts.

Roxanne Henkin is a Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at The University of Texas San Antonio. Previously, she was a Professor at National-Louis University in Chicago and has spent 18 years as a classroom teacher. She is currently director of the San Antonio Writing Project.

Involved with NCTE for many years, Roxanne is currently the lead coeditor, along with Janie Harmon and Elizabeth Pate, of Voices From the Middle. She is a member on the Summer Activity Review Panel for ReadWriteThink and involved with the NCTE Affiliate Co-sponsosred Speaker Program. She has served as a member and co-assistant chair of the Middle Level Steering Committee and member of the Elementary Steering Committee and has been active in several other NCTE committees.

Roxanne has written numerous journal articles and the books, Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education and Who's Invited to Share?:Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice with Heinemann.

Link to original article

Books

2009-06-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education

Everyone has a stake in bullying especially when we know kids who are bullies are much more likely to end up in jail as adults. In many of the recent school shootings the victims have experienced bullying themselves.

Even though as individuals we can’t stop every act of violence, we can in schools work to reduce bulling on our campuses. “Everyone must identify a personal role in the formal and informal policies that seek to reduce violence, harassment, and bullying…Only when individuals are aware of a problem can they begin to consider taking action”. (Hazler 1996, p155)

Although bullying is receiving attention in schools, Confronting Bullying is the first to offer the inclusive inquiry cycle and the critical literacy perspective on bullying. Most books about bullying in classrooms offer suggestions that aren't embedded in literacy practice. Most character education books don't provide rich literacy instruction and quality book recommendations. Confronting Bullying provides all of these.

Confronting Bullying is available in over 223 libraries across the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. It is also included on the parentbooks Violence and Bullying booklist and the Action Alliance for Children Booklist.

Avaliable at Heinemann, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other fine retailers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who's Invited to Share?:Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice

Who's Invited to Share? has had an impact nationally and internationally and has been used for study groups at universities including American University, University of Georgia, Hofstra University and in Saskatchewan, Canada. The book is avaliable on websites from England, Canada, Australia, Israel, Brazil and TraveltoEasternEurope.com. Who's Invited to Share? is also avaliable in over 225 university libraries in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa.

Review from Amazon.com:
"I will begin by saying this book has inspired me to use my gift of teaching with a group of students who will need it the most. Dr. Henkin shares a variety of personal and professional narratives which highlight the need to teach so that all voices are heard and honored. This book serves as an excellent resource for all teachers who are working toward creating an environment where all children are respected for what they bring to the classroom.

Dr. Henkin lists a variety of professional resources as well as children's books that deal with the issues of gender, diversity, and multiculturalism. These resources provide an excellent starting point to better understand the issues children bring to the classroom and the issues teachers face in the classroom.

Dr. Henkin interviews and observes many classrooms where teachers and students work together to create classrooms that are equitable for all. The students in this book seek to make their community better for all who live there. The curriculum is rich and meaningful and all voices are heard. This book is a must for all teachers to read."

Avaliable at Heinemann, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other fine retailers.

Please Donate to the Limpopo Writing Project

2009-06-17T11:51:00.001-07:00

The Limpopo Writing Project took place during the first two weeks of January 2009 at the University of Limpopo in South Africa. Eleven teachers joined the two South African Co-Directors and the Director and the two of us from the US for the Limpopo Writing Project Summer Institute, the first of its kind in South Africa. I had gone to teach writing and Mary Lou assisted by teaching computer skills and mentoring the teachers.

The Limpopo Writing Project is modeled on The San Antonio Writing Project. The San Antonio Writing Project is a local, non-profit organization designed to promote the effective teaching of writing in San Antonio area schools ages Pre-K through the University level. Our teachers become San Antonio Writing Project consultants after they’ve completed the five-week Summer Institute. They share their belief that writing is essential for learning in all content areas with their students. Hundreds of children in the greater San Antonio area are receiving better writing instruction thanks to the teacher consultants from SAWP.

I met Dr. Leketi Makalela when he was visiting UTSA with another grant at the university. He had heard about The San Antonio Writing Project and wanted to replicate it at his university in South Africa. He asked us for help. We raised money and received a small grant to bring two South African teachers to the US last summer to participate in the 2008 San Antonio Writing Project Summer Institute. Ngokoana Dikari and Nakedi Mogaba stayed at our house, participated in the workshop and participated in our lives for five weeks. Their professor, Dr. Leketi Makalela joined us for the last two weeks of the SAWP workshop.

Leketi is now the Director of The Limpopo Writing Project and Ngokoana and Nakedi are now the Codirectors. The eleven teachers that participated in the Limpopo Writing Project came from all over rural South Africa. Each day we wrote and shared our writing, talked about writing instruction and shared classroom lessons. We also participated in book discussions. Mashaba, a high school teacher wrote near the end of the workshop,

“Looking back, I wish I could have been in this workshop ages ago, but then it is not too late to mend. From now onwards, I am a good writer and all my colleagues and learners will be good writers, too. Somebody has already mentioned that we are seeds, and seeds bear fruits.”

The San Antonio Writing Project is funded by a grant the National Writing Project receives from Congress. There are no funds available for this work in South Africa so we’ve had to raise the funds ourselves. Last year all the money was donated by our friends and family. 100% of the money went into funding the workshop and paying for the room and board of the participants. Mary Lou and I as well as the Co-Directors and Director in South Africa are volunteers working for free.

We are trying to do everything we can to raise funds for the Limpopo Writing Project. We need about $6000 American dollars to replicate the 2009 Summer Institute. We'd also like to support writing students in the teachers' classrooms. Leketi has shared that $50 could change a child’s life in South Africa for a school year. We’d like to give at least one writing student in each of the teachers’ classrooms $50 which would pay for the school fees, the uniform, and all their school lunches for a year.

Please consider donating to The Limpopo Writing Project. Your contributions are so appreciated. Please send donations to

The Limpopo Writing Project
C/O Mary Lou Daugherty
207 Northcrest
San Antonio, TX 78213

The Limpopo Writing Project

2009-06-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about all the teachers in the Limpopo Writing Project and all the teachers that I met in South Africa. We are now in the 2nd week of the SAWP 2009 summer institute and we're thinking about all of you and the influence you've had on our project. After every demonstration, one of the connections we always make to the topics are the global ones. I also share stories about Nakedi and Ngokoana and the SAWP TC's from last summer as they relate to this year. I also talk about the Limpopo Writing Project and all the teachers that I worked with there. If any of you are reading this, please reply. The teachers would love to blog here with you. They'd also like to have your students write to theirs.

We are trying hard to raise money for the 2010 Limpopo Writing Project Summer Institute. Everywhere I go I talk about the project and it's generated a lot of interest. Mary Lou and I even spoke at our Temple about the Limpopo Writing Project last Friday.

We are doing everything that we can think of to raise enough money so that the 2010 LWP Summer Institute will be a success. The next blog entry will detail how we can support the project. But please, everyone who is reading this, please consider donating to The Limpopo Writing Project and please ask your friends and family to consider supporting us too. Contributions can be made out to The Limpopo Writing Project and sent to LWP in care of Mary Lou Daugherty, 207 Northcrest, San Antonio, Texas 78213.

SAWP Summer Institute 2009

2009-06-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

We are in the second week of the 2009 San Antonio Writing Project Summer Institute. We are meeting in the same small room that we’ve had for previous institutes which is definitely cozy. This year we are especially focusing on technology and have gone paperless. Our SAWP assistant and Graduate Student Jacob Sanchez is doing his Master’s thesis on this process.

Already we are seeing amazing things happening. Our logs have been transformed by movie maker and other programs into videos that document our days work through words, video, pictures and music. As one participant noted, you can see the process evolving each day as a new logger plans and takes pictures and the story board emerges in front of us.

We’ve been having spontaneous technology discussions as we reflect on the similarities between the writing process and the process of creating movies. We are challenging ourselves to get with the new technology and to embrace continual change.
For the first time ever, we’ve eliminated the SAWP notebooks and instead post all of our powerpoints and handouts on our google site. We’re also posting our writing and having electronic writing conferences too. Instead of a notebook, everyone received a jump drive. We’ve done a lot of writing and discussing about technology, especially our fears and concerns. But nothing surpasses the excitement we feel when someone shares their electronic journal or technologically advanced demonstration. We’re proud of ourselves and we know that we are moving into new territory. We don’t know where we are going but we also know that we will never move backward again.

Kahani Project Article on UTSA Today

2009-06-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

"The stories are amazingly personal and yet universal," said Roxanne Henkin, UTSA professor and director of the San Antonio Writing Project. "The students talk about their lives and their struggles to show their families in India that they are still Indian while fully American too. Their parents and the Indian community in San Antonio expressed pride and support as the students of all ages shared their stories."

Link to article:
http://www.utsa.edu/today/2009/05/kahani.cfm

The President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Community Service

2009-05-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Professor Roxanne Henkin received the President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Community Service.

A professor of literacy education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, Henkin's service reaches beyond the local community to national and international audiences.

Responding to San Antonio's need for teachers who can offer children the best literacy instruction possible, Henkin established The San Antonio Writing Project (SAWP) as a local, nonprofit organization. SAWP provides literacy training to selected teachers who attend a summer institute and receive ongoing professional development throughout the school year.

SAWP has also hosted annual conferences, sponsored summer writing camps on San Antonio's West Side and developed the Cuentos Project, in which schools encourage students to interview their families and write their stories or "cuentos."

Henkin also extended the reach of the SAWP and her extensive knowledge about teaching literacy to South Africa, partnering with the University of Limpopo for ongoing training. She spends time each in local elementary schools where she has established professional development sites and where she observes UTSA students working toward their teacher certification.

