“

In the summer of 2015, I was invited to attend a Writing Workshop Institute.  I wasn’t really sure what that meant but I was happy to have attend something that was listed as “invitation only”.  Each day we learned something new and practiced what it meant to be a writer. I honestly never saw myself as a writer, although I loved writing, I didn’t believe I was skilled at it.  As the week came to a close we shared our stories, our hearts, our lives.  We connected as a family that week.  I remember walking away thinking, this will be the year! The year of change, the year of taking risks, the year that I want my students to experience what I did that week. 

                  That was my last year in the classroom ,but I definitely remember it as if it was the first.  It was the first year I felt my students understood what it meant to be a writer, to be a thinker, to be changed.  I was changed, probably more than they were.  I felt connected to them and their lives because of this powerful tool – the teaching of writing.  This inspired me to become a literacy coach.  

                  Since then, I have been a coach in an amazing elementary school where teachers embrace the work and lead the charge in teaching writing.  I don’t really think I can explain in words how this changed me, but I can tell you to trust the process. Even when it feels awkward, even when it is hard, even when others don’t believe.  

Kim Stephens

“

I have had the opportunity to work with Christy Curran multiple times over the past five years both as a teacher and as a literacy coach.  As a consultant, Christy played an integral role in helping our school to launch both Reader's and Writer's Workshop.  Christy's hands-on approach to professional development allowed for us to really live the learning process.  She provided us not only with the necessary content knowledge but also gave us clear structures and routines for making reading and writing both engaging and challenging for ALL learners.  Her organization, clarity, and passion for literacy shone through as she helped our school implement the workshop model very successfully.  However, more than that, she helped our staff to see themselves as readers and writers as well.   We are truly grateful for her guidance and support.

Lindsay Forrest

“

The Writers Workshop Summer Institute led by Christy Curran was one of the highlights of my summer.  I have always loved to write since childhood, taking my writers notebook with me wherever I went.  I still have those notebooks, and look back on them with joy.  I strongly believe in the work of a writer as a way to grow not only academically, but grow mindfully as a human being.  The institute wove these two together perfectly.  I enjoyed writing my story, finding the heart and digging deep, because it helped me prepare to coach my students to do the same.  I got to experience being the student in a writing conference, and that butterfly feeling when I received a compliment card with a sticker.  The Love That Dog reading and grand conversation was also extremely powerful.  Each reading left me on the edge of my seat, much like I want my students to feel when I read to them.  It inspired me to try this strategy in my classroom, which I have done with success this year.  Finally, working with the First 20 Days and mapping out the demonstratable steps prepared me to launch my writers workshop.  When I taught in this way, my students were much more successful at applying the strategies I wanted them to learn.  It is something I continue to use in my writers workshop.  

Laura giarratano

“

I attended the Writing Workshop Summer Institute with Christy Curran in August of 2019.  I learned many things during the institute, but the most important lesson was that writing can change the world.  Over the course of my 21 years in education, I have spent 16 years in the classroom, and 5 years as a literacy professional development coach.  During that time, I have taught hundreds of writing lessons to hundreds of students.  It wasn’t until the writing institute that I realized what I had been missing all along.  I needed to see myself as a writer.  The institute taught me to find my voice and to write in a way that could change my life and ultimately impact my teachers and students as a result of this change. My approach to writing instruction has been forever changed because of my experience at the institute. 

-Kelly Kaiser