By: Victoria Kerins, Follow South Jersey Intern
CAMDEN, N.J. – Growing Great Writers, an after-school program at the Rutgers Camden Writers House, located at 305 Cooper Street in Camden, partners with local schools to provide an outlet for students in grades 4 and above to develop critical literacy skills while fostering a passion for reading and writing creatively.
“Our teaching artists use techniques that support English/Language Arts classroom skills while emphasizing that reading and writing can be joyful, meaningful activities that build confidence,” according to the Rutgers Camden Writers House website. “Taught with love and attention, we believe great readers and writers become great citizens.”
A subject that can seem quite daunting to many students, English/Language Arts is presented using approachable and innovative curriculum, activities, and methods at the Writers House. Further, the program introduces students to modern and contemporary titles, providing them with material that not only strengthens their writing skills, but also increases their overall interest in literature.
“By literature, we don’t just mean the classics you read in high school: we mean the read-aloud books of Mo Willems, Maurice Sendak, Virginia Hamilton, and Grace Lin; we mean the chapter book series elementary school kids sometimes gobble for breakfast; we mean comics and Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and the work of living novelists, poets, and memoirists,” continues the Writers House website.
The instructors at Growing Great Writers, referred to as “Teaching Artists,” come from various backgrounds – including social work, education, and fine arts – and all share the same values of teaching literature and writing in a way that sparks creativity, engages students, and fosters confidence.
The program also partners with local community centers to provide these services to students of Camden school districts.
“We partner with Camden schools and community centers to deliver informal club sessions centered on writing expressively,” details the Writers House website. “Teaching artists introduce students to age-appropriate and culturally resonant material, invite students to complete writing prompts or play storytelling games, and help students build a body of work they’re proud of over the course of a few months or a year. We want students to celebrate their voices and communities as important sources of language and story.”
“Serving in Growing Great Writers offers me the opportunity to use the arts I value and practice in a more informal, and arguably “realer” setting,” explains Philip DiCicco, a teaching artist for Growing Great Writers from 2018-2020, on the program website. “Especially serving youth who’ve already spent
all day in school, I’ve come to recognize that my role isn’t as one-sided as being a “writing teacher”. When we teach creative writing, we are developing and encouraging our students in literacy. But perhaps more crucially, we are upholding the artistic and expressive capacity in youth.”
In a world where adolescents are increasingly occupied with social media and other digital platforms, the Growing Great Writers Program at Rutgers-Camden provides a necessary outlet for students to reconnect with literature in a way that is relatable, relevant, and refreshing. It also aids students in reinforcing their writing skills and strengthening their confidence in producing written work through the use of creative, meaningful activities and an informal, nonrigid, and collaborative learning environment.
For more information on the Growing Great Writers After School Program, visit the Writers House website, call at (856) 668-4980, or email at writers@camden.rutgers.edu.
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