Texas State, SMCISD Educators Collaborate On Write For Texas Initiative

The CTWP received a $268,500 grant from the Write for Texas initiative for two years to assist SMCISD secondary school teachers.

Two secondary English Language Arts teachers and one instructional coach from San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District attended a statewide gathering of educators involved in the three-year Write for Texas initiative sponsored by the Texas Education Agency and the UT-Austin Meadows Center.

The teachers joined some 75 professionals from all 20 Education Service Centers and six National Writing Project sites in Texas. The event was held April 18-19 in San Antonio.

The three educators are Cassie Polasek, San Marcos High School teacher; Crystal Kelley, Goodnight Middle School teacher; and Nicole Recio, Middle School English Language Arts Instructional Coach.

Polasek, Kelley, and Recio have been providing professional development with and for fellow English Language Arts teachers at the district through the Central Texas Writing Project (CTWP) at Texas State University.

Also attending with the San Marcos team were CTWP Director Dr. Liz Stephens, CTWP Co-Directors Melanie Boecking and Katrina Jansky. This six-member delegation hosted a session at the event to describe the impact of a year-long institute for teaching writing at SMCISD.

During the institute, Polasek, Kelley, and Recio joined 13 fellow SMCISD English Language Arts teachers in a number of professional development activities. This ongoing program focuses on best practices for teaching strategies that motivate reluctant writers and improve student writing skills.

The CTWP received a $268,500 grant from the Write for Texas initiative for two years to assist SMCISD secondary school teachers.

Upcoming CTWP-SMCISD events include an Advanced Institute in July for teachers who attended the year-long institute, an Open Institute for administrators, and scholarships for interested teachers in the district to attend the four-week CTWP Invitational Summer Institute in June.