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Voices of North Carolina in the Classroom: School/University Professional Development Initiative to Enhance Middle School Teachers’ Language and Literacy
Instruction

Partners: NCSU College of Education, lead; NCSU College of Humanities and Social
Sciences; and the Wake County Public School System

Focus area: Literacy

Teachers need to be provided with the professional development and support, as well as a research-based language curriculum, that will allow them to maximize the limited amount of time that they are able to give to language instruction. Instead of focusing on decontextualized grammar worksheets and activities, we want to provide teachers with strategies and support so they can have their students working on language exploration and awareness that is integrated with local, regional, and state culture and history, resulting in a more sophisticated understanding of and respect for language variations and contexts, and an increased ability to manipulate mainstream American English or Standard English in the ways necessary to succeed in school and life. In addition to becoming more adept with language, we also see the potential connection for teachers and students to make use of local history, events, places, and artifacts, as resources for further developing an integrated language program recognizing and extending the Voices of North Carolina.

This project makes use of the research-based language curriculum developed by
noted scholars Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser, entitled Voices of North Carolina:
Language and Life from the Atlantic to the Appalachians (2005) as a professional
development tool. The professional development program proposed here falls under the larger umbrella of effective literacy instruction in English language arts and social studies, and it specifically addresses issues of language variation, dialect awareness, contexts for effective language choices, and cultural diversity by providing sustained support in the form of workshops for thirty 8th grade English language arts and social studies teachers in Wake County Schools, specifically those teachers at middle schools with at-risk, high poverty, lowperforming student populations. Reaser will introduce the curriculum materials and resources while Middle Grades Academy education faculty will provide insights into strategies for integrating the curriculum as well as creating meaningful contexts for incorporating it into existing middle school curricula for English language arts and social studies. Teachers will have the opportunity to not only experience the curriculum resources themselves, but also develop plans and projects to enhance their teaching for the next school year and beyond. In addition, through the professional development at their school and the mini-conference they will have the opportunity to enhance their leadership opportunities with faculty at their school and within the larger county. Given the lack of direct resources as well as time or personnel to reach teachers in need of support for their work with curriculumbased
literacy programs, this grant will provide innovative and authentic strategies for
teaching literacy in Wake County middle schools.

Faculty