OSU Writing Project Working Hard During Summer Sessions

Monday, June 26, 2017

The OSU Writing Project has hosted camps, workshops and projects this summer, helping teachers to learn new ways to teach writing, enhance their leadership and collaborate with colleagues to ensure students become successful writers and learners.

The OSU Writing Project is a branch of the National Writing Project (NWP), which strives to improve the writing of the country’s K-12 students.

The OSU Writing Project offered a teen songwriting camp with Chris Goering and Shannon Wurst as the featured guest musicians, facilitated by Ally Sharp, co-director of youth initiatives. OSU has also hosted a series of workshops called “Foldable Fridays,” where teachers learn new applications and strategies to use when constructing Foldables. These sessions, facilitated by Eileen Simmons, co-director of professional development, cover how to use Foldables to teach science, vocabulary, reading, math, social studies and language arts.

In addition, the OSU Writing Project is hosting an Advanced Institute: College Ready Writers Program (CRWP) to launch an i3 grant, given by the Department of Education, to expand or invest in practices that have an impact on student growth, for the NWP and Department of Education. Led by Annie Ortiz, co-director of the CRWP, and Dr. Pam Brown, co-director of research, 20 educators from Kansas and Oklahoma will attend three days of intensive work, preparing them to launch argument writing with grades 4-10 in schools across the area. The NWP received $19.5 million to do this work with 50 rural schools across 16 states.

The OSU Writing Project also has worked with exemplary teachers during the annual Invitational Summer Institute (ISI), a summer-long professional development experience, which is the gateway into the OSU Writing Project. The ISI is led by OSU faculty members and co-directors Dr. Shanedra Nowell and Dr. Robin Fuxa.

Shelbie Witte, the Chuck and Kim Watson Endowed Chair in Education at OSU, directs the OSU Writing Project. Witte is an associate professor of secondary literacy education and holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with 12 years of teaching experience in Oklahoma and Kansas. Learn more about the OSU Writing Project or arrange for OSU Writing Project consultants to visit with your school by visiting https://osuwritingproject.okstate.edu/.