Our Community
Paul Allison
Technology Liaison, NYCWP
PAUL ALLISON has been teaching and learning ever since he graduated from Hunter College, CUNY in 1983. After a few years in the desert (Utah), and a couple of years at the High School of Art and Design, NYC, he had a wonderful dozen years at University Heights Secondary School, Bronx, NY, where he learned that doing school better didn’t have to be the same-old, with more effort. Paul was a participant in the NYCWP’s Summer Invitational in 1985, and he has worked for the NYCWP in various ways ever since. Paul is the technology liaison for the NYC for the National Writing Project. He currently teaches English at the Bronx Academy Senior High.
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Elaine Avidon
Former Director, NYCWP
In 1969, after seven years teaching junior high school social studies, I became faculty in the S.E.E.K. Program at Lehman College. Nine years later the New York City Writing Project opened its doors at Lehman down the hall from my office. Perfect! In 1980 Project Directors Perl & Sterling invited me to work with them, and eventually I became an associate and then a full director. In 1998 several Writing Project teachers and I started The Elementary Teachers Network (ETN), a program that connects literacy learning with the work of the hands. My relationship with the NYCWP led to three of the most gratifying aspects of my professional life – working with students and faculty at the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking; teaching pre-service education students as full-time faculty in Lehman’s Department of Early Childhood and Childhood Education; and working with classroom teachers and children through ETN. In 2006 I retired as Lehman faculty but continue to do what I love. These days I co-coordinate Lehman’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative and direct ETN. I get to work with faculty through WAC and in schools through ETN. But best has been working with sixteen NYCWP teacher consultants writing about their work in the schools. Our book, Stories of Impact: The On-Site Work of the New York City Writing Project Teacher Consultants will be published by the NWP in fall 2012.
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Joe Bellacero
Associate Director, NYCWP
Over the course of my four decades of teaching in New York City there have been 6,000 days when it was a joy to enter the classroom. I have relished at least 30,000 classes, working and learning with young people who wanted the same things all young people want—to have fun, experiment, discover themselves, push their boundaries, escape the embarrassment of ignorance, be respected, challenged, disciplined and loved.
Teaching has been an adventure, with all that the word implies: uncertainty, discovery, sudden threat, startling beauty, unexpected twists and the possibility that there wouldn’t be a happy ending. It also implies that the adventurer will need to learn from more experienced guides, will have to innovate on the fly, and, every single day, will be made very aware of being alive. What could be better than that?
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Anne Campos
Associate Director, Institute for Literacy Studies
As a lifelong student of history, 19th century American and French culture in particular, I have always been interested in social phenomena—public/private, local, national, and international. My fascination with history informs my work as an administrator, which requires a willingness to face complexity, examine assumptions, see things in relationships and contexts, and engage with and benefit from others’ perspectives.
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Tricia Clarke
Teacher Consultant
TRICIA CLARKE’s early literary nourishment inspired her to pursue a career where writing and reading would be her daily bread. After graduating from the Teaching of English program at Teachers College Columbia University, her first teaching opportunity was 8th Grade English Language Arts in Bronx, NY, specifically, Close Reading, Writing, and Non Fiction Literature & Composition. Currently, as a High School Reading and Writing Teacher, she works with teachers and students, 9th – 11th grades, and across disciplines on content-area literacy. Also teaching students of mixed-grade levels in a Journalism elective, allows her to engage students in media literacy. Tricia’s participation as a Fellow in the New York City Writing Project’s 2011 Summer Invitational recalibrated her passion for writing, reading, and teaching.
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Cecilia M. Espinosa, PhD
Associate Professor, Early Childhood/Childhood
Lehman College/CUNY
Cecilia M. Espinosa was born in Ecuador, South America. She worked for many years as a bilingual/multiage (K-2nd) classroom teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. During her years as a classroom teacher she wrote for publication about her classroom work and directed a Dual Language Program at the same elementary school. As a college professor, Cecilia has continued to pursue her deep interest in studying children’s biliteracy(ies) development. In her research and teaching she has drawn from her deep knowledge and experiences with Descriptive Processes. Within the NYCWP, Cecilia has participated, coached, and co-facilitated the Summer Invitational. She has co-facilitated the Elementary Leadership Program for 2 years.
