Awards and Accolades

By: NWP Staff
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 11, No. 2
Date: 2006

California
Area 3 Writing Project
Bob Crongeyer, 1999 fellow and co-director, had “A Genre Journey: How a Year of Study Led to Thoughtful Reading and Writing” published in California English 11 (3).

San Diego Area Writing Project
Debbie Beldock, 1986 fellow, and Karen Wroblewski, 1989 fellow and co-director, received Leadership in English/Language Arts Awards from the Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English on May 31, 2006. Beldock is the executive director of curriculum and instruction at the San Diego City School District, and Wroblewski is principal of the San Diego High Educational Complex, School of International Studies.

San Joaquin Valley Writing Project
Julie Andrews, 1992 fellow, published Pink, a book of poems.

Mario Guerrero, 1987 fellow, was named an OfficeMax Super Hero Teacher of the Year and will appear in Marvel’s Spider-Man/Fantastic Four comic book, summer 2006. Guerrero teaches sixth grade at Andrew Jackson School in Selma.

Jeff Williams, 1997 fellow, published Anne Bonney: My Pirate Story (iUniverse, 2006).

Colorado
Denver Writing Project
Dale Lidicker, 2006 fellow, received the 2006 University of Phoenix Outstanding Graduate Faculty Teaching Award (Colorado campus).

Rick VanDeWeghe, director, received the Richard W. Clark Award for exemplary partner school work from the National Network for Educational Renewal.

Delaware
Delaware Writing Project
Daniel Bradley, 2001 fellow, was named Teacher of the Year by the Brandywine School District in Wilmington.

Raymond Theilacker, 2002 fellow, received the President’s Award for Leadership at Wilmington College in May 2006.

District of Columbia
District of Columbia Area Writing Project
Betty Cade, 2001 fellow, was appointed as a mentor teacher for District of Columbia Public Schools.

Maria Lourdes Angala, 2004 fellow, was recognized as a 2005–2006 District of Columbia Public Schools Distinguished Educator. Angala was selected as district representative for the Disney Teacher Awards.

Consentine Morgan, 2000 fellow, is the face of International Training in Communication (ITC). Morgan’s biography and picture are posted on the feature section of the ITC website.

Georgia
Georgia Southern Writing Project
Julie Warner, 2005 fellow, received the 2005–2006 Outstanding New Employee Award at Marietta High School in Marietta. Warner is a tenth grade English teacher.

Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project
Sarah Robbins, director, won the Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Humanities from the Georgia Humanities Council.

Indiana
Indiana Teachers of Writing Writing Project
Mary M. Malloy, 1997 fellow, received the Armstrong Teacher Educator Award for her work with preservice teachers from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Mary B. Nicolini, 1993 fellow and co-director, received a Lilly Teacher Creativity Award.

Louisiana
Louisiana Writing Projects Network
Ann Dobie, director, edited a collection of Louisiana fiction entitled Wide Awake in the Pelican State: Stories by Contemporary Louisiana Writers (Louisiana State University, 2006).

National Writing Project of Acadiana
Kay Couvillion, 1998 fellow, received a Lafayette Education Foundation Grant for her Personalized Art project, which combines art and writing. Couvillion also received a 2006 Acadiana Center of the Arts Grant for her Sole Notes project, which puts writing to music.

Toby Daspit, 2006 fellow and director, had “Going In Through the Back Door of the Prison” published in Di-verse-city (Austin International Poetry Festival, 2006). Daspit also had “The Sky Is Always Falling: (Un)Changing Views on Youth in the U.S.,” coauthored with G. Holm and A. J. K. Young, published in A New Youth?: Young People, Generations and Family Life, edited by Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini (Ashgate, 2006).

Maryland
Maryland Writing Project
Beth Edelstein, 2000 fellow, received a Towson University Graduate Student Association Grant to present “Looking at Assessment from Middle Space” at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference on College Composition and Communication in Chicago, March 2006.

Michigan
Crossroads Writing Project
Maja Wilson, 2002 fellow, published Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment (Heinemann, 2006).

Eastern Michigan Writing Project
Tracy Rosewarne, 1998 fellow, is the faculty advisor to The Communicator, the newspaper for Community High School, Ann Arbor, which won the following awards this year: the Fourth Place Award in the National Best of Show Competition and the Spartan Award for Michigan’s best student newspaper.

Jim Schaeffer, 2004 fellow, hosts Riprap, a public access interview program. Schaeffer has interviewed Kathleen Yancey, Sheridan Blau, Rebecca Sipe, co-director, and cartoonist Scott McCloud on visual and verbal literacy.

