As listed on The National Writing Project site, its goal is to ‘provide professional development, develop resources, generate research, and act on knowledge to improve the teaching of writing and learning in schools and communities.’
Their Mission
The National Writing Project focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation’s educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners.
Their Vision
Writing in its many forms is the signature means of communication in the 21st century. The NWP envisions a future where every person is an accomplished writer, engaged learner, and active participant in a digital, interconnected world.
These assumptions were given to us in our Summer Institute class this morning and I thought that they were important enough to share.
The university and school must work together as partners. The top-down tradition of past university-school programs is no longer acceptable as a staff development model.
This is so true. What we are currently doing is not adequately preparing our students for the future. We must communicate with universities to gain knowledge of what their expectations are so that we can create rigorous and engaging classroom activities that equip our students with the necessary skills.
Successful teachers of writing can be identified, brought together during university Summer Institutes, and trained to teach other teachers in follow-up programs in the schools.
Teachers teaching teachers is one of the fundamental foundations of the Writing Project because it is the only way for all teachers and students to benefit from the successful interactions of a few. I am creating a blog that houses my work form this experience so that I can share the lessons/activities with the faculty and our students.
Teachers are the best teachers of other teachers; successful practicing teachers have a credibility no outside consultant can match.
From this experience we become the experts and can relay our new found knowledge from the position of student AND teacher. We won’t be talking at the staff, we will be talking to the staff.
Summer Institutes must involve teachers from all levels of instruction, elementary school through university; student writing needs constant attention and repetition from the early primary grades on through the university years.
In order to better serve our students we need to know what writing looks like in classes on all grade levels. We need to see what they are doing before they get to us and what they are expected to do when they leave us.
Summer Institutes must involve teachers from across the disciplines; writing is as fundamental to learning in science, in mathematics, and in history as it is in English and the Language Arts.
Writing is used in all disciplines so having teachers from all subject matters is instrumental and necessary to have authentic experiences.
Teachers of Writing must also write: Teachers must experience what they are asking of their students when they have students write; the process of writing can be understood best by engaging in that process first hand.
Helllllo, how can we really teach our students to write if we don’t write. This experience allows us to do the writing and gain valuable insight into the process that we can pass on to our students.
Real change in classroom practice happens over time; effective staff development programs are on-going and systematic.
A single workshop is not enough to bring about change. We need to have continuous opportunities to practice and perfect new things. The writing project allows you to build a cohort of teachers to help bring about practice opportunities and change.
