Growing Great Writers is an after-school partnership that leads creative writing clubs for students in grades 3 and up. At Growing Great Writers, we believe that teaching literacy without teaching literature and a love of language is like taking vitamin pills instead of eating delicious, healthy food. By literature, we don’t just mean the classics you read in high school: we mean the read-aloud books of Mo Willems, Maurice Sendak, Virginia Hamilton, and Grace Lin; we mean the chapter book series elementary school kids sometimes gobble for breakfast; we mean comics and Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and the work of living novelists, poets, and memoirists.
Our teaching artists use techniques that support English/Language Arts classroom skills while emphasizing that reading and writing can be joyful, meaningful activities that build confidence. Taught with love and attention, we believe great readers and writers become great citizens.
Growing Great Writers is supported in part by a generous award from Holman Community Grants.
“Serving in GGW offers me the opportunity to use the arts I value and practice in a more informal, and arguably “realer” setting. Especially serving youth who’ve already spent all day in school, I’ve come to recognize that my role isn’t as one sided as being a “writing teacher”. When we teach creative writing, we are developing and encouraging our students in literacy. But perhaps more crucially, we are upholding the artistic and expressive capacity in youth.”
— Philip DiCicco, 2018-19, 19-20 Teaching Artist
“Being a part of Growing Great Writers has been one of the highlights of my time at Rutgers-Camden. Watching the kids grow as writers, express themselves, and have fun while writing was often the best part of my entire week. While we’ve transitioned to offering virtual homework help due to the unique needs of the school during the pandemic, I’ve continued to feel really lucky to be a part of this program and to help the school. Growing Great Writers has offered me the opportunity to feel like a part of the Camden community and to share my love of writing with some great kids, who I truly believe are the next generation of great writers.”
— Mary Sico, 2019-20, 20-21 Teaching Artist
“I like having freedom to write whatever I want and also it’s fun. It can also help your academic writing. I used to write so bland in my stories, now my stories are way better and more entertaining because of writing in my own free time.”
— Milae, 2024 Growing Great Writers participant
Current Opportunities For Club Facilitators
We’re hiring 4 Club Facilitators for Fall 2024! Club Facilitators must be enrolled as graduate students at Rutgers-Camden. Learn more and apply here by July 31.
What We Do
We partner with Camden schools and community centers to deliver informal club sessions centered on writing expressively. Teaching artists introduce students to age-appropriate and culturally resonant material, invite students to complete writing prompts or play storytelling games, and help students build a body of work they’re proud of over the course of a few months or a year. We want students to celebrate their voices and communities as important sources of language and story.
Our current partners include The Neighborhood Center and LEAP Academy.
We’re always interested in the possibility of new partnerships! Contact us if you are an out-of-school-time leader interested in working together.
Who We Are
Fall 2024 Teaching Artists
Hi! My name is Lindsey Rodzon. I am a first year graduate student at Rutgers University Camden. I am studying criminal justice in hopes of becoming an advocate for the people struggling to find a voice. During my free time, I love playing and watching sports as well as going to the beach. If I am not at school or work, you can probably find me hanging out with my black lab named Spencer!
Moloud Soleimani is a second-year PhD student in Childhood Studies at Rutgers–Camden. With several years of experience as a psychoanalyst and creative writing teacher in Iran, she is passionate about using an interdisciplinary approach. She incorporates mediums like painting, photography, and hands-on activities such as making papier-mâché or playing the ukulele. She believes these methods empower us when faced with a blank page, inviting us to express ourselves!