Henkin also links her literacy expertise with service to the religious community, conducting training for literacy volunteers who work in local school districts and taking UTSA students to the San Antonio Holocaust Museum. Finally, Henkin has a long and active presence in the National Council of Teachers of English, a national literacy organization.

Link to full story

Story by Lynn Gosnell
Photo by Mark McClendon

Kahani Project Pictures

2009-05-08T12:03:00.001-07:00

Kahani Project Picutres

Here are some pictures from the Kahani Project at the Institute of Texan Cultures this past weekend May 2nd 2009. The stories are amazingly personal and yet universal. The students talk about their lives and their struggles to show their Indian families in India that they are still Indian while fully American too. Their parents and the Indian community in San Antonio expressed pride and support as the students (of all ages) shared their stories.

March 13, 2009

2009-03-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

In the last month since my return from South Africa, I've been very busy teaching classes, working on the San Antonio Writing Project and editing the journal, Voices From the Middle. I've also been sharing my experience in South Africa and particularly our work with The Limpopo Writing Project. We need to raise as much money as possible for the 2010 Limpopo Summer Institute. In addition to telling our stories, I've been searching the web looking for grants that might fund the Limpopo Writing Project. There aren't a lot of grants and I would love help from anyone who has experience or insight into the process or can help in anyway.

Meanwhile, The San Antonio Writing Project had a very successful 3rd conference in February. Our TC's did a wonderful job sharing their expertise and we had terrific evaluations. We loved listening to author David Liss share his writing process. I was particularly impressed with the great organization of the conference because I was out of the country for so much of the planning. I am so proud of all our teacher consultants. The deadline for applicants for The 2009 SAWP Summer Institute is April 1st. You can apply online for it at www.sanantoniowritingproject.org.

Roxanne's Visit Video

2009-03-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here are the 3 parts of the video on google video.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Leketi's Presentation

2009-03-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

Leketi's Presentation Visitor's Day

Link to Leketi's Presentation Video

A Wonderful Time in Johannesburg

2009-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time in Johannesburg. We stayed with Cynthia Hugo, the Director of the Read Foundation. She has magnificent gardens and a beautiful home, and we were treated royally. We spent one day visiting schools in Soweto and then worked with teachers for the following two days. These teachers all work with Read and they were leaders in their schools. We had wonderful, full days writing and talking about writing practice. A number of them said that they'd like to come to next summer's SAWP Writing Institute, and I told them that if they can get the plane tickets, they are welcome.

Johannesburg is a vital busy city with lots of traffic jams. I loved the practice of morning tea during our working days. The food was wonderful. We have only a few days left and then it's time to return home. Working in South Africa had been a life changing experience!

All of Us

2009-01-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

Limpopo Writing Project Day 8

2009-01-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of celebrations and goodbyes. We shared our photo gallery and played Ngokoana's theme song from the summer, Islands in the ? (I'm not sure about the title.) The song was so beautiful and the pictures so touching that we found ourselves dancing to the music. Pretty soon we all started line dancing together, every one of us! Then we shared our final stories, which were wonderful and from the heart. We had a certificate ceremony and Mary Lou and I were surprised to receive certificates, a gift of Dr. Makalela's new books and cards thanking us, The San Antonio Writing Project and my parent's for their financial donation and belief in the project.

Then Mari stood up representing the group and thanked us for all our support, followed by Grace who offered a parting prayer. Then everyone stood up and sang the South African National Anthem. It was hard not to cry.

Tomorrow we leave for Joburg. There have been so many highlights of our time in Limpopo. Of course the workshop and the wonderful teachers ranks high on our list. Ngokoana's wonderful hospitality and the many meals and experiences that she provided for us. Her husband's wonderful bar-b-que or every kind of South African meat available to us. Buying material with Ngokoana in the market. The wonderful day in Venda with Ngokoana and Mosima. Spending time with Ngokoana's wonderful 4 year old daughter, and watching her start her first day ever of school. Ngokoana's Uncle Selaelo who took us to dinner.

Other major highlights include visiting Nakedi's home and meeting her family and visiting Leketi's village and meeting his Mother and 90 year old Grandmother. The trip was more than we could have hoped for and the experiences are something that we will never forget. We feel that we are as lucky at the brilliant stars that light up the Southern Hemisphere sky and we are so grateful for these amazing experiences.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 6

2009-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who responded! As you can see, even Ngokoana has responded back! We'll be in the computer room tomorrow afternoon so I'll encourage everyone to write back. I also want to say hello and give a warm welcome to all my students who will be starting class this week without me. I'm so sorry to miss the first day of class, and I wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you. You'll be in good hands with Dr. Lillemon. I want to say hello to her, too.

Today is day 6 of the workshop that will be ending way too soon for me! Next week I work with teachers in Johannesburg. Today we shared two teacher demonstrations and then I shared a demonstration on revision. We wrote in the afternoon, shared with our writing groups and then had our book discussions. I'm in the group that is reading the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. What a strong and brilliant man he is.

Yes, Shannon, it is amazing that we can communicate with each other. I've told the South African teachers that you all want to have your students write to theirs, and they are excited about it. Thanks Laurie, Nora, Leona, Lisa, Rachel and everyone else for responding, and please keep posting! Yes, Kalpana, it would be amazing to have a writing project in India, and if anyone can make this dream come true, it's you!

We have to do some big time fund-raising for the Limpopo Writing Project when I get back. Everything has been more expensive than we planned and we keep digging into our pockets to keep the project going. Even the two lap-tops that we spent $50 mailing required another $335 rand when they arrived here. So please think of ideas to help us raise money.

Ngokoana has been an amazing host introducing us to lots of people, feeding us and showing us the countyside. Yesterday (Sunday) her friend, Mosima drove us far into the bush to the Venda country to see a famous potter. We saw where she fires her pottery and got a chance to talk with her and to tour the grounds. After lunch, we took winding dirt roads up and down a mountain and saw people with cattle and goats that would block our road. The road itself was very rocky and there a few scary moments when I wondered if the car would survive. The local people though were wonderful and encouraged us to keep going up the mountain. We were looking for a lake, but as often happens, the journey was really the destination.

In my last blog I meant to say that the Limpopo region looks a lot like South Texas except that it also has mountains. It rained today so it was cooler and much more pleasant. I wish that all of you were here with us enjoying this magical country. It's great to have your comments though. Please keep them coming.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 4

2009-01-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

The teachers have been writing about their lives, getting on the internet and presenting their teaching demonstrations. Their writing is wonderful, on a variety of subjects that touches our hearts. The weather is very hot,just like the summers in San Antonio. Our classroom is not air-conditioned but the teachers take it in stride, it's the Americans who are wilting.

We went to the Indian market and bought some beautiful fabrics after class. Ngokoana is keeping us busy sightseeing, inviting us to dinners and introducing us to her family, relatives and friends. Nakedi is staying on campus because we are far from her home, like all the other participants. They are both doing a great job co-directing the project with Dr. Makalela. This project is more like a retreat or summer camp since the teachers are staying on campus and we are catering all their meals. They are together day and night. We're even working tomorrow, Saturday, but we have Sunday off. We have bonded and I look forward to working with them everyday.

This part of South Africa looks a lot like South Africa with hills (and mountains) and beautiful plants and trees. We're amazed at how many of them we have at home, but then they came from South Africa to the U.S. All the teachers send their best wishes and look forward to connecting with you.

Hello from South Africa

2009-01-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

This is my first chance to write even though we've been gone over a week now. My internet access is very spotty. We celebrated the New Years in a plane traveling from London to Joburg. We flew up to Kruger National Park which we explored with our friends Miriam and Cheo Martinez. We saw zebras, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, hippos, impalas, water buffaloes, monkeys and baboons. I spent my birthday there and then Leketi picked us up in the evening and drove us to Polowane.

We were very exited to see Nakedi and Ngokoana as they were to see us. We gave them regards from everyone and they've sent them all back to you. They were most surprised and delighted to hear that Leona is getting married!

We've now finished the second day of the First Limpopo Writing Project Summer Institute, the first of it's kind in South Africa. We have 11 teachers plus the Director and Co-Directors. The teachers are excited to be participating and also send their thanks to all of you who have made this possible.

I'll follow with more updates when I can. Please send comments and I'll share them with the group.

Cuentos Project at the Institute of Texan Cultures

2008-12-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

The Cuentos Project, a collection of oral histories and folk-tales, will be featured at UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures through Dec. 7, 2008 in the lower gallery auditorium.

Sponsored by the San Antonio Writing Project, Cuentos (Spanish, meaning folk stories) relays stories handed down from generation to generation. Students, from pre-school to college level, have contributed cuentos describing their families, beliefs, heroes, dreams and traditions.

Link to Museum's Cuentos site

National Writing Project Notes

2008-12-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

Link to notes on NWP General Session https://rcwp.wikispaces.com/General+Session

Limpopo Writing Project

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Click Image for larger view

Bullying and Cyber-Bullying NCTE Session

2008-11-15T22:52:00.001-08:00

On Friday, November 21st, 2008, I'll be speaking at The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas about using literacy to confront bullying and cyber-Bullying. The bullying research is sobering. “ 160,000 children miss school every day for fear of being bullied (Pollack, 1998).” Bullying occurs more often in middle school than in high school (Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton & Scheidt, 2001). And because cyber-bullying is anonymous and often unsupervised, it is even more problematic.

Any form of bullying is detrimental to more than just the victim.
The posttraumatic stress that children experience as “either victims of or witnesses to violence includes intrusive imagery, emotional constriction or avoidance, fears of recurrence, sleep difficulties,and disinterest in significant activities…(APA, 1993)."

