San Jose Area Writing Project (SJAWP)

01/28/2024

Registration is now live for spring and summer student programming with the San Jose Area Writing Project. Currently our programs for 2024 are aimed at students in grades 8-12. We hope to bring back programming for our younger writers in 2025!

This spring we will once again be offering our Teen Writer's Salon, which will be co-hosted by authors in residence Hannah Jayne and Faith Gardner. Our authors will be doing live brainstorming and mapping of novels so that students can get a peek into their writerly minds and how they think when planning novels. Students will also get time to work on their own novel ideas in these live online classes.

In addition, registration is now live for the Teen Writers Institute, our summer program at San Jose State University the week of June 17-21. We will once again be offering both Novel Writing and Screenwriting. Early bird registration round 1 goes through April 15.

Questions regarding our programming can be directed to our admin team by emailing [email protected]. We hope to see many new and returning students this spring and summer!
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Teen Writer's Salon Dates
Saturday, February 10 (11am-12:30pm), online
Saturday, March 9 (11am-12:30pm), online
Saturday, April 13 (11am-12:30pm), online

Teen Writers Institute
June 17-21 (9:30am-2:30pm), San Jose State University

https://sanjoseareawritingproject.getgalore.com/series/97972-teen-writers-institute-2024

https://sanjoseareawritingproject.getgalore.com/series/98110-teen-writer-s-salon-hosted-by-sjawp-s-teen-novel-writing-program

SJAWP Novel Writing Program: Writer’s Salon & Workshop Calling all teen writers who want a community with whom to share writing without the commitment of a full length course! Our Teen Writer's Salon is a space in which students can write alongside other teens and workshop writing while making fri...

07/01/2023

Applications for our Teen Novel Writing Program now open! This may be our last cohort of students, so no time like the present to apply! Learn more on our website.

The San Jose Area Writing Project launched its Teen Novel Writing Certificate Program in the 2018-2019 academic year; the only program of its kind in the nation geared toward teen novelists. The first year of the writing certificate program is comprised of two semester long classes taught primarily....

03/14/2023

Thinking of educator extraordinaire and former SJAWP associate director Aeriale Johnson as she recovers from this morning's surgery. Please see link below to support Aeriale in her recovery.

Sonja Cherry-Paul, Tricia Ebarvia, Clare Landrigan, Anna Osborn, Kim Parker, and Tiana Silvas are… Clare Landrigan needs your support for Be Love for Aeriale

03/03/2023

SJAWP co-director Jane Gilmore is hosting a writing retreat this summer for adults looking to create space and time to write for themselves. This is not-for-profit - everyone shares the cost of renting Ralston White Retreat and paying for catering. You can message Jane at janegilmore.writes or [email protected] for details.

In 2014 author Elizabeth Berg put out a call to her super fans: build a writing retreat and I will come. 12 of us answered her call and so began an annual writing retreat at the Ralston White...

02/24/2023

The San Jose Area Writing Project (SJAWP)is so excited to host our first roundtable discussion between teachers and college professors on April 1. Registration opens March 1! Who's excited for this event?!

https://mailchi.mp/fe053e4b5c3d/save-the-date-april-1-super-saturday-roundtable-for-teachers-college-professors

09/18/2022

We are back in person at San Jose State University for our fall Super Saturday! Teachers, students, and parents: join us on October 1 for our lab school model writing classes. Use promo code SUPERSATURDAY2022 to save 50% and pay only $10 to register!

GRADES 1-3: Fun from First to Final Draft
Do you want to have fun during every step of the writing process? Come join me to brainstorm and draft silly & wild stories, revise using mentor sentences, and peer edit with the help of some musical chairs. We will use technology tools and inspiration from your favorite authors to have fun. Please bring a book by your favorite author if you can.

Mele Perla is a 1st-grade teacher at Herbert Hoover Elementary School in the Palo Alto Unified School District.

GRADES 4-7: (Summer) Image Introductions
At the end of the play Our Town, Emily is overcome with love for “clocks ticking, hot baths, and mama’s sunflowers” after being encouraged to return to an ordinary day. What are some moments that you would like to return to? Let’s craft those into tiny gems of poetry! You will only end up writing two sentences but actually practice a whole range of skills and have fun in the process! We’ll review some mentor texts to develop a list of descriptive strategies and then use them to polish a single moment in time. Once you have crafted your piece, you will work with a partner eventually introducing each other and sharing these miniature moments of joy. You’ll leave with new eyes trained to recognize the beauty hidden in the sensory details of any given moment. Once you write it down, you can return to it again and again.

Renee Johnson teaches ELA 7 at JLS Middle School in Palo Alto.

GRADES 8-12: The Magic of World-Building
If you could be in any fictional world right now, where would you be? Take a second to think about it. Or two. Or three. And now you're getting lost in a daydream that you wish weren't just a dream. Maybe you're flying alongside Harry Potter in a game of quidditch. Maybe you're studying with Rory Gilmore at Stars Hollow. Or maybe you're bonding with Belarion the Black Dread at Dragonstone, after the Doom of Valeria. Dracaris, anyone?

This is the magic of world-building, and I'll make a bold claim: it really is everything in any kind of writing, whether that's a personal essay, a science fiction short story, or the shows you Netflix-and-chill to. So, if you want to learn to craft compelling worlds for your readers to lose themselves to in a daydream, this is the course for you: we will carefully study how and why other authors plan and craft their worlds before you will do so for your own stories. By the end of the course, you will have a more refined set of tools for making your stories come alive.

Rosie Nguyen teaches English at Homestead High School.

https://mailchi.mp/95c9d32b66d4/supersaturdayoctober2022

07/24/2022

Sarah Zerwin: Making Non-Traditional Grading Work by Putting Students Out Front
Tuesday, August 9th from 10–11:30am (PST)

ONLINE SESSION - REGISTER HERE: https://sanjoseareawritingproject.getgalore.com/activities/2533413-sarah-zerwin-making-non-traditional-grading-work-by-putting-students-out-front

We’re looking toward a new school year, and whether you’ve already moved away from traditional grading or are curious about it, this session will invite you to reflect on some key components of using non-traditional, student-led grading to support the growth of readers and writers in the secondary classroom. The session will include some short pauses to reflect on your own practice and to engage in brief conversation with other participants. We’ll explore the following:

Distinguishing between traditional grading practices that center teachers and differentiated grading practices that put students out front as the most important users of classroom assessment data.
Emphasizing learning over grading.
Putting rubrics in students’ hands to use in formative rather than summative ways, as powerful tools to grow writers.
Making classrooms safe places for the risk taking that writers and readers must do to grow.

07/02/2022

Writing Workshop @ SJSU continues this week with stories from various authors and plenty of opportunities for writing.

06/29/2022

After a two year hiatus, we are thrilled to be back on campus for SJAWP's Writing Workshop and Teen Writers' Institute @ SJSU!

06/20/2022

Last weekend flash sale for Teen Writers Institute and Writing Workshop before registration begins to close! Both programs will be going back to Early Bird pricing until Monday (6/20/22) night - register now here:

Writing Workshop 2022: https://sanjoseareawritingproject.getgalore.com/series/69479-writing-workshop-in-person-2022-4th-7th-grade
Teen Writers Institute 2022: https://sanjoseareawritingproject.getgalore.com/series/68853-teen-writers-institute-2022-session-1-novel-writing-creative-college-essay-in-person

05/16/2022

We have room for 2 more teachers! Preference will be given to elementary teachers but all teachers and student teachers are welcome to apply. Interviews must happen by this Friday so apply today if interested!