University of Georgia professors Stephanie Jones and Hilary Hughes are co-directors of the Red Clay Writing Project, which is housed at UGA and seeks to create powerful writing communities for teachers. Dylan Brody is a Red Clay Scholar and doctoral student in educational theory and practice.
The three write today about the importance of writing and the impact of the Red Clay project in Georgia over two decades.
By Stephanie Jones, Hilary Hughes and Dylan Brody
The Red Clay Writing Project began in 2003 as a local site of the National Writing Project under the leadership of retired UGA professor JoBeth Allen and Bob Fecho, a retired UGA professor and current professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. The National Writing Project has been thriving for 50 years, providing the most powerful, transformative, and sustained professional education network for pre-K-12 and university teachers, youth workers and community educators in the United States.
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Every January, we welcome a new group of fellows who will be with us for the year, including an intensive two weeks in the summer in Athens. The 15 Red Clay Fellows for 2023 are early childhood educators, high school English teachers, middle school English language arts teachers, elementary school teachers, university educators and everything in between. In a time of heightened political polarization around education, the fellows find Red Clay to be a nurturing refuge, a supportive and networked community, a place to try out new things and analyze existing things, a space to spark and reinvigorate a creative part of their lives that fills their spirits.
“Life changing” is a phrase we hear every year.
That might sound like hyperbole, but we don’t shy away from using it because we know it’s true. If you are a skeptic, join us, we welcome you into this unique community and will celebrate what it does for you.
As one fellow said, “Red Clay changed the way I see the classroom and the world.” Another said, “it sounded kind of dumb at first, (working on yourself as a writer),” but she is different from the experience, changed. In the best way possible.
We are so privileged to witness the profound shifts in teachers’ confidence and creativity every year. Red Clay isn’t a “class” or a “professional learning.” It is an immersive experience in the kind of learning community in which we can all thrive and celebrate others’ thriving.
An opportunity to celebrate the humans behind the teaching pedagogy, cultivating more intentional pedagogy that is committed to the well-being of students and themselves. The connections that fellows make with one another are inspiring; the kinds of connections we all wish that all students and teachers could experience in their educational journeys.
We practice what we preach, and that is the fundamental commitment that makes Red Clay so unique.
If you are an administrator looking for meaningful experiences for your teachers, contact us at Red Clay.
If you are an educator in public schools, private schools, in the arts, in the community, or anywhere else and you’re looking for a community to connect with and grow in, contact us at Red Clay.
If you are someone who wants children and youth to experience education as something they can connect with in meaningful ways, and teachers who make those connections possible, contact us at Red Clay.
National Writing Project teachers tend to stay in education longer, feel more positive about their students and their profession in general and provide important grassroots leadership and support in their schools and communities. We’ve witnessed nearly 400 teachers in the immersive experience of being a Red Clay Writing Project Fellow over the last two decades, and those teachers are now longtime veterans, beloved and celebrated classroom teachers, admired media specialists, inspiring instructional coaches and administrators, community-based mentors, university professors, art teachers, music teachers, coaches, professional writers, education consultants, nonprofit leaders and published academics.
As we’ve been growing good things in Red Clay for 20 years, we know a thing or two about how to cultivate thriving writers, thinkers, and doers. It’s not hyperbole to say Red Clay changes one’s life, and it’s not hyperbole to say that our country’s future depends on a powerfully connected network of educators, students, and communities who care deeply about children and youth.
We’re looking forward to 20 more years of making hyperbole reality.