Alice Miller believes that one person can make a difference in the life of a child who is bullied and subjected to violence. She calls this person a helping witness which could also be described as an ally (Miller, 2001). It is my premise that the stories, themes and lessons of history and modern life can be used to examine how people have dealt with bullying and harrassment in productive ways (Henkin, 2005).
Through literature and writing, “…we can help students develop a rich array of strategies” to deal with bullying (Henkin, 2005.)" If we want students capable of making ethical decisions, we need to bring up matters of conscience over and over again (Coles, 1998). By reading, writing and thinking about bullying, we offer students “the thousands of ethical conversations” they need to develop into strong, literate adults.

The following bullying narrative comes from the research I've been doing in middle school classrooms. We asked students to write bully narratives, and then analyzed them for themes. One of themes was that teachers don't do as they say. The following statement is representative of this.

"My advice would be to you (adults) to do what you say. Your advice works sometimes but you need a new method."

Students wrote that when they followed the teachers' advice, they were often ignored, or that nothing was done about it.

During our session, we will be sharing some of this research and discussing how literacy can help students confront bullying and cyber-bullying issues and develop strategies to deal with it. The handout for the session is also posted on this blog.

Bullying and Cyber-bullying Resource List

2008-11-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

“Teachers Do As You Say:”
Confronting Bullying and Cyber-Bullying
Resource List

Roxanne Henkin, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Carla Suffern, Pease Middle School, Northside Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas

Mickey Nuccio, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois

The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention
San Antonio, Texas, November 2008

• www.antibullying.net This Antibullying Network comes from Scotland; it disseminates many ideas about bullying in schools and how it can be tackled
• www.wcwonline.org/bullying/index.html The Project on Teasing and Bullying is part of the Wellesley Centers for Women. The website describes the projects goals, activities and training.

• www.passion-4.net/bullying/index.shtml This is a list of the one hundred bullying websites on the internet
• http://www.cyberbullying.us/ A clearinghouse with information on cyber-bullying

• http://dontlaugh.org This is the Operation Respect: Don’t Laugh at Me site, founded by Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary.
• http://groundspark.org This website promotes the extraordinary films that Debra Chasnoff has created including Let’s Get Real

• Confronting Bullying: Literacy As A Tool For Character Education by Roxanne Henkin. Heinemann (2005).
• http://roxannehenkin.blogspot.com/ My blog
• http://www.roxannehenkin.com/ My website
• roxanne.henkin@utsa.edu My email

Nakedi and Ngokoana's Visit Video

2008-10-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Video for Nakedi and Ngokoana, created by Kim Bols

SAWP Summer Institute 2007 Video

2008-10-22T11:56:00.001-07:00

San Antonio Writing Project Summer Insititute 2007 Video by Kim Bols

SAWP Summer Institute Video

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San Antonio Writing Project Summer Institute 2008 Video by Nora Gonzalez

Limpopo Writing Project Flyer

2008-10-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Click to View Larger Picture

Loving the People I've Befriended

2008-10-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Loving the People I’ve Befriended

By Roxanne Henkin

July, 2008

“Loving the people I’ve befriended…and singing a song of long ago…”

Mary Lou and I had been singing along to the music as I drove my car to the coast. Ngokoana and Nakedi had been talking in Sepedi in the backseat, when suddenly they stopped and Nakedi asked, “Roxanne is that Carol King singing?”

“Carol King? Yes, do you know her?” I replied.

“Oh yes. We sing her songs all the time. “Do you know the album Tapestry?”

“I love that album,” I said. “I’ve played it over and over in college.”

Then the next song began to play on my CD drive. And all four of us sang together, “Where you go, I will follow, anywhere that you ask me to, where you go, I will follow, follow…”

We were driving down to the Gulf of Mexico, past Corpus Christi, past the oil refineries and as we drove across the bridge, water appeared everywhere.

“Is that the Gulf of Mexico?” asked Ngokoana. “I’ve only seen it on the map. I never imagined that I would be there.”

They weren’t exactly seeing Texas from a native’s eyes. Mary Lou and I moved here five years ago from the Chicago area, and we’ve become aware that Nakedi and Ngokoana see things through our perspective whether we’re talking about the heat of the San Antonio summer or pronouncing Spanish or German street names with a Midwestern accent.

“ I’ve learned to say “hot” not “haught,” from you Roxanne,” Ngokoana says. I start worrying about my Chicago accent and I tell her, well at least you’re pronouncing it correctly in Chicago. I’m not sure about San Antonio though.”

Nakedi and Ngokoana were scheduled to arrive at 4:30 pm on Sunday, June 8^th, 2008 the day before the writing project was to begin. We were excited about their arrival, so we drove to the airport early, and after waiting 30 minutes, we stood proudly in the baggage area holding up our twin signs that read,

Nakedi Makgoba

& Ngokoana Dikgari

Welcome To

San Antonio, Texas

We realized that the plane was going to be an hour late so we turned around and went home. An hour later we were again standing in the baggage area holding up our signs to no avail. The continuous flow of people had exited the plane and no one else was appearing. We realized that we had no way to contact the women, nor they us. I walked up to the check-in desk and explained the situation to the staff. Although they couldn’t tell me if they were on the next plane, they suggested that we come back at midnight.

So there we were at 12:15 a.m. waiting for the third time that evening at the airport, holding up our signs. Once again the plane emptied out and the women weren’t there. I was ready to give up when two women walked up, spied our card, and one of them said “That’s my name.” All four of us were so relieved that we hugged each other and became instant friends.

I don’t know how to explain what happened next. We were all filled with worry and anxiety after the long wait and not knowing what to expect, that when we actually met, between the laughter and the smiles, a deep bond was formed.

By the time we arrived home and showed them around the house and gardens, it was close to 3 in the morning. We had to get up at 6 to be ready for the first day of the workshop. I told them that I would understand if they wanted to sleep in on the first day, but they would have none of that.

“We didn’t come here to sleep,” said Ngokoana. “We can sleep when we’re old. Besides, we don’t want to miss a minute of this.”

After the first day of the workshop, I drove them around the UTSA campus, showing them all the new buildings being constructed. When we arrived home, they went right to bed and slept soundly through dinner and into the next morning.

“America is not exactly how I thought,” Ngokoana told me.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“At home, we have fences around our front and back yards. You have them only in your backyards.”

“And,” she continued, “It’s not like in the movies. I thought that I’d see Michael Jackson or Bill Cosby walking down the street.”

Each morning we begin the San Antonio workshop by journaling. On June 16^th, Ngokoana shared that it was Youth Day in South Africa, which commemorated that day in 1976 when Black children planned a peaceful march protesting the fact that they were taught in Afrikaans, the language of the oppressor, rather than in their native languages or English. The police turned the peaceful protest into a massacre of the children. Hector Pieterson, a 12 year old boy was one of the first fatalities. Honor, one of our Co-Directors, had been to Soweto and read her poem about the event. This was followed by a moment of silence. In those ten minutes our project had been transformed. Our hearts had been touched and we had become a global writing project focused on social justice.

“Roxanne, how is that you are not prejudiced toward Black people?” Ngokoana asked.

How do I begin to explain this or the complicated relationship between race and equality in America. How do I explain what I’ve learned from the long history of Anti-Semitism that my ancestors faced as Jews? Or how do I share that most Americans do believe in liberty and equality for all people?

“These are the happiest days of my life,” says Ngokoana. “We feel like celebrities,” adds Nakedi. People have reached out and been so kind to them. They have eaten at many restaurants, been to museums, the Missions, festivals, the River Walk and musical events. They’ve walked in the water and on the beach at Aransas Pass. They’ve been invited into peoples’ homes for dinners and parties. They’ve gone to Temple Beth El and to Grace Baptist Church, and received gifts of books, mementos and clothing. Most of all the participants of our writing project have reached into their hearts and provided both practical help and emotional support to them both.

Nakedi and Ngokoana don’t take anything for granted. They are constantly thanking us and telling us how grateful they are. While they are thanking us, we are thanking them. They help us to appreciate our teaching situations where we have computers in our classrooms and libraries full of books for our students to use. When Nakedi tells us about the 60 or more students she has in her classroom, we are thankful for our smaller class sizes. So many of our participants have asked how they can help, that with Dr. Leketi Makalela’s help, our vision of the South African Writing Project has grown deeper and wider than we could have imagined when we first met.

The Limpopo Writing Project will be the first writing project in all of South Africa. It will be supported in part by the teacher consultants of the San Antonio Writing Project and as many of our friends that we can reach through fund-raising projects. Our dream is to have 10 teachers go through a summer institute during the first two weeks of January 2009. We’re hoping that we can provide both Nakedi and Ngokoana with lap-tops and internet access, but it would be truly amazing if we could also provide it for the 10 teachers in the institute, too. And, because Leketi has shared that $50 could change a child’s life in South Africa for a school year, we’d like to give one writing student in each of the teachers’ classrooms $50 toward food and school expenses.

Can we actually do this? We know that we are dreaming big and that we have a lot of work to do to make this a reality. But as Ngokoana and Nakedi point out, it’s a miracle that they were even able to come to America. None of the teachers they worked with really believed they would make the trip. They expected them to come to work on June 9^th. Even Nakedi and Ngokoana weren’t sure it would happen when 5 days before they were to leave, they still didn’t have their airplane tickets. But with the help and support of so many people at UTSA, especially Dean Betty Merchant, the San Antonio Writing Project and Leketi in South Africa, their trip became a reality.

This is my 43^rd writing project, and we’ve had an incredible 5 weeks together. All of our participants have been unique, talented and amazingly supportive of each other. As they join our community of San Antonio Writing Project Teacher Consultants, I know that together, we can make more miracles happen. This may be the ending of our 2008 SAWP Summer Institute, but it’s the beginning of so much more.

