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Rural Sites Network

RSN Resource Development Retreat

Application Deadline: January 25, 2008
To submit your application, go to: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/events/313

Overview

Retreat participants will be guided through the process of shaping a piece of work into one or more publishable forms that may include, but are not limited to, bibliographies, articles, presentations, demonstrations, online resources, and how-to manuals. It is our hope that by the end of the retreat each participant or team will submit a draft which, with the support of the RSN Resource Development Leadership team, can be disseminated in a variety of venues.

We encourage participants to attend the retreat in teams of two, to develop a resource about any successful writing project work in a rural setting. We are especially interested in work that helps us to answer the following questions often posed to the Rural Sites Network:

  1. What resources exist to help rural sites talk and think about place consciousness?
  2. How do writing project sites help teachers in rural schools develop the necessary expertise to work with English language learners and/or honor language as identity?
  3. How do writing project sites support new teachers in rural schools?
  4. What resources exist to help writing project sites serving rural teachers begin social action discourses?
  5. What resources exist to help rural sites talk and think about diversity in rural places?
  6. How are writing project sites exploring the changing face of rurality?

Your complete application will consist of the following:

  1. Up-to-date contact information for each participant that includes
    1. name of writing project site
    2. name of participant
    3. email
    4. home address
    5. home phone
    6. work address
    7. work phone
    8. number of years at site
  2. Answers to the application questions below
  3. Letter of support from your site director.

Submission Instructions

Participation in RSN's Resource Development Retreat is by online application only. In order to submit your application, type your answers in a word processing program and save the document. Once you begin the application submission process, you may either copy and paste the text manually into the provided text box or upload the document as an attachment to your application.

Application Questions (limit 3 pages)

  1. What has been your experience with your local writing project site and with rural education? What was your involvement in the work that you will be showcasing?
  2. Briefly describe the site program or inquiry upon which your resource will focus. Discuss how this program/inquiry began and how it has expanded your site's capacity to work with rural schools and teachers.
  3. What data, evidence, examples of work, and/or human resources are available to you to help develop a resource?
  4. How would you describe your resource's relevance for other rural sites across the network?

Letter of Support

This application requires a brief letter of support from the director of your site (due February 8, 2008), indicating support for you as you prepare to document your site's work through the development of this new resource. Please ask your site director to respond to the email inquiry he or she will receive after you have submitted your Resource Development Retreat application online. Your application will not be complete until we receive your letter of support.

Selection

Participation in this retreat is by application only. The group of participants chosen will be as representative as possible of the geographic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the Rural Sites Network. Sites are strongly encouraged to send a team of two teacher-consultants to develop a resource about a successful site practice in a rural setting. The Resource Development Retreat is limited to 20 participants.

Deadline

Submit completed applications no later than January 25, 2008. All applicants will be contacted regarding their applications by March 3, 2008.