Writing for PeaceWriter’s Retreat

Prof. Nina Torres Vidal

April 16, 2005

9:00-4:00Mona’s Mexican Restaurant

About Nina Torres Vidal

• Full Professor at the University of the Sacred Heart

• Translator • Currently translating

Esmeralda Santiago’s The Turkish Lover

• Writer of articles on feminism and theology

Writing for Peace

Reading and writing exercises

were used as a means of

understanding the concept of

peace, and how teachers can

foster peace within the classroom

environment through writing

activities.

Prewriting Activities

• Introducing the concept of peace through group discussion

• Word Wall summarizingideas

• Discussion of concepts presented in sample readings.

Materials

• Diversity of recommended readings, including essays and poems

• Peace altar• Paper and colored

pencils for Word Wall

Writing Activities• Using word or concept

walls to brainstorm about peace

• Writing about violence and non-violence using objects which we carry in our bags

• Writing thoughts about peace which will serve as writing prompts

Closing Activities

• Choral Reading of poems related to the day’s topics

• Sharing of writing done throughout the day

• Peer Response exercise

ReadingsArticles

• Bolker, Joan. “A Room of One’s Own Is Not Enough”. The Writer’s Home Companion: An Anthology of the World’s Best Writing Advice from Keats to Kunitz (1997) Edited by Joan Bolker,Ed. D. Holt and Company.

• Cumming, Patricia. “Getting Started: Writing Suggestions”. The Writer’s Home Companion: An Anthology of the World’s Best Writing Advice from Keats to Kunitz (1997) Edited by Joan Bolker,Ed. D. Holt and Company.

• Paulsell Stephanie. “Writing as a Spiritual Discipline” The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher (2002) Edited by L. Gregory Jones & Stephanie Paulsell.W. Eerdmann’s Publishing Co. Michigan/Cambridge.

Poems

• Burgos, Julia. “Yo misma fui mi ruta”

• Swann, Matilde Alba. “Matar a un hombre en Vietnam”

• Celaya, Gabriel. “La poesía es un arma cargada de futuro”

Other

• “Peace is the Way: Inspirational Quotations for Peacemakers”. Compiled by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. 10/8/01