During the next three weeks, 18 teachers from around the region are gathering on campus to explore all forms of writing with the goal of helping each other and their students to become better writers.
“The best teacher of writing is a writer, so we work with teachers as writers,” said Lil Brannon, director of the UNC Charlotte Writing Project. “Participants come to the institute as teachers who are knowledgeable about pedagogy. As writing teachers, they are involved in inquiry, so we have many professional conversations about writing.”
Beyond talking about writing and exploring various genres, such as journals, essays and poetry, Brannon and Lacy Manship, a lecturer in the University Writing Program, also will lead participants through various exercises to explore how ideas flow.
“Movement is becoming more important in the writing process,” Manship explained. “People speaking and doing are the basis of writing.”
Brannon and Manship draw upon the theatre and arts, especially improvisational (improv) techniques, to illustrate how language is embodied.
“We play with space and movement, because it is exciting to do something outside of committing words to paper. The exercises are collaborative, and we work together. Everyone has to pay attention to everyone else and believe actions are intentional. It becomes contagious, and people want to be part of it,” said Manship, who noted that more elementary and middle school teachers are using improv to harness their kids’ energy to fuel the writing process.
A former institute participant who teaches fourth grade uses the improv game “zip, zap, zop.” It involves students using their bodies to “move” words through the air. Manship said the game illustrates how ideas move from person to person, which is how literacy happens. “After the game, the students return to their writing with a better understanding of how their words connect with others. Social media, such as Twitter, is another tool – they send their ideas out, and people respond. It reinforces the concept that thoughts are fluid and moving.”
Summer institute participation is a competitive process. This year’s members are Kendra Andrews, Sara Davis, Nicholas DeArmas, Benjamin Dudley, Mary Ellen Musesing and Tonya Wertz-Orbaugh from UNC Charlotte; Robin Bristow, a kindergarten teacher from Shadybrook Elementary School; Wendy Fontenot, an English teacher from West Rowan High School; Jennifer Forman, a preschool teacher from Charlotte Montessori School; Tiffany Fulton, a seventh grade teacher from Kannapolis Middle School; Meredith Hunter, a theatre teacher from Carmel Middle School; Kimberly Keith, an English teacher from Community School of Davidson; Jessica Lin, an English/language arts teacher from Northern Guilford High School; Jashonai Payne, a fifth grade teacher from Clear Creek Elementary School; Sarah Stadler, a sixth grade English/language arts at Cramerton Middle School; Erika Summers, a social studies teacher at Harding University High School; and Ashley Walker, an eighth grade English/language arts teacher at Randolph Middle School.
UNC Charlotte was one of the National Writing Projects’ first collegiate sites in the country, and it has operated continuously since 1980. Through its network of sites, the National Writing Project provides professional development and resources, generates research and improves the teaching of writing in schools and communities.
“The teachers who come through our institute become teaching consultants who go out and conduct professional development in schools and at conferences,” said Brannon. “We have partnerships with a number of area schools, and this fall we’re partnering with Imaginon and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library for a writing conference on digital literacy in the community.”