English/Language Arts/Writing

Earn UVA credits through these summer courses offered exclusively to Virginia Beach City Teachers.

Writing for Style and Voice- 15 seat hours; 5 Asynchronous

Feedback- 15 seat hours; 5 Asynchronous

Revision- 15 seat hours; 5 Asynchronous

Writing in Response to Nonfiction- 45 seat hours

“Writing in Response to Non-Fiction” (3 credits), taught by Prof. Heidi Nobles (class begins June 20)

“Writing for Style and Voice” (1 credit), taught by Prof. Keith Driver on July 24, 26, 28  

“Feedback” (1 credit), taught by Prof. Eric Rawson begins June 20

“Revision” (1 credit), taught by Prof. Anastatia Curley on July 31, Aug. 2, 4

For details, please contact Cameron L. Vadersen-Jacob.

This event was hosted on June 20, 2023 - 9:00 at the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Free in-person workshop for teachers

This is a 100% in-person event. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

This workshop will share new frameworks and lesson plans for teaching Vietnamese-American literature, particularly in secondary schools.

TLL provides free educational materials to support the teaching of historically underrepresented literatures in K–12 classrooms.

Speakers:

Sylvia Chong 

Sylvia Chong is Associate Professor of English and American Studies and the Director of the Asian Pacific American Studies minor at the University of Virginia. She is the author of The Oriental Obscene: Violence and Racial Fantasies in the Vietnam Era (Duke University Press, 2012), and co-editor of the anthology (Re)Collecting the Vietnam War (a special issue of the Asian American Literary Review, Fall/Winter 2015). She has a Ph.D. in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley and an A.M. in Education from Stanford University, and has previously taught in public high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Helen Min 

Helen Min is a Ph.D. candidate and Dean’s Fellow in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development (UVA) with a research focus on evaluating trauma-sensitive pedagogy, understanding the impact of stress on teacher well-being, and assessing the extent of vicarious trauma on teachers. She taught for six years in Baltimore, MD, Osaka, Japan, and Cairo, Egypt, and received her MS. Ed. from Johns Hopkins University. 

Joseph Wei 

Joe Wei is a PhD candidate in the English Department at the University of Virginia. His research areas include Asian American literature, critical refugee studies, and poetry and poetics.

Sarah Winstein-Hibbs 

Sarah Winstein-Hibbs, PhD, is a high school English teacher at the Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter school, where she teaches IB courses in writing and literature. Before deciding to switch to high school education, she was an Assistant Teaching Professor of English at Penn State University, where she taught courses on The Graphic Novel, The Rhetoric of Public Memory, and freshman composition. Since 2018, she has served as Co-Director of Research and Analysis for TLL - a role in which she analyzed survey data from 1200+ teachers nationwide and made initial curricular recommendations. Her research on race and American literature has been published in scholarly journals such as American Literary History, American Quarterly, and Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US. In 2021, she received her PhD in American Literature from the University of Virginia, where she also served as Assistant to the Director of Writing. Sarah originally hails from St. Louis, MO, where she used to work as an after-school creative writing and art teacher in the St. Louis city school district.

Agenda:

• 9:30-10:00 Breakfast
• 10:00-10:45 Introduction and Overview of Vietnamese American Lit and History - Sylvia Chong
• 11:00-11:45Teaching the Graphic Novel The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui: Pre-reading - Sarah Winstein-Hibbs and Helen Min
• 11:45-12:45 Lunch break
• 12:45-1:30 Teaching the Graphic Novel The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui: Ch. 1 - Sarah Winstein-Hibbs and Helen Min
• 1:45-2:30 Teaching Spoken Word Poetry by Bao Phi and Poetry by Ocean Vuong - Joseph Wei
• 2:45-3:00 Resources for Teaching Vietnamese American Lit. in K-8 - Sylvia Chong
• 3:00-3:45 Breakout to small groups:  

• 3:45-4:00 Evaluation/Closing Remarks 

This event was hosted on February 25, 2023 - 9:30 at the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

A Free Workshop for 9-12 teachers in all subject areas

Led by Professor Natasha Heny of the Curry School of Education and Human Services, with Professors Marcus Meade, Sarah O'Brien, and Kelli Shermeyer of the UVA Writing and Rhetoric program, and Ashley Hosbach, UVA's Education & Social Science Research Librarian.

