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Red Clay Writing Project Summer Fellows discuss strategies on writing and teaching of writing during a recent RCWP Summer Institute.

While most students in Athens and Northeast Georgia have been enjoying a summer vacation, some of their teachers have been in the classroom this month to expand their knowledge and understanding of how to best teach writing.

Twenty-two area teachers were selected as Fellows to participate in the Red Clay Writing Project (RCWP)’s Summer Institute at the University of Georgia College of Education. The teachers, who have been meeting for day-long sessions at Aderhold Hall since June 4, will complete the institute this week.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, these local teachers joined 3,000 others attending RCWP Summer Institutes across the country. After the institute, these teachers will join a national network of teachers who will continue their learning about teaching writing through Connect, the National Writing Project’s (NWP) social networking and online learning space, as well as through face-to-face learning opportunities.

Co-directed by local university faculty and classroom teachers, the Fellows share their expertise and hear the latest in research on how to better teach writing. They also have developed their own personal and professional writing, based on the belief that teachers of writing must be writers themselves.

The Fellows for the 2012 Summer Institute were: Andrew Dean, Mountain View High; Mary Katherine Ford, Hopkins Elementary; Lauren King, Meadowcreek Elementary, and Cheryl Brown, Notre Dame Academy (Gwinnett County); Audrey Smith, Westside Middle, and Stephanie Schaefer, Apalachee High School (Barrow County); Elizabeth Dunlap, Fair Oaks Elementary (Cobb County); Elizabeth Friese, Michelle Falter, Marsha Francis and Stephanie P. Jones (UGA); Jacqueline Saindon (Gainesville State College); Gillian Miller, Clarke Central High; Helene Halstead, Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle; Kate Smith, J.J. Harris Elementary; Nicola Tulk, Pathways to Success; and Tanya Hudson, Chase Street Elementary (Clarke County).

“Our slogan is ‘Good things grow in Red Clay,’ and the summer institutes are where such professional growth begins,” said Bob Fecho, a UGA professor of language and literacy education and RCWP co-director, along with his UGA colleagues, JoBeth Allen and Stephanie Jones.

National research studies have shown that professional development programs designed and delivered by NWP sites have a positive effect on the writing achievement of students across grade levels, schools and contexts. To learn more about this study, visit:
www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3208.