434 posts so far!
Our #blog4nwp campaign began as a mid-March weekend push to restore federal funding to the National Writing Project (NWP). At the beginning of March – as part of a continuing resolution to fund the government during its budget impasse – Congress and President Obama cut funding to the NWP and several other educational programs considered to be “earmarks” – programs that receive their funding directly from Congressional legislation, rather than from a departmental budget.
Congress cut the NWP because of its earmark status without regard for its incredible, cost-efficient impact on teaching and learning. In fact, the NWP reaches more teachers and students annually than this year’s i3 federal innovation grant winners combined. Still, if the NWP is not reinstated in the federal budget as an earmark or as part of the Department of Education’s budget, the NWP will be de-funded regardless of its merit and nationwide reach.
If defunded, the NWP will face an immediate budget shortfall as local sites are funded in part by federal money and in part by matching grants. As local sites lose funding, the NWP’s ability to help teachers share their expertise in writing instruction will suffer and countless teacher and student voices will be lost in the shuffle of standardized educational programs that simply aren’t designed to teach the critical reasoning and communications skills that the NWP instills in countless classrooms across our country.
It’s essential to our children’s development of creativity and civic-mindedness that our government funds the NWP. It’s essential that we #blog4nwp and help our government understand how valuable the NWP is and how much we want its work to continue without interruption.
I send heartfelt thanks to all of you championing the National Writing Project and its vital work in professional development and the lifting up of teacher and student voices.
Below you will find listed the posts submitted as part of #blog4nwp. Our big blogging push will be over the weekend of March 18th, 2011, but I will certainly also include #blog4nwp posts from earlier in the week, as well as those that follow thereafter.
Here is a page that can help you get started in blogging for #blog4nwp, and here is a page suggesting other ways to help.
Feel free to email me or @ or DM me on Twitter if I miss a post.
#blog4nwp Posts
- Kate Willaredt – Save the NWP
- Mary Tedrow – Mourning in America
- Joseph Kahne – Congress Decides Literacy is a Bridge to Nowhere
- Delaine Zody – Do you teach writing?
- Susan R. Adams – How a Teacher Becomes a Writer
- Leslie Morton – I started thinking numbers…
- Ellen Shelton – Why the National Writing Project Matters
- Jeromy Winter – #blog4nwp
- Kristin H. Turner – The Best Gift I Gave Myself – NWP
- Bryan Crandall – In Support of the National Writing Project
- Pam Moran – I Write for Savannah
- Chad Sansing – A student voice in games-based learning
- Britton Gildersleeve – #blog4nwp
- Paul Oh – Writing is Thinking
- Paul Oh – An Idea
- Lisa @teachingfriends – Why We Need to Save the National Writing Project
- Chad Sansing – To President Obama
- Kathee Godfree – The Value of the National Writing Project
- Kevin Hodgson – March Book Madness: Because Digital Writing Matters
- Kevin Hodgson – Why the National Writing Project Matters
- Kevin Hodgson – Slice of Life: Rally for the NWP
- Meenoo Rami – Save NWP
- Sandra Shattuck – NWP – BEST deal ever!
- Amanda Cornwell – Uncertainty
- Meg Petersen – Save the National Writing Project
- Stephanie West-Puckett – Bridging Equity: Every Story Has Two Sides
- Troy Hicks – On Scholarship, Significance, and the NWP
- Red River Valley Writing Project – Blogging to save NWP
- April Estep – Chad Sansing Made Me Do It
- Paula White – Voice Matters–Just Ask My Kindergarteners
- Kevin Hodgson – A Found Poem
- Keri @OzarksWP – What the National Project Means to Me
- Nancy Devine – The Importance of the National Writing Project
- Save the National Writing Project Facebook Cause
- Gail Desler – Blogging 4 NWP
- Ira Socol – Funding What Works
- Ryan Swank – Two RSS feeds from the National Writing Project I count on daily.
- Rita Sorrentino – Save the NWP
- Julia Hewitt – Bearing witness
- Joel Malley – Standing Against the Tide with the NWP
- Danielle Helzer – Blogging for NWP
- Donalyn Miller – Raising Our Voices in Support of the National Writing Project
- Stephanie Vanderslice – Support the NWP: A Very Special Blog Post
- Chris Sloan – Don’t cut the good stuff, or My two cents (literally
- Uma Krishnaswami – Don’t Write Off the National Writing Project
- Margaret Simon – Fifteen Years with the National Writing Project
- Janelle Quintans Bence – Because of NWP
- Karen Allmen – Why I Have This Blog
- Sally Martin – Restore National Writing Project Funding
- Marilyn J. Hollman – Then I Met the Writing Project
- Grant Faulkner – Writing Project Teachers as Writers and Bloggers
- Rafi Santo – Getting Clear on Priorities: Save the National Writing Project
- Christina Cantrill – Learning in Community
- Gail Desler – Why the National Writing Project Matters – Some stolen thoughts and words
- Peter Pappas – The National Writing Project Needs More Than Praise, It Needs Funding
- Bonnie Kaplan – Blog4NWP: Save the Writing Project
- Lynn Jacobs – The National Writing Project, My Students and Me
- Shane Wilson – If the Pen Is Mightier…
- Bill Tucker – The Mustard Tree
- Paul W. Hankins – #blog4NWP: NWP SI: The Best “How I Spent My Summer” Theme You’ll Ever Write
- Carol Williams-Revelle – Why we should save the National Writing Project
- Julia Hewitt – Beyond Crusher
- Julia Hewitt – Celebrating Summer Institute
- Michele Simonetty – That’s What Writers Do!
- Karen Keltz – blog 4NWP
- Joseph McCaleb – On the Redemption of Rhetoric
- Jeremy Hyler – NWP – I Am A Writer!
- Shannon Falkner – Preserving National Writing Project
- Jennifer DiAngeles – Writing for Real – March, 20th
- Upper Peninsula Writing Project – The National Writing Project…it is life changing!
