Resource Topics
Professional Development - NWP Model - Inservice
Continuity in the Rhode Island Writing Project: Keeping Teachers at the Center
National Writing Project at Work,
2008
The Presenters’ Collective Network (PCN) began as a support for teacher-consultants in developing workshops for inservice, but the Rhode Island Writing Project quickly discovered unintended purposes that strengthened the site’s continuity program. Susan Ozbek, Marjorie Roemer, Keith Sanzen, and Susan VanderDoes detail how PCN functions along with the tools that help to sustain it.
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Literacy Coaches Explore Their Work Through Vignettes
June 2008
Carrie Usui
What is the work of a literacy coach? During a weekend retreat funded by an Urban Sites Network minigrant, twelve UCLA Writing Project teacher-consultants serving as literacy coaches explored this question.
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Students Write Tabloid Tabulations in a Math Gossip Magazine
November 2008
Tom Murray, Joe Bellacero
Eighth grade math teacher Tom Murray and on-site teacher-consultant Joe Bellacero recount their innovative collaboration: they have Murray's students write gossip tabloid articles about math topics, which heightens the students' engagement, increases their understanding of math, and develops their writing skills.
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Study Groups Build Community in Vermont Site's Inservice Offerings
July 2008
The National Writing Project in Vermont is harnessing the power of teacher study groups as an important model for teacher-consultant–led professional development in schools—and learning much from the process.
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Supporting On-Site Teacher-Consultants: New York City Writing Project’s Community of Learners
National Writing Project at Work,
2008
Ed Osterman demonstrates how sustained and regular professional development for on-site teacher-consultants not only benefits the teachers in the schools they serve, but also nurtures intellectual and personal growth at the New York City Writing Project. The monograph provides approaches and tools that can be adapted by local sites to support ongoing professional development for teacher-consultants.
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ELL Professional Development Adapts to New Bilingual Education Legislation
July 2007
Gavin Tachibana
A Massachusetts state law bans teaching children in their own language. So Western Massachusetts Writing Project's ELL professionals threw teachers a lifeline—a course full of strategies and insights, based on their years of experience.
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One Idea—Many Audiences
May 2007
Ann Dobie
Dobie describes how she transformed a graduate research paper on teaching spelling into an academic conference presentation, a professional development workshop, a journal article, and then a book.
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Statewide and District Professional Development in Standards: Addressing Teacher Equity
National Writing Project at Work,
2006
Richard Koch, Laura Roop, Gail Setter
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Four New Monographs Published for the NWP at Work Models of Inservice Series
The Voice,
2005
Four monographs in NWP's Models of Inservice series describe inservice models that grew out of Project Outreach, which supports sites in developing programs to reach teachers of students in communities impacted by poverty.
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Oklahoma's Marshall Plan: Combining Professional Development and Summer Writing Camps
National Writing Project At Work,
March 2005
Eileen Simmons
How writing project teacher-consultants and site-based teachers collaborated to plan professional development before, during, and after a summer writing camp.
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Southside Elementary Writing Focus: Site-Based Leadership Reforms the Writing Curriculum
National Writing Project At Work,
March 2005
Robert McGinty, Nancy Remington
The story of an inquiry-centered approach to professional development, designed and led by teachers, that could be a model for any school.
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The Professional Leadership Development Project
National Writing Project At Work,
March 2005
Zsa Boykin, Sarah Robbins, Jennifer Scrivner
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The Saginaw Teacher Study Group Movement: From Pilot to Districtwide Study Groups in Four Years
National Writing Project At Work,
March 2005
Mary Calliari, Janet Rentsch, Mary Weaver
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The Writing Project and Tulsa Schools Collaborate for School Reform That Works
The Voice,
2004
Eileen Simmons
Simmons reports on how writing project inservice can support local reform efforts by centering on pedagogy and designing a program around teacher questions and concerns.
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Walking in Our Students' Shoes: Reading Teachers and the Writing Project Model
The Quarterly,
2004
Peter Kittle
Kittle recounts his experience with reading teachers—in all disciplines—who are also learning and practicing new reading strategies to advance learning in their classrooms.
