An affiliate of the National Writing Project (nwp.org), the Oklahoma Writing Project has provided the best in professional development for tens of thousands of teachers from all corners of Oklahoma for over forty years. "Writing in its many forms is the signature means of communication in the 21st century" (vision statement from the National Writing Project). Oklahoma Writing Project works to help teachers become better writers and better teachers of writing. Oklahoma Writing Project works to improve writing, thinking, and creativity for all learners.
Crag Hill
Co-director of the Oklahoma Writing Project, crag.a.hill@ou.edu Bio: Crag Hill began teaching in the 1990s in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was fortunate, after his second year of teaching English at Berkeley High School, to attend the Bay Area Writing Project Summer Institute. Like thousands of other teachers before and after him, that summer transformed his teaching career. Hill taught high school English for a total of 18 years in California and Idaho. As an NCTE affiliate leader of the Northwest Council of Teachers of English, he collaborated with the Inland Northwest Writing Project over a ten-year span on annual conferences and other regional professional development for teachers by teachers, work which continued to inform and energize his approaches to learning and teaching.After completing a PhD at the University of Idaho, he taught at Washington State University before taking a position at the University of Oklahoma. A career-long believer in teachers teaching teachers, he is excited to be working with teachers throughout Oklahoma on transforming their writing pedagogy as well as their own practices and identities as writers. |
Audra Plummer
Co-director of the Oklahoma Writing Project, owpcodirector@yahoo.com Bio: Audra Plummer has completed over 20 years in education and working with Oklahoma students. Throughout her career she has taught first, second, fourth and fifth grades. She received her master’s degree in Academic Curriculum and Instructional Leadership with an emphasis in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma. She received National Board Certification in Middle Childhood Generalist in 2004. She accumulated numerous honors throughout her teaching career. She was recognized as a Norman Public School Teacher of the Year Top Five Finalist after her third year of teacher as well as being award the Outstanding Teacher Award sponsored by Lakeshore Learning. Audra has been a finalist for the National “I Teach 2nd” Second Grade Teacher of the Year and received the University of Oklahoma College of Education “Young Educator” Award in 2004. Audra has written grants to fund over $10,000 work of manipulatives, books and computer software for her students. In 2018, Goodnight Norman, a children’s book she co-authored, was published with all proceeds benefiting students in Norman Public Schools. Throughout her years of teaching, Audra has acquired over one thousand hours of professional development. She began making professional presentations in 1994 and since that time has presented all over Oklahoma to over 2,500 fellow educators. Audra attended the Oklahoma Writing Project in 1999. Her leadership role in OWP began with being a member of the OKWP Board and has expanded to serving on various committees. She has served as an OKWP Summer Institute mentor for three years. In 2009, Audra began serving at the OKWP Co-Director of Inservice and works to provide quality professional development opportunities to Oklahoma teachers. |
Melissa Wicker
Assistant and OKWP Teacher-Leader mwicker@ou.edu Bio: Melissa taught 6th through 8th grade English/Language arts for eight years in Maryland, Oklahoma City, and Norman before she became a graduate assistant with the Oklahoma Writing Project in the fall of 2016. Melissa recently graduated with her doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum. Her decision to pursue a doctoral degree was inspired, in part, by her participation in the 2015 Summer Institute. The focus of her dissertation, Native American Youth Exploring and Expressing Who They Are, are the cultural identities that Native American adolescents express through digital storytelling videos. When not working, writing, and studying, Melissa enjoys reading and watching movies and documentaries. |