- Gavin Tachibana – To the Teachers, Thoughts from an NWP Staffer
- Lisa Madden – Keep Paying It Forward
- Mr. Kabodian – The world does not make sense anymore
- Amy Laitinen and Jennifer Kobylinski – PLEASE SAVE THE NWP: A Student’s Perspective (Amy)
- Bud Hunt – There’s No One Coming. That’s Okay. A #blog4nwp
- Kimberly Crandall – The Importance of Funding The National Writing Project
- Jack Zangerle – Why the Common Core Needs the National Writing Project
- Lynette H Harris – A Rural Perspective
- Andrea Zellner – Sometimes words are enough: #blog4NWP
- Fred Mindlin – #blog4nwp “…write about something that matters”
- Andrea Zellner – The #blog4nwp VoiceThread
- Kara Graci – I Am More Than A Statistic
- Judy Jester – Save the National Writing Poject
- Michael Thornton – Lost and Unengaged
- Jan Sabin – NWP = Magical Kingdom
- Kay McGriff – Teachers Write the Way
- Erin Wilkey – Teacher Writers Reflect Deeply, #blog4nwp
- M.E. Steele-Pierce – OWP-NWP At Risk
- Chad Sansing – #blog4nwp Reflections
- Aaron Thiell– On the NWP
- Shullamuth Smith – National Sanity Project
- Sheri Edwards – #blog4nwp
- Zac Chase – Things I Know 78 of 365: I Blog4NWP
- Caroline – Why We Need the National Writing Project
- Jane Carlile Baker – National Writing Project
- Sara Beauchamp-Hicks – Advocating for the NWP: A Mother’s Perspective
- Sara Allen – Why I Value the National Writing Project
- Aaron Thiell – On the NWP
- Mardys Leeper – Penny Wise and Pound Foolish
- Mary Meyer – Blog 4 NWP
- Chris Lehmann – Save the National Writing Project
- Cody Walker – National Writing Project
- Karen Chichester – A Day Late, but….A Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks
- Ann Etchison – Writing Everyday
- Tanya Baker – Stewardship
- Aaron Thiell – Keep Your Heart in Yourself
- Alicia McCauley – Giving Voice
- Michael Thompson – NWP Empowers All of Us
- Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez – Social Justice and the National Writing Project
- Bud Hunt – An Open Letter to Congressman Cory Gardner – Restore Funding for the National Writing Project
- Steve J. Moore – Something That Works
- Barbara Hasselbach – Even finance people can be convinced to write
- Angela Stockman – Missed Opportunities: The National Writing Project
- Lacy Manship – The Kind of People Here
- Juli Peterson – #blog4nwp: Grammar Bootcamp Changed My Life
- H.K. Hummel – A New Engangered Species: Our Teacher Communities
- Kevin Hodgson – The Half-Full NWP/WMWP Glass: We Still Have Us
- Chad Sansing – 3 ways to help #blog4nwp
- Chad Sansing – 15 #blog4nwp easy-tweets
- Kevin Hodgson – Dear Sen. Brown/Sen. Kerry: Support NWP
- Joel Malley – Call to Action: #blog4NWP
- Bonnie Kaplan – Blog4NWP: 19/31 SOLC
- Andrea Zellner – #blog4NWP, twitter, and speaking up
- April Estep – #Blog4NWP And Being Bossy
- Drew Henry – To Whom It May Concern
- Cindy Urbanski – #blog4nwp: The force of the NWP
- Cindy Urbanski – What Writing Project Teachers Do
- Karen Greco – I attribute my success to the National Writing Project
- Elizabeth Schurman – Why We Should Fund the National Writing Project
- Peter Kittle – Community, Professional Development, and the NWP #blog4nwp
- Joseph McCaleb – NWP: Time of Transition
- Thomas Perry – Writing is ESSENTIAL in all communication
- Maria Angala – I will see it through…
- Joe Bellacero – Those Who Can…Teach
- Michelle Schneden – Save the National Writing Project!
- Rich Argys – The Best There Is
- Melanie Burdick – NWP – Teaching Writing for Work and Soul
- Gail Desler – The NWP Does Not Offer a Finder’s Fee
- Michael Prier – NWP is Good Eats
- Bud Hunt – I’d Look at the Congressional Fridge. Wouldn’t You?
- Maria – Blogging for NWP
- Lynn Chih-Ning Chang – Congress needs to reconsider its decision
- Kim Sutherland – Education Disaster Marinade
- Michelle Shaw – #blog4nwp Save NWP
- Julie Kay – Thoughts on the NWP
- Larry Campbell – #blog4nwp – This project is invaluable
- Carol Roger – NWP embodies the American spirit
- Anita Rose Merando – The Authors
- Laura Schiller – I, for one, am ready to march
- Sara Burnett – The NWP invigorates practice
- Jonathan Hardin – NWP is a capital investment
- Leslie Joblin – We need Critical Thinkers. We need informed and inquiring citizens. We need the National Writing Project.
- Art Peterson – The National Writing Project is a Revolution
- Richard Koch – #blog4nwp: The Crucial Work of NWP
- Laura Roop – #blog4nwp: Over Half of My Life with NWP
- Leslie Morton – Why NWP maters? Because it allowed me to meet Billy Collins!
- Leslie Morton – Dr. Livingstone I Presume? Thanks for the writing help!
- Katie Naron – A Story of Transformation
- Sandra Hamilton – NWP – A Professional Home
- Michelle Rogge Ganon – How can we possibly do without the National Writing Project?
- Joanne Wisniewski – Our words define us
- Beth Ann Rothermel – A stronger teacher of teachers
- Yvonne Holland – What more could you want?
- Paul Oh – invitations, exultations and grandmothers
- Anthony Pennay – A Modest Proposal
- Bud Hunt – A #blog4nwp in Which I Ask for Your Assistance. Urgently.
- Chad Sansing – Three #blog4nwp questions for the next two weeks
- Kristin Korneliussen – In Support of the National Writing Project
- Kim Ellis – I would be heartbroken to lose the writing project
- Pamela Ugor – #blog4nwp – Students, schools, and education working together
- Sue Books – #blog4nwp – I know of no other program that works so well
- Nicole Gauden – My Voice
- Heather Hollands, Word … to the Mic
- Amy Laitinen, Digital Is…Teaching Our Writing to Breathe
- Paul Oh, Hope
- Leigh Graves Wolf – #blog4nwp
- Amy Laitinen, The Hand As Map: NWP & the Holocaust Educators Network
- Larry Neuberger, The National Writing Project – 1600 E. Memory Lane
- Laura Lennox Ifill – The National Writing Project makes better teachers
- Katie Kline, Collaborating, Writing and Listening in the GKCWP
- Anne Herrington, “As a citizen, it’s beyond me …”
- Mike Cassidy – Digital literacy mortally wounded in budget battle
- Amy Van Zanten – #blog4nwp – Endless benefits
- Lucille Burt – Dear Senator Kerry
- Linda Bieber – Thank you, NWP
- Mike Rush – A Word While I Wait
- Bill Stewart – NWP
- Annie Riggs – What I can add
- Rochelle Ramay – Imagine the Silence #blog4nwp
- Heather Hollands – March Madness: We Need A Win in Education with the NWP
- Kathleen Gorney – NWP opens doors
- Lisa Koen – #blog4nwp – The camaraderie of writers
- Rebecca Burdett – Don’t let the National Writing Project be a casualty
- Christine McCartney – #blog4nwp – An invaluable partner
- Jessica Beck – Connecting with NWP
- Amanda Cornwell – SOLSC ~ 2011 ~ 29/31
- Meredith Stewart – An Unlikely Advocate
- Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero – A unique professional development organization
- Ann Hovey – #blog4nwp – Invigorating and life-changing
- Julie Jee – NWP keeps my love of teaching alive and well
- Bud Hunt – Yeah. It’s like that.
- Lisa Weight – #blog4nwp – Tremendous impact
- Laura Tracy Baisden – Blog 4 NWP Support
- Charles Moran – The National Writing Project is a national treasure.
- Shannon Boling – DC Bound
- Larry Neuburger – The National Writing Project – 1600 E. Memory Lane
- Jason Courtmanche – Leaner and Meaner
- Tim Buchanan – The NWP is a great hope for human growth
- Kathy Moran – The One and Only Writing Project
- Teachers Teaching Teachers – Why we love the National Writing Project and why federal funding is important
- Bud Hunt – Everyone’s a writer. NWP taught me that.
- Chad Sansing – Poppycock
- Ray Palasz – #blog4nwp – This is one program that you should support
- Northern California Writing Project – Save the National Writing Project! #blog4nwp
- Ruth Ferris – Writing Matters
- Teresa Bunner – Letter to the President
- Kevin Hodgson – The Writer In Me: Slice of Life, NWP, and More
- Shirley Brown – Save the NWP
- Lizbeth Bryant – Pushing for NWP
- Patsy Pipkin – #blog4nwp – A win-win learning experience
- Katie Kline – NWP Job Losses Impact Local Work
- Ted Fabiano – #blog4nwp – Writing preserves humanity
- Kelly Muprhy – The Importance of the National Writing Project
- Joel Malley – Learning is not a race
- Patricia Roberson – What NWP Means to Me and My Students
- BLOG4NWP Posterous contributor – NWP Connected Me to Passionate Writers and Life Long Friends
- Cindy Rush – The positives of NWP and how it has impacted me, a non-teacher
- Chad Sansing – #blog4nwp by Friday, April 8th, 2011
- Vicki Holmsten – NWP in the 4 Corners
- Britton Gildersleeve – ‘We will be salt in the body politic’
- Kevin Hodgson – At the 4Cs: Our NWP Connections
- Pat Mumford – Dear Oprah
- Chad Sansing – The United States of #blog4nwp
- Scot Squires – #blog4nwp – NWP High
- Nicolas Gutkowski – I Want To Be Heard (blog4nwp)
- Bruce Penniman – A Letter to President Obama
- Joe Bellacero – Are you listening, Mr. Duncan, Sir?
