SRU ready to ‘tweetup’ for National Day on Writing

Oct. 18, 2016

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - "What makes Slippery Rock University home?"

That's the question the SRU chapter of the National Council of Teachers of English will be asking - before tweeting students' replies - during its Oct. 20 National Day on Writing program from 12:30-1:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Smith Student Center.

Students will be able to respond to the question via anonymous, handwritten notes that will be taped to a whiteboard and posted on Twitter (@NCTE_SRU) and Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/nctesru/?fref=ts. The tweetup will be streamed live on Twitter and will use the hashtag, #WhyIWrite.

Created by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2009, the National Day on Writing works to:

• Point to the importance of writing instruction and practice at every grade level, for every student and in every subject area from preschool through college;
• Emphasize the lifelong process of learning to write and composing for different audiences, purposes, and occasions; and
• Encourage Americans to write and enjoy and learn from the writing of others

   ELLIS

Marie Ellis, a secondary education major from Transfer and president of the NCTE chapter at SRU, said the group chose the question "What makes Slippery Rock University home?" because it is broad enough to appeal to all students.

"Homecoming is this weekend. We wanted to have a National Day on Writing event that would tie into homecoming and school pride," Ellis said. "We wanted a question that would solicit quick, short and concise responses."

Ellis said NCAT, which has 30 members, hopes to take photos of the whiteboards and students writing replies and post them to Instagram.

As SRU becomes "all-a-twitter" about the event, thousands of educators nationwide will participate in National Day of Writing. According to the NCTE, more than 60,000 tweets were posted last year, while #WhyIWrite trended to the point of earning a mention by Entertainment Weekly magazine.

While the SRU event focuses primarily on students, Ellis said staff, faculty and the public are welcome to stop by and write down what makes SRU home to them.

NCTE, founded in 1911, promotes teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine | 724.738.4854 | gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu