Jim Meyer, English
One of the graduate courses offered in ISU’s English department focuses on research in Language Arts. Yet talking about research is never as interesting or as useful as doing research and working with real schools, teachers, and students. In a pilot project, students worked with several K-8 schools in the area as teachers experimented with new lessons in reading and writing informational text. At the end of the pilot program, teachers continued meeting to support each other in ongoing research projects. This project has led to grant-funded writing retreats, to projects on family literacy in other schools, and to a renewed sense of energy on the part of the teachers. Participants will have a chance to write and to share ideas for involving K-12 students and teachers in ISU courses, as well as learning about the kinds of research currently going on through these programs in schools in Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, and several rural districts.
