Awards and Accolades

Date: March 2008

Read about the special awards won and notable books written by writing project teachers.

Alabama

Jacksonville State University Writing Project

Gloria Horton, director and 1989 fellow, published "Using Personal Writing to Help Students Find Their Own Voice" in the spring 2008 issue of Connections. Horton's poem "Museum Piece" was also awarded a prize in the Alabama State Poetry Society's fall 2007 contest. Horton is an English instructor at Jacksonville State University.

California

Bay Area Writing Project

Greta Vollmer, 1992 fellow, received a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant to provide professional development workshops in writing and literacy to teachers in Buenos Aires and Cordoba, Argentina. Vollmer is assistant professor of English at Sonoma State University.

Colorado

Denver Writing Project

Roxanne Banks, 2003 fellow, published three poems, titled "Meursalt," "I Try to Kill Her," and "And Now?" in the spring 2007 issue of Copper Nickel. Banks teaches English at Littleton High School.

Jennifer Kirkpatrick, 2002 fellow, was named 2008 Teacher of the Year at Overland High School, where she teaches English.

Mark Overmeyer, 2003 fellow, published "What Student Writing Teaches Us" in the December 2007 issue of Educational Leadership. Overmeyer is a literacy coordinator and an instructional coach in teaching writing for teachers at Cherry Creek Schools.

Shelly Smith, 2007 fellow, received the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Leadership Development Award, Colorado affiliate. The award provides $500 for early-career teachers who have not attended an NCTE Annual Convention and who have demonstrated the capacity for professional leadership and the willingness to serve the affiliate during the academic year. Smith teaches English at Thornton High School.

Delaware

Delaware Writing Project

Tracy Novack, 2001 fellow, earned National Board certification in generalist / middle childhood education. Novack teaches third grade at R. Elisabeth MacLary Elementary School in Newark.

Charles Sanders, 2003 fellow, earned National Board certification in generalist / middle childhood education. Sanders teaches fifth grade at Joseph McVey Elementary School in Newark.

Carol Vukelich, 1998 fellow and co-director, coedited Achieving Excellence in Preschool Literacy Instruction with Laura M. Justice (Guilford Press, 2007). Grounded in research evidence, this practice-oriented book demonstrates how preschool professionals can create, evaluate, and sustain exemplary programs. Vukelich also co-wrote two chapters: "Quality Counts: Design and Use of an Early Literacy Program Review Tool" with Kathleen A. Roskos; and "Strategic and Intentional Shared Storybook Reading" with Sonia Q. Cabell, Laura M. Justice, Martha Jane Buell, and Myae Han. Vukelich is director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education at the University of Delaware.

Hawai`i

Hawai`i Writing Project

Sarah Razee, 2004 fellow, earned National Board certification. Razee teaches social studies at Kalaheo High School.

Indiana

Appleseed Writing Project
Indiana Teachers of Writing Writing Project
Indiana Writing Project
IUS Writing Project
Northwest Indiana Writing Project

On February 14, 2008, the directors of each of the five writing project sites in Indiana received a commendation on the Senate floor of the State Legislature: Appleseed Writing Project, Karol Dehr and Glenda Moss; Indiana Teachers of Writing Writing Project, Steven Fox; Indiana Writing Project, Linda Hanson; IUS Writing Project, Kevin Sue Bailey; and Northwest Indiana Writing Project, Carolyn Boiarsky. The resolution was sponsored by both the House and the Senate, commending the Indiana sites for the exceptional work that they have done in improving writing and literacy in Indiana.

Kentucky

Western Kentucky University Writing Project

Joe Ellison, 2003 fellow, was a contributing writer for "Creating a School Culture to Increase the Achievement of All Students in Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science," published in the September 2007 edition of Best Practices for Implementing High Schools That Work and Making Middle Grades Work. Ellison is assistant principal at Fern Creek Traditional High School.

Ricky Fisher, 1991 fellow and principal of James E. Bazzell Middle School, announced that his school received the "Schools to Watch" recognition from the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. Nancy Davis (1986 fellow), Cindy McIntyre (2003 fellow), and Donna McPherson (2002 fellow) all teach at the middle school.

Jan Lanham, 1988 fellow, and Patrice McCrary, 1996 fellow, were inducted into the Governor Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame in December 2007. Lanham is principal at Cox's Creek Elementary School, and McCrary teaches kindergarten at Cumberland Trace Elementary School in Bowling Green.

