Aztec Ruins National Monument Teacher Resources

Aztec Ruins
National Monument

CHILDREN'S ART AND WRITING AT AZTEC RUINS

Children's Writing Workshop

Since 1997 we have run writing programs at Aztec Ruins for area third through fifth graders. Students spend a day exploring the Monument, and taking field notes on their observations. They then work with an artist in residence to render their vision of the place in art, photography, and/or in writing. Art and writing from this project have been displayed for public viewing at the Farmington Civic Center and the New Mexico State Fair. School groups from Farmington, Bloomfield, Kirtland, Aztec, and Zuni have taken part in this exciting place-based education program. Read sample stories and view artwork by past participants.

Our program objectives relate to these New Mexico State Language Arts Content Standards & Benchmarks:

Language Arts: vocabulary/ linguistic skills; critical thinking skills; reading completed work to an audience; rules of spoken/written language; using language/story across cultures.

Art: making art to understand elements of art; exploring materials, techniques, processes in solving art problems; explore similarities and differences between visual arts and other arts disciplines; explore the influence of personal experience, imagination and the dynamics of culture in creating art.

At this time we offer the program each year to four groups of 3rd through 5th grade students from area elementary schools. In the writing workshop, students work with children's writer in residence Uma Krishnaswami. Uma offers a brief orientation to fiction writing, and on using the senses to construct setting in stories. They also tour the site with a traditional presenters who share a personal perspective. The presenters may relate stories, anecdotes, and information that highlight the meaning that this palce holds for them and also for other present-day Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.

Katie Simplicio reads her poem at A:Shiwi Elementary, Zuni

Stories are completed, edited and polished back in school over the following week, in a collaborative mentoring process in which teacher and writer work together. In the art or photography workshop, students work with professional artists or local photographers in creating works of art representing their experience of the site. All those participating in the workshops(students, teachers, parents, even bus drivers if they come walk the trail with us!) are invited to create a piece of writing and/or art. We draw, and write, together.

The culminating event in the program is the Young Authors’ Reading held at the visitor center at Aztec Ruins, at which young writers read their work to peers, family and friends, and the public.

The Aztec Ruins Children's Writing Workshop is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts; The Western National Parks Association also helps fund this program.

.More information on children's writer Uma Krishnaswami, her books and programs can be found on her website www.umakrishnaswami.com.

Taos Pueblo member Benny Romero talks to young writers at Aztec Ruins

Program Activities

The Children's Writing Workshop uses the tools of creative writing to link our community's children with the historic and cultural resources of Aztec Ruins National Monument. When you sign up your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade class to participate in the project, you can expect the following activities to take place:

Activity	Location	Collaborators
Teacher orientation meeting with writer in residence	School	Teacher, writer in residence.
Class orientation meeting with writer in residence	School	Students, writer, teacher.
Field trip 1: Monument tour, meeting with traditional presenter, writing workshop	Aztec Ruins National Monument	Students, writer, teacher, Pueblo presenter, parent volunteers/ aides, Aztec Ruins interpretive staff as needed.
Working with writer in residence to complete stories	School	Students, writer, teacher.
Editing time	School	Students, writer (one-to-one editing and consultation).
Field trip 2: Young Authors’ Reading (families and friends, and thepublic, are invited to attend)	Aztec Ruins NM	Students, writer, teacher, parent volunteers/ aides, Aztec Ruins interpretive staff, audience of families, peers, public.
Display of completed work at Aztec Ruins Visitor Center	Aztec Ruins NM	Teacher/other school staff, Aztec Ruins staff, writer.

Who Takes Part? Selection criteria

Four teachers will be selected each year to bring their students to Aztec Ruins to take part in the Children's Writing Workshop. Please note that participants for 2004-05 school year writing workshops have been selected.

To apply for the 2005-06 school year, you must be a teacher of a 3rd through 5th grade class in San Juan County, New Mexico. Please fill out an application form. All completed applications will be reviewed and participants selected based on the following criteria:

Quality of written statement
Ability to provide bus transportation.
Grade level of students (we try to offer this workshop to a range from3rd through 5th graders).
Location of school (we try to provide this program equitably to schools in different parts of the county).
Willingness to commit time and energy to the project. Taking part in the project will mean some extra work. It will also require that you commit to using the methods of this project and fostering the kind of classroom ecology we need so your students meet project goals.
Willingness to be a partner in the project, and not just a consumer of a service.
Willingness to serve as a mentor in the future to new teachers taking part in the program.

e-mail your completed application to george_herring@nps.gov or mail it to:

Aztec Ruins National Monument
Attn.: George Herring /Writing Trails Project
84 County Road 2900
Aztec NM 87410

Teacher's Writing Workshop

In early 2005 Aztec Ruins plans to offer a workshop for teachers on how to conduct their own writing workshops with their students here at Aztec Ruins. The workshop will explore the philosophy, methods, and writing strategies used in the Children’s Writing Project. Teachers K-12 will tour the site with local author and writer in residence Uma Krishnaswami, and learn to plan, organize, and carry out writing field trips with their students. This workshop will also highlight the other teacher resources available at the park such as the Aztec Ruins Teacher's Guide, the video library and the popular replica trunks. If you are interested, please email terry_nichols@nps.gov with contact information. Day and time to be announced based on teacher interest.

Updated: November 2004