- Gretchen Draper – The End of the Summer Institute
- Gretchen Draper – Passion
- Gretchen Draper – Storm Clouds over Washington
- Laura Beachy – Digesting the Field Trip
- Sean Robertson – Why the National Writing Project Matters
- Monique Poldberg – Setting the Stage
- Sally Crisp – Dear President Obama
- Nick Chanese – Personal Business: The National Writing Project
- Denise Hinson – A Blog for the National Writing Project
- Ruth Lizotte – Fight for NWP
- Donna Montenegro – Letter to NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen
- Nancy Reece – The importance of writing and learning
- Marcie Wolfe – My story is the National Writing Project story
- Liz Tascio – Standing on Stage with a Poem in My Hand
- Alisa Wood – Writing IS the Student
- David S. White – Writing Plays a Vital Role in Life
- Steve J. Moore – Everything Must Go!
- Nick Jenkins – Writing Instruction Gives Students a Leg Up
- Ann Shelton – From a Retired Librarian
- Lauren Wright – Writing as Essential in Every Aspect of Life
- Mallory Davidson – NWP is a Valuable Tool for our Nation’s Educators
- Leslie S. Cook – I attribute my success to the National Writing Project.
- Grant Faulkner – To Write or Not to Write. To Be or Not to Be.
- Jenny Moore – #blog4nwp: Writing for our Students, Ourselves
- Margaret Fiore – Committed to lifelong learning
- Ed Osterman – On Being Transformed
- Julie Johnson – Opening Doors Through National Writing Project
- Karen LaBonte – It’s the WRITING, Stupid
- Crystal Beach – Because Writing Matters…
- Corey Harbaugh – A Dozen Years of Teacher Leadership
- Debi Freeman – Why the Writing Project Matters
- Rebekah Crider – It Should Concern All of Us
- Trace Martin – Writing Makes Students Competitive
- Hilary Adamec – Cutting NWP Funding Is a Terrible Disservice
- Robert Shelton – A Father’s Support for NWP
- Constance Krueger – Teachers, take hold of your profession.
- From the Wabanaki Writing Project – NWP – Nurturer of America’s Soul
- Rose Coon – Fight for the NWP
- Fran Simone – Fight for the NWP
- Sandy – National Writing Project
- Lee G. Lehto – MWP
- Britton Gildersleeve – We Do Not Sacrifice Children
- Jilleyn Walker – Support for National Writing Project
- Sharon Martin – Squabbling Over Crumbs
- Jeff Grinvalds – Save the National Writing Project
- Paul Sanchez – Aporia
- Jillian Ross – What I Have Learned From A National Model of Praxis: The Core Values of NWP
- Susan Al-Jarrah – Fight for the NWP
- Penny Bowles – Don’t Write Off the National Writing Project
- Penny Bowles – Save NWP!
- Jamie Hughes – It’s the Write Thing to Do
- Kristy Singletary – The Capacity to Transform Education
- Benjamin Gorman – Save the NWP!
- Gail Poulin – NWP – Write On!
- Dave Pulling – The National Writing Project Reviewers Creed
- Sue Morrell – Cutting Worthy Programs: A Few Words in Favor of the National Writing Project
- Lindsay Ellis – Hear us, Washington
- Greg Moffitt – Writing for Superman
- Stephanie Runion – Don’t close the door on NWP
- Sarah Rizzo – NWP Works!
- Blog4NWP Posterous – Support for the Maine Writing Project
- Blog4NWP Posterous – Funding for National Writing Project
- Beth Campbell – My Experiences with the NWP
- Courtney Cline – NWP – I was not, but now I am.
- Erica Lynn – NWP
- Laura Thompson – One of a Thousand
- Pell Culler – Save National Writing Project
- SaraBeth Bass – Fertile Ground
- Shannon Sloan – NWPM
- Toby Pirolla – NWP and What It Means to Me
- Beth Campbell – Funding Should Be Increased for NWP
- Kathleen Yeager – Restore Funding to the NWP
- Colleen Martin – Teacher Consultant Colleen Martin Blogs for NWP
- Joe Bellino – Fully Fund the National Writing Project
- Paul Epstein – A Cut that Hurts
- Scott Floyd – National Writing Project Grows Lifelong Learners
- Amanda Gulla – The National Writing Project: Building Skills, Confidence, and a Sense of Joy
- Frank Dehoney – Loss of Funding – Loss of Professional Development
- Blog4NWP Posterous – NWP Blog Post
- Debbie Dehoney – Passion for Teaching
- Lisa Correnti – The National Writing Project: A True Blue Chip
- Blog4NWP Posterous – NYCWP: A Place to Call Home
- Rhonda Urquidi – Boise State Writing Project Changes Lives
- Azalie Hightower – Fight to Keep NWP’s Funding
- Blog4NWP Posterous – What NWP Did for Me
- Elaine Avidon – It’s All Very Personal & It Isn’t!
- Sarah Harrington – Power Unleashed
- Meredith DeCosta-Smith – The National Writing Project: Transforming Teachers, Transforming Lives
- Susan Hendricks – Kids Are Writers
- Carolyn Newell – Fight For NWP
- Nancy Mintz – The Impact of NWP’s National Programs
- Christina Puntell – Collaborations strengthen connections to school, each other
- Blog4NWP Posterous – A Writing Project Story
- Kellie Hannum – NWP is too important to lose
- Melanie Hammer – Love letter to NWP
- Sondra Perl – My Origins in the National Writing Project – A Personal Reflection
- Felicia George – Why We Need to Support the NWP
- Leyanna Savaan – A Student Writes about her NWP-Trained Teacher
- Chad Sansing –Why I’m Part of the Blog4NWP Campaign
- Joanne Lannin – Why we need the National Writing Project
- Kate Walton – NWP is Priceless
- Blog4NWP Posterous – Fire and Ice
- Peter Shaheen – A Case for the NWP
- Stephanie Vanderslice – Why I am a Writing Project Site Director
- Pamela Gamby Bagby – The Writer Within Us All
- Blog4NWP Posterous – NWP Equals Continuous Life-long Learning
- Blog4NWP Posterous – What Would Happen if those with the Power of the Purse Experienced the Power of NWP?
- Kelsey Krausen – A Letter of Appreciation to Writing Project Teachers
- Janie Brown- Why I Believe in the National Writing Project
- Kate Moss – So Simple and So Rare
- Crystal Beach – Writing For Everyone
- NorCal Writing Project at Work – My Experiences with NCWP
- Paul Oh – Poem In Your Pocket
- Pam Moran – The Audacity of Hope
- Anne Moege – Blog4NWP
- Sindu Sathiyaseelan – National Writing Project Needs to Be Funded!
