Awards & Accolades
Date: September 2010
Read about the special awards won and notable books written by writing project teachers.
Arkansas
GREAT BEAR WRITING PROJECT
Monda Fason, co-director and 2000 fellow, had her blog easy street prompts 
listed as number three on Writer's Digest magazine's 2010 annual list of 101 Best Websites for Writers. The blog offers a new visual—such as the one to the left—or random-words inspiration every day "just for artists, writers, and the terminally creative." Besides maintaining the blog and co-directing the Writing Project site, Fason teaches art and music at the University of Arkansas in Conway. See the article "Writing Project Leader's Blog Among '101 Best Websites for Writers'" on NWP's website.
Donna Wilchie, 2003 fellow, received National Board Certification. Wilchie is a school counselor at Ida Burns Elementary School in Conway.
California
AREA 3 WRITING PROJECT
Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez, 2008 fellow, was named the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District Teacher of the Year, and will now compete at the county level for Sacramento County. Kirby-Gonzalez teaches fourth grade at Navigator Elementary in Rancho Cordova.
GREAT VALLEY WRITING PROJECT
Krista Beltran, 2009 fellow, was named the 2010-11 San Joaquin County Teacher of the Year and was featured in the article "Honored California Teacher Plans Innovative Writing Lessons" in the Tracy Press. Beltran, who teaches seventh grade at Hawkins School in Tracy, is also the student council adviser and leads an after-school book club for middle school girls. "Ms. Beltran is the kind of teacher that makes her classroom better, makes her grade level better, makes her school better and makes our district better," comments her district superintendent Dana Eaton.
District of Columbia
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AREA WRITING PROJECT
Maria Angala, 2004 fellow, was awarded National Board Certification as an Exceptional Needs Specialist. Angala teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade in the District of Columbia Public Schools.
Patricia Bradford, 1993 fellow (Northern Virginia Writing Project), was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities to study the life and works of Zora Neale Hurston at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, in June. Bradford teaches English at Central High School in Prince George's County, Maryland, where she has been serving as the teacher-coordinator for the English department and will return to teaching this fall.
Superintendent Wendy Robinson congratulates teacher of the year Michelle White. Samuel Hoffman/The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Indiana
APPLESEED WRITING PROJECT
Michelle White, 2006 fellow, was named Fort Wayne Community Schools teacher of the year and featured in an article in the September 4 Journal Gazette. The district superintendent, Wendy Robinson, made a surprise visit to White's class to announce her award. Officials said she was chosen because of the connections she forges with students and her ability to create a sense of community in the classroom. White teaches seventh grade language arts at Northwood Middle School in Fort Wayne.
HOOSIER WRITING PROJECT
Susan Adams, 2006 fellow, with coauthors Katie Brooks and Patricia Morita Mullaney published an article, "Creating Inclusive Learning Communities for ELL students: Transforming School Principals' Perspectives," in Theory Into Practice 49 (2), spring 2010. She also contributed a chapter, "The Joys and Sorrows of Teaching High School ESL: Sarangerel's Story," to the recently published The Pressures of Teaching: How Teachers Cope with Classroom Stress , edited by Maureen Robins (Kaplan, 2010). Adams, who teaches in the education department at Butler University in Indianapolis, comments, "Maureen Picard Robins posted an invitation to submit stories on the ELL Network listserv. I took the plunge and found out what fun this kind of publishing is."
Pamala Gasway, 1993 fellow and librarian at the West Vigo Middle School in West Terre Haute, received a We the People Bookshelf grant for her school library, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Libraries Association. The library received hardcover editions of 17 classic books and will sponsor a writing contest and book talks around the awarded books. The theme of this year's Bookshelf is "A More Perfect Union." The Bookshelf grants are part of the NEH's We the People initiative, which aims to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture through libraries, schools, colleges, universities, and cultural institutions.
In addition, Gasway and colleagues Kim Kesler and Janice Schlup have been awarded a Vigo County Education Foundation Grant, An Avalanche of Books, which will provide West Vigo Middle School students the opportunity to participate in a wintertime after-school event to encourage reading through writing and reading activities, with snacks and books provided.
Maryland
MARYLAND WRITING PROJECT
Richie Crider, 2007 fellow, has published The 21st Century Student Writer (LAPP LAMBERT Academic Publishers, 2010). The book offers a critical look at the Stage Process Model and proposes a more comprehensive pedagogical model (the Total Writing Process Model). Crider teaches in the education department at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Massachusetts
BOSTON WRITING PROJECT
Denise Patmon, 1982 fellow, and coauthor Bette Spriggs are publishing a children's book titled Luke and Max on Nantucket with Mill Hill Press. The expected release date is June 2011. Patmon has also contributed a chapter, titled "On Pedagogy: Personal, Political, and the Professoriate" to a forthcoming book by Kingston-Mann, Dalfur, and Seiber titled Transforming Classroom Culture: Inclusive Pedagogical Practices, which is to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012.
In addition, Patmon and colleague Stephen Gordon have been awarded a Calderwood Writing Initiative grant of $105,000 to establish writing centers in two Boston high schools, to be staffed by undergraduate tutor-scholars. The grant includes professional development for teachers in the schools. Patmon teaches in the department of education at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero receiving her award. With her are (left to right) Mitchell D. Chester, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education; Deval Patrick, Governor; and Paul Reville, Secretary of Education. Photo by Bruce Penniman.WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS WRITING PROJECT
Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero, 2000 fellow, was named the 2011 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. The Massachusetts Teacher of the Year is automatically the state's candidate for National Teacher of the Year. While remaining in the classroom, Ortiz-Marrero will serve as ambassador to the teaching profession over the next year by making speeches and conducting workshops throughout the state. Ortiz teaches seventh and eighth grade at Amherst Regional Middle School in Amherst, Massachusetts. For more, see the article "'It's about Teachers Teaching Teachers,' says Massachusetts Teacher of the Year" on NWP's website.
