More New-Site Directors Tell Their Stories

By: Art Peterson
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 10, No. 2
Date: 2005

Summary: This second article in the series introduces four more of the directors of the 12 new NWP sites: Linda Bausch, director of the East End Writing Project (New York), Jeannine Hirtle, Director of the Texas Bluebonnet Writing Project, Dennis J. Kear, Director of the South Central Kansas Writing Project, and Lynne Smith, director of the Northern Kentucky Writing Project.

Linda Bausch, Director
East End Writing Project
Southampton College of Long Island University
Southampton, New York

Over her twenty years of teaching—primary through graduate school—Linda Bausch has been "fascinated with everything having to do with literacy." Now director of the master's program in Literacy Education at Southampton College, she was formerly involved with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (no relation to NWP). "The passion I felt learning side by side with so many committed writers" got her thinking about initiating some sort of writing project on the east end of Long Island when she began her tenure at Long Island University.

"As I researched the possibilities, I remembered that my former principal and school district had participated with the New York City Writing Project, and that even after the district was unable to participate any longer with the project, the philosophy of NWP ran deeply through the school."

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the National Writing Project had to be her choice. "I passionately feel that the `teachers teaching teachers' model that is the foundation of NWP is the only method that has proven to be successful in helping educators consistently reach beyond their perceived potential."

As Bausch began to work with her new site, this turned out to be more than hopeful rhetoric. "I found through my work with local teachers an extraordinary group who are masterful in their practices in the teaching of writing and reading. They continue to amaze me with their passion, their fervor, and their enthusiasm for the potential that lies within each student in their care."

Connecting this talented and caring group has provided a jump start for the East End Writing Project. "Many teachers from our first institute have become leaders in their own districts and now are being clamored for to begin staff development work in other districts."

Given the enthusiastic tone of Bausch's comments here, it should come as no surprise that when she and her teachers were encouraged to visit their congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., in support of the National Writing Project, they plowed right ahead. "We made an appointment with our local congressperson, Tim Bishop, to meet with him and discuss our goals. Since we didn't know any better, when we met with Tim in Washington we practically shanghaied him and took him to dinner. We didn't know it was supposed to be a short meeting to share the work of the NWP; we turned it into a two-hour dinner and then we walked him back to his office. We had a very agreeable time explaining to him the virtues of our program, and yes, we continue to meet with him every year, though not for dinner anymore."

NWP directors like Bausch, along with NWP teacher-consultants, continue to inform their representatives in Washington about the good work of NWP, so the project's federal funding continues. But that does not mean that the NWP sites are free of financial challenge. "We continue to look for money to maintain our site and do all the work we have set out to do. One of our goals has been to extend the financial support through outside funding sources," Bausch says.

One can see the necessity for these resources given the needs of the area in which Bausch works. "There is a vast need for support in our schools for the kind of staff development and professional opportunity we provide. At times it seems overwhelming to meet the diverse needs of so many rural communities."

But Bausch has assembled a team up to the effort. "When we get together for our continuity meetings the joy of this special group permeates everything we do. Working with them has probably been the highlight of my teaching career."

Jeannine Hirtle, Director
Texas Bluebonnet Writing Project
University of Texas at Arlington

Jeannine Hirtle underwent an epiphany during her doctoral studies a few years ago. She came to that program from many years of work as a middle school and high school English teacher and a teacher of creative writing. Literacy issues had always been close to her heart. But now she was learning that there was a difference between "literacy" and "critical literacy."

Hirtle recalls, "I fell in love with the work of Paulo Freire, Ira Shor, Michael Apple, and others. I had been involved with the New Jersey Writing Project (not associated with the NWP), but now, after this kind of work, the New Jersey Writing Project program seemed too tight a fit—too prescriptive. So I left that project. At about this time, I was fortunate to be approached by Liz Stephens, director of the Central Texas Writing Project, who was a colleague of mine in the doctorate program. She pushed me to get involved with NWP. And as it turned out, the National Writing Project was just what I needed. I love the way NWP encourages teachers to get involved in issues of critical literacy, social justice, and empowerment."

During these years of graduate study Hirtle became interested in researching the "integration of technology in social constructivist environments, K-12." So, as her work at the Bluebonnet site emerged, Hirtle's interest in technology drove her to make sure that the participants in her first summer institute had available the technology they needed and wanted. "We had access to a great lab, kept online discussions going, developed two blogs (the official and unofficial one), did digital storytelling, and used technology for research from the digital library, including all the electronic databases."

It may have been this advanced appreciation of technology or it may have been just the right mix of people, but something happened at Bluebonnet's first summer institute that does not always happen on these occasions. Several of the participants got so serious about literacy theory that the education department at Arlington was motivated by their concern to propose three more courses in writing pedagogy as part of the Literacy Studies master's program. "Five teacher-consultants have completed original research and are getting ready to start submitting for publication," Hirtle says.