- Kris Atwood = Continuing Support with Writing Projects
- Judy Gray – Invaluable lessons
- Lee Ann Spillane – The National Writing Project
- April Estep – Bathroom Encounters
- Crystal Beach – What the 2012 Campaign Means to Me
- Paula Diedrich – Staying Connected…Please Don’t Cut Our Lifeline
- Rebecca Moore – Save the National Writing Project
- Anne Farmer – A Community of Support
- Janice Stallings – A Bridge between Teachers, Students, and Intellectual Creativity
- Susan Al-Jarrah – Profession
- Leayn Losh – Finding Teachers’ Inner Strength
- Avis Caynor – Teachers Need NWP
- Nancy Wilson – Looking Back Thirty Years
- Nancy Coco – Hope is not a strategy
- Kate Moss – So simple and so rare
- Erin Wilkey – The Day the Photographer Came
- Linda Denstaedt – I Am a Change Agent
- Peter Shaheen – Twitches and Webs Ahead for NWP
- Brian Fay – Yeah, I’ll Blog for the National Writing Project
- Georgia Christgau – Why I Value the NWP
- Candace Doerr-Stevens – NWP: Network Relevance Through Versatility
- Susan Martens – Dear Washington, D.C.: Please Restore Federal Funding for the National Writing Project
- Elizabeth Schurman – The Humanity
- Jessica Brookman – Save NWP
- M Luskey – Joe and the Notebook
- Christina Cantrill – Dear Department of Education. This I believe.
- Margie Sartin – Networking with the Best
- Heather Robinson – NWP – a life-changing experience
- Patricia Scanlan – Outstanding Teachers Rely on NWP
- Rodney Bailey – We Need the NWP
- Cita Smith – #blog4nwp
- Rhonda Brinyark – #blog4nwp
- Lauren Hammonds – #blog4nwp
- Vicki M. Jones – GKCWP Reflection
- Suzanne Shaffer – National Writing Project at Risk
- Britton Gildersleeves – Digital Is – medicine for the heart
- Shannon Ruiz – Funding Programs Like the NWP States that Education Matters
- blog4NWP Posterous – National Writing Project
- Virginia Plummer – Supporting the National Writing and Maine Writing Projects
- C. Wolfe – I Believe that Teachers Should Teach Teachers
- Harlow Stewart – I Was A Skeptic
- Joe Routhier – Surprise Me
- Alex Gil – What do we teach when we teach writing?
- Annie Thoms – The Best Teacher Training I’ve Ever Known
- Kim Blevins – The National Writing Project turned my classroom upside down
- Cathy Ikeda – Why Hawai’i Needs Writing Project
- Delia King – Planting the Seeds of Writing
- Penny Lew – The NWP and Me (or How to Revitalize a Teacher
- Djana E. Trofimoff – NWP: My Strength to Teach
- Jean Plummer – Supporting the National Writing and Maine Writing Projects
- Brian Slusher – Howl for the National Writing Project
- blog4NWP Posterous – How Do You Quantify …
- Laura VanDerPloeg – Support the NWP
- Bill Fitzgerald – Educational Programs That Work: Funding the National Writing Project
- Sharon Hanson = Most Effective Grass-roots Teaching Movement in America
- Blog4NWP Posterous – Meanderings
- Joe Burke – The NWP Revolutionized My Teaching Practice
- Chad Sansing – #blog4nwp – Be heard before Congress votes
- Peter Shaheen – #blog4nwp – Even silence speaks volumes
- Janet Isenhour – What Did You Do on Your Summer Vacation?
- Paul Rogers – The National Writing Project: Social Enterprise in Education
- Reene Martin – NWP Funding
- Tracey Flores – #blog4nwp – The fire inside
- Peter Shaheen – #blog4nwp – An open invitation
- Phip Ross – Making the Road
- Diane Barrie – The Most Effective PD
- Chad Sansing – #blog4nwp – Stay tuned; stay energized
- Kevin Hodgson – The Competition: Where NWP Stands
- Jeff Grinvalds – Attack on Public Education
- Jane Frick – Welcome to PRAIRIE VOICE
- Caroline Thompson – Save NWP!
- Heather Lewis – NWP Inspires
- Paul Epstein – Writing Project Cuts Hurt
- Ellen Steigman – Making a Difference
- Judy Jester – Congress, Can You Spare a Dime? A Teacher Makes the Case for the National Writing Project
- kmhowellmartin – #blog4nwp
- Christy Casher – Save National Writing Project!
- Jeremy Hyler – Weathering the Storm
- Mary Beth Willis – Finding My Voice in the World
- Anna Anderson – NWP
- Chad Sansing – My letter in support of the Miller-Van Hollen letter
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First blog post for the NWP blogging/tweeting weekend:
http://drshattuck.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/nwp-best-deal-ever/
Chad, if you’d add to your list, I’d really appreciate it. In writing solidarity! – Sandra
Posted by sdshattuck | March 18, 2011, 7:41 amYou post is now linked, Sandra – thank you!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 18, 2011, 11:12 amDear Oprah,
The National Writing Project and other literacy programs for students have been cut from the federal budget. I am hoping this letter will shed some light on why this matters to America’s teachers.
I have spent the last 38 years in education. Actually, if one counts my undergraduate years and work in Head Start, I’ve been an educator for 41 years. During that time, I’ve had amazing experiences with students. My rural, migrant, minority kindergarteners received letters from Charles Shultz after we sent Valentines to Charlie Brown. Consequently, they were convinced that reading, writing, and communication would open their world.
Adidas and John Starks built my inner city school a new basketball court. I wrote to Mr. Starks telling him the influence he had on my students and Adidas came to interview them. My students wrote an editorial for the local newspaper urging citizens to help keep school playgrounds safe and clean. Through writing they learned the power of their voices.
Another class studied an urban renewal building project, making friends with the architect, project manager, brick layers, etc. in a real world environment where we studied archeology, city planning, careers, budget management, and more. After traveling to the site weekly, we created journals and scrapbooks of the process, wrote stories and articles, and invited city leaders to our portfolio party. The students learned the power of writing to learn.
With no funds for field trips, we started a donut sales company to earn bus rental for a field trip to Oklahoma City, our capitol. These third-fifth graders incorporated technology to budget and track our profits, marketing ideas to advertise, and hard work before, after and during school. Many of these students had never left their neighborhood, much less their city. We toured the site and museum of the Oklahoma City bombing, the State Capitol, and attended the ballet. The students learned the power of technology, hard work, and communication to reach a goal.
I have provided opportunities for students to reflect on their learning through writing, how to research their burning questions, and how to stand up for their rights. Kindergarten thru eighth grade and then at the local community college, I’ve been able to empower students to direct their own learning.
These experiences were significant to both my students and to me as a life- long learner. These types of authentic learning opportunities were possible because of my development as a professional and my belief in students being capable, engaged learners. Since 1994, my growth has come through being involved with a network of teachers who are dedicated to improving education, the National Writing Project.
The National Writing Project, a non-profit organization, was the first to create institutes where teachers K-University meet together for self improvement and collegial support. The project started at the University of Berkeley in 1974 with the need to help teachers become more proficient at teaching writing. Now, we have over 200 sites based at Universities in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Each site runs a summer institute and provides workshops for local teachers designed to meet the unique needs of their teaching situations. We also have partnership grants with Gates, Carnegie, McArthur, and the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC where we lead teachers into a world of technology, publish student work, and provide resources for them to share with their local districts. Two years ago, we started working with the embassy in South Africa as we have had teachers from Africa attend our institutes in the states.
NWP has been effective and successful over the past 37 years and we have the research to prove our programming has depth and breath. We leverage $3.00 for every dollar received from the federal government, we have built a website rich with resources for all teachers to access. Please visit nwp.org for more details.
Unfortunately, all of our federal funding has been cut along with many other powerful literacy programs, four billion dollars from the FY 2011 budget. Because of your love for reading and writing and a lifetime in communication, I am sure you can see this is a great loss to the teachers and students of this nation and beyond. This means the 37 years NWP built an infrastructure will be lost as well. It is much like throwing away the baby with the bathtub.
Oprah, I’m desperate and asking for your expertise. Teachers are not trained in fund raising; they are called to teach. It is a profession of humility and service. The teachers in our network and across the country are emotionally and physically drained. Our government keeps telling them to focus on test scores. The public says they are no good. Now the people who have supported and believed in them are being zeroed out of the FY2011 budget.
