20 Area Teachers Selected As Summer Fellows for Red Clay Writing Project  

The forgotten “R” is alive and thriving in northeast Georgia. While Reading and aRithmetic have received the most attention from funding agencies and politicians, wRiting is equally important and integrally related to learning in nearly every subject area, University of Georgia education experts say.

For the past two years, the Red Clay Writing Project (RCWP), a collaboration of UGA faculty and local K-12 teachers based in the College of Education, has worked to help schools improve the teaching of writing. Each spring, RCWP members select 20 northeast Georgia schoolteachers as Summer Fellows to take part in a month-long professional development program.

Through the RCWP Summer Institute, the teachers share their expertise as well as the challenges they face in helping students become better writers. Participants also work on their own personal and professional writing because RCWP members believe that teachers of writing must be writers themselves.

RCWP members design the summer institutes themselves, plan and facilitate professional development in local schools, and create a network that works in person and “virtually” to promote effective writing instruction.

“Two ideas really inform the writing project – the idea of teachers teaching teachers and the idea of teachers working over time on professional development rather than just a one-time opportunity,” said Bob Fecho, a UGA associate professor of reading education and one of three co-directors of the RCWP along with JoBeth Allen, a UGA professor of language education, and Linda Boza of the Clarke County School District.

A $43,000 federal grant, which is renewable annually and matched by the College, pays for tuition and books for each Fellow.  RCWP recruited K-12 teachers from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee, and Oglethorpe counties to take part in their second summer institute. Those selected will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days a week from June 7-30. They will address critical issues in literacy education such as meeting diverse needs, linking instruction and assessment, and writing for multiple audiences and purposes.

“The institute is a very lively, interactive learning environment led primarily by the participants themselves,” said Allen.

Teachers selected as Summer 2004 Fellows, their school and district include: Stefan Billmayer, Athens Academy, private; John Bishop, Coile Middle, Clarke; Kelli Bivins, Winterville Elementary, Clarke; Angie Fondriest, West Jackson Middle, Jackson; Doris Francois-Bowens, Winterville Elementary, Clarke; Alfreida Hammett Bregger, Fowler Drive Elementary, Clarke; Eric Hasty, Hilsman Middle, Clarke; Denise Heagle, Cedar Shoals High, Clarke; Melinda Lundberg, West Jackson Middle, Jackson; Daisy Mathis, Whit Davis Elementary, Clarke; Teresa McClain, Timothy Road Elementary, Clarke; Anne McLeod, Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle, Clarke; Meghan McNeeley, Clarke Middle, Clarke; June Meyers, Cleveland Road Elementary, Clarke; Susan Nordstrom, Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle, Clarke; Leighanne Pace, St. Joseph’s School, private; Andrea Pintaone-Hernandez, Fowler Drive Elementary, Clarke; Cama Poffenberger, Jackson County High, Jackson; Lee Williams, Oconee County Primary, Oconee; Rebeccah Williams, County Line Elementary, Barrow.

Teachers who successfully complete the summer institute will become Teacher Consultants, working in collaboration with local schools to develop professional development for their colleagues.

RCWP also provides an ongoing framework for support. The 19 Teacher Consultants who completed the initial Summer 2003 Institute have continued talking with each other on how to improve literacy instruction for their students.

“Currently, one team is working with teachers at Coile Middle School on an after-school tutoring project for students who want to become better writers,” said Allen.

Teachers interested in attending a summer institute should know that all slots are filled for this summer, but that applications will be available for next summer's institute starting in January 2005.

The RCWP is a chapter of the federally funded National Writing Project (NWP), a network of 180 university and school district collaborations that was founded 30 years ago and has a fiscal year 2004 budget of $17.9 million.

RCWP is one of seven writing projects in Georgia with others based at: Armstrong State, Valdosta, Georgia State, Kennesaw, Southwest Georgia, and Georgia Southern universities. Each site is developing a cadre of teachers focused on improving writing instruction and creating a community of teaching professionals.

For more information, visit the website at www.coe.uga.edu/rcwp, or contact project coordinators Teri Holbrook or Melanie Hundley at rcwp@coe.uga.edu  or 706/542-4619.  

Monday, April 5, 2004
WRITER/CONTACT: Teri Holbrook, (706) 542-2978, rcwp@coe.uga.edu