Teachers become students at local writing program
Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008
A dozen area teachers visited the University of Arkansas this summer to learn how to be better writers.
Northwest Arkansas Writing Project Director Chris Goering said he hopes the teachers find a way to apply what they learn.
"We definitely hope teachers take it back to their students," Goering said.
A typical day in the workshop runs from 8: 30 to 4 p.m. with a lunch break. As part of the program, the teachers and workshop instructors produce a anthology of some of their best writings during the conference.
Teachers work on a variety of writing exercises and experiment with writing different types of material.
Participant Kelly Buckley, a teacher at Rogers, said she wrote an obituary as part of the workshop and Cindy Williams, a teacher in Berryville, said she wrote a memoir piece.
Buckley said the best part of the workshop is "being a part of the writing process, not just prescribing it to children."
Teachers from elementary school to high school participate. A group of facilitators with the college help the students with their work.
"The idea is to get writing across the curriculum," said Mike Thomas, a teacher at Ramay Junior High who helps instruct the workshop.
Goering said the facilitators, in addition to the students, also write material for the anthology at the end of the course. The anthology pieces get critiqued by their peers and "fine tuned"before they are turned in, Thomas said.
"If they (teachers ) become better writers through this, then they have a better way to relate to their students," facilitator Jamie Highfill said.
Other teachers who participated included Erin McFalls, Stephanie Cowan, Reese Neal, Angela McCutcheon, Danielle Renfroe, Sharla Keen-Mills and Anne Lane, Fayetteville schools; Susan Hensley, Rogers; Candy Phillips and Eileene Ranes, Berryville; Scott Sullivan, Bentonville, and Jake Edwards, University of Arkansas.
Thomas said nationally, 98 percent of teachers who complete the program are likely to continue teaching as a career until retirement.
The Northwest Arkansas Writing Project has been held on the UA campus since 1997 and is part of the National Writing Project. It is funded by a federal grant.
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