We know research has proven the number one factor in improving education is good teachers; we are losing them. Teachers want to provide experiences like I mentioned above for their students. And Oprah, these are the best. These are teachers who are the teacher of the year, published authors, committee chairs in the world of education, and continue to practice their craft daily with their students.
Will you help the National Writing Project? Do you have suggestions? You’ve been in my life throughout my teaching career. We spent many dinner conversations with our three sons around the daily topic of your show. Now I turn to you as a friend of education. How do we keep the National Writing Project for future teachers and students?
Sincerely,
Pat Mumford
Posted by Pat Mumford | March 21, 2011, 12:33 pmThank you, Pat –
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 21, 2011, 12:39 pmChad, please add this #blog4nwp piece, from the Karuna Journals: http://thekarunajournals.com/?p=1059
Posted by Paul Oh | March 18, 2011, 2:47 pmAnd, here’s another one, from Troy Hicks (@hickstro): http://hickstro.org/2011/03/18/on-scholarship-significance-and-the-nwp/
Posted by Paul Oh | March 18, 2011, 2:53 pmA digital story by @fieldpeaz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIv9FALZdZg
Posted by Paul Oh | March 18, 2011, 5:03 pmI think I have them all – thanks, Paul!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 18, 2011, 6:20 pmFunding What Works
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2011/03/funding-what-works-national-writing.html
Posted by Ira Socol | March 19, 2011, 10:33 amThe National Writing Project changes teachers’ professional lives in a powerful and positive way. In turn, teachers change students’ lives. It is critical that Federal Funding be restored for this premier professional development program for teachers for many reasons, one of them being the students themselves.
Posted by Ann Dobie | March 19, 2011, 6:20 pmI participated in a three week long NWP almost 10 years ago, and I wholeheartedly believe that it changed my life both personally and professionally. At the time, I was a neophyte teacher who agreed to attend the training because my job depended on it. I had received very little writing instruction during my teacher preparation program at the university level, and looking back, I believe my principal at the time was grooming me for 4th grade. The workshop challenged me in ways I never expected, and I learned more about the writing process during those three weeks than I had ever learned in all of my seventeen years of prior education. The daily writing exercises and the constant revision activities helped me gain confidence in myself as a writer and a teacher. I can vividly recall the afternoon read aloud, and for the first time in my life I began to appreciate writer’s craft. I still read my reflexive piece to my students each year, and I am deeply moved by how much my writing improved over such a short period of time. I have encouraged all of my colleagues to attend this phenomenal training over the years, and I am 100% convinced that this training shaped me more than any other professional development opportunity I’ve attended.
Posted by Tenille Shade | March 19, 2011, 8:57 pmI just wanted to say my words of wisdom, can this get put on somehow. Thanks!
Posted by Jeremy Hyler | March 19, 2011, 9:30 pmJust posted a Storify “The National Writing Project Needs More Than Praise, It Needs Funding” – http://bit.ly/fgL6TK
Posted by Peter Pappas | March 19, 2011, 10:23 pmHi Chad,
Here is my post:
http://lynnjake.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/the-national-writing-project-my-students-and-me/
Thank you for what you are doing. Great idea.
Lynn Jacobs.
Posted by lynnjake | March 19, 2011, 11:00 pmhttp://elapeercafe.blogspot.com/2011/03/keep-paying-it-forward.html
Posted by Lisa Madden | March 20, 2011, 3:09 pmHi Chad! Here is my post! http://jeremyhyler40.wordpress.com/ Thank you!
Posted by jeremyhyler40 | March 20, 2011, 3:12 pmNWP is my hope that Diane Ravitch’s fear for the destruction of public education doesn’t come to pass. New Blog: On the Redemption of Rhetoric:
http://dochorsetales.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-redemption-of-rhetoric.html
Posted by Joseph McCaleb | March 20, 2011, 4:14 pmI am a 3rd grade teacher with 22 years of experience in the classroom, doctoral student and member of the UNC-Charlotte Writing Project. I have been a part of the Writing Project since 2004. At that time, I was seriously considering leaving teaching. I was burned out and did not feel like I was a part of any conversation as it relates to the teaching of reading and writing. Then I was invited to be a part of UNC-Charlotte’s Summer Invitational. It was a watershed moment for me. I had finally found a space where I could have an ongoing conversation, with teachers as passionate as me, about teaching reading and writing, more importantly, I’d found a space where I felt like I could contribute to something bigger than me and what happens in my classroom. Since that summer, I have participated in just about every aspect of our site’s work. It was because of my relationship with the UNC-Charlotte Writing Project that I felt confident enough to enter the doctoral program to further inquire into issues of urban literacy. I have presented at conferences, written articles in peer reviewed journals and helped co-author a book with several of my Writing Project colleagues. My local knowledge as a teacher has grown tremendously as a result of my participation in the National Writing Project. The students I’ve taught have benefited from my experiences. Now, thanks to neoliberal politics, the NWP is in danger. Funding for this organization is going to be cut unless something is done. If that funding is cut, think of the impact that decision will have on teachers across the United States! Think of the impact that decision will have on the students who work alongside teachers who value what the NWP has done for them as professionals and their students. It is my hope that my post helps in some way and I appreciate the space to “tell my story.”
Posted by Tony Iannone | March 20, 2011, 5:38 pmThis is a comment that Ruth H. Harris sent me via email:
Thank you, Ruth, for supporting the National Writing Project!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 20, 2011, 5:39 pmThank you all for reading, commenting, contributing, and acting to contact your government officials.
All the best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 20, 2011, 6:14 pmThanks for doing this. Here’s my post.http://jmjd.wordpress.com/
By the way, is there a downside to linking this to Facebook? I haven’t blogged in a while and don’t know all the ins and outs.
Thanks,
Judy Jester
PA Writing and Literature Project
Posted by jmjd | March 20, 2011, 8:21 pmNo downside at all = broadcast it loud and clear!
Thank you!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 20, 2011, 9:04 pmFor years, the National Writing Project has been there for me. Now it needs my help.
My name is Dolores S. Perez. I am a teacher-consultant from The Sabal Palms Writing Project in Brownsville, Texas. I attended the SPWP’s Summer Institute in 2002. I was a visiting scholar for the Hudson Valley Writing Project’s Summer Institute in New York during the summer of 2006. I am proud to call both sites home.
What has the National Writing Project done for me? Before going through the WP experience I referred to myself as “just a teacher.” I now call myself a Writing Project teacher. I always tell others that the National Writing Project is a place where educators speak the same language of literacy development and learning-not only for the benefit of our students, but for ourselves as teacher-learners as well.
Yes, teachers are learners too.
In order for me to ask my students to become strong readers and writers, I had to believe that of myself. I found my voice as a teacher and a leader through the NWP. Never before in my years of teacher-training and professional development had I ever experienced such a deep understanding of how teachers lend their expertise in the field of literacy development to help other teachers until I joined the NWP.
In order for our students to be catalysts and contributors for change, or compete in an ever expanding global society, we need to help our students find their own voices. We need to help them understand the power of the written, read, and spoken word. How do we do this? Through reading and writing across the curriculum.
The seeding out of knowledge and best practices learned through the NWP is what makes a difference in the classroom. We need the National Writing Project.
