Research and Design of a Youth Writing Camp at Taylor University: WORDshop 2018

Indianapolis, IN

Writing is not only a means of communicating but a means to process ideas and make meaning of the world around us. Providing students the opportunity to engage as writers is important to their learning experience, and training pre-service teachers to be better prepared to teach writing is also needed. Thus, the intent of this research was to discover the best means of doing both in a summer writing program. Our research group focused on the purpose and design of a summer writing program at our university. We questioned who would benefit from a program, different design options (length of week and day as well as curriculum), and how to implement such a program. Along with theoretical and pedagogical study of writing, this research included mapping area summer activities, interviewing current camp directors/coordinators, and reviewing current camp programs and curriculum online. The culminating goal was to write a research grant to fund the first camp to be held Summer 2018.