Arleene Barrios
Public Information Officer
UTEP Office of University Communications
Phone: 915-747-7503 / 915-539-4677
E-mail: news@utep.edu
Children in third through sixth grades are invited to put on a costume, share scary stories and work on their writing skills at a one-day camp this Saturday, Oct. 24.
Saturday Scribes is a program of The West Texas Writing Project, sponsored by The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of English. The weekend workshop meets for three hours every other month and includes themed activities designed to help young students improve their writing skills.
Writing is an important skill for student success that can help children read, solve problems and understand concepts across disciplines. Programs like Saturday Scribes offer a fun way for students to practice their writing outside of the school setting.
At the Halloween workshop, students and teachers dressed in costume will write scary stories and a Halloween mystery. The students will be invited to read their stories at Barnes & Noble on Halloween.
The media is invited to attend Saturday Scribes from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 24, in Hudspeth Hall, room 200, on the UTEP campus.
“It is wonderful to see the students responding to sophisticated material and ideas, and being able to develop some very high-level responses to prompts,” said Hillary Hambric, a teacher leader with The West Texas Writing Project. “They are all so excited to be there, and so excited about what they have produced.”
Master teachers present the lessons to the students. After each workshop, teachers-in-training talk with the master teachers about their strategies and how to adapt the lessons to their own classrooms.
“The Scribes program isn't just fun for the students; it's also great for the teachers-in-training who attend,” said Jonna Perillo, Ph.D., director of the West Texas Writing Project and an assistant English professor at UTEP. “They tell me how important an experience it is for them to see teachers who may still be early in their careers develop such rich and creative writing lessons for the children and to be a part of those lessons.”
The next Saturday Scribes workshop is scheduled for Dec. 5.
The West Texas Writing Project offers a variety of activities and workshops to improve writing in El Paso’s classrooms and provide leadership opportunities and recognition for El Paso teachers, including writing camps for young writers and a five-week summer institute where teachers share best practices.
For information: Hillary Hambric, hjhambric@gmail.com or (915) 855-3925