Debbie Young, 2006 fellow, was selected to serve on a committee of editors, artists, and technology staff that advises Scholastic News, in New York City, on how to better serve elementary schools.

Meadow Brook Writing Project
Toni Gibson, 2002 fellow, has published Los Alamos, 1944–1947 (Arcadia, 2005), a book about her father’s participation in the Los Alamos project.

Mississippi
MSU Writing/Thinking Project
Betty Collum, 2001 fellow, was recently named Teacher of the Year for Eupora Elementary School.

Montana
Montana Writing Project
Rina Moog, 2003 fellow, was elected to serve as 2006–2008 NCTE Secondary Representative-at-Large.

Wendy Z. Warren, 2002 fellow, was elected to the 2006–2007 NCTE Nominating Committee.

New Hampshire
Plymouth Writing Project
Amanda Leslie, 2005 fellow, received the NCTE Leadership Development Award.

Meg Petersen, director, received the Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award for the master of education and certificate of advanced graduate studies programs for her dedication to teaching writing, supporting students, and inspiring other educators.

New Mexico
Bisti Writing Project
Uma Krishnaswami, co-director, published the following books: The Closet Ghosts illustrated by Shiraaz Bhabha (Children’s Book Press, 2006) and Bringing Asha Home illustrated by Jamel Akib (Lee and Low, 2006). Krishnaswami’s young adult novel Naming Maya (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004) was placed on the International Reading Association Notable Books for a Global Society list.

Mary Whipple, 2002 fellow, received the 2006 Excellence for Student Achievement Award from the Central Consolidated School District Board of Education and the New Mexico School Boards Association.

The following teacher-consultants each won a Farmington Schools Red Apple Award for Teaching Excellence: Kristine Ashworth, co-director; Linda Loudon, 2002 fellow; Deborah Bisping, 2002 fellow; Betty Chavez, 2002 fellow; Lisa Shepard, 2003 fellow; and Wendy Carpenter, 2000 fellow.

New York
New York City Writing Project
Alison Koffler-Wise, 1991 fellow, won the 2006 Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts for her poetry. Koffler-Wise also received an honorable mention in the Sue Saniel Elkin Poetry Contest. Koffler-Wise’s poems “Whalewatch” and “Welfleet” were published in Kalliope: A Journal of Women’s Literature and Art 27 (1).

Western New York Writing Project
Suzanne Borowicz, 1998 fellow and director, published Why Multimodal Literacies? Designing Digital Bridges to 21st Century Teaching and Learning, coauthored by Suzanne Miller (State University of New York Press, 2006).

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University Writing Project
Diane Brown, 2002 fellow, was named Sand Springs District Teacher of the Year, Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, and National Mathematics Association, Oklahoma/Arkansas Section, Outstanding Elementary Math Educator of the Year.

Sandy Jones, 1994 fellow, was named 2005 Hale High School Teacher of the Year in Tulsa.

Dianna Just, 1996 fellow, was a 2005 National Teacher of Excellence at the Secondary Section Luncheon of the NCTE Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Andrea D. Rains, 1994 fellow, was named Skyline Elementary School Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Stillwater School District Teacher of the Year. Rains also received the 2005 Colonial Williamsburg Scholarship Award.

Nedra Segall, 1995 fellow, attended the National Park Service and National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored summer institute, “Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution,” in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Eileen Simmons, 1992 fellow, had “The Grammars of Reading” published in the English Journal 95 (5).

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project
Rose Cappelli, 1996 fellow, and Lynne Dorfman, 1989 fellow, presented “Reinventing the Writer” and “The Challenges of Reading and Writing Nonfiction” at the 2005 Keystone State Reading Association Convention. Cappelli is a reading specialist in the West Chester Area School District, and Dorfman is a writing extension teacher and literacy coach in the Upper Moreland Township School District.

Mary Buckelew, associate director, Diane Dougherty, 1989 fellow and co-director, and Andrea Fishman, director, presented “Using Reading and Writing Strategies to Create Community in Diverse Classroom Communities” at the Annual Minority Student Achievement Network and Delaware Valley Minority Student Achievement Consortium Annual Conference, June 25­–27, 2006.

Cecelia Evans, 1981 fellow, received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Chester Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs at the Annual Founder’s Day Luncheon on May 13, 2006. Evans was also inducted into the Educational Excellence and Entrepreneurship Institute’s Educator 500 Program at West Chester University on May 18, 2006. Evans, a reading and literacy specialist, is also a retired teacher.