• Registered participants will receive Zoom link.
• Each participating teacher will receive a $15 gift card from Pearl Island Catering/Café, Charlottesville.
• Space will be limited so that we can use a workshop format.

Topics to be covered:

• options for on-line feedback (including writing conferences)
• how to give good feedback
• innovative writing assignments
• including writing-to-learn activities in an online class
• collaborative writing among students
• assessment (when and what to assess)
• video and other technological resources
• online resources for writing instruction

This program is sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts and the Central Virginia Writing Project, with funding from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

This event was hosted on May 2, 2020 - 10:00 on Zoom

An Institute for 9-11 Teachers

Natasha Heny, Curry School of Education, UVA, will teach this 8-day summer institute. The institute will focus on supporting and empowering teachers, and developing their knowledge and skills in writing and writing instruction. The institute is sponsored by Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and we hope to enroll one teacher each from 9th, 10th and 11th grade, from each RPS High School. We are so excited to get to work with RPS again this summer

This program is sponsored by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

This event was hosted on July 29, 2019

Central Virginia Writing Project (CVWP)

Empowering Teacher-Leaders as Writers and Writing Instructors

The Center for the Liberal Arts in partnership with the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia is pleased to invite Central Virginia K-12 teachers from all disciplinary backgrounds to apply for the 2016 Summer Writing Invitational Institute, under the auspices of the Central Virginia Writing Project (CVWP) in collaboration with the National Writing Project. The goal of the Institute is to support and empower teacher-leaders as change agents within their classrooms, schools, and school divisions by developing their knowledge and skills in writing and writing instruction, giving them a forum to take risks as educators, to test out ideas, and to get feedback from knowledgeable professionals. Additionally, national research studies confirm significant gains in writing performance among students of teachers who have participated in National Writing Project programs. More specifically and in response to local school divisions’ increased focus on digital writing and overall digital literacy, teachers will reimagine writing with a culturally diverse lens in order to strengthen their students’ voices and writing skills needed to successfully navigate an information-saturated and technology-rich 21st century. Exploring ways to use writing as a tool not only to learn content but also to understand differing cultures across the curriculum will serve as a guiding theme throughout the two-week program. In addition to developing teachers’ disciplinary areas of expertise through writing, an important objective of the Institute will be to develop the teachers’ capacity to offer professional development for others within their schools and/or school divisions. The Institute will be facilitated by Dr. Natasha Heny, Assistant Professor of English Education at UVA, and Ms. Lisa Harman, an elementary school teacher in Albemarle County Public Schools and previous Institute participant and site co-director. During Fall 2016, teachers will participate in continuity work groups comprised of their Institute peers geared toward supporting teachers’ implementation of their newfound writing knowledge and skills in the nuanced contexts of their classrooms and student demographics. These study groups will be facilitated by two writing instructors from the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at UVA for approximately 18 hours of program follow-up support.

How do I apply?

• Application Letter - Write a one-page (450 words or less) letter describing what your students do as writers on a typical day, what you do as their teacher, and why you would like to attend the Summer Writing Invitational Institute. Please also include the following contact information: name, address, phone number, email address (that you check regularly and during the summer), school name, school division, grade(s) and subject(s) taught. 
• Letter of Reference - The letter of reference should be written by either your principal or instructional administrator at the school division level. The letter should address the following questions: What are the strengths of the applicant as a classroom teacher? How do you see the applicant as a teacher-leader in your school/school division? How will you support this teacher in taking on a leadership role for writing instruction in your school/school division? How do you think this teacher will contribute to the Central Virginia Writing Project (CVWP) professional learning and writing community? 
• Application Deadline: May 31, 2016 - If you have any questions, please contact Becky Abell Yancey at 434-982-5205 or rla@virginia.edu. Letters of acceptance will be sent no later than June 15, 2016.

Who should apply?

