Presenters: Dr. Jennifer Buckner and Dr. Jeanie Reynolds

Room:  Cone 111

Participants will explore the impact of artificial intelligence generators such as ChatGPT on writing instruction. The presenters will share a demonstration of what ChatGPT can generate for writers, including a range of tasks, followed by a discussion of its implications for assignment design and student writing. Participants will have an opportunity to write with/against writing generated by ChatGPT from the perspectives of teacher and student. 

Dr. Jennifer J. Buckner joined the UNCC Writing Project family during the 2000 Summer Institute. From 1998 to 2007, she loved writing and and learning in high schools in Rowan and Cleveland counties. Curious to learn more, she pursued a PhD in writing and new media studies at Old Dominion University in VA. She's been teaching writing at Gardner-Webb University since 2007 and currently serves as Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Presenters: Dr. Heather Coffey and Sydney Carroll

Room:  Cone 113

The college essay is a genre all to itself. Gone are the days of paragraphs and personalized narratives; today, college applicants are lucky to have 650 words to sell themselves to their dream college. In this session, we will discuss the structure of the modern college personal statement and provide strategies for teachers to help candidates think creatively about how to construct a brief vignette using precise language that focuses explicitly on the prompt. We will also provide tips for helping candidates share about their racial background in light of the 2023 Supreme Court decision declaring admission on the basis of race unconstitutional.

Dr. Heather Coffey is a Professor in the Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education and serves as the Director of the UNC Charlotte Writing Project. Dr. Coffey's primary teaching responsibilities include graduate English language arts methods as well as service-learning courses. Her research interests include ways to develop critical literacy with urban learners, bridging the gap between educational theory and practice in teacher education, and supporting in-service teachers in urban school settings through professional development. Dr. Coffey's record of publication includes book chapters and articles in refereed practitioner and research journals. She is currently investigating the ways in which urban learners can develop agency through research and writing and work for social justice in their communities. 

Sydney Carroll is a PhD. Student  in the Curriculum and Instruction, Curriculum and Educator Development program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Sydney is a Graduate Assistant at UNC Charlotte. Her responsibilities include managing undergraduate and graduate students at UNC Charlotte in the North Carolina Teaching Fellows, teaching undergraduate courses such as the seminar course associated with the Teaching Fellows program. In addition to supporting the North Carolina Teaching fellows program at UNC Charlotte, Sydney is also responsible for organizing and curating professional development and coaching for teachers through the Charlotte Writing Project also on the campus of UNC Charlotte. This is her tenth year in education and has written two literacy curriculums for state districts. Sydney has a  Masters of Science degree in Clinical Mental Health from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University. Her professional development areas have been in finding ways to conjoin mental health, culturally responsive teaching and secondary evidence based practices as it pertains to literacy. Outside of her professional pursuits Sydney desires to have a family, travel the world and help people produce the best versions of themselves. Sydney’s ultimate goal is to open an K-12 academic training facility dedicated to supporting teacher development in areas such as restorative and culturally responsive teaching practices that caters to children of color in the greater Charlotte area. 

Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Gray

Room:  Cone 111

We frequently hear faculty talk about their concerns about students not completing reading assignments. Students may reply with tl;dr (too long; didn’t read), and there may often be a lack of engagement with the reading material, contributing to woeful class discussions and vague or joyless written assignments. In response to this situation, one option that can be incorporated into a class is the idea of personalized written annotations. These annotations can encourage students to interact with their reading, and instructors can even go further and use an accompanying personal reading narrative to share a real-time written reaction.

This presentation will focus on how to add in more personalized and engaged annotations to a reading assignment. During the session, attendees will first learn about the strategies, and then they will get to try out these annotation strategies on a poem and discuss their experiences with the strategy. There will be reflection time built in to allow attendees to think about their own classroom applications, and if time, we can hear about the potential options for use at all levels.

Attendees will leave the session with sample assignments that can be applied to multiple grade levels.

Dr. Jennifer P. Gray is a Professor of English and the Director of the Writing Center at the College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, Georgia. She is a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant, and she has taught writing from the 8th grade through college, including pre-service language arts courses. Her research focuses on students’ perceptions of writing, and a recent project centered on procrastination in the writing process. Her dogs Jake and Elwood are her favorite writing companions.

Presenter: Lacy Manship

Room: Cone 113

In this session participants will read and respond to an intentionally selected complex text and follow the lead into our own qualitative research.  Then with our teacher hats on, we will explore strategies for selecting texts and see examples of student writing from ages 5 to 10. 

Lacy Manship teaches writing (along with reading, critical literacy, tinkering, conflict accompaniment and nature based learning) in a multi age setting (ALC Mosaic).  Her focus most often over the last 10 years has been with early childhood and elementary children.  She has been a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant since 2004.   

Presenter: Dr. Leslie Cook

Room: Cone 111

In this session we will challenge the concept of a unified standard English and how grammar is taught in school settings. Most students who attended public schools from the late 1990s into the 2020s have not had much direct grammar instruction; however, in North Carolina, the newest state ELA standards have a “Grammar Continuum '' that specifies grammatical concepts to be taught. Additionally, language usage is tested on end-of-course tests primarily through error detection and correction. Even though these standards are taken from White Mainstream English, all public school students are held accountable for knowing it, and all teachers are tasked with teaching it. Though teachers have been told that the best way to teach grammar is in the context of writing, most do not know how to go about integrating language study into daily reading and writing. Not only will this session redefine what grammar study can look like in a secondary ELA classroom, it will also offer specific activities to encourage students to think about language more contextually and comprehensively.

Leslie S. Cook is a Professor of English Education, Director of the English Education program, and the Executive Director of Teacher Education for the College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University, where she has taught for 15 years. Previously she taught at UNCC and in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. Her current research focuses on linguistic diversity in secondary ELA classrooms, arts-based research, and narrative identity.

Presenter: Jessie Carty

Room:  Cone 113

In this session, participants will practice reflective writing about terms and exemplars related creative literacy through the lens of the ars poetica. Participants will also draft their own ars poetica (or other creative piece defining their "why" as a creative person) to showcase with the other participants. Along with writing sessions, participants will share and discuss their reflections and creative pieces. 

Jessie Carty (she/her) is the author of eight poetry collections including Shopping After the Apocalypse (dancing girl press, 2016) which was nominated for a 2017 Elgin Award. Her prose work has appeared in publications such as “decomP” and “Connotation Press.” Jessie is a freelance writer, adjunct composition instructor, and full-time Instructional Designer.