And as Leketi, Nakedi and Ngokoana leave for South Africa, we’ll all be singing Carol King’s words, “Where you lead, I will follow, anywhere that you ask me to” and know that “All you need to do is call my name, and I’ll be there on the next plane.” There’s a long list of us who want to follow where you three lead.

More on the Limpopo Writing Project

2008-08-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to read the entire article.
From The Dawn Journal out of the University of Limpopo page 11 July 2008.

Please Donate to The Limpopo Writing Project

2008-08-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Limpopo Writing Project

We are trying to raise money and collect donations for the Limpopo Writing Project in South Africa. The purpose of the Limpopo Writing Project is to have teachers at all levels focus on the teaching of writing in their classrooms and after the Invitational Institute, to have these teachers share their knowledge with other teachers.

We need money so that we can bring 12 teachers to the University of Limpopo for the 1st Invitational Institute during the first two weeks of January, 2009. We need to provide room and board since teachers will be coming from all over this northern part of South Africa. We also would like to provide each teacher with a laptop so therefore we are looking for donations for 12 laptop computers. If you have a used computer that you are no longer using we’d love to have it. If you know of an organization or individuals that would donate laptops, please contact me.

We are also collecting donations for supplies for the institute including paper, pencils, notebooks, and notecards. We also would like to publish an anthology of the teachers’ writing. In addition, we’d like to sponsor at least one promising writing student per teacher. $50 would allow one student to pay school registration fees, receive a school uniform and provide lunch for the entire school year.

This project is in conjunction with the San Antonio Writing Project. We raised money and received grants that allowed two South African teachers to attend our five week 2008 Summer Institute. Their professor also attended the last two weeks of the institute. The San Antonio Writing Project is a part of The National Writing Project.

The Director of the Limpopo Writing Project is Dr. Leketi Makalela and the two Co-Directors are Nakedi Makgoba and Ngokoana Dikgari. I’m the Director of the San Antonio Writing Project, the group that is sponsoring the Limpopo Writing Project and leading the fund-raising. If you’d like to help, please write checks to The Limpopo Writing Project and send it in care of: Dr. Roxanne Henkin, 207 Northcrest Dr, San Antonio, TX 78213. If you have other contributions or questions, please feel free to contact me at roxanne.henkin@utsa.edu. Thanks for helping this dream come true.

Welcome to my Blog

2008-08-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

I want to welcome you to my blog. In this space, I'll be writing about the literacy education issues that are closest to my heart. I care very much about social justice literacy--using literacy to help students make this a better world. For example, one of the areas I care about very much is bullying. Pollack (1998) found that "the National Association of School Psychologists estimated that in the United States, some 160,000 children miss school every day for fear of being bullied" (p. 343, italics mine) (Henkin, 2005, p. 5). By reading, writing, and thinking about bullying, we offer students "the thousands of ethical conversations" they need to grow into strong, literate adults (Henkin, 2005, p. 12). While thinking about these issues, their literacy skills also increase.

As a former classroom teacher (for 18 years) and now as a professor, I've visited many classrooms at all levels and worked with teachers at different levels. We've worked to help students think about ways to deal with bullying by using multicultural literature and literature that deals with social justice issues. In both my books I've included booklists that contain some of these books. Cyberbullying is emerging as a big issue. I'm wondering how teachers and schools are using literacy to confront bullying. Please share any ideas that may be working for you. I'm also interested in students personal stories of how they've dealt with bullying at school. Please join the conversation. Together, we may be able to make a real difference.

Curriculum Vitae

2008-02-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr. Roxanne Lee Henkin

Professor
Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching
The University of Texas at San Antonio
1 UTSA Circle
San Antonio, Texas 78249
(210) 458-5427
Roxanne.henkin@utsa.edu

A) ACADEMIC TRAINING

E.D.D.in Curriculum and Instruction, Reading, Northern Illinois University; 1990 Areas of specialty: Writing, Reading, Language Arts, Literacy, Literacy for Social Justice, Critical Literacy.

M.S.Ed. in Reading, (3.91 Grade Point), Northern Illinois University; 1983

B.S.Ed. (Magna Cum Laude), Northern Illinois University; 1972.

B) EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Professor, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2006 to present

Director, San Antonio Writing Project, 2006 to present

Lead Co-Editor (along with Janis Harmon and Elizabeth Pate) Voices From the Middle, 2005-2011.

Associate Professor, University of Texas San Antonio, 2003 to 2006

Professor, National-Louis University, Chicago, IL 2001 to 2003.
Professor and Reading Doctoral Program Chair, 2003.
Professor and Reading & Language Department Chair, 2001 to 2002.

Associate Professor, National-Louis University, 1996 to 2001.

Assistant Professor, National-Louis University; 1990 to 1996.
Courses taught in the Graduate Reading, Language and Literacy,
Writing and Doctoral Programs.

NLU Program Head, Reading & Language Doctoral Program, 2003

NLU Program Head, Language and Literacy; 1992 to 2003

NLU Department Chair, 2001-2002

K-12 Writing Literacy Coordinator, Elmhurst Illinois Public Schools; 1988 to 1990.

Co-Director, Illinois Writing Project, 1994 to 2003

Associate Director, Illinois Writing Project; 1990 to 1994

Instructor, Illinois Writing Project; 1986 to 1990

Teacher, Barrington Illinois Public Schools;
1974-1988

Teacher, River Valley School District, Sawyer, Michigan; 1972-1974.

. C) PUBLICATIONS

Books

Henkin, R. (2005). Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education, Portsmouth, New Hampshire:
Heinemann.

Henkin, R. (1998). Who’s Invited to Share: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann. (Nominated for the 2000 James Britton Award for Outstanding Literacy Book).

Refereed Publications

Henkin, R. & L. Steinmetz. (2008). The Need for Diversity Education as Perceived by Preservice Teachers. The
Journal of Scholarship of Teaching & Learning.

Henkin, R. (In Press). Uncle Paul’s Letters: Uncovering One Families’ Struggle to Survive. The Illinois Heritage
Magazine.

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2008). “An Insider Perspective of the National Spelling Bee: An Interview with James Maguire,” Voices From the Middle, 15(3).

Henkin, R. & L. Davis. (2006). Building Community While Creating a Professional Development School in a ‘New School.” Talking Points, 17(2), 16-22.

Henkin, R. (2001). Using Writing to Think About Bullies. Practically Primary, Australian Literacy Educators’
Association, 6:2, 13-15.

Henkin, R. & J. Yokota. (2000). Inclusive Reading: Literature Portraying Families with Gay & Lesbian Parents
in Democracy & Education (Winter, 2000), 60-61.

Henkin, R. (Sept. 1996). Revisiting Writing Process Journals, Revision and Editing: What Works for Us What Works
for Our Students. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 24:3, 7-16.

Henkin, R. (October, 1995). Insiders and Outsiders in First Grade Writing Workshop: Gender & Equity Issues.
Language Arts, 72, 429-434.

Henkin, R. (January, 1995). Focusing on Peer Conferences: Refining the Process. Writing Teacher, 34-37.

Henkin, R. (Spring, 1994). Emerging Feminist Themes Found in Graduate Students' Portfolios Written by Women
Elementary School Teachers. Action in Teacher Education, 20-28 .

Henkin, R. (Spring, 1994). Learning to Hear Each Other. Primary Voices. 1,3, 32-38.

Henkin, R. & Trousdale, A. (1991). Reflection on Negotiating Curriculum: Praxis in the Language Arts Classrooms.
Teaching Education. 4,1, 175-180.

Henkin, R. & L. Tyson. (1991). Using Readers' Theater to Promote Multicultural Understanding. Literacy Matters.
3, 1, 14-16.

Henkin, R. (1984) Twelve Frequently Asked Questions About Writing Programs in The Illinois Reading Council
Journal, 12(2), 34-40.

Henkin, R. (1984). Integrating Basal Readers with the DR-TA Procedure in the Primary Grades. The Illinois Reading
Council Journal, 12(1), 20.

Henkin, R. (1984). One Dollar for Words Without Vowels. The Reading Teacher, 38(1), 117.

Book Chapters

Henkin, R. (Spring, 1996). Something Just Clicked: Reflection Through Portfolios. in Graduate Classes: Feminist
Themes and Issues in Whitmore & Y. Goodman (Eds.) Whole Language Voices in Teacher Education. York, ME:
Stenhouse, 297-305.

Henkin, R. (1988). How Can Teachers Teach the Skill of Revision to Elementary School Students? in N. Padak (Ed.)
Writing Should Be Read: Encouraging and Celebrating Young Authors. Monroe, New York: Trillium Press, 17-30.

Columns

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2008). “At the Crossroads: Time Again for Another Open Call.” Voices From the Middle, 16(2).

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2008). “A Rest Stop: Time for an Open Call.” Voices From the Middle, 16(1).

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2008). Making Connections: Are We There Yet?, Voices From the Middle 15(4).

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2008). Spell it Right: Heading in the Right Direction, Voices From the Middle 15(3).

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2007). Cultural Indictors: Signs to Literacy Success, Voices From the Middle,
15(2).

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2007). Reading the Signs: Vocabulary. Voices From the Middle, 15(1), 5.

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2007). Taking a Toll: Who Gets Left Behind. Voices From the Middle, 14(4), 5.

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2007). Getting Lost: Opportunities for Discovering New Directions. Voices From the Middle, 14(3), 5.

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2006) A Postcard From the Editors. Voices From the Middle, 14(2), 5.

Henkin, R., Harmon, J. and E. Pate. (2006) The First Stop: Itinerary from the Editors. Voices From the Middle, 14(1), 5.

Invited Manuscripts

Henkin, R. (2005). “How can teachers help students explore social justice issues through children’s literature?” “Ask
the Educator” in Temple, Martinez, Yokota & Naylor. Children’s Books in Children’s Hands: An Introduction to
Their Literature, 3rd Edition.

