The Classroom Storytelling Project combines early literacy research with practice through classroom mentoring and seminar discussions in a yearlong training program in which
• Teachers implement strategies that help young children extend their vocabularies, develop print awareness, cultivate oral expression and develop an understanding of narrative form through the dictation and dramatization of their own stories;
• Teachers address the role of language acquisition and the cultural dynamics of teacher-student relationships as critical factors
in children’s learning to read and write;
• Teachers learn to create classrooms where children are eager to read and write through the uses of storytelling and other research-based early literacy activities.
Teachers begin the program by attending the Summer Institute on Reading, Writing, and Cultural Connections (a week-long program on the Rice University Campus, included in the fee) followed by monthly seminars. Additionally, an experienced Mentor Teacher visits each teacher's classroom to provide support and share personal discoveries about the easiest ways to implement these new early literacy practices. Click here for an application.
The deadline to apply for the annual Vivian Gussin Paley Scholarship is August 1. Each year at least one teacher is chosen to participate in the year-long program through a decision by an independent committee based on an application and interview.
Click here for the application.