Renee Murray, 1988 fellow, has copublished a report titled Getting Students Ready for College and Careers: Transitional Senior English with Gene Bottoms (Southern Regional Education Board, 2007). The report describes and defines the reading- and writing-readiness standards that are needed to prepare students for postsecondary studies and careers. Murray is school improvement consultant with the Southern Regional Education Board.

Holly Ringo, 2005 fellow, earned National Board certification in early/middle childhood literacy. Ringo teaches at Rockfield Elementary School in Bowling Green.

Maryland

Maryland Writing Project

Evan Balkan, 1999 fellow, published a book titled Vanished! Explorers Forever Lost (Menasha Ridge Press, 2007), which tells the true and harrowing stories of adventurers who never came home. Balkan teaches writing and literature at the Community College of Baltimore County.

Leslie Goetsch, 1982 fellow, published a book titled Back Creek (Bancroft Press, 2008). Goetsch is English department chair at an independent girls' school in Baltimore.

Edmund McCarthy, 2007 fellow, published "It Takes a Village to Raise a Writer: Making the Teaching of Writing a Schoolwide Focus" in the winter 2008 issue of Independent School. McCarthy is middle school English department co-chair at St. Paul's School in Brooklandville.

Ed Sundt, 1990 fellow, was appointed dean of faculty at the Landon School in Bethesda.

Michigan

Eastern Michigan University Writing Project

Maja Wilson, 1996 fellow, received the 2007 James N. Britton Award at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention for her book Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment (Heinemann, 2006). This book offers a new perspective on rubrics and argues for a better, more responsive way to think about assessing writers' progress. Wilson also published "The View from Somewhere" in Educational Leadership 65 (4): 76–80. Wilson teaches English at Ludington High School.

Upper Peninsula Writing Project

N. Suzanne Standerford, director and 1996 fellow, received the 2008 Michigan Reading Association Teacher Educator Award. Standerford is professor of education at North Michigan University.

Mississippi

Mississippi State University Writing/Thinking Project

Kris Winter, 1997 fellow, received the 2008 Patricia B. Mitchell Memorial Service to the Profession Award from the Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute. Each year, the award is given to a classroom teacher who has developed and shared outstanding instructional practices and is dedicated to the art and craft of writing. Winter teaches first grade at South Pontotoc Elementary School.

North Dakota

Red River Valley Writing Project

Nancy Devine, co-director and 1999 fellow, received two Pushcart Prize nominations for her poems titled "My Mother Rinsing My Hair" in Main Channel Voices 3 (2) and "Messiah Auditions Saturday" in Stirring: A Literary Collection 9 (5). Devine teaches English at Grand Forks Central High School in Grand Forks.

Oregon

Oregon Writing Project at Lewis and Clark College

Jim Mayer, 1990 fellow, published "Persuasive Writing and the Student-Run Symposium" in English Journal 96 (4). Mayer teaches English at Cleveland High School in Portland.

Pennsylvania

Southcentral Pennsylvania Writing Project

Mary Louise Ellena-Wygonik, 1988 fellow, and her students at Hampton High School in Allison Park published a book titled Polish Hill Remembered, a student-generated book project that celebrates the heritage of Pittsburgh's Polish community, and a companion DVD titled Polish Hill Revisited. Now in their second printing, the book and DVD have been designated one of the official books of the Pittsburgh 250, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Pittsburgh.

Valeri Helterbran, 2000 fellow, published a short essay titled "At 13" in the Loyalhanna Review, 2008 edition. Helterbran is an associate professor in the Department of Professional Studies in Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she is also assistant department chair.

Helen Sitler, director and 1998 fellow, published "Writing Like a Good Girl" in English Journal 97 (3). Sitler is an associate professor in the English department at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Western Pennsylvania Writing Project

Ruth Ella Hendricks, 1993 fellow, published a piece titled "Professional Knowledge and Practice" in After the Bell: Contemporary American Prose About School, edited by Maggie Anderson and David Hassler (University of Iowa, 2007). Hendricks teaches art at Pittsburgh Public Schools and Arlington Accelerated Learning Academy.

Christine Aikens Wolfe, 1992 fellow, published poems titled "Who is That Man, Lepers?" and "Rainbow" in Sonnetto Poesia 6 (2), and "Night Prowler" in Sonnetto Poesia 6 (4).

Texas

Sabal Palms Writing Project

Patricia Cisneros Young, 2004 fellow, published South Texas Tales: Stories My Father Told Me (Tate, 2007).