Twenty Trenton area teachers, spanning from kindergarten to high school and a daylight-twilight program, participated in a four-week Summer Institute at Rider University this month. The institute, hosted by the School of Education at Rider, was made possible by a $43,000 grant from The National Writing Project. The teachers, from 12 different schools, were from the Trenton, Delaware Township and Hampton Borough school districts.

Participants in the Summer Institute at Rider University

“The goal is to help teachers enjoy writing themselves and to learn teaching strategies for writing instruction,” said Dr. Carol Brown, Rider’s associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Education and Sciences and director of the Trenton Area Writing Project (TAWP). “Teachers who value the power of the written word are more likely to produce youngsters who are not only good writers, but who love to write. It’s a powerful domino effect.”

Co-directors Susan Kadish, and Ruth Palmer, from the Trenton School District, spearheaded the institute, which marked its sixth summer at Rider. Teacher consultants Judy Cartwright and Laurell Parris, both teachers in Trenton, served as institute faculty. During the school year the participants, who then become Teacher Consultants, share their enthusiasm and techniques with peers at their respective schools and districts. Monthly meetings provide feedback and support. All participants receive three graduate credits from Rider.

During the Summer Institute emphasis was placed on such topics as the stages of the writing process, encouraging students to revise and assessing writing. Participants explored writing in various genres, and examined strategies for using writing across the curriculum in such areas as social studies, the sciences, and mathematics. They will conduct classroom research on writing in the fall.

In addition, 12 teachers who completed the Summer Institute in a previous summer participated in a TAWP Advanced Institute this July at Rider’s School of Education. Lead by Linda Biondi and Carol Hotchkiss, from Washington Township School, these teachers spent time writing as well as studying the writer’s workshop format for teaching writing to their students.