Building a More Perfect Union: Oklahoma Writing Project Awarded Pandemic Recovery Grant
Grant funded by the National Writing Project as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grantmaking program.
Oklahoma Writing Project announces the awarding of a grant through the National Writing Project’s Building a More Perfect Union, a grant program for humanities organizations across the United States to assist in recovering from interruptions to operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grantmaking for Organizations at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Building a More Perfect Union program funds organizations to develop programming in anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Engaging Humanities Through the Art is the grant created by OWP to benefit Oklahomans. This grant is a partnership with the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center located in Duncan, Oklahoma. It features the Garis Gallery of the American West and contemporary Indigenous art. Students will respond to art and history using various literacy structures such as poetry, narrative, essays. This grant will increase the visibility of these collections by allowing more students to visit the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. The grant will provide for more instructors, entrance fees, supplies and training opportunities for teachers on how to use this center to meet state teaching standards.
The awarded projects, selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed application process, are located at local, regional, or cross-regional organizations such as nonprofits, museums, libraries and archives, historic sites, and public-facing humanities centers at colleges and universities across the country. This funding will help such entities restore programming post-pandemic and to engage or deepen collaborations with stakeholders and communities that will expand their reach.
“Each project contributes to a shared national conversation in important ways.” said Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director of the National Writing Project. “Building a More Perfect Union recognizes the unique role that local, regional, and cross-regional humanities organizations play in understanding and making visible fuller stories of our national experience.”
Awardees plan to “build a more perfect union” through expanding access and raising the visibility of lesser known stories and histories in regions and communities, engaging communities through participatory public humanities events and opportunities, and developing institutes and curriculum with teachers and students to support K12 classrooms.
“The National Endowment for the Humanities is grateful to the National Writing Project for administering American Rescue Plan funding to help local and regional humanities organizations recover from the pandemic,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “These ARP awards will allow archives, libraries, museums, historic sites, and other institutions around the country to restore and expand public programs that preserve and share the stories of the communities they serve.”
About National Writing Project:
Through its mission, the National Writing Project (NWP) focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to help youth become successful writers and learners. NWP supports a network of local Writing Project sites, located on over 170 university and college campuses, to provide high-quality professional development in schools, universities, libraries, museums, and after-school programs. Through its many successful programs and partnerships, the organization reaches 6 million Pre-K through college-age students in over 2,000 school districts annually and prepares 2,500 new teacher-leaders each year. NWP envisions a future where every person is an accomplished writer, engaged learner, and active participant in a digital, interconnected world.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities:
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.
Grant funded by the National Writing Project as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grantmaking program.
Oklahoma Writing Project announces the awarding of a grant through the National Writing Project’s Building a More Perfect Union, a grant program for humanities organizations across the United States to assist in recovering from interruptions to operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grantmaking for Organizations at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Building a More Perfect Union program funds organizations to develop programming in anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Engaging Humanities Through the Art is the grant created by OWP to benefit Oklahomans. This grant is a partnership with the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center located in Duncan, Oklahoma. It features the Garis Gallery of the American West and contemporary Indigenous art. Students will respond to art and history using various literacy structures such as poetry, narrative, essays. This grant will increase the visibility of these collections by allowing more students to visit the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. The grant will provide for more instructors, entrance fees, supplies and training opportunities for teachers on how to use this center to meet state teaching standards.
The awarded projects, selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed application process, are located at local, regional, or cross-regional organizations such as nonprofits, museums, libraries and archives, historic sites, and public-facing humanities centers at colleges and universities across the country. This funding will help such entities restore programming post-pandemic and to engage or deepen collaborations with stakeholders and communities that will expand their reach.
“Each project contributes to a shared national conversation in important ways.” said Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director of the National Writing Project. “Building a More Perfect Union recognizes the unique role that local, regional, and cross-regional humanities organizations play in understanding and making visible fuller stories of our national experience.”
Awardees plan to “build a more perfect union” through expanding access and raising the visibility of lesser known stories and histories in regions and communities, engaging communities through participatory public humanities events and opportunities, and developing institutes and curriculum with teachers and students to support K12 classrooms.
“The National Endowment for the Humanities is grateful to the National Writing Project for administering American Rescue Plan funding to help local and regional humanities organizations recover from the pandemic,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “These ARP awards will allow archives, libraries, museums, historic sites, and other institutions around the country to restore and expand public programs that preserve and share the stories of the communities they serve.”