Posted by Dolores S. Perez | March 20, 2011, 9:13 pmDolores, thank you so much for this comment!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 20, 2011, 9:48 pmHappy to add my voice: http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/1297-Save-the-National-Writing-Project.html
Posted by Chris Lehmann | March 21, 2011, 1:51 amThank you, Chris –
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Posted by Chad Sansing | March 22, 2011, 4:44 amI know it’s a day late, but here’s my contribultion.
http://kchichester.edublogs.org/2011/03/21/a-day-late-but-a-old-dog-can-learn-new-tricks/
Posted by Karen Chicherter | March 21, 2011, 11:49 amKaren, thank you for contributing!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 22, 2011, 4:44 amI couldn’t help but add my thoughts: http://whatwouldbabsdo.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/even-finance-people-can-be-convinced-to-write/
Barbara Hasselbach
Assistant Director, Grants & Contracts
National Writing Project
Posted by what would babs do? | March 22, 2011, 11:57 pmThank you, Barbara!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 23, 2011, 5:21 amI attended a National Writing Project institute in Michigan, and I am forever changed as a teacher and a writer because of my amazing experiences. NWP was such an incredible opportunity to meet and learn from my fellow colleagues. Without these opportunities for educators to network and to continue to learn, write, and grow.
Posted by Julie | March 25, 2011, 7:24 pmThank you, Julie, for sharing with us how much you value the National Writing Project –
The very best regards,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 25, 2011, 9:10 pmThe Greater Kansas City Writing Project revitalized me as an educator, a student and a person. During the Summer Institute with Debbie Blackman, Ted Fabiano, and Jean Halley, I felt such excitement writing, reading and discussing thoughts and had not experienced this wild energy since my Master’s at K-State. I realized how empty I had been, how I hungered for this intellectual bond with great educators that were not only wicked bright, but compassionate, kind, and fighting the good fight. I was HOME. I want to thank Katie Kline, Jane Greer, Thomas Ferrel, and the GKCWP staff/members for being phenomenal and bringing such amazing people into my inner circle. I know I am not alone and the GKCWP events, meetings, and professional development continue to re-energize me every time I attend. I crave the interaction with these educators and cannot adequately express the role they have in my life. I can only say, “Thank you!” Please continue to fund this amazing organization. As an inner city high school teacher, I need this rock of support.
Posted by Djana E Trofimoff | March 25, 2011, 9:03 pmDjana, thank you for sharing this heartfelt comment in support of the project!
All the best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 25, 2011, 9:09 pmNWP Works! It is the longest-running professional development program in the United States.
I met the Bay Area Writing Project, NWP’s first site, before I even went into teaching in the 1980s. “Make sure to find BAWP,” people would say as I made my way from Michigan to San Francisco with the intention of entering the teaching field. Well it was impossible not to find BAWP.
During my credential program, two BAWP teachers, Susan Katz and the immortal Bob Tierney made visits to the university classroom and presented us with hands-on, experiential workshops on second language learners (Katz) and writing to learn (Tierney). I remember Tierney’s white lab coat and the countless number of signatures from loving students. Although there were no smudges on the coat from the donuts he brought them to celebrate their birthdays, he left me with a goal to emulate his kindness, passion, and knowledge.
During my year of student teaching, the department head turned out to be – a BAWPer. She was a kind, clear, and rigorous English teacher named Mary Lee Glass (Templeton). While at BAWP she had learned a lot about sitting quietly in the back of a room and scripting classroom lessons. She generously scripted some of my first attempts at teaching and we looked at the scripts and tried to make sense of talk in my classroom – something that I have been studying pretty much forever.
Later that year, I was enthralled when the school hired BAWP to lead a 15-hour inservice series. One of the presenters who became a close friend and mentor, Lee Swenson, had us read primary source documents and draw metaphoric posters as a way to make sense of the social studies content. 25 years later, I can’t teach without drawing on my belief that making art, composing ideas, and writing during class are keys to learning. That was one of the theories that we informally derived that day in the school library.
By 1987, I began working alongside Swenson at another Bay Area school and launched a career. I’m not that different than most Writing Project teachers. I have stuck with teaching for years. Most of us teach at least 17 years or more (unlike the national trend of new teachers leaving the field for lack of support and skilled mentors). I owe much of my longevity, pleasure, and success in teaching to the National Writing Project which has made it possible for me to work with, learn from, and keep access to smart teachers, smart ideas, and strategies for increasing student achievement.
In 1990 a teaching friend attended a BAWP program and shared some of the key texts she had read and experiences she had had. Soon I, too, was reading Nancie Atwell and experimenting with having my 185 students writing, revising, conferring, editing, and discussing their goals in our “status of the class” conversations. Within a year, Swenson encouraged me to apply to participate in the Invitational Summer Institute. He sat me down one day and said, “You know I have always told you to hold out when people ask you to do things until you know it’s the right thing, the good thing to do. I’m about to tell you about a good thing.” He handed me an application and encouragement. I have never regretted the decision to apply, nor the tough collegial interview that I submitted to. Laury Fischer and Carol Tateishi asked me hard questions after I offered a critique of my school. It was not they disagreed with my assessment, but more they pushed me to consider how I might contribute to turn things around for the students in my school who were under-served.
How grateful I was to find colleagues at BAWP from many walks of life doing this complex work of teaching – with excellence and dignity. I learned so much that summer about myself, my goals, ways to teach better and ways to invite students’ towards excellence. One colleague, a UC Berkeley composition teacher taught me how to integrate “dictations” into my 9th grade remedial class in order to improve their reading comprehension and vocabulary. An Oakland Social Studies teacher taught me how to incorporate current events through the “Newspaper Analysis Portfolio.” I remember well how my much my “remedial” students learned about AIDS when writing about Magic Johnson. Another teacher invited me into the world of negotiated rubrics. I remember with such fondness that experience of being wired and tired AND grateful for the chance to meet colleagues who acknowledged the difficulty and wonder of teaching and WRITING!
It is 2011 and I now co-direct another writing project, the Hudson Valley Writing at the State University of New York. And the model still works. We are about to invite our 11th cohort of excellent K-16 teachers to read, write, and study. This summer we will work with math, social studies, TESOL, ELA, and science teachers to study the current educational landscape and how to best integrate literacy. We will write and make sense of how our own experience writing may become a resource to help us teach better when we return to our classrooms in the fall. We will put our heads together and determine what we can do to improve educational outcomes in the Hudson Valley.
At HVWP we respect teachers’ knowledge and expertise and remain committed to creating a safe place to examine and celebrate teaching, literacy, learning, and school. We are grateful for ongoing links we have had to people across the NWP’s network for helping us learn to inform local teachers about digital literacy, content area literacy, early childhood literacy, and strategic ways of addressing the needs of teachers working with children impacted by poverty including English Language Learners.
NWP works. In my own career it has been a launching pad into school reform, a cajoler of kind voices always pushing me towards my best teaching and inviting me to share ideas about literacy, literacy research, and school reform. Locally, we have made great strides in helping novice and pre-service teachers meet outstanding teachers. NWP transcends trends that undermine student learning and respect for teachers. We have been around for a long time and I will continue to advocate for this work. I have probably taught about 2,500 students in my life and many of them have gone on to be teachers. The legacy of the NWP is unique, powerful, and enduring.
Join me in asking policy makers to re-authorize the NWP and to put NWP back in the 2012 budget. NWP works.
Tom Meyer
Posted by Tom Meyer | March 26, 2011, 12:55 pmIn 1992 I became a fellow of the Oklahoma Writing Project. That experience changed my life as a teacher and a teacher of writing. For the first time in my educational career, I understood writing from the perspective of a writer. It changed the way I had my students approach writing, the way I worked with them to show them how to write, and the way they looked at writing. Suddenly it was alive and relevant.
Now in the university setting, my teaching is still based on the tenets of The National Writing Project. As I work with future teachers, we discover together what writers do and then discuss and practice ways to take that into the secondary classroom. The teacher I am and the teachers my students will become have been positively impacted by the work of NWP.
Dropping federal funding for NWP is a move back from where we teachers know we need to be moving. The instruction of writing project teachers takes students deeper into learning and thinking. These are the very skills that our nation and our global community need in order to be able to determine how to address problems that are multiplying as I type.