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Diane Giorgi
On-site Teacher Consultant
A long-time member of the NYCWP, DIANE GIORGI currently consults at two schools for new immigrants, Newcomers HS and Pan American International HS. Prior to joining the project, she taught secondary level social studies. Diane also participates National Writing Project programs, including the National Reading Initiative, the Analytic Writing Continuum Assessment System, and, at present, the Literacy in the Common Core Initiative.
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Erick Gordon
Director, NYCWP
ERICK GORDON is the director of the New York City Writing Project and the founder of Student Press Initiative. He comes from a background in small press publication that led to classroom teaching, first in Northern California and then New York City. For eight years he worked as a full-time instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and now he brings his passion for teaching writing and project-based learning to the NYCWP.
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Noah Gordon
Technology Advisor
Noah Gordon currently teaches 10th grade ELA at New Heights Academy in Manhattan. He supports web development and communication strategies at the NYCWP.
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Sara Grundman
Teacher Consultant
SARA GRUNDMAN is one of the co-creators of the NYCWP summer “Writer’s on Stage” program for youth and is currently an English teacher at the New York City Lab High School. Previously, she performed with independent choreographers and modern dance companies including DanceArt Hong Kong and the Mimi Garrard Dance Company. As a teacher, she is interested in the intersection of the arts and education, whether it is in the classroom or as a choreographer and movement facilitator for the school’s Lab Theatre Company. She currently facilitates a dance course in which students develop their own choreography. She has participated in the Lincoln Center Institute National Educator Workshop (2007), Facing History/Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Workshop (2008), and the NYCWP Spring Satellite Institute (2010). She has also worked with educators and artists as the group leader at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange’s Young Artist Summer Program.
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Lauren Gunn
Teacher Consultant
LAUREN GUNN teaches high school English and special education. As poet and athlete, Gunn turns teaching into a sport and art. She completed her undergraduate studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, where she received a Bachelor’s of Science in literature. She continued her graduate studies at Brooklyn College, NY, where she earned a Master’s of Science in education. Gunn was a Fellow in the 2011 Summer Invitational.
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Jane Higgins
Associate Director, NYCWP
In 1993, Jane was one of eight founding faculty members at the High School for Leadership and Public Service in lower Manhattan, part of an early effort to create new, small learning communities in New York City. In addition to her work as an English teacher, she soon built a college advising and counseling program at the school, to help parents and students navigate the confusing roads that lead to college and career. In 2004, Jane left the High School for Leadership and Public Service to work with K12 Learning Services to provide district-wide professional development and curriculum for school districts in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Manatee, FL, Chicago and New York City. Most recently, Jane joined the City University of New York at Lehman College to direct their Early College Initiative program in the Bronx.
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Lona Jack-Vilmar
On-site Teacher Consultant
LONA JACK-VILMAR is a Teacher-Consultant with The New York City Writing Project and has worked as an urban educator and literacy worker for more than two decades. Prior to working in K-12 education she taught ESL to adults, directed an adult learning center and coordinated and designed ESL professional development activities for adult educators working in community-based organizations. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon where she worked for as community development worker and then as a Volunteer Leader for the Community Development Program. Lona has a wide variety of interests but is particularly passionate about fiction writing, learning traditional dances of Africa and the African Diaspora, African cinema, travel and language study.
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Christy Kingham
Teacher Consultant
CHRISTY KINGHAM has been a middle and high school English teacher for the past seven years. She is currently at The Young Womens’ Leadership School in Astoria teaching 6th grade Humanities and a High School elective on The History of Hip Hop. Christy spent her first seven years teaching in Bedford, N.Y at Fox Lane Middle School before moving her career to NYC. Christy graduated from Georgetown with a B.A in English Literature and Teachers’ College with an MA in the Teaching of English. . In the summer on 2011, Christy was a Fellow with the NYCWP and is currently teaching graduate school courses for Drexel University’s online masters program.
