I attribute my success to the National Writing Project

Karen Greco contributes this #blog4nwp guest post to the Coöp.

The NWP equipped me to teach English: reading and writing.  After attending a summer institute at a university near me, the University of Houston at Clear Lake, I received the teacher of the year award for my district two years in a row.  I learned more in one summer at the NWP than I have learned in all the professional development workshops I have had combined over twenty years. 

Working with the NWP as a facilitator at another site’s summer institute equipped me to train other teachers how to teach both reading and writing better.  Just this week, I applied a poetry lesson I learned at my summer institute, and the students surveyed [afterwards] responded that they had never learned how to write poetry in such a user-friendly manner before.  The teacher-modeling and students’ opportunities for personal choice made the unit more pleasing and successful for everyone. 

I attribute my success as a teacher to the National Writing Project.  I hope it will be continued and allowed to expand to other universities. 

Karen Greco
Attended NWP University of Houston Clear Lake, 2002
Facilitator NWP Sam Houston State University, 2004-2008