Janice Ewing, 2004 fellow, had “Building Reading Friendships: A Book Club Approach” published in Pennsylvania Reads V (II), a journal of the Keystone State Reading Association. Ewing is a literacy coordinator in the William Penn School District.

Andrea Fishman, director, had “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish,” published in Considering Literacy: Reading and Writing the Educational Experience, edited by Adler-Kassner (Pearson, 2006). Fishman also had “Understanding the Modes” published online and in print by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (2005).

Lesley Roessing, 2002 fellow, had “With a Song, You Can’t Go Wrong” published in the April 2006 issue of Middle Ground: The Magazine of Middle Level Education 9 (4). Lesley also had “Creating Empathetic Connections to Literature” published in The Quarterly of the National Writing Project 27 (2).

Vicki Steinberg, 1983 fellow, edited Priming the Pump, a collection of memoirs and poetry by senior citizens in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Linda Baer, 1984 fellow, wrote the grant that funded the project. Steinberg is a retired English teacher.

Chad Watters and Chris Lodwig, 2004 fellows, presented “Multi-genre Research Papers: Non-fiction Writing with Creativity and Style” at the 2006 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Conference in Chicago. Watters and Lodwig are elementary school teachers in the Central Bucks School District.

Philadelphia Writing Project
Carolyn Cohen, 2000 fellow, and her student won the 2006 Adele Magner Memorial Award for Excellence in Playwrighting from the Philadelphia Young Playwrights.

Joyce Millman, 2001 fellow, had “Faith Ringgold’s Quilts and Picturebooks: Comparisons and Contribution” published in Children’s Literature in Education 36 (4): 381–393.

Dina Portnoy, 1987 fellow, was asked to serve on the board of Youth United for Change, a student activist organization situated in Philadelphia high schools. This organization helps to keep student concerns and issues at the forefront of educational reform.

Annette Sample, 1997 fellow, was named a Ruth W. Hayre Honoree for her excellent service to education in Philadelphia. Sample is an English teacher at George Washington Carver High School for Engineering and Science.

Geoffrey Winikur, 1995 fellow, and Tina Winraub, 2006 fellow, won a National Education Association Innovative Teaching Grant Award that will enable them to explore the effects of colonialism on Africa through the voices of African writers and filmmakers.

Southcentral Pennsylvania Writing Project
Helen Sitler, 1998 fellow and director, received the 2006 Graduate School Research Award for Outstanding Commitment to a Sponsored Program from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania for her work with the writing project.

The following teacher-consultants submitted lesson plans for teaching writing to the Pennsylvania Writing Project Network’s Teacher Resource Clearinghouse: Linda McPherson (2001 fellow) contributed “Newsprint Activity” and Mary Manges (2003 fellow) contributed “Using a Time Focus” and “The River.”

Tennessee
Middle Tennessee Writing Project
Beverly Barnes, 2005 fellow and co-director, presented “Rural Poverty: Connecting Writing and Reading in the Middle Grades” at the Mid-South Reading and Writing Conference in Birmingham, Alabama.

Julie Deffenbaugh, 2006 fellow, was inducted as a National Honor Roll Outstanding American Teacher for 2005–2006.

Stephanie Harper, 2005 fellow and co-director, was named High School Teacher of the Year at Nashville Christian School.

Mac MacDonald, 2005 fellow, was named FOX TV’s Teacher of the Week.

Gay Sakich, 2005 fellow, published “Students Understand the Importance of Writing” in the spring 2006 issue of Oak Hill along with her students’ writing.

Texas
Pearl of the Concho Writing Project
Dedra Carter, 2005 fellow, was named Teacher of the Year at John H. Reagan Elementary School in San Angelo.

Selina Jackson, co-director, received the Angelo State University College of Education Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Connie Lindsey, 2004 fellow, presented “Student-Centered Research: Use Technology and Inquiry Learning” at the 2006 Texas Computer Educators Conference in Austin.

Sabal Palms Writing Project
Melba S. Lucio had “Parent-Teacher Partnership 101” published in Joyful Parenting: Before You Blink, They’ll Be Grown, edited by Gail Small (Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2005).

Vermont
National Writing Project in Vermont
Geof Hewitt, co-director, published Hewitt’s Guide to Slam Poetry and Poetry Slam (Discover Writing, 2005). The book includes a DVD that illustrates coaching tips (classroom footage), students slamming, and one student’s special lesson on beat boxing.