The writing and multi-media projects produced by the students who participated in the 2012 Great Valley Writing Project’s Writing and Technology Workshops have yet to be posted online. However, available for perusal are the works of students from previous years’ workshops.

The first workshop offered this summer was given at Lathrop Elementary School on June 4-8. This session was open only to Lathrop Elementary students. Ripon Elementary and Ripon High held classes on June 4-15. This was the only Great Valley workshop site in South San Joaquin that was open to students from grades 1-12. The last workshop was held at Goodwin School on North Main Street in Manteca. This workshop was sponsored by the San Joaquin County Office of Education which runs the school. The workshop was offered on June 18-29.

The GVWP Writing and Technology workshops are offered during the summer. The program provides avenues for students and teachers to work together and explore various writing and art techniques, publishing experiences, and the use of multi-media technology in these various fields.

After the summer workshops, the students’ writings, photographs and other projects are gathered together in the form of anthologies and are published online.



Examples of work from Ripon studnets

Below are samples of the students’ writings from the 2011 workshops held in the various school sites.

• From the Ripon High anthology

In “Friendship” by Phillip A, he talks about his special relationship with his father.

“I have a friendship with my dad. We go to motorcycle racing a lot. We go to a lot of places together. We went to Glamis, Oceania Dunes, and Santa Cruz. Awhile back, my dad and I rode our motorcycles in an Enduro Poppy in the mountains. We had a lot of fun. My dad and I also love to go see the AMA Super cross. We have a lot of fun in the pit party. We sit on the couch watching Super cross. My favorite one to watch is F.I.M. championship. My dad and I do a lot of stuff together. A long time ago, I used to race BMX and we went to Arizona and Oklahoma and Utah and Oregon and we went to Nevada tons of times when I raced BMX; we also raced in Tulare and Bakersfield.”

The following is the first paragraph in Hunter D’s essay, “Learning from my Mistakes.”

“I believe in learning from my mistakes. Moving to Ripon from Modesto was like going to a new world. I went from a private school to being enrolled in a public school where kids are not advanced in schooling, but street smarts. I remember moving here and hanging out with the only kids who would talk to “the new kid.” I never ever believed that kids our age, 6th grade, knew so much about drugs, fought every day, and just got into trouble….”



Woodward writing examples of students

• From the Woodward School writing 2011 workshop is Rosa Alvarado’s story about her dog Rocky titled, My Dog RIP

“On Monday I was playing cards with my family. My brother JJ took Rocky and Maya for a walk around the neighborhood. Rocky and Maya are my two dogs. Maya is a black Labrador and Rocky is a beagle mix. After they came back from the walk, Rocky felt like he had a fever and he was acting differently than usual, so my mom told me to get a towel dipped in ice water for him. The next day Rocky did not seem to be doing better and he was sleeping a lot, so my mom took him to the veterinarian in Lathrop so that the doctors could take a look at her…. On Wednesday when I was in school, Rocky stayed in JJ’s room. After school when I got in the van I asked my mom, “Where is Rocky?” My Mom looked at me sadly and immediately I knew that he had passed away. I loved him very much and I’m glad he was able to go to doggy heaven.”

• From the Goodwin School Anthology is this short essay by Anthony Hernandez titled, The Time I Ate Sushi

“One day we went to eat at the Super Buffet. I ate 3 plates of chow main (sic), Mongolian beef and beef broccoli. Then I went to the dessert bar. I got chocolate fudge, some cookies, and some strawberries and ate them all.

Then all of a sudden my dad said, “Try sushi.”

I said “No,” and shook my head.

But my dad convinced me to eat it. I put some sushi on my plate. I took a big awful bite. My heart was beating. I could hear it and it was beating really fast like you’re bouncing a ball really close to the ground, like when it bounces a lot. I swallowed some.

I said to myself, “Oh no! What was I thinking?”

I ran to the bathroom. I spit it out

When I saw my dad he said, “What happened?

I said, “I am going to throw up on you if you make me eat sushi again.” I told my dad that sushi tastes like seaweed with raw fish and I never tried sushi again.

On the way out my dad put his finger in the water and the big fish bit his finger. I was glad that he got bit by the fish and I said, “See what happened when you made me eat sushi?” So Ha! Ha!”

To read more of the students’ writing from the 2012 GVWP anthology, log on to http://gvwp.weebly.com.