Participants
The Three Kinds of Writing Go Online
Participants
Mary Fye (Institute Co-Director)
I have been a teacher at Glasgow High School for the past eight years. Although I started out as an English teacher, I now teach Arts and Humanities and Film Studies. Agnes Scott College and Western Kentucky University provided me with the education I use every day as I teach my beloved students. (Becoming National Board Certified provided me with much stress, but it also made me a better teacher.) The “Three Kinds” Institute appealed to me because I want to encourage writing in all classrooms. I value the Authentic Writing page because I can use the help with portfolio development. Equally valued are the Writing to Learn and Writing to Demonstrate Learning pages because writing promotes learning in all classes. As I watch my five- and six-year-old daughters take those tentative first steps at writing, I am reminded that it is a precious thing. I believe that we need to cherish the individual in our writers.
Carolyn Brown
Daviess County Middle School
7th grade LD Resource Math, Language Arts, Social Studies
Laura Jane Goff
I am honored to be an employee of the Ohio County Board of Education. I presently work at the Ohio County Day Treatment, which is also affiliated with the Department of Juvenile Justice System. I received my middle school certification in Social Studies and English from Western Kentucky University. The Three Kinds of Writing Institute was enticing to me because of the possibility of learning from other teachers. As I tell my students, “We have an opportunity each day to learn something new.”
Pat Martin
Muhlenberg South Middle School
Grade 8 Language Arts
Kandie McDaniel
I am a Special Services Teacher at Daviess County Middle School in Owensboro, Kentucky. I have taught special education for 4½ years. I currently am a resource and collaborative, seventh grade math and science teacher.
I am a big proponent of hands-on education. I believe that students learn more from what they do than what they read or write. I have written, with the assistance of my two collaborative partners, three different authentic writing activities that are appropriate for middle grades portfolio pieces. They are: Endangered Species Brochure, Solar System Brochure and the Magazine listed under Feature Article. If you have any feedback on these activities please email me at <kmcdaniel@dcps.org>.
Cindy McIntyre
I am in my sixth year of teaching at James E. Bazzell Middle School in Allen County, Kentucky. My first year I collaborated as a Title I teacher and taught 8th grade Language Arts. The next couple of years I split my day teaching 8th grade Language Arts and 8th grade Social Studies. For the last three years I’ve taught 8th grade Social Studies.
I accepted the offer to participate in the 3 Kinds of Writing Institute because I want to become a better writing teacher. I’m not one for doing the exact same lessons year after year. I like to explore new ideas, see what’s working for other teachers, and hopefully give back some ideas of my own. Having the chance to work with teachers from other schools that are having some of the same problems was a valuable experience.
I often hear from my students, “Why do we have to write?
This is social studies class, not language arts.” After hearing this time
after time, I’ve taken up the challenge to show my students that writing
is important in all subject areas. This task can be frustrating, but I’ve
found it fairly easy to incorporate writing into the area of social studies
(having language arts as my other area of emphasis does help me out occasionally).
Fortunately, I work with a great team of teachers who work together to
show our students that writing is important in all subject areas and that
writing will be important to them in the “real” world.
I hope that this website becomes a useful tool for other
educators to use in their classroom. Please feel free to ask me questions,
send ideas or make comments. <cmcintyr@allen.k12.ky.us>
Deborah Moran
Russellville Middle School
8th grade Mathematics
Rebecca Jo Pavy
I have been teaching for one year in the Hardin County school district. I am a reading and language arts teacher at Radcliff Middle School.
I grew up in Lake Wales, Florida and moved to Kentucky to attend Campbellsville University. I knew that I wanted to teach and quickly became involved with schools in the area. I quickly noted that Kentucky schools were much different and I wanted to educate myself on how to teach according to these unfamiliar expectations. Several teachers helped me along the way; however, I became frustrated at my lack of knowledge and my inability to find resources to help me in my journey. Since it was my first year teaching, my resources for the classroom were also limited and surfing the Internet proved tedious and often unfruitful. I applied to be a part of this project in order to create a resource for teachers who, like me, were searching for resources to use and were becoming frustrated. I believe that this site is a valuable tool for attaining the resources I need to become a more effective writing teacher. The ideas and links allow me to find the information I need and help spur my creativity to new heights. If you have any comments or advice to offer, feel free to e-mail me at the following address: <rpavy@hardin.k12.ky.us>.
J. Renee Perkins
I am honored to be a member of the excellent teaching staff at Daviess
County High School in Owensboro, Kentucky. My Business and Marketing
Education Degree and my Masters of Arts in Education in Secondary School
Counseling were completed through Western Kentucky University. Currently,
I am working to complete my Rank I in Education through Indiana Wesleyen
University in June, 2003.
I have taught for 2 1/2 years in the Business Academy at DCHS. Classes I
have taught include: Accounting I, Computer Applications, Internet
Research, Keyboarding, Powerful Presentations, and Word Processing.
I enjoy teaching all business courses. Accounting is especially enjoyable
because most students enter the course without previous knowledge of the
content and I can watch the students as they gain knowledge of the Accounting
material.
The "3 Kinds of Writing" appealed to me because I would be working with experienced
writing teachers while using technology (my teaching field). Through
the Institute, I have gained a valuable source of writing ideas and educational
resources.
Angela Townsend
Graduating as valedictorian of my high school class and never having written a single paper until I entered the University of Kentucky as a freshman was a traumatically difficult academic experience for me. With much instruction and assistance, though, I met the challenge. Subsequently, I have run the educational gamut from preschool to college level instruction in language arts. This broad based experience has given me a unique appreciation for teaching the power of developmental writing as a tool for unlocking the soul. Because of my enthusiasm about the power of writing as a liberating mechanism for those who learn their craft well, I get excited about any additional opportunities which may add to my own repertoire of skills as a teacher, thus "3 Kinds." Through this institute, I get the opportunity to model, to instruct, to refine and to hone my own technological skills to share what I have gained. Because serious writing is the basis of serious thinking, I know that writing is the most important discipline a student can study.
Robin Wyatt
I teach English at Franklin Simpson High School. I graduated
with an English Education degree from the University of Georgia, and I am
currently working on my Masters degree at Western Kentucky University.
Before moving to Bowling Green, I took a seven-year hiatus from teaching
in the United States Virgin Islands, where I worked in sales. I loved
my early five-year high school teaching experience in Georgia, but I didn’t
truly appreciate the wonderful teaching life until now. Teaching high
school students is very rewarding and most of the time incredibly fun.
The Three Kinds Institute was a wonderful experience for focusing on the
teaching of writing, and sharing ideas that have worked for other teachers.
I hope to keep adding to the site. I am a student as well as a teacher.
I search constantly for techniques and lessons that will improve my students’
writing skills as well as my own. If you have any suggestions, please
contact me at <r.wyatt@insightbb.com>.
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