We are looking for experienced (at least 3 years of classroom teaching experience) and effective teachers who desire to grow as writers and as teachers of writing across the curriculum. A commitment to participate in the entire two weeks of the Summer Writing Invitational Institute and 18 hours of the Fall 2016 continuity work is also required, as is a collaborative spirit in sharing ideas and learning from others as well as a willingness to provide professional development for colleagues at the request of school division administrators.

How much does it cost?

There is no cost to teachers to participate in the two-week Summer Writing Invitational Institute and 18 hours of Fall 2016 continuity work, thanks to a National Writing Project grant and in-kind contributions from the Center for the Liberal Arts and the Curry School of Education at UVA. Limited travel scholarships are available to assist teachers who are traveling from remote geographical locations in Central Virginia. Please send inquires to Becky Abell Yancey, CLA Program Coordinator, at 434-982-5205 or rla@virginia.edu.

This event was hosted on July 11, 2016 - 8:45 at Ruffner Hall, University of Virginia

UVA's Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and American Shakespeare Center

The UVA portion of the program will center on this year's exhibition in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, "Shakespeare by the Book," and the way it might be used to enhance students’ appreciation of Shakespeare. This exhibit uses items from UVA's Special Collections to the Shakespeare text through four centuries of printing, editing, and publishing; for the month of October, it will be enhanced by a visiting exhibit of a First Folio from the Folger Library. The UVA exhibit has three parts. The first shows how books, including the quartos and folio versions of Shakespeare's plays, were produced in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The second follows the editorial history of Shakespeare's text since the 18th century, when the wildly varying versions of the plays prompted competing theories about their reliability and provenance. The third section, Shakespeare for All, shows how Shakespeare has been popularized for many different audiences, including actors, students, bibliophiles, and children. 

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) portion of the program will lead teachers in classroom applications of the plays in Shakespeare's canon and on our stage, the Blackfriars Playhouse. The education staff and its troupe of professional actors will provide teachers with a host of materials and techniques for bringing Shakespeare to life for their students. An emphasis will be placed on the connections between the First Folio exhibit at UVA and its implications for teaching. Program participants will be prepared to bring their students to the exhibit this fall with activities that look at the importance of understanding how Shakespeare's text belongs to each of us, from teacher to student. Join this exploration of techniques that teachers can use to bring the plays to life in the classroom. 

Program participants will round out the day by watching the play, Henry V, spring to life in the hands of the talented ASC Dangerous Dreams troupe. Engaging with Shakespeare in the context of the Blackfriars Playhouse and using the same stage and practices his own actors used, these talented artists deliver a fast-paced, thrilling ride through the tale of England's rise in the early 15th Century. Perfect for teachers with an interest in British history, literature, drama, or anyone who enjoys a good story told well. 

Breakfast, lunch, play tickets, and transportation are included. 

There is also a two-day, residential version of this program available for a fee through the American Shakespeare Center. For details and registration information, please visit: http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/pages/146/0/teacher-seminars

Presenters

• 8:30 - 9:00 Registration and Breakfast at UVA's Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
• 9:00 - 9:15 Welcome and Introductions
• 9:15 - 10:45  Shakespeare Exhibit Tour with UVA Faculty Expert
• 10:45 - 11:00 Break
• 11:00 - 12:30 Shakespeare Classroom Applications Session with ASC Education Director and Actors
• 12:30 - 1:30 Lunch/Travel to American Shakespeare Center in Staunton via bus
• 1:30 - 4:15 Attend play
• 4:30 - 5:30 Travel back to UVA via bus

What does Dante’s classic poem Inferno have to do with contemporary American culture and the lives of high school students? Come find out as Dr. Deborah Parker, world renowned Dante scholar and Italian professor at the University of Virginia (UVA), and Dr. Mark Parker, Professor of English at James Madison University, lead this professional development program designed to animate the study of Dante through the use of highly accessible literary and artistic works and pedagogical strategies. Based on the three-week seminar for high school teachers on Dante held at UVA in summer 2015, this abbreviated one-day program highlights the cultural legacy and influence of the iconic poem on Western tradition by using other works as a creative and interpretive lens for deepening students’ understanding of the poem while building a bridge between the Dante’s world and today’s world. In particular, digital media—of which our students are avid consumers—have adapted and appropriated Dante’s famous poem in new ways, making a commonly difficult text more accessible to students.