Henkin, R. (2002). Critical Literacy in Democratic Classrooms. Democracy & Education. 14:3, 3-6.

Henkin, R. (2001). Musings on Traveling in Europe. Illinois Language & Literacy Council, 18:4, 4-5.

Henkin, R. (1994). Talking About Whole Language. Early Childhood Bulletin, 12:1, 1-4.

Scholarly Book Reviews

Henkin, R. (November, 1993). Review of Frank Smith's Whose Language? What Power? The Council Chronicle, 11..

Henkin, R. (1992). Writing and Computers. A Review of Teaching Process Writing with Computers. Journal of
Computing in Teacher Education. Spring, 1992, 27-28.

Sidebars for Language Arts

Henkin, R. (2003). Sidebar for Classroom Resources on Bullying. Language Arts. July 80:6, 441.

Henkin, R. (2003). Sidebar for Keeping Arts in the Schools. Language Arts. May, 80:5, 343.

Henkin, R. (2003). Sidebar for Parent Involvement, Language Arts. March, 80:4, 281.

Henkin, R. (2003). Sidebar on Students Making A Difference. Language Arts. January, 80:3, 212.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Website for The National Center for Fair & Open Testing. Language Arts. January,
73, 218.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Alfie Kohn Web site. Language Arts. January, 79:3, 254.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Intercultural Development. Language Arts, March, 79:4, 299.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar for Rethinking Schools. Language Arts, May, 79:5, 390.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Connecting to Teacher Networks. Language Arts, July, 79:6, 459.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Responding to Community Challenges. Language Arts. September, 80:1, 47.

Henkin, R. (2002). Sidebar on Bringing A New Vision to Our Teaching. Language Arts. November, 80:2, 132.

Henkin, R. (2001). Sidebar on Building Strong Literacy Classrooms Despite Outside Pressures. Language Arts.
November, 79:2, 107.

Henkin, R. (2001). Sidebar on Professional Resources on Testing, School Reform, and the Literacy Crisis.
Language Arts. September, 79:1, 62.

Dissertation

Henkin, R. (1990). The Function of Wait-Time Training in Fifth-Grade Peer Writing Conferences. UMI Dissertation
Services.

Children’s Journal

Henkin, R. (1985). Fuzzies to the Rescue in Ranger Rick, 19.

D. Paper Presentations

Special Paper Invitations

Speaker:

Invited Speaker, The Limpopo Writing Project, The University of Limpopo, South Africa, January, 2009.

Invited Speaker, Read Educational Trust, Johannesburg, South Africa, January, 2009.

Invited Speaker, National Writing Project Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX, November 2008.”

Invited Speaker, Texas Association for Bilingual Education Conference, October, 2007.

Invited Speaker (Along with Elizabeth Pate & Janis Harmon), San Antonio Teachers of English, March, 2007.

NCTE Co-Sponsored Invited Speaker, Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts 71st Annual Conference, February 2007.

Invited Speaker, Barnes & Noble San Pedro Crossing, San Antonio, January 2006

Invited Speaker, Academy of Teacher Excellence, University of Texas San Antonio, April, 2005.

Invited Speaker, Academy of Teacher Excellence, University of Texas San Antonio, August, 2004.

Invited Speaker, St. Vincent University, Toronto, Canada, June 2003, Bullying and Social Justice Workshop.

Invited Speaker, Illinois Reading Recovery Conference, January 2003.

Invited Speaker, Illinois Young Authors Conference, May 2002.

Invited Speaker, Illinois Reading Recovery Conference, January 2002.

Invited Speaker, West Suburban Consortium for Academic Excellence, Rosemont, Il, 2001.

Opening & Closing Speaker, Umbrella Conference, Chicago, Il 2001.

Invited Speaker, Illinois Young Authors Conference, 2001.

“Making Curriculum Critical: Reading, Writing, Inquiry”, Toronto, Canada, Critical Literacy Workshop, August, 2000.

Invited Speaker: “Discussing Literature with Your Children,” Illinois Young Author’s Conference, May, 1999.

Invited Speaker: “Gender and Literacy,” South Suburban Reading Council of Illinois, March, 1998.

Invited Speaker: “Research in Literacy,” Wheaton TAWL, February, 1998.

Invited Speaker: “Writing and Invented Spelling”, Illinois Reading Recovery Conference,
February, 1998.

Invited Speaker: “Supporting Children’s Growth in Writing.” Illinois Young Author’s Conference, May, 1998.

“Invited Speaker: “Refining Writing Workshop.” Wheaton School District, June, 1998.

“Invited Speaker: “Analyzing Invented Spelling.” Reading Institute, Suburban Reading Council and National-Louis University, Reading Institute, June, 1998.

Invited Speaker, Writing Process & Writing Workshop. Fowler Elementary School, Fowler, Indiana, August 1998.

Invited Speaker, “Using Literacy & Literature Discussions To Teach for equity and Social Justice. Batavia School District, November, 1998.

Invited Speaker, “Helping Your Kids Grow Into Literacy,” Illinois Young Authors Conference, Bloomington, Il., May, 1997.

Invited Speaker, “Gender and Literacy”, Illinois Reading Council Convention, Springfield, Il., March, 1997.

Co-Producer, Co-Facilitator, NCTE and WLU Videoconference,
Chicago, Il, February, 1996.

Invited Speaker, "Helping Your Children Grow in Literacy,"
La Honda Public Schools, La Honda, Ca., 1993.

Invited Speaker, Glenview School District, March, 1993.

Invited Speaker, Chicago Area TAWL, March, 1993.

Invited Speaker, Chicago Area Writing Project, April, 1993.

Invited Speaker, Interdisciplinary Seminar, NLU, May, 1993.

Invited Speaker, "Peer Conferences and Spelling Without Lists:
A Day with Roxanne Henkin." Australian Reading Association,
Newcastle, Australia, June, 1992.

Invited Speaker, "Communication Styles." Early Childhood Leadership Institute, National-Louis University, May, 1992.

Invited Speaker, "Helping Children Publish Books." La Honda School, La Honda, California, November, 1992.

Invited Speaker, "Whole Language." National-Louis University Field Base Program, January, 1992.

Invited Speaker, "Process Writing." National-Louis University, Field Base Program, February, 1992.

Invited Speaker, "Whole Language for Preschool Teachers." Head Start Teachers, Chicago, Illinois, July, 1991.

Invited Speaker, Literacy Seminar. University of Illinois
at Chicago, May, 1991.

Invited Speaker, "Facilitating and Encouraging Your Children's Literacy Growth". La Honda School, La Honda, California, May, 1991.

Invited Speaker, "Supporting Your Students in Writing and Reading". La Honda School, La Honda, California, May, 1991.

Introduced Douglas Barnes, National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1991.

Invited Speaker, "Whole Language". Elmhurst Early Childhood Educators, April, 1990.

Invited Speaker, "Writing Conferences in Elementary Grades". Illinois Primary School Conference, November, 1990.

Invited Speaker, "Writing Process and Whole Language". Phi Delta Kappa, DuPage Chapter; September, 1989.

Invited Speaker, "How to Start a TAWL Group". DuPage-Kane Educational Service Center; October, 1989.

Dinner Speaker, "Positive Writing Environments". Illinois Young Authors Conference; Bloomington, Illinois, May, 1987.

Invited Speaker, "The Writing Process". The Language Experience Special Interest Group sponsored conference on writing; co-speaker - Dr. Jane Davidson, Naperville, Il, October, 1986.

Keynote Speaker, "Developing Writing Workshops in Classrooms". Elmhurst School District Inservice Day, October, 1988.

Keynote Speaker, "Important Aspects of the Writing Process". St. Charles School District Inservice Day, October, 1985.

Keynote Speaker, "Developing Student Writers". South Beloit School District, August, 1985.
Invited Speaker, "Student Writing in the Primary Grades." The Lake County Inservice Days at Great America; September, 1983.

d) Paper Presentations

“Teachers, Do As You Say”: Confronting Bullying and Cyberbullying,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX, November 2008.”

“Writing/Righting the World: Engaging Students in Social Justice Poetry,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX, November 2008.”

“Writing for Publication,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX, November 2008.”

“The Power of Poetry As An Agent For Social Change.” Umbrella Literacies for All Summer Institute, The National Council of Teachers of English, Tucson, Arizona, July 2008.

“Changing the World, One Poem at a Time,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, NY, November, 2007.

“Challenging Poetry’s Neglect: Learning From Poetry Lovers,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, NY, November, 2007.

“Writing for Publication,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, NY, November, 2007.

“Reading and Writing About Bullying In Middle School” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Memphis, TN, November 2006.

“Writing for Publication,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Memphis, TN, November 2006.

“Confronting Bullying and Harassment Through Children’s Literature and Literacy” International Reading Association Annual Convention, San Antonio, May 2005.

“Working for Social Justice, Lydia’s Story” American Educational Research Association Annual Convention, Montreal, Canada, April 2005.

“Investigating Teacher & Administrator Change in a Professional Development School.” National Reading Conference, San Antonio, December 2004.

“Looking Back From the Future: The Significance of Teacher Learning Six Years Later.” The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Indianapolis, November 2004

“Imagining A Better World Through Critical Literacy” The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Indianapolis, November 2004

” Multiculturalism Still Matters.” The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Indianapolis, November 2004

“Analysis and Change in a NCTE Reading Initiative School.” NCTE Literacies for All Summer Institute, St. Louis, Missouri, July, 2004.

“”Looking at Bullying Narratives”, Critical Discourse Analysis Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, May, 2004.

“Partnerships in Learning: Examining Bullying, Social Justice, and Critical Literacy Together,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, 2003.

