The following is a successful grant proposal I wrote for the MFA Creative Writing Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Writers-in-the-Schools (WITS) organization.

Public Service Endowment Grant Proposal
University of Massachusetts

Amherst Writers in Schools: Enhancing Writing Skills in Rural Western Massachusetts High Schools
Noy Holland, Director, Creative Writing Department

The Writers in Schools project will enhance the University of Massachusetts’ outreach to rural high schools by providing working writers to assist teachers with workshops, curriculum, and individual student conferencing in writing. Four MFA creative writing students will be assigned to four different high schools in Franklin County, Massachusetts. MFA students will provide a unique resource for high schools students: guiding students through hands-on writing workshops that will enhance their writing skills, bringing contemporary fiction and poetry– a significant area of our literature which is often overlooked in standard high school canons – into the classroom, and heightening their interest in schoolwork by making writing fun and challenging. Access to the experience and knowledge of MFA writers will also provide high school teachers with chances for professional development and new curriculum ideas. UMass MFA students have been winners of the Distinguished Teaching Award and have been published in numerous national magazines including Story Quarterly, the Gettysburg Review, and Glimmer Train.

Aims and Objectives:

The Writers in Schools (WISE) project goals are to meet the K-12 Enhancement needs as stated by the Plan for Progress Trustees. More specifically, to address the needs of tomorrow’s workforce in the classroom of today, and to create opportunities for professional development for public educators. In addition, the WISE program will expose high school students to creative writing and other art activities, create an interaction between high school students and higher education, and improve student writing skills. As part of the WISE project, MFA graduate students will visit Franklin County public schools to lead workshops in imaginative writing, to discuss current and past trends in literature, to assist teachers with writing curriculum, and to help improve student writing skills.

Specific Objectives:

1. To provide Franklin County high school English teachers with a university resource for innovations in their writing curriculum.
2. To improve student writing and reading skills by making the act of writing fun and challenging, and by providing role models in the form of working writers in the classroom.
3. To provide students with a direct, positive interaction with higher education.
4. To improve student confidence in their writing skills and in their ability to communicate through imaginative forms of expression.

Complementary objectives will be to provide teaching opportunities to student TA’s, potential recruitment of rural high school students to UMass, and the growing development of an arts and literature audience in Franklin County.

Methods and Procedures:

Four MFA creative writing students (two fiction writers, two poets) will be selected by the Director of the MFA program to serve as the visiting writers in the four Franklin County schools. MFA students will be selected on the basis of previous teaching ability, writing experience, and work with secondary education. One student will be assigned to each of the schools.

Work will begin with conferences between writers and high school teachers: identifying the needs of individual classrooms and high school students, and making a plan for the year’s activities. A preliminary seminar will be held with the high school teachers to insure that the work done is properly integrated into the regular curriculum, that individual student and classroom needs will be met, that the work will have an enduring influence, and to assist teachers in their curriculum development and in leading their own writing workshop.

Each writer will make between six and eight trips to the high school during the semester. Activities will include writing workshops (discussion of student work), an analysis of a contemporary stories and poems, and talking about the importance of writing in post-high school life. One field trip, to the University of Massachusetts, will familiarize students with readings by established writers. In the past, the University has held readings by William Gass, Seamus Heaney, and Rick Moody. In addition, John Edgar Wideman and James Tate are among the professors in the creative writing department.Visiting MFA writers will also be available for one-on-one conferencing with individual students, to improve student writing skills and provide guidance for their academic and professional futures. The encounter is pertinent and important because it fosters young writers at a crucial stage in their development and improves student attitudes toward all kinds of writing.

At the end of the semester, the teacher and writer will develop a curriculum to continue the writing workshops and literary discussions.

Specific methods and evaluations:

1. Writers will meet with teachers to help develop lesson plans and strategies for effectively teaching writing. Written evaluations by the participating teachers and school administrators will measure the effectiveness of this resource.
2. The writing skills of participating high school students will be improved by the use of writing workshops, one-on-one conferencing, and exposure to contemporary literature and working writers. Measurement of improved writing skills will come from teacher evaluations of students.
3. Student interaction with higher education will be enhanced through the use of MFA writer visits, a field trip to a literary event, and the actual classroom workshops and discussions. Evaluations written by students will measure the effectiveness of these methods. Mentors will provide an important resource for answers to student questions regarding higher education in general and UMass and the five-college system in particular.
4. Student confidence and ability will be enhanced through the use of the workshops and an end-of-semester publication, which will contain student fiction writings, poetry, and art work. Measurement of the confidence and skill aspect will be communicated through student evaluations.

In addition, valuable teaching and learning experience will be gained by the MFA student writers, many of whom seek to teach at the secondary and post-secondary level.

Qualifications:

The CV’s of Noy Holland and selected MFA creative writing students are attached.

Significance of Project:The Writers in Schools Project is an important example of University of Massachusetts Amherst outreach to secondary schools in Western Massachusetts. By focusing on rural high schools – specifically in the Franklin County area – UMass can apply the knowledge, resources, and expertise of MFA writing students to improve the writing skills and curriculum of a school population that generally lacks other resources for the arts and communication.

After initial funding from the Public Service Endowment Grant, the Writers in Schools Project will continue in the following years through funding from the Massachusetts Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding from these and other sources will be aggressively pursued once the program has begun.

The WISE project represents an innovative use of UMass resources – its graduate students – as a vehicle for rural high school students to improve their academic skills and learn more about higher education. The project is also an important tool for high school teachers trying to bring innovation to their classroom and their own professional development.

Our budget, CV’s and other information follows.

Budget:

The WITS program will require a budget of $10,000 for four MFA writers to visit four rural high schools. The itemization of these funds follows:

Semester salary for four MFA writers: $2000 each = $8000
Director of WITS program salary (this assignment will be given to one of the four MFA writers) = $750
Administration costs: copies, phone, mail, travel expenses (24 to 32 visits), and production of publication (approximately 500 bound, 100 page pubs) = $1250

Future Plans:

Because one of the more important missions of any university is to offer both cultural and educational support to its surrounding communities, the WITS program should become an institution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For this reason, we plan to approach the Dean of Arts and Humanities and the Head of the English Department for alternate and additional funding for the WITS program, based on the success of the initial project. Also, once WITS is established, possibilities open for funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.