Young Writers Academy 2014

A Week-long Summer Program for Young Writers
Grades 1 through 12
June 23-27, 2014, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Calling All Writers!

♦ Extend your writing beyond the classroom

♦ Meet and collaborate with other writers

♦ Write with National Writing Project Teacher Consultants

♦ Registration open now!

YWA 2014 offers writers journeys through dystopian societies, poetry, creative non-fiction, and even the college essay. Our teachers focus on building students’ confidence, community, and writing skills through student-driven learning.

YWA includes opportunities to interact with peers, teachers, digital tools, and mentor texts. Writers will share ideas and writing each day. Teachers and writers will explore multimodal texts to go beyond the printed word to research and explore new dimensions in writing. The academy closes with a Gallery Walk and Coffeehouse open to families, friends, and school administrators to celebrate YWA writers’ efforts.

Join Us – Celebrate Innovation Among Young Writers!

Registration Information

Please Note: Be sure to enter the participant's information during the registration process, not your own. If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Outreach Non-Credit Registration Office by phone at (814) 867-4973 or by email.

Trips, Slips, and Surprises… Your Life IS the Story!

(Grades 1-3)

Have you recently taken a wonderful trip, had a funny encounter, or witnessed a stunning sight and wanted to write that story? With a variety of fun exercises, we’ll explore characterization, setting, imagery, plot and more to bring those moments to life. Fantastic children’s authors and technology will support us through the writing process. Within a writing workshop format, this story will be revised, edited, and published by week’s end!

Instructor: Hannah Wambach, Sara Lindemuth/Anna Carter Primary School, Susquehanna Township School District

Popping It! Poetry and Stories Rock to Life

(Grades 1-3)

The best writers know how to take their writing from ordinary to extraordinary. How are they able to do this? They make their writing pop! We will use our five senses to write about nature, favorite toys, and even candy. Learn how to create a movie in your readers' mind with words that make your writing burst from the page. Try this session to learn how to make your poetry and stories rock to life!

Instructor: Melissa Kroll, West Creek Hills Elementary, East Pennsboro Area School District

Beyond Percy Jackson and Katniss Everdeen: Science Fiction and Fantasy

(Grades 4-8)

Join us to dissect, discuss, and dominate the guts of good writing. It doesn't matter if you've written novels or nothing… If you love science fiction and fantasy, you belong here. You’ll dig up ideas, and develop new worlds and characters. You'll join a small cadre (group) of writers, learn how to give productive feedback, and get LOTS of time to WRITE.

Instructor: Sara Palmer, Elementary School Educator

Poetry: Life and Imagination

(Grades 4-8)

Would you like to learn how to make your writing musical, memorable, and magical? Try a session of poetry writing that will have you writing about your own life experiences, ideas, and emotions. In this session, young writers will learn how to use literary techniques to express life and imagination through poetry!

Instructor: Christina Reiner, Upper Dauphin Area Middle School

The World Reflected Through Your Words: Writing Creative Non-fiction

(Grades 9-12)

Even the best fiction writers draw inspiration from lived experience. Our touching, tragic, heartfelt, embarrassing, comic, and even mundane moments make some of the best stories to share. This workshop will examine how to identify moments in our life worth writing about and how to use those experiences for a variety of purposes including narrative (memoirs, personal essays, autobiography) and academic (speeches, essays, etc.). Topics and techniques will include journaling; contemplative observation; recording things overheard; creating characters from people we’ve met; using humor as a tool; drawing lessons from significant moments; and using anecdotes in academic writing.

Instructor: Jason Griffith, Carlisle High School

The Art of the Application Essay

(Grades 9-12)

Thinking ahead to college? One of the most stressful and time-consuming aspects of the process is writing the application essay. Why not take some time this summer to get it done early? In this course we will draft, share, edit, revise, and polish an application essay response. Bring a specific prompt from your intended college or choose from one of the five new Common Application prompts released in 2013. By the end of the course, you will not only take away a ready-to-submit essay, but also valuable experience in the writing process that you can apply to any writing task.

Instructor: Leigh Ann Chow, Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School

Brave New Worlds

(Grades 9-12)

Science fiction and fantasy are all about creating worlds that don't exist beyond our imaginations. Whether you'd like to create a new space colony, utopia, or kingdom threatened by magical beasts, join us as we work through the challenges of building new worlds and the stories that happen within them.

Instructor: Cindy Minnich, Upper Dauphin Area High School

Additional Information

About registration:

Karen Karnes
Continuing Education
[email protected]
717-948-6536

About program content:

Julie F. Schappe, Ph.D.
Director, Capital Area Writing Project
[email protected]
717-948-6385

Robert Hamera
Co-Director & Coordinator of Young Writers Academy
[email protected] or [email protected]

Attachments:

youngwritersacademy2014.pdf