“Fitting In: Using the Literature of Assimilation to Build Empathy and Multicultural Understanding in Middle School Students,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, 2003.

“Making A Difference: How to Make Diversity Concerns A Meaningful Part of the Curriculum,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, 2003.

“Post September 11: Using Critical Literacy as a Lens for Confronting Bullying, Violence, and Harassment.” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, November 2002.

“Bullying and Harassment: Using Critical Literacy and Personal Narratives to Confront an International Issue.” NCTE Umbrella Conference, Bethesda, Maryland, July, 2002.

“Confronting Bullying and Harassment Through Children’s Literature and Literacy.” International Reading Association, San Francisco, April 2002.

“Talking About Bullying: Changing Attitudes through Young Adult Literature and Critical Literacy.” National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 2002.

“The NCTE Reading Initiative: A Catalyst for Changing Reading School-by-School.” National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 2002.

“Most Bullies Have a Reason They Bully”: Giving Students Voice Through Critical Literacy.” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, November, 2001.

The Visions, Challenges, and Realities Involved in Creating a Literacy School: Stories from the NCTE Reading Initiative. Umbrella Conference, Chicago, Il, July 2001.

Using Children’s Literature and Literacy to Create Safe, Fair and Democratic Classrooms. International Reading Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, May, 2001.

Creating Safer Schools Through Critical Literacy, National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, March, 2001.

Why Care? NCTE Spring Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, March, 2001.

Confronting Bullying and Harassment: Critical Literacy for Safer and More Inclusive Schools. National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 2000.

Making Curriculum Matter: Classroom Excursions in Critical Literacy. NCTE Annual Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 2000.

Critical Literacy for Safer Schools (with Lorri Davis). GLSEN Conference, Chicago, Il, October, 2000.

Making Schools Inclusive: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice (with Mickey Nuccio), Utrecht, The Netherlands, Fourth International Conference on Language and Literacy, August, 2000.

Teaching Against the Grain: Critical Literacy and Social Justice, Melbourne, Australia, Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Conference 2000, July, 2000.

Making Schools Inclusive: Using Literacy To Teach For Equity And Social Justice, Auckland, New Zealand, 18th World Congress on Reading, International Reading Association, July, 2000.

Creating a Professional Development School in a “New School”. American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April, 2000.

Confronting the Hard Issues in Literacy Classrooms: How Do We Prepare Ourselves?
NCTE Spring Conference, New York City, March 2000.

Workshop Chair & Speaker: Pushing the Boundaries of Multicultural Education: with filmmaker Debra Chasnoff. NCTE Annual Convention, Denver, Co., November 2000.

Confronting the Hard Issues in Literacy Classrooms: How Do We Prepare Ourselves? NCTE Annual Convention, Denver, Co, November 1999.

Critical Literacy for Democracy, Institute for Democracy in Education, Athens, Ohio, October, 1999.

Making Schools Inclusive: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice. Whole Language Umbrella Conference, Rochester, New York, 1999.

Professional Development for School Transformation, (with Bess Altwerger). Whole Language Umbrella Conference, Rochester, New York, 1999.

Making Schools Inclusive: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice. National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville, Tennessee, November, 1998.

Learning In, Learning For, Learning With: Equity and Justice in Democratic Classrooms, Schools, and Communities. National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville, Tennessee, November, 1998.

Hooray for Girls: Promoting Equity in Classrooms. National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville, Tennessee, November, 1998.

“Using Literacy to Promote Gender Equity,” World Congress on Reading, International Reading Association, Jamaica, July, 1998.

“What’s Going On With the Girls?: Using Literacy To Promote Gender Equity,” NCTE Spring Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March, 1998.

“Focusing on the Girls: Using Literacy to Widen Our Classroom Perspectives”; National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Detroit, MI, November 1997.

“Language as Social Action, Equity and Justice as Themes in NCTE’s Work,” NCTE Annual Convention, Detroit, MI, November 1997.

“Reading Redefined, Discussion Leader, NCTE Annual Convention, Detroit, MI, November, 1997.

“Listening to the Girls,” Whole Language Umbrella Conference, Seattle WA, July, 1997.

“Pushing the Boundaries of Diversity,” CELT Summer Conference, Seaside, Oregon, July, 1997.

“Gender & Literacy,” Illinois Reading Council Convention, Springfield, Il, March, 1997.

“Whole Language and Funds of Knowledge As a Vehicle for True Multicultural Teaching and Learning, NCTE Annual Convention, Chicago, Il, November 1996.

“Supporting Teachers Moving Into Whole Language.” NCTE Annual Convention. Chicago, Il, November, 1996.

“How Can We Promote Deeper Discussions in Our Classrooms Where Everyone’s Voice is Heard and No One is Silenced,” Illinois Reading Council Convention, March 1996.

“What Teaching and Learning Strategies Are Successful for Us,” NCTE Spring Conference, Boston, March, 1996.

“Facilitating Everyone’s Talk in Literature Discussions. NCTE Spring Conference, Boston, March, 1996.

"Creating Thought Collectives in Our Classrooms." Whole Language Umbrella Conference, July, 1995, Windsor, Canada.

"Facilitating Deeper Discussions." Whole Language Umbrella Conference, July, 1995, Windsor, Canada.

"Inquiry-Based Evaluation." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Opening General Session. National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"Inclusive Conversations--Building Classrooms for Diversity:
Beginning Our Dialog Together." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Introducing Faith Ringold. National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1995. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"Inclusive Conversations Wrap Up: Reflecting And Revaluing Our Conference Experience." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"Promoting Thoughtful Discussion in Literacy Classrooms:
Pedagogical, Gender, and Equity Issues." National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, November, 1994, Orlando, Florida.

"Facilitator, Learning to Write Through Authentic Use: Our
Contexts, Ourselves, Our Evidence." National Council of
Teachers of English Annual Convention, November, 1994, Orlando,
Florida.

"Roundtable Leader, Elementary Section Get-Together." National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, November,
1994, Orlando, Florida.

Introducing Sandra Wilde. Illinois Association of Teachers of
English, October, 1995, Lincolnshire, Illinois.

"Learning to Hear Each Other." Whole Language Umbrella, July, 1994, San Diego, California.

"Gender, Race and Equity Issues in Literacy." National Council
of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1993, Portland, Oregon.

"Promoting Thoughtful Discussions in Elementary Classrooms."
Illinois Reading Council, March, 1993, Springfield, Il.

"Insiders and Outsiders in First Grade Writing Workshops: The Intersection of Gender, Race and Ethnicity with Literacy Development." National Reading Conference, December, 1993,
Charleston, South Carolina.

"A Qualitative Study of 1st Grade Literacy Development." National Reading Conference, December, 1992, San Antonio, Texas.

"A Working Party to Brainstorm and Conceptualize the Conventions of Writing in Students' Writing." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1993, Richmond, Va.

"Working Ourselves to Death: Can We Ever Work Hard Enough?" The Bergamo Conference for Curriculum Theorizing and Classroom Practice, October, 1993, Dayton, Ohio.

"Hearing All Our Students' Voices: Dealing with Sensitive Issues Where No-one is Silenced." Day of Whole Language, NCTE, November, 1993, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"Working Party: Democracy, Literacy, and Difference." NCTE, 1993.

"Primary Voices K-6 Developing an Issue From Proposal to Production," NCTE, 1993.

"Book Talk, Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros, NCTE, 1993.

"Roundtable Discussion, Portfolios." NCTE, 1993.

Speaker, "Teachers' Autobiographies and Lifelong Learning." Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theorizing, October, 1992, Dayton, Ohio.

Speaker, "The Role of Peer Conferences in Elementary Writing
Classrooms." International Reading Assn. World Congress,
July, 1992, Maui, Hawaii.

Speaker, "Research on Peer Conferences." International Reading Assn., May, 1992, Orlando, Florida.

Speaker, "The Role of Peer Conferences in Elementary Writing Programs." Illinois Reading Council Conference, March, 1992, Springfield, Illinois.

Speaker, "Talking About the Business of Writing: The Role of Peer Conferences in Elementary Writing Classrooms." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, March, 1992, Washington, D.C.

Speaker, "Portfolio Assessment." The Bergamo Conference for Curriculum Theorizing and Classroom Practice, 1991, Dayton, Ohio.

Speaker, "Elementary Section Dialogues: Talking About Textbooks." National Council of Teachers of English, 1991, Seattle, Washington.

Speaker, "Elementary Section Roundtable." National Council of Teachers of English, 1991, Seattle, Washington.

Speaker, "The Function of Wait-Time Training in Fifth-Grade Peer Writing Conferences." National Reading Conference, 1991, Palm Springs, California.

Speaker, "The Choral Reading of the Poetry of American Minorities." International Reading Association, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1991.

Speaker, "Negotiating Curriculum as Reflective Practice in Classrooms." National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1991.

Speaker, "Peer Writing Conferences." Illinois Reading Council. Springfield, Il, 1990.

Speaker, "Whole Language." Illinois Reading Council. Springfield, Il, 1990.

Speaker, "Using Choral Reading of Multi-Cultural Poetry in Classrooms." The Bergamo Conference for Curriculum Theorizing and Classroom Practice, 1990, Dayton, Ohio.

Discussion Leader, Elementary Section Get-Together. National Council of Teachers of English, Atlanta, Georgia, 1990.

Speaker, "Scaffolding and the Negotiation of Meaning in Writing and Literature Conferences." National Council of Teachers of English, Baltimore, Md., 1989.

Speaker, "The Negotiated Curriculum as Praxis in the World of the Classroom." The Bergamo Conference for Curriculum Theorizing and Classroom Practice, 1989, Dayton, Ohio.

