Awards and Accolades
Date: May 2008
Read about the special awards won and notable books written by writing project teachers.
California
San Joaquin Valley Writing Project
Michelle Angus, 2001 fellow, is a Top Ten Finalist for the California League of Middle Schools Region 7 Educator of the Year Award.
Kathee Godfrey, co-director and 2006 fellow, will be a Fulbright Roving Scholar for Upper Secondary Schools in Norway for the 2008–2009 school year. She also received the California Association of Teachers of English Excellence in Teaching Award. Godfrey is an associate professor of English at California State University, Fresno.
Elizabeth Runyon, 1997 fellow, was promoted to principal of Cesar Chavez Elementary School, Madera Unified School District.
UCLA Writing Project
Bobbi Ciriza Houtchens, 1989 fellow of Monterey Writing Project and 2006 fellow of UCLA Writing Project, received the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Accomplishments and Leadership in Education from Representative Joe Baca (D-CA) on March 30, 2007. Houtchens teaches English language development and American literature at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino.
Delaware
Delaware Writing Project
Betty-Jane Cain, 2006 fellow, is president of the Sussex Council for Reading Excellence. The Council won the Honor Council Award from the International Reading Association (IRA). Cain received the award at the IRA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 5, 2008.
Sherry Geesaman, 2001 fellow, received a 2008 Education Alumni Association Commitment to Education Award from the University of Delaware. Geesaman is the dean of instruction at Pencader Charter High School.
Susan Mitchell, 1998 fellow, was awarded a study trip to the Globe Theatre to participate in a course titled "Teaching Shakespeare through Performance" by the Delaware Branch of the English Speaking Union. One of Mitchell's students, a senior at Newark High School, won the Delaware Branch Shakespeare Competition held in February and will compete in the National Shakespeare Competition in New York City in April.
District of Columbia
District of Columbia Area Writing Project
Portia Bookhart, 2006 fellow, co-wrote a book of poetry titled Black Man I Choose You with Dianne A. Carson and Sierra Leone Joyce, edited by Dr. Roland Ashby-Rier (Infinity, 2006). Bookhart teaches English at Ballou High School.
Florida
Tampa Bay Area Writing Project
Freda Abercrombie, 2000 fellow, published "Give Me a W!" in the "Stepping Out in the Classroom" column of the English Journal 97 (4). Abercrombie, a teacher at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel, wrote the article at the 2007 NWP Professional Writing Retreat.
Indiana
Indiana Teachers of Writing Writing Project
Kathleen Barlow, 2006 fellow, received a Lilly Professional Development grant for her forthcoming book and CD project titled The Art of Narrative: Storytelling in the Classroom and in the Boardroom. Barlow is professor of English and communication at Indiana Tech in Indianapolis.
Jim Sauer, 1994 fellow, received a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship grant for his project titled "Looking for Shakespeare: Dumb Shows and Noise." He will attend Shakespeare in the Park performances in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Montana. Sauer teaches English at Penn High School.
Michigan
Upper Peninsula Writing Project
Justin Burton, 2007 fellow, received the 2008 Excellence in Education Grant from the Marquette Area Public Schools Foundation. Burton teaches industrial technology at Bothwell Middle School.
Jolene Hetherington, 2003 fellow, received the 2008 Excellence in Education Grant from the Kellogg Foundation. Hetherington teaches fourth grade at Central Elementary School in Munising.
Beth Holmgren, 2004 fellow, received the 2008 Teacher of the Year Award from Negaunee Public Schools.
Joe Routhier, 2005 fellow, received the 2007 Teacher of the Year Award from the Gwinn Area Community School District and the 2008 Outstanding Person in Education Award from the Gwinn Education Association. Routhier teaches computer-aided drafting and design (CADD) and manufacturing at Gwinn High School.
Mississippi
MSU Writing/Thinking Project
Betty Collum, 2001 fellow, had her classroom work described in "Collaborative Literacy: Blogs and Internet Projects," by Erica Boling, Jill Castek, Lisa Zawilinski, Karen Barton, and Theresa Nierlich, in The Reading Teacher 61 (6). Collum teaches creative writing at Eupora Elementary School.