Michigan
CHIPPEWA RIVER WRITING PROJECT
Troy Hicks, director (and 2003 fellow at the Red Cedar Writing Project), was named by Tech & Learning as one of the 100 most important leaders in educational technology. Their article notes that he is the author of The Digital Writing Workshop (Heinemann, 2009) and part of a learning community of teachers working to identify pedagogies and materials that improve adolescent literacy and thoughtful integration of technology. Hicks is an assistant professor of English at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where his research focuses on teacher education, professional development, literacy, and technology.
Eastern MICHIGAN WRITING PROJECT
Sarah Andrew-Vaughn, 2000 fellow, and Cathy Fleischer, co-director, have received the Conference on English Education's (CEE) James Britton Award for their book Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone (Heinemann, 2009). They wrote this book about the "Unfamiliar Genre Research Project" they implemented in their college and high school classrooms, respectively. The purpose of the James Britton award is "to encourage English language teacher development, consistent with the major goal of CEE, by promoting reflective inquiry in which teachers raise questions about teaching and learning in their own teaching/learning settings." Andrew-Vaughn teaches language arts at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, and Fleischer teaches language arts at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
OAKLAND (MI) WRITING PROJECT
Anne Ruggles Gere has published a book she coauthored with Hannah Dickinson, Melinda Orzulak Mcbee, and Stephanie Moody, titled Taking Initiative on Writing: A Guide for Instructional Leaders (NCTE and National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2010). The book provides research-based resources for principals who want to develop effective programs of writing instruction in their schools. Gere teaches in the education department at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
Minnesota
MINNESOTA WRITING PROJECT
Elizabeth Boeser, 2007 fellow, received the National Council of Teachers of English Media Literacy Award from the NCTE Commission on Media in recognition of her innovative use of media in the teaching of language arts. Boeser, who teaches language arts at Jefferson Senior High School in Bloomington, will be presented with a plaque and a cash award at the NCTE Annual Convention in Orlando in November.
Missouri
GATEWAY WRITING PROJECT
Diane Scollay, site director, has received the Dean's Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service to Education. After a 29-year career in a local school district, Scollay was named the Gateway Writing Project director and served in that position at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for 11 years. Says Scollay, who is retiring this year, "GWP is recognized as a valuable partner in the university's efforts to improve teacher educations and to serve the community. Since I was the GWP director, they were kind enough to give me some of the credit for our success."
Nevada
SOUTHERN NEVADA WRITING PROJECT
Dennis Goode, 1997 fellow and former co-director, has published Time Squares (Createspace.com, 2010), a novel exploring growing up in urban America, as friends from worlds vastly different strive for a purposeful future while attempting to make sense of a past wrought with more questions than answers. The novel explores the nuances of freedom and the characters span three generations. Goode taught English, world literature, and creative writing in Las Vegas for 14 years before retiring.
New York
WESTERN NEW YORK WRITING PROJECT
Clare Dean and students in their salsa tee shirts. Clare Dean, 2005 fellow, received an Art$tart grant from the Coalition of Arts Providers for Children (CAPC) to create a unique multimedia arts program for her special education students in the Buffalo school district. Ten students studied salsa dancing in a local studio, communicated about their experience in journals, and developed a routine that they performed for an audience of 75 people. Says Dean, "this not only increased their level of confidence, but demonstrated to the administration as well as their families that they are capable of so much more than is seen on a daily basis."
Franklin Aquilina, 2003 fellow, published his article "Muster in the Meadow: A Real Celebration!" (PDF) in the May 27 Buffalo Rocket. The article describes the day-long commemoration of the Civil War held by Forest Lawn Cemetery on Memorial Day, complete with canon fire and a reenactment of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Aquinas teaches language arts at Clarence High School in Clarence.
Ohio
COLUMBUS AREA WRITING PROJECT
Julie Johnson, 2007 fellow, received the 2010 NCTE Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the teaching of writing. This award is given to outstanding teachers of writing who recognize and support the growth of their students as well as writing themselves. Johnson's writing can be seen on her blog, raisingreadersandwriters.com . Johnson teaches first grade at Avery Elementary in Hilliard. See the article "Ohio Teacher's Writing Lessons Prove Power of the Pen" on NWP's website.
Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA WRITING PROJECT
Elise Solloway, 1993 fellow, has published Piecing Stories Together One Frame at a Time (Xlibris, 2010), a book that gives step-by-step directions for creating your own book about nature. Before her retirement, Solloway taught first and fourth grade in the Norman public schools.
Texas
HEART OF TEXAS WRITING PROJECT
Katie McKay, 2007 fellow, was named Teacher of the Year for Becker Elementary School in 2010. The award, given by the Austin Independent School District, honors excellence in classroom teaching. McKay was also chosen as one of the elementary school semifinalists for the Austin ISD districtwide Teacher of the Year Award. She teaches fourth grade at Becker Elementary in Austin. See the article "Katie McKay: Changing the World Starts with Just a Few Words" on NWP's website.
Virginia
APPALACHIAN WRITING PROJECT
Amy Clark, site director and 2001 fellow, was awarded two Emma Bell Miles Prizes for Essay by the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University: second prize for her essay "Letters from Home: Literacy in Central Appalachia" and third prize for her essay "Sisters." The festival, directed by novelist and playwright Silas House, honors work by Appalachian writers. This is the first time in the history of the festival that one individual has placed more than once in the same contest. Clark teaches at the University of Virginia's College at Wise.