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Teaching After the Summer Institute
The Voice,
May-June 2003
Nick Maneno
After attending a summer institute, Maneno meets with his school administrators to share the potency of the NWP model. He recounts the successes and challenges he faces as he shares what he learned.
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On-Site Consulting: New York City Writing Project
National Writing Project at Work,
November 2002
Nancy Mintz, Alan Stein, Marcie Wolfe
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Story of SCORE: The MS Writing/Thinking Institute Takes on a Statewide Reading Initiative
National Writing Project At Work,
November 2002
Cassandria Hansbrough, Lynette Herring-Harris
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The Fledgling Years: Lessons from the First Four Years of the NWP in Vermont
National Writing Project at Work,
November 2002
Patricia McGonegal, Anne Watson
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The Johnston Area Writing Partnership
National Writing Project at Work,
November 2002
Patsy Butler, Sandra O'Berry, Ruie Pritchard
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Experiments in Reading and Writing
The Quarterly,
Winter 2001
Nancy Wilson
Wilson documents a collaboration between the New York City Writing Project and an overcrowded inner city high school. The model makes use of an on–site teacher–consultant.
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Sowing Seeds for the Future: Outreach at the Maryland Writing Project
The Voice,
March-April 2001
Christina Dushel
A description of how the Maryland Writing Project successfully used redeemable "coupons" to increase enrollment in their workshops and inservice programs.
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The Limitations of Partnership
The Voice,
March-April 2001
GibAnn Tam
Developing relationships with schools and districts is often a slow and intricate process. GibAnn Tam describes some challenges faced by the Little Rock Writing Project.
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Do Workshops Work?
The Quarterly,
Winter 2000
Kathleen O'Shaughnessy
O'Shaughnessy cuts to the quick of workshop presentation: It isn't about another "big fat handout" but about helping teachers find their own way—"the essence of teacher empowerment."
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Imaginary Gardens and Real Issues: Improving Language Arts in the Urban Elementary School
The Quarterly,
Winter 2000
Joe Check
Using the form of a hypothetical narrative, Check argues that improved literacy instruction is inextricably linked to improved schools, and that the NWP is an ideal vehicle for helping urban schools build needed exemplary contexts.
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Teachers at the Center: A Memoir of the Early Years of the National Writing Project
The Quarterly,
Fall 2000
James Gray
An excerpt from Teachers at the Center by National Writing Project founder James Gray.
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Inservice for Administrators: Implementing Writing Across the Curriculum in Window Rock
The Quarterly,
Summer 1991
Suzanne Bratcher, Dorothea C. Lincoln, Roger Shor, Elizabeth Stroble
The authors describe an across–the–curriculum workshop for administrators which "transformed the writing across the curriculum effort from a series of isolated grass–roots attempts to change education practice into a concerted team effort."
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Learning from Mistakes
The Quarterly,
Summer 1990
William Strong
Strong takes a hard look at why presentations falter and suggests some strategies for self–evaluation and improvement.
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How Teachers Teach Teachers
The Quarterly,
July 1987
Mary Ann Smith
Smith focuses on the qualities of a successful presentation: selectivity, attention to theory, inclusion of student models, active participation by the teacher audience, and reflection on what has happened.
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Remarks for a Workshop
The Quarterly,
March 1986
Lee Davis
Davis emphasizes the importance in a successful workshop of collaboration, interaction, and the formation of a writing community.
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Writing Problems Across the Curriculum
The Quarterly,
November 1981
Toby Fulwiler
Fulwiler contrasts the writing problems that teachers of elementary school, high school, and college writing identify, finding some are age related and others are vague and diverse labels that identify similar problems.
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Inservice Must Be Teacher Centered
The Quarterly,
November 1979
Leslie Whipp
Whipp argues that if the NWP model remains teacher centered it "may allow us to avoid our own obsolescence . . . and take advantage of a model that fosters cooperation among schools, universities, and governmental agencies."
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Oklahoma Site Helps Community College Adjuncts Address Burning Questions
July 2007
Community college adjunct faculty members tend to have limited collegial support, so, funded by an Urban Sites Network minigrant, the Oklahoma State University Writing Project designed a mini-institute for adjunct faculty at Tulsa Community College to help foster a growing professional learning community at the college.
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