Missouri
Greater Kansas City Writing Project
Susan Ferguson, 2001 fellow, received the 2007 Prevention for a Safer Society (PASS) Award in Literature from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for her work as a writing coach and editor for the book Journey Toward Justice, by Dennis Fritz (Seven Locks Press, 2006). The PASS Awards recognize persons in the media who have made significant contributions to coverage of issues relating to crime and delinquency. Ferguson teaches English composition at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
New York
Western New York Writing Project
Jennifer Borowicz, 2006 fellow, was honored at the Partners in Education Breakfast by the West Seneca School District. Borowicz teaches biology and chemistry at West Seneca East High School.
Kristen Frawley, 1999 fellow, was honored at the Partners in Education Breakfast by the West Seneca School District. Frawley was also featured in "Cool 4 School: West Seneca East Elementary Podcasts" (2/26/08) on WIVB, a local TV station, for her work with elementary students on podcasting. Frawley teaches in the enrichment programs at East Elementary School and Northwood Elementary School.
Ohio
Columbus Area Writing Project
Tracey Ward, 2007 fellow, published "Culturally Situated Response and Narrator Reliability: Monster, Speak, and the First Part Last" in Interpretive Play: Using Critical Perspectives to Teach Young Adult Literature, Grades 4–12, edited by Anna O. Soter, Mark Faust, and Theresa M. Rogers (Christopher-Gordon, 2007). Ward teaches journalism and English at Olentangy Liberty High School in Powell.
National Writing Project at Kent State University
Karen Tollafield, 2005 fellow, was elected vice-president of the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (Ohio's state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English) in March 2008. Tollafield teaches fourth grade at Hilltop Elementary School in Beachwood.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University Writing Project
Britton Gildersleeve, director and 1996 fellow, received the First Prize Nonfiction Award for her memoir "Anomie," to be published in New Millenium Writings 18 (2008–9). Gildersleeve teaches in the English department at Oklahoma State University.
Heather Sparks, 1995 fellow, was named Oklahoma City District Teacher of the Year. Sparks teaches math at Taft Middle School in Oklahoma City.
Oregon
Oregon Writing Project at Eastern Oregon University
Betsy Sadowski, 2006 fellow, was named 2007 Oregon Elementary Art Teacher of the Year. Sadowski teaches third grade at Vale Elementary School.
Pennsylvania
Southcentral Pennsylvania Writing Project
Helen Sitler, director and 1998 fellow, published "Writing Like a Good Girl" in the English Journal 97 (3). Sitler is an associate professor in the English department at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Valeri Helterbran, 2002 fellow, published Exploring Idioms: A Critical-Thinking Resource for Grades 4–8 (Maupin House, 2008). This book provides opportunities for middle grade students to actively work with and connect to 120 common American idioms, as well as more than 300 related idiomatic phrases students can investigate on their own.
Tennessee
Middle Tennessee Writing Project
Beverly Barnes, co-director and 2005 fellow, received two Business Education Partnership minigrants for projects titled "Milestones of Our Lives" and "Word Weavers." Barnes, a language arts teacher at Eagleville School, also received a 2008 Classroom Teacher Excellence Award from the Tennessee Association for Childhood Education International.
Dianne Hall, 2007 fellow, was named Teacher of the Year at Erma Siegel Elementary School, where she teaches sixth grade reading.
Angela Pope, 2005 fellow, received two Business Education Partnership minigrants for projects titled "Under Construction: Building Our Lives as Writers" and "Geo-Tales: Geometric Writing Takes Shape." Pope will begin a writers' club at her school, Cedar Grove Elementary in Smyrna, where she teaches fourth grade.
Margaret Smith, 2006 fellow, was named 2007–2008 Teacher of the Year at Heritage Elementary School, where she is a reading specialist and literacy coach.
Texas
West Texas Writing Project
Susan York, 1988 fellow, published a poetry collection titled Consider the Source (Book Publishers of El Paso, 2005). York is the library media specialist at Parkland High School.
Virginia
Northern Virginia Writing Project
Michelle Ohanian, 1999 fellow, received the Washington Post Agnes Meyer Teacher Award and the 2008 Fairfax County Teacher of the Year Award. Ohanian earned National Board certification in English as a new language, early adolescence through young adulthood. Ohanian is chair of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Department at Mountain View Alternative High School.