The program agenda will include a demonstration of how to teach students about Dante’s Inferno and interactive presentations from three U.S. high school teachers who have written and field-tested related classroom lessons. Participants will also gain access to 13 other classroom lessons featured on the National Endowment for the Humanities website and additional instructional resources. To conclude the program, teacher-led breakout groups will be facilitated to brainstorm how the newly acquired content and pedagogical knowledge can be tweaked and localized for participants’ unique classroom contexts. Breakfast and lunch included.

Sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts at the University of Virginia and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Presenters:

Dr. Deborah Parker, Professor of Italian, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Dr. Mark Parker, Professor of English, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Ms. Lisa Kenna, English Department Chair and Teacher, Oakcrest School, McLean, VA

Ms. Judy Mohan, English Instructor, St. Louis Priory School, St. Louis, MO

Ms. Cynthia Losen, English Teacher, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Richmond, VA

Dr. Cheryl Ayers, Acting Director, Center for the Liberal Arts, University of Virginia

Aganda:

• 9:00 - 9:30 Registration and Breakfast
• 9:30 - 9:45 Welcome, Agenda, Housekeeping, and Introductions
• 9:45 - 10:45 Overview of Dante and Related Instructional Resources 
• 10:45 - 11:30 Demonstration of How to Teach Dante’s Poem and Adaptations
• 11:30 - 12:30 Presentations of Classroom Lessons
• 12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
• 1:30 - 2:30 Jigsaw Breakout Groups with 3 Classroom Teachers
• 2:30 - 3:30 Brainstorming Groups to Localize Dante Content and Pedagogy

This event was hosted on March 19, 2016 - 9:00 at the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

• July 27­-28 Prof. Lisa Woolfork Introduction to African­American Literature
• August 10-­12 Prof. Patricia Sullivan Introduction to Rhetoric
• October 2-­3 & 23-­24 Prof. Gustavo Pellon New Voices in Literature

This event was hosted on July 27, 2015 - 5:00am

A Workshop for Teachers of High School Students

This workshop features leading scholars in the fields of ethics and analytic writing who will guide a conversation about using ethical problems as the subject of student essays.

Presenters:

Willis Jenkins, Associate Professor of Religion, Ethics and the Environment

James Childress, University Professor & John Hollingsworth Professor of ethics

James Seitz, Associate Professor of English, Director of Academic and Professional Writing Program

Jennifer Sublette, Williamson, K-12 Facilitator of Social Studies & Gifted Services, ACPS

Agenda:

• 9:00 - 9:30 Registration
• 9:30 - 9:45 Introductions
• 9:45 - 11:00 "Ethics in the Environment" - Willis Jenkins
• 11:00 - 12:30 "Bioethical Controversies" - James Childress
• 12:30 - 1:45 "Writing as Critical Inquiry" - James Seitz
• 1:45 - 2:45 Pedagogy Session - Jennifer Sublette
• 2:45 Conclusion

This program is sponsored by the Buckner W. Clay Endowment for the Humanities, The Virginia Center for the Study of Religion & The Center for the Liberal Arts

This event was hosted on April 25, 2015 - 9:00 at the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

A Workshop for Virginia Middle and High school Teachers

This special panel for middle and high school teachers is intended to help integrate African-American poetry into their curriculum. A poetry reading will follow the workshop. Those participants attending both the program and the reading will receive a certificate for four hours of professional development points towards licensure renewal.

