Friday, August 1, 2008 9:06 PM CDT
Students leave as friends after summer EIU writing institute
By AMBER WILLIAMS, Staff Writer
awilliams@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Strangers only four weeks ago, 14 teachers from area schools huddled together in groups Thursday, laughing and discussing future plans.
They mapped out how they are going to keep in touch, how their schools might collaborate with one another, how they are going to implement their reading and writing groups.
Thursday was the final day of a month-long summer institute for the Eastern Illinois Writing Project, which was a hands-on experience for selected teachers across all curriculums, said Robin Murray, director of the writing project.
The Eastern Illinois Writing Project was established at Eastern Illinois University for the first time this year from a grant through the national writing project and its aim is not only to help teachers become better writers, but also to provide in-services to schools to improve writing there, Murray said.
For this first year, Murray received 35 applicants to participate in the summer institute and accepted 15, one of whom did not finish the program.
The institute was more successful than Murray could have even imagined, she said.
“It is more than I expected; the teachers are so dynamic,” Murray said.
All 14 teachers involved in the summer institute came from varying perspectives, from elementary school teachers to math teachers to English teachers, Murray said.
“We really do want to keep it diverse,” she said.
All of the teachers had something different to offer to the group, and more importantly, they all were there because they wanted to improve their writing, according to Murray.
Throughout the weeks, the teachers would spend time writing on their own, reviewing each other’s work and just sharing lesson ideas.
Some of those ideas Murray is planning to use in her undergraduate and graduate classes she teaches at EIU.
“They all brought so many great ideas that I can bring to my classes,” she said.
Rachel Stuart, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Mattoon Middle School, said she applied to be a part of the summer workshop so she could be a better writer and example to her students.
Being at the workshop gave Stuart the time she doesn’t usually have to devote to just writing and improving her skill, she said. The best part was the institute gave teachers the flexibility to concentrate on what writing fit them best, Stuart added.
“We were able to write whatever we want, from poetry to a parent letter, she said.
Elementary teachers Monica Moresci and Marie Wimsett both came to the institute from Carolyn Wenz Elementary School in Paris.
Both said the institute exposed them to new styles and forms of writing that they have not been involved in before.
Not all writing has to be so formal to be good writing, Moresci said.
The institute also gave these teachers an ability to share great ideas and network with one another over the four weeks, Wimsett said.
“I think we have all grown a lot,” she said.
Contact Amber Williams at awilliams@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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