More About Teachers & Writers Collaborative
About Teachers & Writers
MISSION Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) seeks to educate the imagination by offering innovative creative writing programs for students and…
Workshops & Professional Development
Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) provides school-based and after-school writing programs led by professional writers for K-12 students, professional development…
Resources
Books T&W has published resources about the teaching of creative writing for more nearly 50 years. With more…
NY Poetry Out Loud
What is Poetry Out Loud? Poetry Out Loud (POL), an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and the…
Found Poetry & Accessibility
by Donnie Welch I love using found poetry in my workshops! If you’re unfamiliar with the form, here’s a definition from the Academy of American Poets: “Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles,…
English Language Artists
by Sally Ventura This essay is adapted from Sally Ventura’s keynote speech at the 2018 New York State English Council Conference. One day, a student in one of my English 11 classes arrived just a minute or two after the bell. I was standing at my podium, reviewing the day’s plans in the way that…
One Day You Will Be One of the Happier: The Voices and Poetry of Teen Immigrants
Bridging Borders with Words: Writing with Immigrant and Refugee Students The following interviews with students attending the International High School at Union Square were conducted by Susan Karwoska in January 2019. The students, all recent immigrants to the US, discussed poetry, writing, and what it has been like for them to come to this country….
Chasing Voice: On Trying to Capture an Elusive Definition
by Greg Feezell Voice is how the writing feels. Raindrops fall steadily, glancing off the window, tapping against a drainage pipe outside our classroom. Despite the rain, two neighborhood crows confer noisily. Inside, dry if not warm, I confer with a writer, age eight. I teach third grade at Saint Maur International School, in…
Opening Up
by Meek Thomas This essay appears in Girls Write Now: Two Decades of True Stories from Young Female Voices, published by Tin House Books in October 2018. Ms. Sears, our school’s guidance counselor, greets me with a smile—protocol, I’m guessing, because no one is ever that happy, especially not someone whose job is to…
The Ecological Autobiography: Defining One’s Place in the Natural Environment
by Ruth A. Wilson A number of years ago, I published a paper on the “ecological autobiography” as a tool that could be used to get people thinking about their relationship with the natural world and exploring their “ecological identity.” The audience I had in mind was environmental educators working primarily with adults. To my…
Defining the Self in College Application Essays
by Alice Pencavel Objectives for Students: To connect observations of their external world with the nuances of their inner world. To garner a deepened understanding of how the senses inform good writing. To generate material students can use for college application essays. Guiding Questions: Who are you in relation to your environment? What is “self”?…
House in the Snow
House in the Snow by Nathaniel U. (6th grade) The house is warm and inviting the fireplace alit and wafting the bittersweet smell of smoke into my nose the snow a white blanket draped over the mountains and houses is cold yet makes you feel warm inside the ski rack is frosted over with flakes…
At First, the Ground Shakes
by Emily James Author and St. John’s University professor Gabriel Brownstein selected Emily James’ essay, “At First, the Ground Shakes,” to receive the 2019 Bechtel Prize. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the Bechtel Prize to the author of an exemplary essay that explores themes related to creative writing, arts education, and/or the imagination. James’ essay is…
Poems of Arrival: Connecting Middle School Students to the Colonial
by David Andrew Stoler The girl from Queens is quiet and shy—one of the smallest students in her seventh-grade class, she is also hearing impaired and wears special headphones connected directly to a microphone that each of her teachers must wear… that is, when she gets up the nerve to remind them. Now, while her…