Going Places: Paragraph to Essay
Linda Denstaedt, National Board Certified Teacher, retired in 2002 after teaching Language Arts at Clarkston Community Schools since 1968. She has taught and has facilitated staff development on writing and reading in classrooms K-12. She has served as Title I Reading Coordinator, Language Arts and Reading Coordinator K-12 and Director of Writing K-12. She designed and implemented the Communication Arts Center at Clarkston High School, a writing center to develop student writers and staff expertise in literacy and writing across the curriculum.  She co-authored an article describing the CAC, “Developing Writers and Writing Lives: From Theory to Practice,” which is featured inPublishing with Students: A Comprehensive Guideby Chris Weber (Heinemann, 2002).  Michigan Education Association selected the CAC for a television commercial series, Public Schools Work that showcases innovative educational programs (1999).    Clarkston Schools recognized her as Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1996 and 1998.Linda is currently the Co-Director of the Oakland Writing Project (University of Michigan), an affiliate of the National Writing Project. She works as an educational consultant for the Michigan Department of Education coaching teachers in disadvantaged and low-achieving schools. She is a member of Michigan Classroom Discourse Group at the University of Michigan, focused on discourse analysis and ethnographic research in education. She also facilitates a K-12 study group, Teachers as Researchers.  Linda is a member of the Executive Committee for Michigan Council of Teachers of English and the Executive Board of Michigan Youth Arts Festival. She facilitates MCTE’s statewide writing competition for grades 9-12. Michigan Council of Teachers of English recognized her as Creative Writing Teacher of the Year in 1996.Denstaedt has written five books for middle school language arts educators (Instructional Fair · T. S. Denison, 1996-1998); co-authored a three-book reading comprehension series for middle school students (Instructional Fair · T. S. Denison, 1999); and co-authored a creative writing book,The Creative Writer's Craft: Lessons in Poetry, Fiction, and Drama, for high school and community college level students (National Textbook Company, 1998). In addition to book-length publications, she has published poetry and educational articles in academic journals.