Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 6/16/97
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  46


Editors: Photo accompanies release -- Please note local interest
TEACHERS PLANNING "RURAL VOICES, COUNTRY SCHOOLS" PRESENTATION
     HAMMOND -- Seven teachers from Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, St. Helena and
Washington Parishes will travel to California, July 17-24, to participate in the first  meeting of
"Rural Voices, Country School," a  national program to improve the teaching of writing.
     The teachers were selected to participate in the National Writing Project program by
Southeastern Louisiana University's Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project. SLWP, in turn, was
among six National Writing Project affiliates chosen to participate in Rural Voices, Country
Schools.
     The Rural Voices, Country Schools program aims to build a network of "rural teacher
researchers" who will research, document and share good teaching practices found in rural areas.
For the next three years, the Louisiana team will work with colleagues from Arizona, Michigan,
Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Washington. Southeastern English professor Susan Wren, co-
director of the SLWP, is site coordinator for "Rural Voices, Country Schools" and will
accompany the teachers to California. Her SLWP co-director, Richard Louth, is site director.
     Wren said teachers at the California session, the first of three yearly "institutes," will
introduce themselves and their area to their peers through a special presentation, then get down to
the work of planning their agenda for "Rural Voices, Country Schools." Hammond's Walmart
store donated 14 disposable cameras and film processing costs to help the teachers put their
presentation together, Wren said. 
     Each of the six Rural Voices, Country Schools teams has 14 "teacher consultants,"
                                 (MORE) 
RURAL VOICES, COUNTRY SCHOOLS -- ADD ONE

divided into "first and second strings," said Wren. Teachers will research and document "what
goes on in the classroom," in order to isolate and share the best teaching practices. 
     The first string, which makes a three-year commitment to the project and will attend the
yearly institutes, includes Lynne Vance, Loranger Middle School; Percy T. McDonald, St.
Helena Central High (Greensburg); Mary Beth Crovetto, Ponchatoula High; Linda Green,
William Pitcher Junior High (Covington); Leslie Gilliland, Clearwood Junior High (Slidell);
Christa B. Allan, Fountainbleau High (Mandeville) and Barbara Chitwood, Franklinton High.
     "Second string" participants, who will partner and support the first string, are Luora
Ficklin, Albany Middle School; Beth Skipper, SLU Lab School; Beth Calloway and Joan
Anderson, SLU English Department; Gerri Sommers, William Pitcher Junior High; Toni
Tageant, Franklinton High, and Ida James E.E. Lyons Elementary (Covington).
                                 - SLU -
         This press release is available on the World Wide Web:
          www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsm97.htm