Speakers:

John Casteen, Visiting Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, Sweet Briar College

Lisa Woolfork, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Virginia

Chapman Hood Frazier, Professor of Middle and Secondary Education, James Madison University

Agenda:

• 12:00 - 12:30 Participant Registration
• 12:30 - 12:50 “Your Attention, Please: Ways of Listening” - John Casteen
• 12:50 - 1:10 “What’s the Wordle?” - Lisa Woolfork
• 1:10 - 1:30 “Nontraditional Ways to Approach the Reading and Writing of Poetry,” - Chapman Hood Frazier
• 1:30 - 2:30 Breakout Groups - Teachers will be divided into three groups and every 20 minutes will rotate among each of the three professors to share ideas in a small group and to share triumphs and challenges.
• 2:30 - 3:00 Closing Remarks and Panel Discussion - Lisa Woolfork, John Casteen, Chapman Hood Frazier
• 3:00 - 3:30 - BREAK
• 3:30 - 5:30 Poetry Reading, Grafton-Stovall Theatre

This program is sponsored by James Madison University's Furious Flower Poetry Center & the Center for the Liberal Arts 

This event was hosted on September 27, 2014, 12:00 at James Madison University

Speakers:

James Seitz, Director of the Academic Writing Program, UVA

Patricia Sullivan, Director of the Writing Center, UVA

Natasha Heny, Assistant Professor, Curry school of Education, UVA

Agenda:

• 9:15 - 9:45 Registration (light refreshments and breakfast foods are provided)
• 9:45 - 10:30 Beyond the Five-Paragraph Theme by James Seitz, Patricia Sullivan, Natasha Heny
• 10:30 - 10:45 Break
• 10:45 - 12:00 Writing as Inquiry by James Seitz
• 12:00 - 12:30 Lunch (meal is provided)
• 12:30 - 1:45 Multi-Genre Research by Natasha Heny
• 1:45 - 2:00 Break
• 2:00 - 3:00 "Words and Images: Composing the Photographic Essay" by Patricia Sullivan

This program is sponsored by UVA's Center for the Liberal Arts and The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities 

This event was hosted on April 12, 2014 - 9:15am at the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Gaius Julius Caesar (10044 BC) is an iconic figure in the history of western civilization. An accomplished general who conquered Gaul for the Roman state, he turned his armies to personal advantage in a civil war from which he emerged victorious. An innovative, if controversial, ruler, he was also a distinguished orator, a respected writer of military memoirs, and made an important contribution to culture by introducing the Julian calendar. Legends of Caesar began with Caesar himself but thereafter enjoyed a long and varied life both within classical antiquity and continuing until today. Caesar's conquest of Gaul, crossing of the Rubicon, liaison with Cleopatra, and his assassination by Brutus and the other conspirators are all the stuff of legend, which one can see played out from Plutarch and Suetonius to Machiavelli and Shakespeare to John Wilkes Booth, Caesar's Palace, and HBO's Rome (among others).

This workshop offers several different perspectives on Julius Caesar and his legend. The speakers will focus on Caesar as general and statesman, the accomplishment of Caesar as a writer in his Gallic Wars, and Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. There will be ample time for discussion of all these topics and of teaching Caesar in the high school classroom. The workshop is aimed at teachers across the high school curriculum, whether of English, Latin, Social Studies, or other subjects.

Participants are asked to read book 1 of Caesar's Gallic Wars and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Presenters:

Jon E. Lendon, Professor of History, UVA

Jane W. Crawford, Professor of Classics, UVA

Gordon Braden, Linden Kent Memorial Professor of English, UVA

This program is sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts and Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

This event was hosted on March 24, 2012 - 6:00 at Zehmer Hall, University of Virginia

Agenda:

• 8:30 - 9:00 Registration
• 9:00 - 9:10 Introductions
• 9:10 - 9:50 Common Sense in 1776 - Sophia Rosenfeld, UVA
• 10:00 - 10:55 Common Sense and The American Literary Tradition - Jennifer Greeson, UVA
• 11:00 - 11:55 A Usable Legacy? Tom Paine and The American Radical Tradition - Eric Arnesen, George Washington University
• 12:00 - 1:00 Lunch and Book Signing
• 1:00 - 2:00 Stephanie Van Hover, UVA - Teaching Common Sense

This program is sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, The Festival of the Book, and The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

This event was hosted on March 19, 2011 - 8:30 at Zehmer Hall, University of Virginia

Moderator:

Gordon Braden

Agenda:

• Morning Session:

• Lunch
• Afternoon Session:

Margo Figgins - Open Discussion on Entire Poetry Topic

This program is sponsored by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and the Center for Liberal Arts

This event was hosted on October 9, 2010 - 5:00 at the University of Virginia