2011 Writing Center Retreat

Every year during Labor Day weekend, the Writing Center holds it annual retreat.  Dr. Bob choses a new location every year and for 2011, we went to the Amana Colonies.  I had never been so I was pumped to check out the place this past Sunday.  We arrived around 9:30 AM.  Our meeting location was the Ronneburg Restaurant.  It was a very nice place and lunch (chicken, pickled ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and fresh five-fruit pie) really hit the spot!

The point of the retreat is to get to know and reconnect with our fellow staff members and also to practice our conferencing skills so we are ready for another school year.  There is always a writing exercise which becomes the material we conference on.  The prompt this year was to write on a word dealing with writing and or reading.  I chose the word shelf life and had an interesting time reflecting on that word.  Hopefully I'll be able to post my reflection once I'm done revising it.

It was a beautiful day for the Amana Colonies and I got a little time to do some exploring.  Of course, I didn't see nearly everything the colonies have to offer and I'm planning on making a return visit!  We left Amana in the late afternoon and reconvened at the Writing Center for make-your-own-sandwich dinner and then the annual Writing Center skits.  The skits are always hilarious and a really good consultant bonding exercise.

The retreat then continued today, Labor Day.  We used the Clark Alumni House for today's activities which included another conference and discussion on our writing center handbook called the Enchiridion.  After a hodge podge lunch, our retreat was over.  It was a nice way to spend some quality time outdoors, to see a new area of Iowa I hadn't explored yet, and to continue to get to know other Writing Center consultants.  We have a fantastic staff this year and I'm excited to see what things we will be up to.