We are pleased to announce that Debra Butterfield ’03 has been named the Maine Writing Project Baker Scholar for 2010. The Baker Scholar is awarded annually to a Maine Writing Project Teacher-consultant who exemplifies thoughtful teaching, inspired scholarship, and important contributions to the Maine Writing Project Community.
2010 Baker Scholar, Debra Butterfield '03, and Ken Martin '99 represent the Maine Writing Project at the 2004 Rural Sites Institute, Morehead University, Morehead, Kentucky.
Debra Butterfield completed the MWP Summer Institute in 2003. She quickly took a leadership role in representing the MWP and helping to further progressive literacy activities statewide and nationally, particularly with innovative approaches to technology and literacy. In 2004, Debra and Ken Martin represented Maine at the Rural Sites Institute, and in 2005, Debra and Ken co-produced Our Maine: The Way Life Is, , a thirty-minute audio anthology by students and teachers from around Maine. Debra has also been a key contributor to Maine’s leadership in developing digital storytelling. She represented Maine at the 2004 Berkeley (CA) Conference on Digital Storytelling of the National Writing Project, worked with Terri Kane and the MWP Literacy through Technology Team to introduce teachers throughout Maine to this 21st century literacy approach, and helped to organize the first statewide Digital Storytelling Festival in 2008. In the MWP video, Reading, Writing, and Computers, viewers from classroom teachers to U. S. Senators have witnessed Debra’s enthusiasm for literacy and learning through her own words and the voices of her students.
Debra has demonstrated an abiding respect for composition and the value of storytelling in all its forms. Since 2001, she and her students have worked extensively with veterans across Maine to capture and preserve their biographies, and in 2003, Debra was named VFW State of Maine Teacher of the Year. Debra and her students have also published “Heroes of a New Day: People of Honor and Heart,” a collection of oral history based on her students interviews of heroes in their local area. Debra earned her CAS in Literacy, Middle Level Education, and Technology from the University of Maine in 2005.
Debra’s professional contributions are surpassed only by her generous spirit and passion for teaching and learning. As a seventh grade Language Arts teacher at Gardiner Regional Middle School since 2000, Debra has been an inspiring model of what it means to cherish every child’s special qualities, and in 2006 she was named Outstanding 6-12 Teacher in her district (MSAD #11). When contacted about the award, Debra characteristically acknowledged others, emphasizing how gratified she has felt over the years from the friendships in the Maine Writing Project that have supported her professional growth and passion for teaching. “I am just so appreciative of the Maine Writing Project as a community where teachers can engage in thoughtful conversation, and that affirms over-and-over again how important it is to pay attention to our students,” she stated.
The Tanya N. Baker Scholar was established in 2008 in celebration of the contributions made to the Maine Writing Project and the educational community of Maine by our former co-director, Tanya N. Baker ’97. Past Baker Scholars include Janet Nordfors ’02 and Jean Plummer ’98.
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