Young writers’ program offered in Martin, Ripley, Jackson and Memphis

Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2010 8:37 am

WCP 9.14.10 The West Tennessee Writing Project (WTWP) will offer another year of Saturday Young Writers’ Clubhouses, a series of writing experiences for third-eighth graders.
This year, WTWP will also offer sessions in Memphis at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School (ICCS) to provide more children in the West Tennessee area the opportunity to attend.
“The Young Writers’ Programs have grown so much in a relatively short time, from just a few Saturday sessions at UT Martin in 2006 to new offerings in Ripley, Jackson and now Memphis,” said WTWP Director David Carithers.
 “Thanks to the dedicated teacher-leaders of the program, more students are writing in West Tennessee. I hope the children who attend the clubhouses are inspired to write for a lifetime.”   
Yolanda Jones, UT Martin Ripley Center director, added, “I am so excited to have the opportunity to offer the Young Writers Clubhouse again this year. It is so amazing to see such talented young writers express themselves through a series of writing experiences and activities. This is a wonderful program, and I encourage young writers from the surrounding areas to join us for a day of creative writing.”
Each club will offer writing workshops, mini-lessons on content and editing strategies, writing response groups and one-to-one conferences with West Tennessee Writing Project Teachers.
The dates, locations and themes for this year’s sessions are:
Oct. 2 – “Food for Thought and Writing”- Martin (Gooch Hall),
Oct. 30 – “Harry Potter Halloween” – Ripley (UT Martin Ripley Center),
Nov. 13 – “Food for Thought and Writing” – Memphis (ICCS),
Dec. 4 – “Marvelous Magazines and Comics” – Jackson (St. Mary’s School),
Jan. 29 – “Writing with Music” – Martin (Gooch Hall),
Feb. 12 – “Script Frenzy” – Jackson (St. Mary’s School),
Feb. 26 – “Digital Storytelling” – Ripley (UT Martin Ripley Center), and
March 5 – “Blast into the Future: Science Fiction” – Memphis (ICCS).
 Experienced teachers who are also WTWP teacher-consultants lead the sessions. Andi Neihoff and Becky Hasselle are co-directors of the program.
Teachers who will be leading the sessions include the following:
• Neihoff has been teaching language arts at St. Mary’s School for 10 years. She has also been actively involved with the West Tennessee Writing Project at UT Martin since the summer of 2005. She has also been involved in the Young Writer’s Clubhouse for two years.
• Hasselle has taught for 19 years, 10 of which have been at Dyersburg Middle School. She was teacher of the year for her district in 2008. She is a gifted education enrichment teacher and enjoys providing additional opportunities for children to learn outside of school.  • Jenny Brandon has been a Ripley Primary School second grade teacher for 14 years and is the Project L.E.A.D. technology and writing teacher at Lauderdale Middle School. She is also the WTWP technology liaison.
• Kristy Dowden has taught fourth grade at Union City Elementary School for the past six years. In the summer of 2010, she taught at WTWP’s Young Writer’s Camp.
 • Clara Talley is the elementary writing instructor at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Memphis. She also teaches the enrichment classes for primary and middle school students. She has been a WTWP teacher-consultant since 2009.
Registration is $35 per session or two sessions for $60.
Online registration is offered through the Office of Extended Campus and Online Studies at http://www.utm.edu/departments/ecce/youthwriting/writingreg.php. For more information, call the office of ECOS at 731-881-7082.

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