But, of course, no writing project lives by academics alone. Hirtle says, "We have our continuity programs, which we call our Bluebonnet Garden Parties (we like to play on the Bluebonnet name a lot). These events are a taste of the summer institute—with reading/writing connections, sharing new research, and teacher demonstrations."

Dennis J. Kear, Director
South Central Kansas Writing Project
Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

Dennis Kear has worked out a method for reconciling the hills and valleys of life. Performing at a variety of jobs ranging from Pennsylvania steel worker to farm and home goods equipment salesman, Kear used to apply an aphorism that he developed as a golfer: "Don't worry about losing a golf ball, because you'll find another one a few holes later." This dictum has also guided him through rough times in his career as an educator.

For instance, there was the scene just five days before Kear's first summer institute was to begin. "My co-director called and told me she was moving out of state and wouldn't be able to be involved in the summer institute." How would Kear make use of his golfing lesson? "My first call was to Jeff Roper, a teacher-consultant who had attended the first summer institute during the writing project's earlier incarnation at Wichita State. Jeff had just found out that his summer job teaching English at a local community college had been cancelled, so he was not only available but interested. A partnership was born."

The wisdom that allows one to keep one's head in the face of adversity comes with experience, and Kear has had his share of that. His roots in Kansas' literary education are broad and deep. He has taught for twenty-seven years at Wichita State University (WSU) and is now professor of curriculum and instruction there. He served as chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for fourteen years and as associate dean for teacher education for four years. He has been president of the Wichita Area Reading Council, the Kansas Reading Association, and the Kansas Reading Professionals in Higher Education. Presently, he is a technical facilitator at six Reading First Schools.

As might be expected, Kear did not come to the writing project through some "wouldn't it be fun to start a writing project" spur-of-the-moment decision. Here's a shorter version of the long story. "I was chair of the curriculum and instruction department when a young faculty member approached me for support in starting an NWP site. After we had the site for a year, she resigned to take a position at another university. I worked with the English department to take over the site. It lasted for three years before they gave it up. By that time I had left administration to teach full time. I could now make room in my schedule to direct an NWP site. I didn't hesitate to apply to get the site restarted. I knew the impact of NWP on teachers' professional development and wanted that opportunity to be available at WSU."

Kear's South Central Kansas Writing Project serves teachers in thirteen counties covering roughly a sixty-mile radius surrounding Wichita. Unlike many projects, the South Central Kansas Project works in a range of educational settings: urban, rural, and suburban. Involved in both continuity and professional development projects, Kear has a regular group of about fifteen teacher-consultants who attend Saturday seminars. He looks forward to a time when participation in these Saturday sessions has swelled beyond this number and this core group has taken on the leadership roles crucial to the health of any NWP site.

Lynne A. Smith, Director
Northern Kentucky Writing Project
Northern Kentucky University, Highlands Heights

Lynne Smith came to the writing project model some years before she became actively involved with the National Writing Project. As a professor of education at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), she worked for six years as director of the NKU Kentucky Reading Project, which is modeled after the National Writing Project. "I saw firsthand the power of long-term professional development that allows teachers of different grade levels and schools to work on common literacy goals."

Working with the reading project, Smith reinforced her conviction that writing and reading were two intimately connected skills. The best way to act on this belief, she reasoned, was to work to establish the writing project at NKU. "I wanted teachers in this area to have the opportunity to participate in the writing project."

Smith recognized she would not be alone. Kentucky has a strong network of what is now eight writing project sites. "I knew that, because of the support Kentucky offers these sites, I would be joining a statewide group of directors who meet regularly, undertake statewide initiatives, and support each other. I knew I would have great resources in getting the site started."

With the new site under way, Smith and her teacher-consultant colleagues have experienced the wide range of emotions that go with writing project life. There has been creativity and laughter. "Our summer institute group became fairly competitive in trying to find a new way to present a daily log review of the past day's activities. We had a personal narrative, a puppet show, and a PowerPoint presentation. One of the last presentations featured a song entitled `L-I-B-R-A-R-Y,' presented with choreography to the tune of `R-E-S-P-E-C-T.' This effort was recorded so that the performers wouldn't dissolve in laughter as they presented to the group."

There were also touching moments. "One of our teachers went to the community in which she teaches to interview and videotape her fourth-graders about their writing. These ten-year-olds proudly displayed and discussed the writing they had completed in the past year—without coaching. It was clear what their writing meant to them and how completely they understood what they had learned about writing."

Smith takes pleasure in passing along these stories, but there is other evidence—less anecdotal—that this Kentucky site is off to a healthy start. One hundred teachers from as far as three hours away attended the site's first conference. "These were teachers willing to come out on Saturday to share ideas," said Smith. The site has also organized seventeen book groups, involving nearly one hundred teachers.

Building on these accomplishments, Smith has a clear-eyed idea of what needs to be done next. "We are struggling to get a yearly calendar in place, to recruit a leadership team, and to continue to improve and expand outreach activities. And, oh yes, we hope to continue to have at least two conferences a year. Why not keep doing what works?"