So I'm reading through the revision book that I mentioned in an earlier post (I'll give you a review once I finish it) and I find myself again contemplating a tricky question. That is - what exactly is a thesis statement?

Now, when I was in school, being taught to write the standard (read boring) five-paragraph essay, I was taught that the thesis statement was the sentence that said what your whole paper was about. It was to be followed by a sentence known as the preview that stated what your three main points were. (You know, "tell them what you're going to tell them"?)

Coalfield Writers TC Bob Miller was recently accepted to a teacher institute at WVU entitled "A Crossroads of Native Culture and History: Examining the Native American Heritage of West Virginia and the Region."

So this blog entry I am writing using the free online HTML editor that Peggie put up on our website.  The purpose for this is that I want to know how this is going to work and loo, and Peggie assures me that I can't break the website too badly.  She tells me that when she wants me to branch out and do more "stuff".  Then she says "well . . . ' when I ask something crazy and weird and it's apparent that I maybe CAN break the website.

So I was browsing around Amazon.com, looking at the recommendations they have for me. I was checking out the reviews of one book and found an interesting, and applicable, comment. So I come here, to Coalfield Writers to see if I can't find a place to put it...

...and I discover I have a blog.

What do you know?

So here is the interesting comment I discovered:

As a teacher, I have four criteria for professional books:
-- Does the author know more about the topic than I do?
-- Does the author have an engaging writing style?
-- Are examples provided?

Teacher Consultant Day in Summer Institute 2009

Are you a writing project teacher consultant or teacher partner who is “itching” to get back to their writing bones but you don’t have the time for summer institute this year? Would you like to enjoy an inspiring presenter who will engage you in personal writing? Would you enjoy an afternoon writing marathon?

If you said yes to these questions, then Coalfield Writers has an opportunity that will interest you!

To: Summer Institute 2009 Participants
Fr: Tracy Baisden, Coalfield Writers Director
Re: Start day for SI 2009
Date: 5.1.09

During the Saturday kick-off meeting it was mentioned that Logan County Schools was holding an optional work day for elementary teachers on the day immediately following the last day of the school calendar (June 10, 2009). At that time our SI leadership team didn’t think this would present a problem for our members, who were committed to the summer institute.

Students enrolled in the Spanish classes at Logan High School celebrated “Latino Poetry Week” from April 6-10, 2009. During this week the students studied the lives and poetry of Lydia Cortes, Federico García Lorca, Martín Espada and Pablo Neruda. The poems below, written by LHS students, were modeled after the poems “I Remember” by Lydia Cortes and “Son de negros en Cuba - Song of the Black Cubans” by Federico García Lorca.

I Remember
By Katie Lee

I remember her
Beautiful silver hair tucked
Tight into curls on her head
I remember them
Suddenly gone

I remember her

Carrie Browning, a teacher consultant from Summer Institute 2008, was a guest presenter during the Annual Kickoff Celebration on April 25, 2009. She is a second grade teacher at Omar Elementary School. She taught the participants for the 2009 Summer Institute a delightful way to teach new vocabulary words. She transported us back to second grade by showing us new words. To prepare to recognize when the story was read, we played a game with a skein of yarn. A bright colored skein of yarn was produced.