It is a sad day in the life of our nation when cutting taxes for multi-million dollar corporation is more important than supporting the education of our future generations.
Posted by Elaine | March 26, 2011, 1:20 pmI am so grateful for the NWP because it helped me improve my writing. I used to think that I could never be a good writer. When I began writing for NWP, I found that I just didn’t want to stop. It helped bring out a side of me that I had never known about before. I wrote all different types of works that helped me express my feelings and write about my life. I don”t know if I would enjoy writing at all if I had not enrolled in this program.
Posted by Jennifer Murphy | March 26, 2011, 9:49 pmAs a teacher consultant for the Seven Valleys Writing Project in central New York, I am stymied by the cut of NWP funding at a time when the bar has been raised for student acheivement by the same administration that is slashing that support. Our Writing Project is still a young one, just reaching out into the wide spread of rural districts it represents. Good teachers who may be uncomfortable with writing need to experience what NWP has to offer – learning about themselves as writers in order to help their students understand themselves as writers, learning about how to use writing to learn, writing to think, writing to problem solve. I wonder who will take the blame when students fall short in this critical area? Surely not the policy makers and budget cutters.
Posted by Lynda Diamond | March 27, 2011, 4:19 pmThank you for your comment Lynda – writing is so important. I’m baffled by Congress’s willingness to de-emphasize it even more than our current curricula and assessments do.
All the best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 27, 2011, 4:29 pmPlease post this excellent editorial by Mike Cassidy in support of the NWP
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_17692264?nclick_check=1
Posted by Herb Budden | March 28, 2011, 9:58 amHerb – thanks for the link. I’ve written Mike for permission to archive the post under #blog4nwp.
All the best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 28, 2011, 11:37 amHere’s my blog post.
Posted by Larry Neuburger | March 28, 2011, 1:41 pmLarry, would you resubmit the link? Thanks!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | March 28, 2011, 4:49 pmNWP has provided amazing professional development for my teaching career. Being a life-long learner makes exceptional educators. NWP provides this opportunity. Low pay makes it difficult to pay for college hours, so the grant funded NWP enables me to improve my skills when I can’t afford to pay $300.00 plus a credit hour. Teachers teaching teacher is NWP’s focus; providing me with successful practical lessons to use in my classroom. Please continue to fund this program!!!
Posted by Deb Peters | March 28, 2011, 4:18 pmSorry ’bout that. My blog post for the finest group of people I have ever met. http://bit.ly/eiE9id
Posted by Larry Neuburger | March 28, 2011, 6:22 pm“NWP changed my life!” Over the 40 years since I first became involved with NWP, as a Fellow in the Summer Institute at the University of Washington, then as an assistant director, co-director and finally K-12 Director of the program, I heard that statement every year from both new participants and those who’d been with us for years. NWP changed my own life too. My classroom teaching became more skillful as I learned from NWP’s powerful combination of sharing our teaching experiences and strategies, reading research on writing and the teaching of writing, reflecting on our own writing practices, learning from accomplished writers. For example, kindergarten and first grade teachers in our institute made me aware that, as a high school English teacher, I was also a reading teacher, and I began to use writing-to-learn techniques to deepen our classroom conversations about difficult texts like THE SCARLET LETTER. A middle school teacher convinced me that I could adapt the Reading/Writing Workshop to a high school setting, and my students made writing progress that amazed them and me. Teachers from our state’s NWP sites provided expert support in writing our Essential Academic Learning Requirements and in training teachers across the state to teach writing so that students could meet those standards. NWP made us a community of teacher-experts, and continued support of NWP by the nation will continue to help our children improve in their abilities to write and to become literate members of our nation’s community.
Posted by Linda Clifton | March 29, 2011, 3:35 pmCollege and career ready language in the new CORE Language Arts Standards describes students who can think deeply, create new ideas, and communicate those thoughts and ideas with others. Writing becomes ever more important in a digital world and writing is a complex skill to learn and teach. At it’s most basic writing is thought made evident and organizing our thoughts into coherent meaningful concepts, ideas and solutions are needed to communicate and collaborate throughout life.
The National Writing Project (NWP) immerses teachers in the highest quality professional development. Teachers learn not only how to teach their students but how to become the models of the forms of writing students need, not only to succeed in school, but to be a participating citizen and productive contributing adult. It is unfathomable, that at this time when the CORE Language Arts Standards have raised the bar for student achievement that all funding would be removed from NWP. Teachers cannot learn all they need to know in four years of college. All professions require ongoing learning. NWP resources impact curriculum, literacy and student achievement all over the United States. As a teacher whose district has benefited from participation in NWP I know it is an irreplaceable system impacting writing excellence for students.
Posted by Mary Kirchhof | March 29, 2011, 4:44 pmBill and Sharon
and Dan and Ken
and a turquoise summer at Bear Lake
and with Jackie as teachers teaching teachers
and the Public Voice expressed in Project I find
and raise my one voice with many too
with students who write
and so I teach
and do.
Posted by Curt Benjamin | March 29, 2011, 11:54 pmWhen policy makers ask me what would be the best way to improve K-12 education I tell them to talk to members of the National Writing Project. The NWP models everything that is possible when a community of learners is involved in setting high standards through collaboration, choice, peer review and authentic learning. It remains the most influential professional and personal development I have ever had. The experiences and relationships I was able to develop through the NWP have been the “teaching cloud” I am constantly uploading to and downloading from in my teaching for learning.
Posted by Joe Lubig | April 3, 2011, 5:39 pmThank you, Joe – well said.
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 4, 2011, 9:08 amLaura Beachy
March 31, 2011
GKCWP Youth Writing Conference
Digesting the Field Trip
Sixth Grade legs dangled from the campus desks. Shocks of Seventh Grade hair stood at oh-shoot-I’ m-
late-for-school attention. Eighth Grade retainers lurked in mouths, hoping to remain undiscovered. All
eyes focused hopefully and curiously on the two strange teachers welcoming the first group of thirty
middle school students from around the city to the classroom on the university building’ s third floor.
The GKCWP Youth Writing Conference had begun.
With some initial fist-bumps shared around the room and a celebration of the fact that we were all “out
of school” that day, Jennifer Quick and I attempted to win over our first batch of young writers. Our
activity was a poetry “mash-up” involving one Walt Whitman poem and one Langston Hughes poem.
Students read the poems aloud. We gave directions for the writing activity. We showed examples of
finished products and works-in-progress. We told the students to begin, and we silently wondered what
in the world these students would write as we settled in to do our own writing along with them.
Before we knew it, students were asking to transfer their drafts onto the colored paper we brought.
Marker caps clicked as every student – each one! – worked on his or her piece. Stickers were bestowed
upon students who shared with the class at the end of the session, and the group migrated to a
classroom down the hall for Session B. Session A yielded as much creativity and cooperation as we high
school teachers could have expected, so we counted it a success.
In came the second group, energized from their Session A writing activity and itching to know what
they’ d be doing with us.
“What is this colored paper for? Are we going to use it for writing? Will we get to use these markers?”
Again, we distributed poems, gave directions and examples, and answered the “do we have to”
questions by assuring students that no, they did not have to use a line from one of the poems as the
first line in their own poems. No, they did not have to use only words they found in the poems (but they
could do that if they wished). No, they did not have to wait for the entire group to finish the rough draft
before selecting a piece of colored paper for a final copy. A few sighs of relief accompanied an almost
palpable appreciation for the literary freedom allowed. Another cache of wonderfully creative and
expressive pieces was shared as the scent of warm cheese and pepperoni suggested that lunch time was
imminent.
Jennifer and I set up a small buffet in the classroom and served this second group its pizza lunch.
