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Book 1
Introduction
About this project
The Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute is proud to present the very first Online Writing Project anthology. Modelled after the successful Bay Area Writing Project at the University of Berkeley, California - this year's Writing Project took place online with the intent of providing teachers of the Western Cape Education Department a safe place where they could develop their own personal writing.
The theme of this year's Writing project was very significant. Writing for Healing allowed teachers a chance to delve deep into their own experiences and it gave them a chance to express their feelings by putting pen down onto paper.
About the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute
The CTLI is a provincial training institute tasked with providing in-service teachers with professional development opportunities. Most of these opportunities are aimed at strengthening and developing teachers understanding of curriculum and pedagogy. The CTLI offers a wide range of courses that teachers can voluntarily attend throughout the year in a face-to-face environment on a beautiful campus.
The new COVID normal, however, saw all of these opportunities for teachers move to a digital space and all of the CTLI's courses are now presented online.
About the Writing Project
The Writing Project has been presented as a face- to-face course at the CTLI in the past. Teachers attended a series of workshops aimed at strengthening the knowledge, expertise and leadership of teachers to promote and improve the writing skills of all learners. The goals of this project are to:
1. improve the learning and achievement of learners by improving the teaching of writing
2. concentrate efforts where literacy is most in jeopardy
3. support teachers as they prepare to meet the requirements of the curriculum
4. emphasise approaches to writing and reading of learners and
5. recogonise that teachers are the key to educational reform and that experienced teachers are the best teachers of other teachers.
The theme of this year's Writing project was very significant. Writing for Healing allowed teachers a chance to delve deep into their own experiences and it gave them a chance to express their feelings by putting pen down onto paper.
About the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute
The CTLI is a provincial training institute tasked with providing in-service teachers with professional development opportunities. Most of these opportunities are aimed at strengthening and developing teachers understanding of curriculum and pedagogy. The CTLI offers a wide range of courses that teachers can voluntarily attend throughout the year in a face-to-face environment on a beautiful campus.
The new COVID normal, however, saw all of these opportunities for teachers move to a digital space and all of the CTLI's courses are now presented online.
About the Writing Project
The Writing Project has been presented as a face- to-face course at the CTLI in the past. Teachers attended a series of workshops aimed at strengthening the knowledge, expertise and leadership of teachers to promote and improve the writing skills of all learners. The goals of this project are to:
1. improve the learning and achievement of learners by improving the teaching of writing
2. concentrate efforts where literacy is most in jeopardy
3. support teachers as they prepare to meet the requirements of the curriculum
4. emphasise approaches to writing and reading of learners and
5. recogonise that teachers are the key to educational reform and that experienced teachers are the best teachers of other teachers.
The 2021 Writing Project: Writing for Healing
The writing project of this year was slightly different to previous years. It was a direct response to what teachers have experienced over the last year or two. It aimed to acknowledge that teachers are part of greater society and the pain coursing through society very much affects teachers and their experiences.
The coordinators of this course felt that teachers needed a safe place that would allow them to put what they are going through and what they have experienced in their own lives onto paper. The theme was carefully selected and each online webinar session was carefully crafted around the healing power of writing.
The project's original objectives remained in that , although not explicitly, teachers were given tools that they could use, not only in their own personal writing, but also in the classroom. Teachers were encouraged to write and to share their writing at each online webinar. An Author's Chair where writing was shared was a significant part of each session.
This anthology contains writing pieces written by the participants who attended six different webinar sessions in August 2021. Each piece is personal and different. Each piece provides insight into the pain experienced by different individuals and also the hope and healing that writing can bring.
The writing project of this year was slightly different to previous years. It was a direct response to what teachers have experienced over the last year or two. It aimed to acknowledge that teachers are part of greater society and the pain coursing through society very much affects teachers and their experiences.
The coordinators of this course felt that teachers needed a safe place that would allow them to put what they are going through and what they have experienced in their own lives onto paper. The theme was carefully selected and each online webinar session was carefully crafted around the healing power of writing.
The project's original objectives remained in that , although not explicitly, teachers were given tools that they could use, not only in their own personal writing, but also in the classroom. Teachers were encouraged to write and to share their writing at each online webinar. An Author's Chair where writing was shared was a significant part of each session.
This anthology contains writing pieces written by the participants who attended six different webinar sessions in August 2021. Each piece is personal and different. Each piece provides insight into the pain experienced by different individuals and also the hope and healing that writing can bring.
The 2021 Writing Project: Presenters
We were extremely privileged to have experts in the field of writing present at each webinar.
Thank you to the following keynote speakers who brought their light to all our sessions centered around a specific theme:
Listening to my soul
Professor Irma Eloff (University of Pretoria)
Caressing my imagination
Magdalena Benn
Exploring my world
Cheryl Logan (Columbia University-USA)
Re-imagining my world
Carla Hanson & Tom O'Hara - Great Valley Writing Project(California)
Conquering my darkness
Dr Hanlie Dippenaar-Cape Peninsula University of Technology &
Dr Roxanne Henkin (University of Texas) & Gladys Jacobson
We were extremely privileged to have experts in the field of writing present at each webinar.