Invited Speaker, "The Integrated Writing Activity". The Regional Conference for Lake County English Teachers, sponsored by IATE and the College of Lake County, 1987.

Speaker, "Group Dynamics: The Missing Link in Teaching Writing". National Council of Teachers of English, St. Louis, Mo, 1988.

Speaker, "The Writing Process in a First Grade Classroom". National Council of Teachers of English, with Janet Emig and Donald Graves, Washington, D.C., 1982.

Speaker, "Enhancing Primary Grade Spelling Programs". The National Council of Teachers of English, Spring Conference, Houston, Texas, 1985.

Speaker, "Revision in Writing". The International Reading Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1985.

Speaker, The International Reading Association Regional Great Lakes Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1985.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, "The Whole Language Philosophy"; Springfield, Il, March, 1989.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, "Writing Workshops in Elementary Classrooms", "Whole Language", "Let's Talk About the Reading-Writing Connection"; Springfield, Il, March, 1988.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, "Determining Inservice Needs", "Writing for Professional Publication", "The Role of the Conference in Writing Instruction"; Springfield, Il, February, 1987.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, two presentations, Peoria, Il, March, 1986.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, two presentations, Peoria, Il, March, 1985.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, "I've Got to Talk to Parents!" "The Two R's of Writing: Revision and Recognition"; Peoria, Il, March, 1984.

Speaker, Illinois Reading Council Convention, Springfield, Il, March, 1983.

Invited Speaker, The Third Annual Teachers of Whole Language Conference, River Forest, Il, September, 1990.

Invited Speaker, The Second Annual Teachers of Whole Language Conference, Evanston, Il, September, 1989.

Invited Speaker, The First Annual Teachers of Whole Language Conference, Deerfield, Il, October, 1988.

Guest Speaker, Whole Language Course, Illinois Writing Project, January, 1988.

Invited Speaker, The Reading Council in Sterling, Illinois, February, 1987.

Invited Papers for School Districts and Organizations

Invited Speaker, “The Role of Writing in a Professor’s Life” Oak Meadow UTSA Visit, November 2007.

Invited Speaker, “Vocabulary Strategies for the Literacy Tutors” San Antonio Jewish Federation, August, 2007

Invited Speaker, “What a Literacy Professor Does” Oak Meadow School UTSA Visit, November 2006

Invited Speaker, “Reading and Writing Strategies for Literacy Tutors” San Antonio Jewish Federation, August, 2006

Invited Speaker, Steubing Elementary School, Northside ISD, San Antonio, TX, February 2006.

Invited Speaker, Barnes & Noble San Pedro Crossing, San Antonio, TX, January, 2006.

Invited Speaker, West Suburban Consortium for Academic Excellence, Rosemont, Il, 2001.

Invited Speaker, Cicero School District, February, 1999.

Invited Speaker, Park Ridge School District, January, 1999.

Invited Speaker, Batavia School District, November, 1998.

Invited Speaker, Wheaton School District, June, 1998.

Invited Speaker, Highland Park School District, February & October, 1991.

Invited Speaker, Elmhurst Reading Teachers, April, 1990.

Invited Speaker, Flossmoor School District, September, 1990.

Invited Speaker, Northbrook School District, October, 1990.

Invited Speaker, Elmhurst Council for the Gifted, December, 1989.

Invited Speaker, Elmhurst School District, "Whole Language", March, 1989.

Invited Speaker, Antioch School District, March, 1987.

Invited Speaker, St. Charles School District, March, 1987.

Invited Speaker, Barrington School District, April, 1987.

Invited Speaker, after school session, St. Charles School District, September, 1986.

Invited Speaker, after school sessions on two days, St. Charles School District, November, 1986.

Invited Speaker, Schaumburg School Board, District 54, November, 1986.

Invited Speaker, after school session, St. Charles School District, September, 1985.

Invited Speaker, Monmouth Public Schools, Monmouth, Il, December, 1984.

Invited Speaker, Island Lake Public Schools, December, 1983.

Invited Speaker, "Helping Your Child Grow in Literacy", Lines School P.T.O. Meeting, Barrington, Il, November, 1983.

Invited Speaker, full day session, Palatine School District, November, 1983.

Invited Speaker, full day session, Barrington School District, January, 1983.

Invited Speaker, Barrington School Board, February, 1983.

Invited Speaker, Palatine School District, Spring, 1983.

Invited Speaker, two sessions, Wauconda School District, 1982.

e) Non-refereed publications

Henkin, R. (1984) How Parents Can Help Their Children Develop Study Skills in The Barrington Banner.

Henkin, R. (1984) Special Love Grows with the Years in The Skokie Learner-Life Newspaper.

f) Creative Activities and Creative Works

Referred Creative Journals

Henkin, R. (1989) Facing Harold's Death in We Exist, 5, 44-46.

Henkin, R. (1987) Legacy in We Exist, 4, 11-12.

Henkin, R. (1978) Anais Nin. Networks, 5.

Creative Works

Sailors, M., Harmon, J., Martinez, M., Keehn, S., & Henkin, R. (2006).
Teaching Critical Reading Strategies (CREST) through Intentional
Instruction. Unpublished training module. UTSA: San Antonio, TX.

Sailors, M., Harmon, J., Martinez, M., Keehn, S., & Henkin, R. (2005).
Teaching Critical Reading Strategies (CREST) through Intentional
Instruction. Unpublished training module. UTSA: San Antonio, TX.

g) SIGNIFICANT PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Lead Co-Editor (with Janis Harmon & Elizabeth Pate) of the NCTE Journal, Voices From the Middle.
On review board of Language Arts (1988-2001), English Journal (1988-2002) and NCTE Publications (1988-2007). 2001 Chair, Umbrella Conference, Chicago.. Language Arts Field Consultant, Political Action, 2001-2003. 1995 Spring Conference Elementary Chair in Minneapolis. Nominated to run for 1994 Vice-President (leading to President) Elected to Middle Level Steering Committee (Board of Directors), NCTE, 2001-2005. Elected Middle Level Steering Committee Co-Assistant Chair 2001-2003, 2003-2004. NCTE National Spokesperson, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. Chair, 2003-2004, NCTE Jewish Caucus, Co-Chair, NCTE Jewish Caucus, 2002-2009. NCTE Task Force on Diversity, Co-Chair, 2004-2006, Member, 2003; Member, NCTE Theoretical Diversity Commission (2001,2002). Elected to Elementary Section Steering Committee (Board of Directors) 1988-1992. Member: WLA, CEE, WILLA, AGLAIA, CLA.
Chair: AGLAIA, 1996-1998. Committee to Teach the Conventions of Writing Within the Context of Writing (1993 to 1997 ). Chair, Diversity Committee, 1997-2001. Conference on English Education, Committee on Gender, 1997-1999.) Think-Tank for NCTE Reading Initiative, 1998-1999. NCTE Reading Initiative with Elgin, Il Schools, 1998-2001, Convention Concerns Committee 1999, 2000,2001, 2003; Convention Planning Committee 2000, 2001, 2002,2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Hoey Award Committee, 2002-2005, Halle Award Committee 2002-2005, Co-Chair, 2003, 2004.

Illinois Reading Council :Language & Literacy Special Interest Council, 1985 to 2005. Institutional Liaison, 2005 ,2004; University Liaison,1997-2004, Past President, 1996-1997, President, 1995-1996, Vice-President, 1994-1995, Vice-President Elect, 1993-1994, Newsletter Editor, 1986-1987, 1985-1986; Illinois Young Authors Conference, 7-8 Site Chair, 1987, 1986; Publicity Chairwoman, 1985; Parents and Reading Committee 1985-1984, 1984-1985; and member of Prairie Area Reading Council (University Liaison, 1992) and Northern Illinois Reading Council. Summer Conference Chair, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994.

Member of TAWL (Chicago Area, Elmhurst and IWP), Illinois TAWL, Umbrella Conference Chair, 2001, National Council of Teachers of English,

Member of The International Reading Association, Intellectual Freedom Committee 2000-2002, Elvira Knight Research Grants Review Committee, 2000, 2002,2003;

Member of Phi Delta Kappan

Elected into CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning), 1993. An International Literacy Think-Tank. Conference Rejuvenation Co-Chair with Sandra Wilde, Pushing the Boundaries of Diversity, Seaside, Oregon, July 1997.
CELT Board Member, 1998-2007.

Advisory Board Member, The Marco Polo Foundation, Read/write/think.org, 2002, 2003,2004, 2005, 2006. On the Read/Write Think Reorganization Committee, 2009.

Invited to advise The National Commission on Writing, US Government, 2004.

Board Member, Democracy & Education, 1999-2001

Co-Editor, (With Vito DiPinto), Special Issue of Democracy & Education Critical Literacy for Social Justice (2002)

National Council of Teachers of English Reading Initiative Project (1998-2001)

International Reading Association, Committee on Intellectual Freedom (1999-2002).

American Educational Research Association (AERA), 20 proposals 2004,
Proposal Reviewer, SIG- Critical Ed for Social Justice
Sig, Writing and Literacies
Sig, Wholistic Education
Sig, Basic Research in Reading & Literacy

American Educational Research Association (AERA), 20 proposals, 2003
Proposal Reviewer, Division K, Section 5
Division K, Section 3
Division K, Section 7
Division K, Section 4
Division C, Section 1
Division B, Section 2

AERA Division K, Division B, Proposal Reviewer, 1993, 1994, 2000.

National Reading Conference Proposal Reviewer 1992, 1993, 1994

National Reading Conference Newsletter Co-Editor (With Marilyn Bizar), 1993.

National Council of Teachers of English Annual Program Reviewer, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988.

Special Reviewer, Language Arts, 2006

Reviewer, The New Advocate, 2001-2003.

