News Release
Writing Project helps teachers inspire students
October 13, 2009
As students around the region began the school year, a number of area teachers returned to their classrooms equipped with a new set of tools to help inspire students to improve their writing capabilities.
Eleven educators from central Pennsylvania were among more than 3,000 kindergarten through college teachers across the country who dedicated four weeks of their summer break to learning new strategies with the aim of empowering their students.
The Capital Area Writing Project (CAWP), a National Writing Project site at Penn State Harrisburg, worked with the teachers during its 27th Invitational Summer Institute during June and July.
According to Ron Wales, who teaches seventh graders at Hershey Middle School, “CAWP is an excellent forum for educators to share ideas and hone their methods of instruction. You’ll learn a variety of ways to implement best practices in the classroom while you develop close ties with professionals from around the area.”
In addition to studying the latest research and effective classroom practices, participants in the four-week invitational institute engaged in intensive daily writing exercises, worked with published authors, and produced various pieces of writing.
Chris Cooley, a fourth grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in the Gettysburg Area School District, stated, "The Capital Area Writing Project allowed me the opportunity to explore writing and to become a writer myself.” Looking forward to her new school year, she added, “By becoming a confident writer, I am now able to give my students the same experiences so that they too may learn to love creating written projects that express their thoughts and feelings across all subject areas."
CAWP’s 2009 fellows also included: Amy Gehring, Upper Dauphin Area High School; Leigh Ann Chow, Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School; Tracie Cartwright, South Hanover Elementary School, Lower Dauphin School District; Vy Duong, Harrisburg High School; Amanda Jones, Seven Sorrows School, Middletown; Angela Key, Career Technical Academy, Harrisburg City School District; Keely McGeehan, Lamberton Middle School and Carlisle High School; Kristen Oliver, Middlesex Elementary School, Cumberland Valley School District; and Erin Stettner, Cedar Crest High School, Lebanon.
“The 2009 Invitational Summer Institute cohort was a dynamic group, focused on developing and refining the skill and art of teaching writing,” said Shanetia P. Clark, Director of the Capital Area Writing Project. “These teachers explored their own philosophies of teaching writing and engaged in research, which will strengthen their knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward the teaching of writing. The Capital Area Writing Project is proud of these exceptional teacher leaders, who should be looked upon as resources who bring quality writing into their classrooms. Their students will certainly reap the benefits of their teachers’ intense summer.”
A part of the college’s outreach since 1982, the CAWP is housed in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and annually works with hundreds of the area’s schoolteachers, building partnerships for quality professional development. The summer writing institute has worked with more than 600 area instructors since its inception.