Invitational Just One Event Highlighting Writing Project's 15th Year

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Participants in the 2011 Invitational Summer Institute gathered for a group photo July 18 with directors of the program. From left, front row, Theresa Thompson, Deborah Goff, Sheila Nance, Harriet Pittman, Aterra Lowe, Stephanie Pierce and Maya Longino; second row, Zach Jostad, Michelle Copelin, Nathan Strayhorn, Jo Stevens, Jenn Mallette and Frankie Jackson; back row, Mike Thomas, Brenda Hedrick, Jamie Highfill, Dawn Anderson, Chris Goering, Scott Sullivan and Jacqueline Jones.

The largest group of teachers to date completed this year's four-week Invitational Summer Institute sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project.

"We focused more this year on digital writing, a theme we started last year as part of a supported project with the Arkansas Department of Education," said Chris Goering, a University of Arkansas assistant professor of English education who directs the writing project. "Last year, teachers created pieces that incorporated audio and video into their writing. The content was placed on iTunes U for K-12 teachers and students. This year, we continued that work and, germane to the writing project, teachers also produced writing that ranged from poetry to journal articles to letters to the editor and letters to parents of their students." 

Fifteen teachers from Northwest Arkansas were selected for the program held at the University of Arkansas Global Campus location in Rogers. An affiliate of the National Writing Project, the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project is based in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. The National Writing Project is a teacher-driven professional development program that strengthens teachers' skills and understanding of teaching writing. Its mission is to improve student achievement by improving the teaching of writing and learning in the nation's schools.

Teachers in attendance covered all grades and the university level, Goering said. Several work as literacy coaches and instructional facilitators, and nearly half of the group was from the Rogers School District.

Co-directors of the invitational with Goering are Jamie Highfill, who teaches eighth-grade pre-Advanced Placement English at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville; Scott Sullivan, who teaches eighth-grade English at Washington Junior High School in Bentonville; Mike Thomas, who teaches drama at Ramay Junior High School in Fayetteville; and Jo Stevens, who is a literacy facilitator in the Rogers Public Schools.

Samuel Totten, a professor of curriculum and instruction, established the writing project on campus in 1997. The writing project celebrated its 15th production this year with a daylong writing marathon July 8 on Dickson Street and dinner and a program that night.

Some activities of the past year included eight sessions of children's writing camps, one of which is designed for English-language learners, and two 10-day institutes for elementary teachers and students in Rogers and Springdale that were funded by the Walton Family Foundation.

Some of the teacher consultants, which is the designation given to teachers who complete the invitational, wrote chapters in a new book, Getting It in Writing: The Quest to Become Outstanding and Effective Teachers of Writing, published by Information Age Publishing. The book was edited by Deborah M. Stankevich, who completed the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project in 2005 and is a retired teacher from the Fort Smith Public Schools.

Stankevich wrote chapters titled "The Journey to Discovery" and "No Bad Writing." Goering wrote the foreword to the book. Other teacher consultants from the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project who contributed chapters were Helen Eaton, a fourth-grade teacher at Holcomb Elementary School in Fayetteville, "The Journey to Become a Writer, Then a Teacher of Writers," and Sharla Keen-Mills, an English and writing teacher at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, "Revolution and Evolution: My Career as a Writer and Teacher." Other contributors ranged from North Carolina to Minnesota to New York.

The writing project also extended its reach through a $4,000 grant from the National Writing Project this year to develop a state network of writing project sites, connecting it with affiliates at the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Arkansas State University.

"This new network of writing project sites will work to spread the mission of the National Writing Project around the state," Goering said.