Special Reviewer, Journal of Literacy Research, 2000.

Reviewer: Teaching Education, 1997.

Conference Chair, Illinois Association of Teachers of English, Day of Whole Language, October, 1994.

North Central Evaluation Team Member for Rosemont Public Schools (1992).

National Writing Project Bill Lobby, Washington, DC, (1993).

h) HONORS, AWARDS, and OTHER SPECIAL RECOGNITION

2008 Distinguished Achievement Award--Teaching Excellence Award for Tenured Faculty,
College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio

2007 Distinguished Achievement Award--Teaching Excellence Award for Tenured Faculty,
College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio

2006 Director, San Antonio Writing Project

2005-2011, Co-Editor (with Janis Harmon & Elizabeth Pate) of the NCTE Journal, Voices From the Middle.

Advisory Board Member, The Marco Polo Foundation, Read/write/think.org, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005.

Invited to advise The National Commission on Writing, US Government, 2004.

Elected to the NCTE Middle Level Steering Committee (Board of Directors) 2001-2005

Elected to the NCTE Middle Level Steering Committee Co-Assistant Chair 2001-2003, 2003-2004

2003 Sabbatical, NLU

2001, NLU, Wheaton Outstanding Teachers Award.

2001 Chair, The NCTE Umbrella Conference, Chicago.

Nominated for the 2000 James Britton Award for Outstanding Literacy Book: Henkin, R. (1998). Who’s Invited to Share: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

2000, 1995, 1993, nominated for NLU's Outstanding Educator of the Year.

Elected Board Member, 1998-2007, CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning) An International Literacy Think-Tank.

Elected Board Member, 1998-2007, CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning) An International Literacy Think-Tank.

1997 Sabbatical, NLU.

CELT Rejuvenation Conference Co-Chair with Sandra Wilde, Pushing the Boundaries of Diversity, Seaside, Oregon, July 1997.

1995 National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference Elementary Chair in Minneapolis.

1995 Elected President of The Illinois Language & Literacy Council of The Illinois Reading Council.

Nominated to run for the National Council of Teachers of English Vice-President (leading to President) 1994.

Elected into CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning), 1993. An International Literacy Think-Tank.

Elected to the NCTE Elementary Section Steering Committee (Board of Directors) 1988-1992

1989 Listed in Who's Who in the Midwest

1989 Listed in Who's Who of the Women in the World.

1989 Elected to membership in Phi Delta Kappa.

Elected to the NCTE Elementary Section Steering Committee (Board of Directors) 1988-1992

1988 Listed in Who's Who in American Education.

1987 Elected to membership in Kappa Delta Pi: An Honor Society in Education.

1984 Illinois Master Teacher Award: $1,000 cash award.

i) FUNDED GRANTS

2008, San Antonio Writing Project from The National Writing Project 43,000.

2007, San Antonio Writing Project from The National Writing Project, $45,000.

2006, San Antonio Writing Project from The National Writing Project, $30,000.

2005 Part of the team for the three year, Teacher Quality Professional Development Reading Grant from the Department of Education. The title of the grant is “Teaching Teachers to Teach Critical Reading Skills (CREST) through an Intensive Professional Development Model.” Misty Sailors & Janis Harmon, co principal investigators, $1.2 million.

2004 Grant from the Academy of Teacher Excellence (ATE), Concept Paper (with Leann Steinmetz), $1000.00

j) THESES AND DISSERTATIONS SUPERVISED

Chair of Dissertation Committees at National-Louis University unless otherwise noted

1. Ruth Freedman (Completed June, 1995) (Co-Chair w/ Linda Tafel)
2. Chuck Sentell (Completed July, 1997) (Co-Chair w/Donna Ogle)
3. Carol Aymar (Completed July, 1998)
4. Jeff Siddall (Completed March, 1998)
5. Penny Silvers (Completed March, 1998)
6. Carol Porter (Completed April, 1999)
7. Laura Bauer (Completed April, 2001)
8. Chris Poziemski (Completed April 2002)
9. Jean-Louise Gustafson (Completed April 2002)
10. Ann Kenneman (Completed 2003)
11. Nancy Casey (Completed April, 2004 while I was at UTSA)
12. Kathy Liace (Completed April 2004 while I was at UTSA)
13. Sue Anderson (Completed April, 2004 while I was at UTSA)

Member of Dissertation Committees

1. Sue Hebson (Completed 1994)
2. Terri Bridgman (Completed 1994)
3. Ann Kim (Completed 1995)
4. Diane Jenkins (Completed 1993)
5. Carolyn Fabrick (Northern Illinois University)
6. Janelle Cleland (Completed 1999)
7. Rose Casement (University of Maine) (Completed April, 1998)
8. Mary Jane Hender (Completed 2003)

Masters Thesis: Sue Anderson (Completed June, 1995)

OTHER PROFESSIONALLY SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES
Consultant Work

Co-Director and Instructor for the Illinois Writing Project. Taught the 30 hour, graduate credit course in the teaching of writing and/or other literacy courses:

2003
Rondout School District, Lake Forest, Il
Schneider School, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, Il

2002
Barry School, Chicago Public Schools
Rondout School District, Lake Forest, Il
Plainfield School District, Plainfield, IL
Burlington, Illinois School District

2001
Barry School, Chicago Public Schools
Elgin School District

2000

Elgin School District

1999

Park Ridge School District, Elgin School District, Cicero School District

1998

November, Batavia School District

June: Illinois Language & Literacy Council Summer Conference with Sandra Wilde, June 1998

June, Wheaton, Illinois School District.

July, Fowler Elementary School, Fowler, Indiana.

August: Illinois Writing Project Leadership Conference, Des Plaines, Il

Cicero District 99, Cicero, Il.

1997:
June: Illinois Whole Language Conference with Yetta Goodman, June 1997
Caro, MI School District
Writing Curriculum work with Lake Bluff School District
1996:
June: Park Ridge Public Schools
August: Advanced Leadership, IWP, Chicago, Illinois
Two Workshops in Cicero, Illinois.

Ran & co-taught the Illinois Whole Language Conference with Jerome Harste., June, 1996.

1995:
June: North Shore District 112
August: Advanced Leadership, IWP, Melrose Park, Illinois.
Three workshops in Cicero, Illinois.
Ran & co-taught Illinois Whole Language Conference with
Gordon Wells, NLU, Wheaton, Il., June, 1995.

1994:
June: North Shore District 112
August: Advanced Leadership, Chicago, Illinois.
Two workshops in Cicero, Illinois.

Ran & co-taught Illinois Whole Language Conference with
Donald Graves & Karen Smith, St. Charles, Il., June, 1994.

1993:
January & February
Writing Project for Burley School, Chicago

June: Writing Project for North Shore District 112

August: Advanced Writing Project for NWP/IWP, Evanston
Writing Project for Park Ridge School District

1992:
August Writing Project for District 2, Chicago Teachers
Advanced Writing Project for NWP/IWP, River Forest
Writing Project for Kaneland School District

1991:
January Writing Project for Rochelle Lee, Chicago Teachers.
June Writing Project for District 2, Chicago Teachers.
July Walloon Institute, Whole Language Project
Walloon, Michigan
August Advanced Writing Project for Rockford Schools
Basic Writing Project for Highland Park Schools
September & October Primary Writing Project for Barrington Schools

1990:
January Whole Language Project for the Oak Park, Illinois Schools.

January-March for the Elmhurst Illinois School District

July Whole Language Project for the Oak Park Illinois Schools.

August for the Walloon National Summer Institute on Leadership in Writing. Led with Co-directors Dr. Smokey Daniels and Dr. Steve Zemelman, the National Leadership in Writing Conference.

August for Mitchell School, Chicago, Illinois.

November, December for the Rochelle Lee Fund, Chicago Public Schools.

1989:

January-March for the Elmhurst Illinois School District

March for the Harvard School District

March for National College of Education - Advanced Writing Class

April-May, ½ day writing seminars for the Elmhurst School District.

April for The Creative Children's Academy, Mt. Prospect, Il

May for former teachers in the Elmhurst area

June for the Dekalb, Illinois School District

June for the Elmhurst, Illinois School District

August for the DuPage - Kane Educational Service Center - Whole Language Course

August for Oak Grove, Illinois School District

September - November for the Elmhurst Illinois School District -
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum Course

November - Organized and led The Illinois Writing Project
Leadership Conference

November for National College of Education - Curriculum Field Base Program, Grayslake, Illinois.

1988:

October for the Chicago Public Schools

October for the Harvard School District

September-December for the Elmhurst School District

September-October for the Naperville School District

June for St. Patrick's School, St. Charles, Illinois

April-May for the Channahon School District

February-March for the Elgin School District. I supervised two new trainers during this project.

January for the Educational Service Center #1, Rockford, Illinois

1987:

November for Lines School, Barrington, Illinois

November for the Channahon School District

August for the Educational Service Center #1, Freeport, Illinois

June for the St. Charles School District

March for the St. Charles School District

January-February for the Wauconda School District

1986:

October-for the Elgin Public Schools

August for the St. Charles School District

March-April for the St. Charles School District

1985:

June-two day workshop for the Educational Service Center, Macomb, Illinois

August- week long workshop for the St. Charles District

Whole Language Instructor:

April for the Creative Children's Academy

University Instructor:

Co-taught the one week Northern Illinois University Writing Workshop with Dr. Jane Davidson. Dr. Donald Graves was a featured speaker. Dekalb, Illinois; June, 1987.

Co-taught the graduate Language Arts Class at Northern Illinois University with Dr. Anne Trousdale. Dekalb, Illinois; June-August, 1988.

Writing Internship:
Studied with Dr. Janet Emig at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey for two weeks during November and December, 1989.