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MRTF Award Ceremony

6/3/2014

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Last evening I attended the 7th Annual Marci Resnick Teacher Fund Award Ceremony at the Philadelphia Writing Project. After Diane Waff, Director of Philadelphia Writing Project, welcomed everyone, Vanessa Brown, Former Director, gave a brief history of the program.

These MRTF awards were established in memory of Marci Resnick, an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, who also served as director of the Philadelphia Writing Project and associate director of National Writing Project. Four awards of $500 each support creative classroom projects, professional development, and resources needed for innovative classroom practice. In the seven years since its founding, the Marci Resnick Teacher Fund has presented 24 awards to K-8 teachers in Philadelphia schools totaling $14,000. 

Presentations from last year’s recipients wowed us with the amazing work accomplished with their grant funds.
  • Lisa Hantman: Service learning project focusing on littering and clean water advocacy (McCall Elementary)
  • Connie Henkel: Adding a dose of digital to a love of literacy teaching and learning (Gompers Elementary)
  • Delilah Haines: Professional development to honor immigrant cultures (Francis Scott-Key School)
  • Hayley Harrison: Sustain and expand the 8th Grade Debate Club (Huey Elementary)
The evening is always bittersweet. Remembering Marci’s leadership and legacy is both heartening and heartrending. Her commitment to supporting teachers and lobbying for social justice especially in our public schools rang out loud and clear.  Marci’s husband, Steve, and her sons, David and Daniel, presented the awards to this year’s recipients with commentary reminiscent of Marci’s love of literacy learning, cultivating students’ voice, and inviting parental involvement and outside resources into the classroom.

The 2014-2015 Awardees are:

Andrea Gray and Marguerite Holliday: Support for school wide Reading Olympics Team (John H. Taggart Elementary)
Tamar Maddovitz: Collaborative literature inquiry using Eric Carle books & Artist in Residence (Shawmont School)
Angelique Darcy-McGuire: Using eReaders to meet needs of diverse learners (J.H. Brown Elementary)
Jennifer Lyn Woods: Bilingual Lending Library/Chinese-English books (Spring Garden Elementary and Ludlow Elementary School)

We look forward to hearing how these grants will be implemented in the coming year.  Many thanks to all who continue to make the MRTF an exciting spark for staff and students in our Philadelphia schools, especially during this time of drastically shrinking budgets. Dina Portnoy, longtime friend and colleague of Marci, read comments from family members unable to attend. We discovered how Marci’s sister, Debbie, requested donations to the fund in lieu of gifts at her recent retirement.

I enjoyed the wonderful evening with PhilWP family and friends. I intend to pay it forward. Will you join me? Donations can be sent to the Marci Resnick Teacher Fund, c/o Philadelphia Writing Project 4201 Spruce Street, Building 1921, Philadelphia, PA 19104. For more information, call 215-898-1919.

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    Welcome to my blog.  I am using this Weebly Blog to reflect on living and learning in my retirement years.

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