Speakers Center
The Eastern Illinois Writing Project teachers provide a wonderful resource for the local area. These talented and energetic individuals are capable of leading workshops on a wide variety of topics and interests, and the Speakers Center is designed to help you select and request the presenter that is right for your organization and presentation.
The various speakers and their areas of interest are:
Al Church:
English Teacher and Technology Liaison Al Church provides interactive demonstrations addressing games across the curriculum. In his demonstration, “Games and Literacy Across the Curriculum,”you will encounter some examples of student designed games, and explore reasons for gaming across the curriculum. Be prepared to answer this question: What is your favorite game, and why is it your favorite?
Sue Fuller:
Business educator Sue Fuller provides a hands-on, pencils-out demonstration on writing to learn. Writing to learn is a quick and easy way to improve student engagement and learning in any classroom. It also helps the teacher meet Common Core writing standards - all without burdening the teacher with more to grade.
Amber Laquet:
Middle and high school special education teacher Amber Laquet offers hands-on approaches to integrating writer's workshop and creative writing club in your school and/or classroom. Her creative writing club presentation, for example, demonstrates how to successfully implement a creative writing club in an elementary, middle, or high school setting. A creative writing club promotes further opportunities for students to develop their writing craft, as well as share ideas with other writers. It also creates an environment in which students feel comfortable to create works, as well as share, revise, and receive positive feedback from teachers as well as fellow club members.
Becky Lawson:
An English teacher for over 26 years, Becky is pursuing her Master's degree in Education. She is also a Mandel Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Fellow, and has done National Endowment for the Humanities seminars in Holocaust Drama and Shakespeare. She presents on Holocaust literature, technical writing in the high school English classroom, Shakespeare in the high school English classroom, and Special real-life projects for students in English classrooms.
Mark Learnard:
Danville High School English teacher and department Chair Mark Learnard provides hands-on approaches to jump-starting student writing. Drawing on the work of Kelly Gallagher.
Misty Mapes:
Misty presents on the benefits of online and blended learning. In particular, she discusses the benefits of using Moodle to meet Common Core standards and to recognize/meet needs for diverse learners.
Kristin Runyon:
Kristin Runyon has been a Special Education and English teacher for over 20 years. She has a Master's degree in English and National Board Certification in English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Her presentations include non-traditional/alternative writing assignments (such as Text Reformulation); utilizing primary sources, historical documents, and artwork as it aligns with the Common Core Standards in both English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies; and implementing Reader Response Journals. Although many examples come from English classes, all of these presentations are designed to be usable across the curriculum.
Mary St. Clair:
Mary presents on the ways that art and writing interact and on using that connection to teach at the elementary school level. Specific presentations include using Dr. Seuss in second and third grade classrooms as an example of combined artist and illustrator and the use of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes with fifth graders.
Once you have found a topic and/or speaker that interests you, please submit a request form or email Terri Frederick.
