Teacher fund aids fellow educators

To the editors:

In May of 2007, Marci Resnick passed away. She was a wonderful elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, a union activist, a former director of the Philadelphia Writing Project, and a leader in the National Writing Project. After her death, the Marci Resnick Teacher Fund was established. Gifts to this fund make it possible to recognize her contributions to her fellow teachers and to ensure her continuing legacy.

At the Philadelphia Writing Project, we have established a lending library of children’s and adolescent literature from the many texts Marci collected. Last June, we presented four Philadelphia teachers with $500 awards:

• Trina Allen, seventh and eighth grade teacher, for materials to publish “memory books” for students;
• Loretta Solomon, K-8 librarian and literacy teacher, for texts for literature circles;
• Karel Kilimnik, kindergarten teacher, for a nature center in the school’s unused courtyard and for inquiry-based science lessons;
• Janice Voorhees, fifth grade teacher, for a collaborative writing project with fifth and first graders.
   

We will continue to support the commitments and especially the teachers and students that Marci so valued. You can learn more about the fund by calling 215-898-1919 or by visiting www.marciresnick.blogspot.com.

Dina H. Portnoy

The writer is director of the Graduate School of Education/Teach for America Urban Educator Program at the University of Pennsylvania.