Lower your screens, lift-up your pens.
Disconnect from your device and reconnect with who you are.
At the Rider University Writing Project (RWP), we understand the pandemic has left educators feeling burnt out, tired and uninspired. Too many have lost their motivation to teach and have forgotten why they first started the journey of teaching and learning in the first place. Our goal is to help you reignite your passion for teaching through storytelling. This is where many students and teachers were first introduced to elements of narrative writing. Join us at our spring conference, Lower Your Screens, Lift-Up Your Pens, for an afternoon of storytelling, writing and connecting. You'll learn how to leverage storytelling to stimulate your students' writing and your own.
Download the flyer (PDF) to share this information with your colleagues.
What to expect
- Rediscover your identity
- Tap into the enthusiasm that drew you to teaching
- Learn about storytelling as a tool for writing
- Explore strategies for reimagining a writing-centered community, where self-expression, identity, belonging and empowerment are at its core
This event is offered at no cost to educators from pre-k through college. Light refreshments will be served and the first ten to register will receive a door prize. Other giveaways will include signed copies of the authors' books.
Date & Time
No dates or times currently scheduled for this event.
Meet our guest speakers
Cornelius Minor, opening greeting and remarks (recorded message)
Cornelius Minor is a Brooklyn-based educator and author whose focus is equitable literacy. He works with school leaders, teachers and community leaders to support education reform across the globe. In his latest book, We Got This, he explores how creating more equitable spaces is dictated in the everyday choices we make as we listen to the voices of children.
“My job as a teacher is not to merely teach the curriculum or even to just teach the students; it is to seek to understand my kids as completely as possible so that I can purposefully bend and remix curriculum to meet them.”
Gita Varadarajan, keynote speaker
Gita Varadarajan has been an educator for more than 20 years. She has taught in India and the U.A.E and currently teaches 4th Grade at Riverside Elementary School in Princeton, NJ. Gita earned her master’s in literacy education at the Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked briefly at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, served as a student teacher supervisor at Teachers College in the literacy specialist program, and as an adjunct faculty member at the School of Education at The College of New Jersey. She also works closely with schools in India where she spearheads reading and writing workshops. Apart from being an educator, Gita is also the co-author of the middle grade novel, Save Me a Seat, and picture book My Bindi published by Scholastic. Her next picture book, My Saree is slated to come out in 2024.
“Classrooms should be spaces where students can bring their authentic selves, for only then can they learn with freedom and joy.”
Questions?
Email site director Laurell Parris at [email protected] or call 609-896-5000, ext. 5527.