During her time as a graduate student, Adele Leon, assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, participated in the Southern Arizona Writing Project, which allowed her to work with other writers.
“That was such a meaningful experience. Collaborating and partnering with real people who live and have lived in the community as teachers working and being writers, I was able to participate in that as well,” Leon said.
When Leon came to NSU in 2022, she negotiated funds to create a similar program, the SoFlo Writing Project, to be housed in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts that would offer a summer institute for local K-12 teachers.
On Sept. 12, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Leon will host a virtual session about the project for those interested in applying, with her graduate assistant coordinator, Joanna Sutherland, graduate student in the M.A. in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media program.
Sutherland, who is a high school teacher and originally from the UK, attended the institute for four days.
“It was very eye-opening because this is my ninth year of teaching high school, and I finished the last year totally burnt out and exhausted,” Sutherland said. “But I still got so much out of it. And even not being there for the rest of it, reading the testimonials and seeing everything, that has really helped stimulate me to be a better teacher this year.”
The first institute took place in July at NSU for four weeks, with the next one coming in summer 2025.
Alongside Shawntee’ Herring, co-director and teacher in Broward County public schools, Leon helped guide teaching demonstrations and field trips to History Fort Lauderdale and Old Davie School Historical Museum.
Eight people started the program, but four could not complete it due to personal reasons. Chad Rodriguez, English language arts curriculum leader at Stranahan High School, is one of the students who completed the program.
“There are a lot of people who don’t see us as experts or don’t see us as qualified to do what it is we’ve been hired to do,” Rodriguez said. “But the Summer Institute was a place where me, and I think even my fellow teachers, felt like respected academics who had something valuable to say.”
Angela Andriesse, Ph.D. student in Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University, also enjoyed doing the program.
“You get a lot of lesson ideas and creative projects to use in your own classroom. It’s just nice to make some contacts that have the same interests as you do,” Andriesse said.
After the institute, participants received National Writing Project badges and access to its archives. If they apply for the CRDM program, their application will be streamlined with a waived application fee, and they will receive six elective credits towards the degree.
“The first time around was a huge success in my opinion, and I hope that they do it again. I would love to come back as somebody who’s taken the program and work with the new people,” Rodriguez said.
For more information, visit
www.soflowp.nova.edu.
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