About National Writing Project:
Through its mission, the National Writing Project (NWP) focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to help youth become successful writers and learners. NWP supports a network of local Writing Project sites, located on over 170 university and college campuses, to provide high-quality professional development in schools, universities, libraries, museums, and after-school programs. Through its many successful programs and partnerships, the organization reaches 6 million Pre-K through college-age students in over 2,000 school districts annually and prepares 2,500 new teacher-leaders each year. NWP envisions a future where every person is an accomplished writer, engaged learner, and active participant in a digital, interconnected world.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities:
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.
Free Professional Development Opportunity Bringing OAS Standards to LIFE
Saturday, April 30, 2022
11:30 am -1:00 pm
Online Virtual Session Using Zoom
*Link will be sent to those who are registered
Multimodal texts - Use image, sound, or gesture in addition to words - have become increasingly common in and outside of schools. Come to this session, to learn about how to incorporate multimodality across the writing process in ways that engage students and promote creative approaches to composition. Come be a part of this Oklahoma Writing Project Event connecting teachers from all over the state! Please join Brady Nash from University of Texas as he shares about Multimodal Texts in today's classrooms.
Register Below: Save your seat today!
Click Here - Using Multimodal Texts OWP Session
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Write to Win Contest Winners
(Click below to see all the winners)

2022_winner_list.pdf | |
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The 2021 Newman Prize for English Jueju
If you like word games, poetry, or both, try your hand at this year’s Newman Prize for English Jueju, sponsored by the Institute for US-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma. This year there will be a $500 prize for the best English Jueju in four categories (Elementary, Middle, High School, adult/college, as well as the Best English Jueju from other US states and the UK! There is only one catch — the winning English poem must follow the rules of Classical Chinese Poetry. Learn the rules, as well as access learning videos, games, word lists and other resources at link.ou.edu/english-jueju-resources.
Sign up for Teacher Training Sessions and receive Professional Development Certificates every Saturday in February!
https://oklahoma.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkd-irqj8jHtIzPGhkjdL2CVC56YKoJ38r
Submit your poem by March 5, 2021 at newmanpoetryaward@ou.edu.
Winner will be invited to an online award ceremony held in conjunction with the 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature ceremony celebrating the Chinese novelist Yan Lianke on March 18th.
For more information, visit link.ou.edu/english-jueju
If you like word games, poetry, or both, try your hand at this year’s Newman Prize for English Jueju, sponsored by the Institute for US-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma. This year there will be a $500 prize for the best English Jueju in four categories (Elementary, Middle, High School, adult/college, as well as the Best English Jueju from other US states and the UK! There is only one catch — the winning English poem must follow the rules of Classical Chinese Poetry. Learn the rules, as well as access learning videos, games, word lists and other resources at link.ou.edu/english-jueju-resources.
Sign up for Teacher Training Sessions and receive Professional Development Certificates every Saturday in February!
https://oklahoma.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkd-irqj8jHtIzPGhkjdL2CVC56YKoJ38r
Submit your poem by March 5, 2021 at newmanpoetryaward@ou.edu.
Winner will be invited to an online award ceremony held in conjunction with the 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature ceremony celebrating the Chinese novelist Yan Lianke on March 18th.
For more information, visit link.ou.edu/english-jueju
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The Teaching Tolerance website, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, provides resources for kindergarten through high school teachers and students.
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Where does OKWP work?
The Oklahoma Writing Project has provided professional development recently in all of the counties above that have been darkened.
Is OKWP effective?
Deb Wade is Director of Elementary Language Arts Education for Oklahoma and a graduate and former graduate and director of OKWP!
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Brooke Meiller (left) is Executive Director of School Support & Improvement for Oklahoma and a graduate of OK Writing Institute. Jason Stephenson (right) is Director of Secondary Language Arts Education for Oklahoma and former graduate and director of OKWP!
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Skye Spears (middle), Teacher of the Year, Eisenhower Elementary School (Norman) and former graduate of OKWP!
Ray Robinson (left), Teacher of the Year, Highland West Junior High School (Moore Schools) and former graduate of OKWP!
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Sandi Hebert, Teacher of the Year, Whitebead Public Schools, former graduate of OKWP and new co-director of OKWP!
Joshua Flores, former Director of Secondary Language Arts Education for Oklahoma.
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To learn more about and register for upcoming events, visit our Eventbrite page!
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