By Bernie DeGroat
News and Information Services
The University, in conjunction with Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin, have launched a program that will help students in their states’ school districts become better writers and readers.
“Write for Your Life” is a collaborative school-based literacy project in which high school and middle school students research and write about problems in their communities. It is funded by a two-year $400,000 grant from the Bingham Trust.
“‘Write for Your Life’ will ask students to do just that—write for their lives as they read, think and write about the problems, especially the threats to their health and well-being, that they must confront as young citizens in the communities in which they live,” says English Prof. Jay L. Robinson, director of the U-M Center for Educational Improvement through Collaboration.
“The project is grounded in the notion that students learn to read and write more effectively if they read and write to learn about issues that are of serious concern to them—issues that shape and, sometimes, trouble their lives.”
Robinson said learning will not be restricted to the classroom and will not be merely academic. Students in English classes will choose issues—such as substance abuse, violence, AIDS, or teen parenting—to study by reading, conducting surveys, and talking to experts at the participating universities and community agencies.
The three-university consortium will join forces with Michigan public school teachers in Detroit, Lansing and Saginaw, and with Wisconsin teachers in Madison, Milwaukee, Platteville and the Lac Court Oreilles Ojibway School in Hayward to implement the project in those districts.
Established in 1934, the Bingham Trust awards grants for projects in writing proficiency in elementary and secondary schools and for mental health programs.
