It’s grant writing time! This isn’t my favorite part. I can plan programs and instruction all day. I actually really enjoy that stuff. Chunking away at a grant proposal doesn’t feel as natural to me. I’ve had decent success at it in the past with Endless Beautiful. Carolyn and I put together a few proposals two years ago and we were awarded grants for both of those. There’s an added layer of complexity (several actually) for the PCVI Summer Writing Series grant. Everything was in-house for EB. This grant involves fiscal sponsors, radio campaigns, space arrangements, and a bunch of other stuff. I guess one advantage is I’ve designed the program from the bottom up. That means I have the answers to most of the questions on the application. I suppose this is a step in becoming a big boy and developing bigger programs. I really have to credit the URI Masters of Adult Education program for giving me the tools to confidently move forward with a complex project like this one.
I ran the first creative writing session for PCVI a few weeks back. It was fantastic. I had students read my story “TCP 3” before class. We discussed some of the narrative devices used and general impressions. Then we launched into the EB workshop. It works every time! I still can’t believe how well EB works. I’m using EB in a different way than I have with previous classes. We spark discussion and look for narrative seeds to build stories on. I have students build a container with what they come up with. They decide on a beginning and an end for their experience-based narrative. Students left the class with the assignment of filling their story container. They need to supply the details of how to get from the beginning to the end. During the summer class, I will give students a detailed packet to help them outline this stuff. As for the spring semester, I really just want them to reflect on their experiences and get their feet wet. Developing this atmosphere of personal narrative sharing has already yielded fantastic results in the class. I think we’re really onto something.
Enough procrastinating! Back to the grant proposal. Wish me luck!