Thank you to the following keynote speakers who brought their light to all our sessions centered around a specific theme:
Listening to my soul
Professor Irma Eloff (University of Pretoria)
Caressing my imagination
Magdalena Benn
Exploring my world
Cheryl Logan (Columbia University-USA)
Re-imagining my world
Carla Hanson & Tom O'Hara - Great Valley Writing Project(California)
Conquering my darkness
Dr Hanlie Dippenaar-Cape Peninsula University of Technology &
Dr Roxanne Henkin (University of Texas) & Gladys Jacobson
About this book
Book 1 of the CTLI Writing Project Anthology Series.
All the graphics, styling and accompanying writing pieces were created by the authors themselves.
The authors represented in this book are as follows:
Ruby Klazen
Caterina Chemaly
Antonella Pettenuzzo
Elmien Kruger
Elizabeth Nortier
Roeline Janse van Rensburg
Nikki Potgieter
Mariska W Steenkamp
Linzey Joorst
Gafieza Ismael
Jen C
All the graphics, styling and accompanying writing pieces were created by the authors themselves.
The authors represented in this book are as follows:
Ruby Klazen
Caterina Chemaly
Antonella Pettenuzzo
Elmien Kruger
Elizabeth Nortier
Roeline Janse van Rensburg
Nikki Potgieter
Mariska W Steenkamp
Linzey Joorst
Gafieza Ismael
Jen C
Unveiling
Treasure
By: Ruby Klazen
A New Dawn
"The treasures of life are not tangible; they are the little moments that creep up on you when you go about your day and suddenly recall a moment, a memory as swift as the birdsong floating through the air or the last rays of sunlight dipping into the ocean...."
Unveiling Treasure
As I awake to the dawn of this day, the task before me seems arduous. My soul is tired and my spirit disheartened. I have to dig deep, as a miner entering the mineshaft in order to extract that precious gift hidden, deep within the confines of the earth. This moment here will not be my last, this heavy weight of the treasure chest that I carry should be opened up and shared with all the world.
Will today be the day? Is this the moment when I release the cumbersome lock upon my treasure chest, do I reveal the mystic beauty that it holds? Perhaps today is the day that.....
The glorious dawn of a new day displays the glory of your wonder.
Through the veil of darkness, the clear blue sky casts its golden ray of hope to dispel the sorrow and despair, the darkness of yesterday lifts like a cloud of mist before the warmth of the rising sun.
Angelic voices echo and resound through the cheerful birdsong, as the mists of darkness vanish to the wonder and beauty of today, this day!
Behold your tender beauty in the air so crisp and clear, your presence, a sunbeam of delight and the warmth of your golden cheer; spreading through the crowning of this glorious day.
The unveiling of this treasure, all wrapped in golden light, surrounds the path on which I tread to reveal the royal gifts of beauty.
The joy upon the journey as I share your majestic kindness and random acts of love. May the unveiling of this treasure abound and meet all around who may need to see the beauty of your treasure unveiling daily.
The gifts of wondrous beauty, a newborns' gentle cry, the cooing of the pigeons, the tender kiss of morning, a heartbeat pure and strong.
Unveiling Treasure
As I awake to the dawn of this day, the task before me seems arduous. My soul is tired and my spirit disheartened. I have to dig deep, as a miner entering the mineshaft in order to extract that precious gift hidden, deep within the confines of the earth. This moment here will not be my last, this heavy weight of the treasure chest that I carry should be opened up and shared with all the world.
Will today be the day? Is this the moment when I release the cumbersome lock upon my treasure chest, do I reveal the mystic beauty that it holds? Perhaps today is the day that.....
The glorious dawn of a new day displays the glory of your wonder.
Through the veil of darkness, the clear blue sky casts its golden ray of hope to dispel the sorrow and despair, the darkness of yesterday lifts like a cloud of mist before the warmth of the rising sun.
Angelic voices echo and resound through the cheerful birdsong, as the mists of darkness vanish to the wonder and beauty of today, this day!
Behold your tender beauty in the air so crisp and clear, your presence, a sunbeam of delight and the warmth of your golden cheer; spreading through the crowning of this glorious day.
The unveiling of this treasure, all wrapped in golden light, surrounds the path on which I tread to reveal the royal gifts of beauty.
The joy upon the journey as I share your majestic kindness and random acts of love. May the unveiling of this treasure abound and meet all around who may need to see the beauty of your treasure unveiling daily.
The gifts of wondrous beauty, a newborns' gentle cry, the cooing of the pigeons, the tender kiss of morning, a heartbeat pure and strong.