Writing for Real

SPI connects young people to real-world audiences by tackling real-world issues. This year, SPI educators are facilitating rigorous literacy projects at fifteen schools, each resulting in digital or print publication. While it’s hard to pick favorites, here are just three recent projects:

Unsung Heroines: Profiles of Exceptional Women: The 11th grade class at an all-girls school in Harlem focused their research skills on their own community, exploring how women have influenced their lives. Along with writing, students engaged in the business of publishing--handling marketing, sales, design, and production to turn their book into a financially sustainable project with deep interdisciplinary roots.

Harlem Ivy After-School Literacy Project: This year, SPI began working with four elementary schools helping students explore their community through writing. Students interview parents, write about family tradition, and write toward the publication of a 4-school anthology of a hundred Harlem-area students.

Speaking Worlds: Working with four GED Plus schools that serve recent immigrants from around the world--Bangladesh, Guatemala, China, Zaire, and more--SPI is helping build a curriculum where students write about personal experiences during their first year in the United States.

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