Writers in electronic residence

Writers In Electronic Residence (WIER) is a national writing programme that links Canada's writers with Canada's schools via the Internet. WIER is administered by The Writers' Development Trust in partnership with York University's Faculty of Education. Via e-mail, IN 2 PRINT co-op student Amy Cole (IN2P), interviewed various people associated with WIER Trevor Owen (TO): founder and current Program Director of WIER IN2P: What inspired WIER's creation? Has it evolved much from its original incarnation? TO: When I was a teacher in English at Riverdale Collegiate in Toronto, I wanted to use communications technology to link writers with my writing. It took a long time the textual nature of online communications would be good for writing. It took a long time to get off the ground--in fact, I was unsuccessful in getting anything going for about four years, and almost gave up on the idea entirely--but in 1988, the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby B.C. agreed to host WIER on its computer systems. SFU's involvement came thanks to Gerri Sinclair, a professor at SFU, and Vancouver-based poet Lionel Kearns, who was the first writer in electronic residence. Lionel and Gerri were already active in online learning. They are really WIER's "fairy godparents!" And yes, the programme has evolved substantially since then! Literally thousands of students, hundreds of teachers and schools, and scores of writers have been involved in WIER, and from every part of Canada--St. John's to Pond Inlet to Victoria IN2P: How do students benefit from this programme? TO: In a number of ways--including getting to read Canadian authors that they may not have read otherwise--but the main benefit can be seen in the writing. Students use telecommunications technology, like computers and modems, telecommunications software and telephone lines, to send their writing to the programme. Once they have posted their writing, normally poetry and short fiction, professional writers review their work and, with the help of the classroom teacher, critique, coax and inspire students to better writing, reading and understanding. Of course, WIER also links schools with students in the other participating schools, creating discussion, debate and lots of writing--sort of an "electronic literary salon." The result, as the writers have found, is that "the kids won't stop writing," and "the more they write, the better they write." As I mentioned, WIER also encourages students in schools across country to read the work of the Canadian authors they study through our books program which is now sponsored by Canada's SchooletNet, a national Internet service for education, Books written by the professional writers are purchased and distributed to all of the participating schools in each grade level. IN2P:How do the teachers and professional authors benefit from the programme? TO: This is a really important question, which we're looking at quite a lot of days, as it happens. For writers, WIER provides a new form of work, that is, work they can do from their homes. And it is a kind of work that wasn't available to them before! Many authors who work in traditional residencies find they have to move for a term or two, or perhaps a year, in order to find enough work to support their writing. In WIER, they can stay home and connect to us as part of their normal work. Teachers are finding that their involvement in WIER is also a form of professional development. They often come to see their students in new ways through the interactions that happen online between the students, writers, and yes, other teachers. Several teachers have undertaken graduate studies based on their experiences in WIER. And, like the writers, teachers also learn how learning and teaching happen online, so they are becoming quite skilled. We need those skills too! The work teachers do in WIER has more to do with understanding the value of the original student writing and its place in the curriculum than it does with the technology that actually allows the programme to operate This means that WIER teachers know a lot about how to use technology for a particular (and I think really valuable) purpose--writing. IN2P: What authors have been associated with WIER? TO: We offer programmes at the elementary, middle school, and secondary school levels each fall, winter, and spring, so many writers have been associated with WIER. Emily Hearn, Robert Priest, Ken Roberts, Linda Rogers, and Kathy Stinson have been involved at the elementary level. At the middle school level, WIER authors have included Kevin Major, Sylvia McNicoll, Ken Roberts, Kathy Stinson, Diana Wieler, and Welwyn Wilton Katz. And at the secondary level, which is the longest running of WIER's programmes, we have worked with Lionel Kearns, Marilyn Bowering, Di Brandt, Brian Brett, George Elliott Clarke, Lorna Crozier, Trevor Ferguson, Cecil Foster, Katherine Govier, John Gray, Cornelia Hoogland, Guy Gavriel Kay, Crawford Kilian, Patrick Lane, David Margoshes, David McFadden, Daniel David Moses, Susan Musgrave, Daniel Poliquin, Robert Priest, Darlene Quaife, Linda Rogers, Leon Rooke, Rick Salutin, Robert J. Sawyer, Rhea Tregebov and Guillermo Verdecchia. Dr. Rosaline Barker (RB) is a teacher and WIER moderator at Lakefield College School. This school has been participating in WIER for several years IN2P: Does your school give academic credits for WIER? RB: Our school does not give academic credits for WIER. The work students do for WIER is one part of their work in their English course and a percentage of their term mark based on their participation in WIER--typically around 20%. IN2P: Have you seen any changes in your students writing since starting WIER? RB: The students as well as I saw improvement in their writing. The process of submitting their work to others for comment and constructive criticism led to their becoming more conscious of themselves as writers. They began to look more carefully and critically at their own work, and they saw from comments they received their individual words, rhythms, word order, all made a difference to the specific and overall effectiveness of their work. And they learned just as much from discussing and responding to the works of other students. My own experience with WIER as a teacher and teacher/moderator has increased my respect for the writers who participate in the programme. The attention they give to the students' work as shown in their comments proves to me again and again how much they care about writing! And also how seriously they are prepared to take students' writing. Amy also asked questions of many students who have participated in WIER over the past year. Jennie Jackson-Hughes: The WIER programme allowed me to be more open in my thoughts both in my poetry and in my responses to other students because of the distance. Peter McLachlan: Student input was a wonderful part of the programme. It's important to get the perspective of people from other areas of the country, particularly people in the same age group. One of the many obstacles that needs to be overcome in writing is dealing with criticism. In order to improve and survive as a writer, one has to see criticism as a positive and not a negative. It personally makes me absolutely furious when I receive a "that's nice" response. I put a great deal of thought into my work and expect to receive a thoughtful response in kind. WIER provided these types of responses. Mary Sunderland: WIER has definitely changed the way that I view my own work. I am fairly self-critical and usually am not pleased with my creative work in particular. WIER has instilled self confidence in my creative abilities. The encouragement that I received from the professional writers really did help a lot. I have discovered that writing is a way to express myself and relieve stress. Matt Chellew: WIER has made me into a much more critical writer--not so much of other people's work, but more importantly, of my own work. Chantal Fisher: Through WIER I am more aware of what I am writing and what I wish to express through my writing. I have learned to express myself more clearly by guiding rather than telling. WIER helped develop my creative side, which I did not know existed. Laurel McCosham: WIER comments were much more direct and to the point than comments I have usually received from teachers. I find that teachers are perhaps more reluctant to point out individual faults and strengths, giving a more general, overall offering. Amy Neufeld: WIER has made ma able to take suggestions and look objectively at what I have written. My advice to those starting out: Take each suggestion seriously. To find out more about the WIER programme, please send your name and mailing address to April Hall, Program Coordinator, at: Writers In Electronic Residence 24 Ryerson Avenue, Suite 207 Toronto, Ontario M5T 2P3 Voice: [phone] Fax: [phone] Or send Internet e-mail to: [email protected] Or visit their web site for information, writer biographies, writing samples, and more. The address is: www. wier. yorku.ca/WIERhome/ There are two new services at WIER's web site. Canadian Author of the Month features the biography of a great WIER author, and Cool Poem of the Week features the writing of a great WIER student author.