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Alison Koffler-Wise
On-site Teacher Consultant
An on-site teacher-consultant with the NYC Writing Project since 2006, ALISON KOFFLER-WISE began her career with the NYC Department of Education as a creative writing teacher for the Waterways Project and taught for many years at Public School Repertory Company, an alternative high school in Manhattan. A working poet as well as a teacher, she lives to share her love of words and a belief in their transformative power.
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Marcelle Mentor
Teacher Consultant
I am a doctoral student in the Teaching of English program at Teachers College and have 13 years of teaching High School English in my home country of South Africa. I have worked on an Oral History Project with Teachers College’s Student Press Initiative (SPI) for the last three years. I love teaching English in all its forms, and so much more love serving teachers and enabling them to make better practice of their own teaching. The NYCWP fellowship has enhanced my own writing and my understanding of how to teach teachers to teach better writers in their classroom.
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Ed Osterman
On-site Teacher Consultant
ED OSTERMAN worked for over 30 years in New York City public schools as a high school English teacher and as an on-site teacher-consultant for teachers across the curriculum in both large and small high schools. He taught English at James Monroe HS in the Bronx and Newtown HS in Queens. He has been Associate Director and a founding member of the New York City Writing Project (NYCWP) at Lehman College (CUNY). Ed served as editor of the NYCWP newsletter for ten years and was also the facilitator of an online forum for the NYCWP membership for a decade. Recently retired, Ed now works part-time as a literacy coach at Bronx International HS and ELLIS Preparatory Academy. The National Writing Project recently published his monograph about the NYCWP’s model of on-site professional development. Ed is also a life-long movie-buff, Sondheim fanatic, and Yankee fan.
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Sondra Perl
Founder, NYCWP
Sondra Perl is a professor of English at Lehman College and the Graduate Center of CUNY. She co-founded the New York City Writing Project with Richard Sterling in 1978.
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Grace Raffaele
On-site Teacher Consultant
‘Curiouser and curiouser’ is where I would like to stay as a teacher and learner. Because following the rabbit down the rabbit hole can only lead to asking more questions and pursuing more learning in both the real and the imaginary worlds we travel in.”
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Susannah Thompson
On-site Teacher Consultant
From the spring of 1987, when SUSANNAH THOMPSON walked into the library of a Manhattan intermediate school to join a group of teachers who were talking passionately about reading, writing, and teaching, she has been involved in the New York City Writing Project. A former middle and high school English teacher, Susannah has been a Teacher-Consultant for the Project since 1990, consulting this year in EBC Bushwick HS for Public Service, Bushwick Leaders HS, Sunset Park HS, and the Academy of Urban Planning. Concurrently, she teaches composition and literature courses at Lehman College, where she is in her nineteenth year of being inspired by student readers and writers.
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Taina Torres
Teacher Consultant
After serving as an educator with the Peace Corps in Ukraine, I continued my work in education directing a literacy program for immigrants in Chicago. The Peace Corps Fellows program brought me to Teachers College, Columbia University, and since then I have been teaching high school English in the Bronx. Teaching, for me, is a lifestyle. It is a way of being wide awake and open to the world around you while in and outside of the classroom.
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Marcie Wolfe
Executive Director, Institute for Literacy Studies
A proud participant in the NYCWP’s first summer institute in 1978, I currently direct the Institute for Literacy Studies–the NYCWP’s home at Lehman College, and co-coordinate Lehman’s Writing Across the Curriculum program, working with faculty across all disciplines on ways to integrate and improve student writing in their courses. I have taught high school English, freshman composition, adult-degree courses in autobiography, masters courses in composition and rhetoric, and tutored adults in writing for two years at the New York Public Library Centers for Reading and Writing. Over a long career involving dozens of projects related to literacy education, two of my favorite projects have been the work I co-led for sites of the Centers for Employment Training in California and Looking Both Ways, a high school/college collaborative program sponsored by CUNY. Both of these initiatives involved bringing the work of the New York City Writing Project into new settings and reimagining it through the perspectives of others. I’ve written some stuff, served as a consultant to some foundations and organizations, do some work nationally for the National Writing Project, and have led hundreds of workshops on the teaching of writing. Hundreds.
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