Contented chewing and amicable (and surprisingly polite) chatter occurred as students fueled up for
the afternoon writing session. Jennifer and I quietly discussed how well the day was going until we
were interrupted by an explosive belch from our smallest – yet certainly most vocal – young writer in
the group. Incredibly (I admit to having to bite my bottom lip to keep from giggling), the other students
did not laugh or point or make rude remarks; they simply continued to consume slices of pizza and
talk about the day’ s activities. Well, we HAD established an atmosphere of respect for each other as
writers, and perhaps that carried over to respect for fellow digesters. Middle school students respecting
each other despite shocking and different behaviors: a small miracle, perhaps?
Our little writing and pizza enthusiast remarked that her pizza had been “surprisingly satisfying” as she
packed up her conference folder and writing utensils in preparation for the session shift. There was,
after all, another group of middle school students waiting to enter our room for Session C. Oblivious to
the fact that her two poetry mash-up teachers were eavesdropping on the students’ comments as the
group left the room, the boisterous belcher burst out with something a bit more savory as she exited.
An earnest proclamation for all to hear echoed down the hall and through my head the rest of the day:
“This is the best field trip EVER!” I’ m still processing that remark, and it is settling well.
Posted by Steve J. Moore | April 4, 2011, 11:24 amWhy The National Writing Project Matters.
Suppose a penman inquired about a blacksmith. Hailing from letters and words the penman
would be hard pressed to understand subtleties involved in smelting. Likewise the blacksmith
lacks the allusions to devise an analysis of literature. Somewhere between lies a crux, a middle
ground. This vacancy lends and borrows, burrows and fills with purpose. No vacancy. Writing
checks in.
Perhaps it is a vehicle of wrath in my case.
Often writing is a medium to vent my spleen. Whether it is existential dread or test anxiety,
given enough heat I can pound my thoughts in to shape. Specifically creative writing provides
a sort of freedom a music class only hints at. Yes. Solos do exist. Musicians in Jazz band write
the solos themselves. But in a “music class” situation a key must be followed. A time must be
kept. Interacting with other musicians requires common points of reference; this tune feels this
way and that one that way. Creative writing allows for individual exploration. Students embark.
Conventions fight for attention. Eccentricities come to the fore. They reflect and embellish.
Recent events can be reconstructed through different lenses. Destruction can equal creation
similar to molten metal creating solid steel. Granted the privacy of the written word individuals
traverse the more than “the known universe”.
Self-discovery is a powerful thing.
Steinbeck compiled and expanded upon his experiences to draft his vision of the struggles of
man in a capitalist society. His writing allowed him to reach into dark places of his psyche
and confront the catalysts of their being. Man despite his efforts ultimately returns to the
socioeconomic class of his forbearers. Such epiphanies have led to great works of literature.
Exploration is the driving force behind the entrepreneurs of the world. They scavenge and wrack
for the unknown, so then should students be allowed the same opportunity.
Within their own minds volumes of imagination reside.
Surely other expressions can be more evocative of emotions over a broader range of people.
Patrons habitually credit painters for conveying complex themes effectively through a visual
medium. Sports more successfully portray the wonders of the human body to the masses. An
essay is considerably more constricted than a painting in symbolic speech. Yet writing can
encompass almost all senses (scratch’n’sniff excluded) with the right adjectives and depict
motion with the right “verbage”. Languages contort and twist in ways even the most limber of
gymnasts would not dare. Creative writing allows the mind to wander for the sake of wandering.
Sounds dangerous.
Sincerely,
Sean Robertson
Posted by Steve J. Moore | April 4, 2011, 11:25 amThe work of NWP is vital for all of us. We need to continue to band together as the thriving network that we are. I appreciate all of my writing projects experiences and know that I am a better writer and person because of all of the opportunities that I have had.
Posted by Carol Wickstrom | April 4, 2011, 6:18 pmThank you, Carol – it’s important for us to help policy-makers understand that not only do we teachers always want to improve our practice, but also that the NWP has been helping us do so for decades.
Best regards,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 4, 2011, 8:55 pmWe need the national writing project because it improves the quality of life for all who experience it. Not having the National Writing Project is equivalent to the non-existence of teachers. I cannot tell you the number of educators I have encountered that sing the praises of the NWP, expressing their heartfelt thanks for the work that is done because of this great organization. The National Writing Project influences teachers and teachers influence students. It is my sincerest hope that the powers that be will see the importance of the National Writing Project; its impact on teachers and its major role in the shaping of our future!
Posted by Rodney Bailey | April 4, 2011, 6:21 pmThank you, Rodney, for noting the value of the NWP to our future.
All the best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 4, 2011, 8:54 pmIn what business model are written communication skills not vital? After so many years of “reform” from outside our profession, is our nation really shutting the door on its own people and the goal of literacy? The removal of all paths to teacher quality will move our country over the precipice…effectively moving us far, far down the list of countries able to compete intellectually and commerically.
Posted by Nanci | April 5, 2011, 8:21 amIt is baffling, Nanci, to try and figure out the long-term economic logic in cutting a program like the National Writing Project that provides more students with access to critical communication skills. Our econo-political gate-keepers need to clear their path to funding the NWP.
Best,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 5, 2011, 8:49 amNWP has given teachers the opportunity to become true professionals. We can’t stop now!
Posted by Pauline Sahakian | April 5, 2011, 7:51 pmOnward, Pauline!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 5, 2011, 7:58 pmWhy write? My students asked me this question when I first started teaching four years ago. As a new English teacher, of course my passion was writing. I came prepared with new ideas I had learned in college, but it wasn’t until I spent my first summer with National Writing Project colleagues, that I really understood how important writing is to studnets. Not only is it important in my English and reading classroom, but now I feel confident to share ideas and lesson plans with teachers across the curriculum. I assist teachers each day to include profound and meaninful writing in their classrooms, even if they don’t teach English. Together, with the help of NWP supporters, we can change the way students view all sorts of writing.
Posted by Courtney Pritchard | April 8, 2011, 12:11 pmCourtney, you are absolutely right: the NWP helps us and our students work together to make writing matter.
Thank you!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 8, 2011, 12:43 pmHelp Us Help Others
A question…….unanswered
An idea….unexplored
A concept….undeveloped
Potential….unfulfilled
The National Writing Project gives teachers the tools they need to help students live up to their potential. Please support our cause. Helps us to help our youth.
Posted by Rodney Bailey | April 8, 2011, 5:52 pmI’ve just blogged about the NWP on my children’s lit blog: http://annieandaunt.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-teacher-training-ive-ever-known.html
Can you add this to the list? Hope I’m not too late.
Annie
Posted by Annie Thoms | April 8, 2011, 10:53 pmGot it, Annie – thank you!
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 9, 2011, 7:00 amWe just wanted to share our newsletter that highlights the great work of our teachers:
Click to access eiwpSpring_Newsletter.pdf
Posted by Robin | April 9, 2011, 10:04 amchad, this is truly amazing. congratulations.
Posted by Kirsten | April 11, 2011, 3:14 pmDare something worthy, right?
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | April 12, 2011, 1:49 pmHere is a link to my post. http://wp.me/s1rKNE-blog4nwp
Posted by kmhowellmartin | April 17, 2011, 3:53 pmJust added this to the archive. Thanks for adding your voice!
-Paul
Posted by Paul Oh | April 19, 2011, 10:55 amOne more for your list: http://casherc.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-national-writing-project-blog4nwp.html
Posted by Christy | April 19, 2011, 8:36 amThanks, Christy! Your piece is now part of the archive. Much appreciated.
-Paul
Posted by Paul Oh | April 19, 2011, 10:56 amChad,
Here is another blog4nwp.
http://jeremyhyler40.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/weathering-the-storm/
Thanks for all you do!!
Jeremy Hyler
Posted by jeremyhyler40 | April 20, 2011, 11:22 am