I had the honor this weekend to be given the Patricia Hunter Award for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. The award is named after one of our site’s founders, and although Pat Hunter passed away before I became part of our network, her spirit remains infused in our site today.

Pat Hunter nurtured teacher leaders and saw things in people that they may not have seen in themselves. She was a mentor and a leader. In a monograph book project that I worked on for a few years for the National Writing Project about the history and inquiry done at our WMWP site, Pat Hunter’s name and legacy came through loud and clear in many of the stories that formed the center of our work.

I am greatly honored, therefore, to have been this year’s recipient of this award and follow in the footsteps of many past recipients whose teaching and leadership I greatly admire. I also took the time during my acceptance to encourage teachers to continue, or begin to, explore multi-modal composition with their students and to use technology as a means for composition in the classroom. I guess I couldn’t miss a chance to stand on the pedestal for a second or two.

Peace (in humility),
Kevin