Program Design

#StayinTeaching: Pathways to Writing Project Leadership for Early-Career Teachers

Authors: Vicki Collet, Amanda Coughlin, Jean Hill, Katie Hill, Tyler McBride, & Kristina Packard Summary: Written as part of the Building New Pathways to Leadership initiative, this narrative and accompanying resources tell one site’s story of building a pathway to teacher leadership for early career teachers. Site leaders interested in...

Strategic Planning for Program Development

Summary: This resource outlines a guided inquiry for NWP site leaders interested in designing a new or revitalizing an existing site program. It is designed to capture the process and thinking involved in determining site capacity and priorities and organizing a revenue-generating program at any local site. As a series,...

A Voice That Is Heard: Living the Writing Project Philosophy as Coaches

Author: Sidnie Myrick Summary: Anyone developing a coaching or mentoring program or stepping into a role as a classroom coach/consultant/mentor will find this article by teacher consultant Sidnie Myrick a useful resource. The author relates her own experience transitioning from a workshop facilitator to the role of coach/mentor to explore...

The Limitations of Partnership

Author: GibAnn Tam Summary: Sharing lessons on time, focus, and leadership, one NWP site details important lessons learned in a professional development initiative with multiple partners. Their story could be helpful for sites confronting bumps in the road as they build professional partnerships intended to bring NWP ideas and practices...

Investing in the Improvement of Education: Lessons to be Learned from the National Writing Project

Author: Mark St. John, Laura Stokes Summary: This research report examines the impact of the National Writing Project in the context of decades of educational improvement efforts, highlighting the NWP’s success in building durable infrastructure for long-term, sustained school improvement efforts, and arguing that this success serves as a model...

Reading, Writing and Revising in Digital Spaces: Oakland Writing Project’s Literacy Webinar Series

Summary: In partnership with the Oakland School District, the Oakland (MI) Writing Project developed and hosted an online webinar series focused on revision. Links to all of the webinars, resources, and related readings for the 2015-16 series (Revision: the Heart of Writing) and 2014-15 (Reading and Writing in Digital Spaces)...

Challenges for Writing Teachers: Evolving Technologies and Standardized Assessment

Author: Anne Herrington and Charles Moran Summary: This introductory chapter discusses existing and emerging technologies and electronic text types for use in curriculum and assessment. While the authors provide examples of how teachers have embraced new forms of writing by developing relevant learning objectives and e-projects, they also argue that...

Teacher Study Group Movement: From Pilot to Districtwide Study Groups in Four Years

Authors:Mary Weaver, Mary Calliari, Janet Rentsch Summary: This NWP monograph from leaders of the Saginaw Bay WP (Michigan) takes a deep dive into a districtwide approach to teacher-led study groups that resulted in significant changes in teacher practice and student learning as well as leadership development among teacher facilitators. The...

Imaginary Gardens and Real Issues: Improving Language Arts in the Urban Elementary School

Author: Joe Check Summary: Former Boston Writing Project director Joe Check creates “an imaginary school filled with real issues” to explore the role that Writing Project sites can play in helping schools create lasting improvements in literacy instruction, shifting focus from scaling up “exemplary programs” to scaling down and fostering...

A Year in the Life of a Director

Summary: This graphic/timeline of “A Year in the Life of a Director” encapsulates the management responsibilities and initiatives necessary to keep things running at a local site. This tool is helpful in assisting site leaders and program coordinators with funding deadlines, reporting deadlines, and organizational leadership meetings.