Alkier Defends MAA Project

Today Ms. Elisabeth Alkier defended her capstone portfolio: "The Teacher as Writer: Mentor Texts and Shared Experiences in the Writing Classroom." The work provides research behind, pedagogical rationale for, and course plans exhibiting the theory of imitation and use of mentor texts in the teaching of writing in the middle school.

The occasion introduced a first in our pandemic age: a zoom defense. Elisabeth met with her committee (Dr. Susan Martens, Dr. Mike Cadden, Ms. Dawn Terrick) to answer questions and explain her work. In virtual attendance were also Dr. Michael Charlton (EML's graduate director) and Dr. Susan Bashinski (MWSU dean of the graduate school).

Congratulations to Elisabeth for completing her Master of Applied Arts in Written Communication with a focus in writing studies!

Pictured are from upper left and clockwise, Dr. Susan Martens, Ms. Elisabeth Alkier, Ms. Dawn Terrick, and Dr. Mike Cadden

Spanish Faculty Reach Out to Public Schools

On March 3rd, Drs. Rocío Moirón and Daniel Gilden accompanied six MWSU Modern Language students to Spring Garden Middle School in St. Joseph for the entire morning.  "The idea was to promote the study of foreign languages and bilingualism by partnering with the Spanish classes and especially the ESOL classes where many of the students speak Spanish at home, as well as indigenous languages from Central America," Dr. Gilden explained."  We shared ideas about languages, college readiness, and got to know each other a little better.  MWSU had a wonderful opportunity to put their language skills in practice with native speakers!"

The two faculty also spent a day promoting languages at Park Hill School in Kansas City on Feb. 18th.  

Rae Segbawu at Spring Garden Middle School

Jamesha Hill at Spring Garden Middle School

Martens publishes in Louisiana Literature

Dr. Susan Martens’ nonfiction essay, “Ashes on the Water,” was recently published in vol. 36 of the literary journal Louisiana Literature. 

The essay was composed during last year’s New Orleans Writing Marathon Retreat where she served as a retreat leader at the invitation of the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project.

Congratulations, Dr. Martens!

High School Writing Day Draws Area Students to “Fight for Your Writes”

On Thursday, March 5, 2020, the Prairie Lands Writing Project hosted High School Writing Day, an annual gathering of students for a morning of writing activities and workshops with an open mic reading held after lunch. This year, 125 students from ten area schools attended, accompanied by fourteen high school teachers. PLWP Co-Director and the EML department’s  Dual Credit Liaison, Amy Miller, coordinated the event.  Poet t.l.Sanders, a PLWP Teacher Consultant and spoken word performer (Frontier Schools, KC) served as emcee. Opening session speakers included MWSU’s President, Dr. Matt Wilson, as well as Dr. Bill Church and PLWP Director Dr. Susan Martens.

Workshop sessions for the students, led by MWSU faculty members and area high school teachers, ranged in topics from poetry and fiction to zine-writing, journalism, and technical communication. Our workshop leaders this year were Ms. Jenny Jackson, Dr. Bill Church, Ms. Alyssa Striplin, Ms. Vickey Meyer, Dr. Kaye Adkins, Dr. Janice Cools Stephens, Mr. Meredith Katchen, Ms. Misty Burright, Mr. Daniel Gilden, Ms. Kelly Lock-McMillen, and Dr. James Carviou.

MWSU English majors also assisted with the event by serving as campus guides, assisting the emcee, and supporting student readers at the Open Mic. Volunteers this year were  English education majors Al’Eysha Byrd, Tommy Stewart, Toni Cooper, and Aaron Siefers who were joined by Creative Writing and Publishing majors Matthew Ball, Leila Collins, Anne Davies, Rachael Drenckpohl, and Gwen Lock.

Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultants Present Workshops

Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultants Present Workshops and Assist with Scholastic Writing Awards Ceremony at Write to Learn Conference

Several PLWP Teacher Consultants presented workshop sessions at Missouri’s annual conference for English teachers, Write to Learn, held at the Tan Tar A Conference Center in Osage Beach on Feb. 27-29.  Presenters included Diane Mora (Central High School, KC), Kelly Lock-McMillen (MWSU), Blake Thorne (Grain Valley), Rachel Daniels (Lathrop), and Amanda Collier (Buchanan Co. R-IV). 

Assisting with the conference’s Scholastic Writing Awards Ceremony for Missouri high school students was PLWP Director, Dr. Susan Martens, Co-Directors Josie Clark and Elisabeth Alkier (Bode Middle School, SJSD), and Elizabeth Hoskins (Bode Middle School).

Co-directors Clark, Alkier, and Hoskins

Tiffany Rice Receives the Robert J. Greef Award

Congratulations to Tiffany Rice, MWSU's recipient of the Robert J. Greef Award for Outstanding 

English Education Graduates. Tiffany was honored on Feb. 28 by the Missouri Council of Teachers of English at the Write to Learn Conference, which she attended with her mother, Carol Rice, and one of her professors, Dr. Susan Martens.

Tiffany grew up in Smithville, Missouri. The daughter of Adam and Carol Rice, she graduated from Smithville High School, then graduated cum laude from Missouri Western State University this past December. She was a volunteer at the Prairie Lands Writing Project’s annual High School Writing Day where she assisted high school students attending writing workshops on campus. She served as a workshop leader in MWSU’s developmental writing program and supported young writers in a blogging partnership with Bode Middle School in Saint Joseph. She is currently substitute teaching and planning for graduate coursework this summer with the Prairie Lands Writing Project while she prepares to seek a fulltime high school ELA position for the coming school year.