Mission Statement
The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, based at Charles Hart Middle School in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast D.C., unites parents, teachers and professional writers-in-residence to transform the lives of at-risk youth through the joy of self-expression and the power of the written word. Each year, the Workshop serves students in grades 4-12 at Hart Middle, Ballou Senior High, and Simon Elementary Schools with creative writing instruction and cultural arts experiences.
Description
The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop's writers-in-residence work with every English teacher at Hart Middle School to provide intensive in-class instruction to students in all grades. Our writers also offer in-class instruction to classes at Simon Elementary and Ballou Senior High School.
The Workshop also offers three days a week of after-school activities: The Writing Club has developed a city-wide reputation for excellence, consistently fielding award winners in local and national contests.
Our Literary Magazine Program at Hart publishes the nation's first inner-city public middle school literary magazine, hArtworks. Ballou publishes "Voice of the Knight" and Simon publishes "Simon Says."
The Drama Program produces an original student play each year, based on a work of Classical Greek theater.
Our Reading Resource Center allows students to choose from a lending library of over 1,000 books, and provides each user with one volume to keep at the end of the school year.
We also provide a Teaching Tolerance Through Literature curriculum to 150 students each year, combining two trips to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with an intensive study of period literature, allowing students to respond creatively to the ethical issues raised.
