NWP Writing Retreats Flourish and Multiply

By: Art Peterson
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 8, No. 4
Date: Fall 2003

Summary: Explore the original NWP Writing Retreat model for professional writing and learn why it is being borrowed for similar writing project retreats all over the country.

Godfather II aside, the question remains: Was a sequel ever an improvement on the original? Lately, with the burgeoning of summer writing retreats, the National Writing Project has been producing its own sequels. The goal of these events, however, is not to outdo the original— the 1999 National Writing Project Writing Retreat in Santa Fe—but rather to take elements that have worked, and are working, in Santa Fe, and apply them to other NWP programs.

This summer's calendar, in addition to the NWP Writing Retreat in Santa Fe (June 26-29), included the second English Language Learners Network Writing Retreat (June 26-29 at the Sleeping Lady Retreat Center in Leavenworth, Washington) a Social Action Writing Retreat (July 10-12, also at Santa Fe) a Rural Voices Radio Writing Retreat (July 17-20 at the Coolfont Resort near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia,) and an East Coast version of the writing retreat (August 7-10 at the Whispering Pines Conference Center, Kingston, Rhode Island.) Also scheduled were a Project Outreach (cohort II) retreat and retreats that brought together teacher-consultants involved in the Teacher Research Collaborative.

What is there about the Santa Fe writing retreat model, whose characteristics are now documented in the NWP publication Professional Writing Retreat Handbook, that is eminently replicable? As with many ideas that work well, the conception behind the NWP Writing Retreat didn't emerge during a single café klatch. NWP Director of National Programs and Site Development Elyse Eidman-Aadahl points out that three authors of the Handbook—Carol Tateishi, Tom Fox, and Joe Check—had been thinking for several years about finding ways to provide teachers with time, space, and response to think about their work.

"Carol, at the Bay Area Writing Project, was one of those directors who had organized local writing retreats for teacher-consultants," said Eidman-Aadahl. "Then Tom and Joe began working with Project Outreach and put together an East Coast and a West Coast retreat to help teachers write about their classrooms and about writing project practice."

The model that emerged from their thinking has the virtue of simplicity: Find an idyllic off-the-beaten track location, bring together people who feel the need to write about their work, feed them well, allow them to respond to each others' writing, bring in some supportive and experienced coaches, and move toward publication as both an individual and group effort, the latter in the form of a retreat anthology.

Kathleen O'Shaughnessy, co-director of the National Writing Project of Acadiana (Louisiana), has been at the writing retreat in Santa Fe both as a participant and a writing coach. Of the writing retreat model she said, "It's simple and pliable enough to accommodate the writers regardless of their experience, and it removes the one ubiquitous-but-no-less-valid excuse all teachers use for not writing more—there's no time. The writing retreat model says `Here's time, here's a group of supportive colleagues, now go write.' And they do."

Check, director of the Boston Writing Project, said "From the beginning we had hoped that the Santa Fe writing-about-practice retreat would be an example, a seed, for similar retreats locally and regionally."

That has happened. This year NWP decided to try a second national retreat. "The Rhode Island retreat responds to demand by offering a second site and date for people who want to attend a national retreat," said Check who acted as a coordinator and coach at Rhode Island. He added, "Having only one site and date has made it difficult for some teachers to attend because school ends at different times in different parts of the country. Having two retreats makes for more access."

While all the retreats are organized to provide participants with time, space, and response, some of this summer's writing retreats have more specialized goals. The English Language Learners' (ELL) Network Writing Retreat, for instance, did not need to look for a center. Said Check, who also attended the ELL Network retreat, "The one big difference is the advocacy element that was added because everyone there was from the ELL Network. This means that everyone was writing within the same general area and from the same general philosophical/educational perspective."

This shared interest of the participants," Check said, "gave the response groups and informal discussions a more focused quality and built intensity into the work that was very strong."

Norma Mota-Altman, former chair of the NWP ELL Network, described the basis of this intensity. "School programs have been slashed across the country, but ELL teachers have a double whammy because they are often the only voice that English language learners have at their sites. We are teachers but also advocates for our students. To have the opportunity to come together with others who share our passion is a tremendous gift. The energy and commitment are phenomenal."

As Mota-Altman suggests, the evolving writing retreat, while continuing to be about writing, is increasingly not only about writing. The Rural Voices Radio Writing Retreat, for instance, brought together teacher-consultants who have contributed to the 13 programs that have made up this much-praised public radio series. But these teacher-consultants look at these programs as only the first step in their work.

Melanie Plesh, co-director of the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project and one of the planners for the radio retreat, said, "Going into the retreat, we weren't sure what form our product would take. We did know there would be a lot of exchange of information among folks who have had similar but very different experiences with Rural Voices Radio. We also knew that this sharing and community building would take us to a high level of creativity. That's also what happens at Santa Fe."

At their West Virginia retreat, participants asked, "How can we help teachers use these materials productively? What have we learned about prodding students toward successful place-based writing that we can share with others?" Not all the work that emerged to answer these questions will end up as 3,500-word articles in The Quarterly or other professional publications. Rather, the group is looking toward a motivational CD that will demonstrate for teachers the value of place-based writing and spoken-word production. These teachers will also create a resource guide that will include essays about how the radio pieces were generated as well as lessons that will help teachers use the collection of programs as sources of literature and as models for creating writing about place.

Similarly, the Social Action Writing Retreat had as one of its goals to find a way to disseminate the individual and collective knowledge of its participants, all of whom have been involved for several years with programs inspired by the NWP partnership with the Centre for Social Action in England. Meeting in Santa Fe, these teacher-consultants began to put together a "tool kit" that will reflect their experience as they've worked in their writing projects, classrooms, and their communities.

We can learn from this summer's writing retreat "sequels" that a well-conceived retreat model—like the writing project model itself—provides a structure. Because of the work done in Santa Fe, no wheel needs to be reinvented. But exactly what kind of professional vehicle this model will support must be a decision made by the people doing the work in each of the cornucopia of programs offered by NWP.

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