503 SUMMER ‘RECESS’ ALLOWS WRITING TEACHERS TO SHARE, DISCOVER, RETOOL FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Teachers need play time, too.
That was a recurring theme during Visitors’ Day, the recent closing session of the Middle Tennessee Writing Project on campus in which class members brought professional peers with them to class so that they could get a taste of this five-week smorgasbord of high-energy writing and sharing.
The program ran from June 5 to June 30, Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to
4 p.m.
“In working with adults, the most important thing I learned is to give them the gift of time,” said one discussant, while reflecting on the experience. “Adults, like children, have individual learning styles.”
“Yes, adults need time to discover,” said Dr. Bobbie Solley, professor, elementary and special education and co-director of the project with Dr. Trixie Smith, assistant professor of English.
The MTWP is part of the National Writing Project, a federally funded program launched in 1974 at the University of California at Berkeley. Solley and Smith wrote a grant that allowed MTSU to play host to the state’s second only such writing project. The program encourages teachers of writing to share best practices and provides them a respite to oil the wheelworks of their own writing creativity.
“This is really all about meeting teachers and children where they are,” Solley told the group. “We will come to your school and help you form study or focus groups with your teachers.”
Another participant raised her hand. “Teachers really do want to learn from teachers. We want to share our experience and passion.”
“This is much better than going to a seminar and getting ’10 quick tricks’ from a writing expert,” a colleague chimed in. “This program has given us a map for a journey.”
Another class member told the group that she came to the program while caring for an ailing mother and following the death of a good friend.
“It was just nice to enjoy the pleasure of writing,” she said, describing herself as a literary coach and mentor to other teachers. “I learned about adults as learners, and I had the opportunity to be a student. I feel good about going into the next school year and teaching my 5th-graders. This program has become a lifetime relationship for me.”
Dr. Hilary Stallings, MTSU College of Liberal Arts, participated in this year’s program after visiting last year’s class and seeing all the colored paper on the walls, the projects and demonstrations. She was hooked.
“As a teacher who feels that writing is tied to gains in critical thinking, I ached for better ways to infuse writing into the curriculum. I left hoping that I could be a part of that program.” This year she was in the thick of it.
The class was composed of 20 teachers who applied for the program and went through a 45-minute interview.
“They have to tell us what they’re doing in the classroom that is unusual and unique,” Solley said. “We want applicants who teach kindergarten through college in all the areas—math, science, social studies, and so on.”
Participants in MTWP received six hours of graduate credit. They came from Maury, Cannon, Wilson, Rutherford and Williamson counties as well as the Franklin City Schools district. Now that they have gone home, they will be required to hold workshops and in-service sessions on writing in their own schools systems.