AUTHORS: Marcie Wolfe and Pat Fox
FROM THE BLOG: The leaders of the Write/Learn/Lead Knowledge Base team introduce the site, explain what’s in it and how it came to be, and offer suggestions for navigating and using it.
Author: National Writing Project
AUTHOR: Janelle Bence
FROM THE BLOG: High school ELA teacher and NWP teacher leader Janelle Bence explores how civic engagement forms the essential “why” of her classroom practice, helping students consider their identities, values, and connections to communities big and small.
AUTHOR: Kathy Kurtze
FROM THE BLOG: Chippewa River Writing Project teacher-consultant Kathy Kurtze explores how the College, Career, and Community Ready Writers Program’s curriculum is perfect for harnassing the energy of her social and demonstrative middle schoolers into civil discourse and thoughtful argument writing.
AUTHOR: Bud Hunt
FROM THE BLOG: A reflection from Bud Hunt on NWP’s Building New Pathways to Leadership initiative.
FROM THE BLOG: Writing Our Future: American Creed, a new youth publishing opportunity from the National Writing Project, gives youth a chance to add their voice to the conversation sparked by American Creed, a documentary film tackling big questions facing America today.
AUTHOR: Monica Avila
FROM THE BLOG: Central Arizona Writing Project teacher-consultant Monica Avila shares her experience representing her Writing Project site in meetings with congressional staffers at the NWP Spring Meeting, covering her preparations, meeting strategies, and follow-up approach.
AUTHOR: Stephanie West-Puckett
FROM THE BLOG: Stephanie West-Puckett and her graduate students name and defeat persistent zombie ideas with help from Bad Ideas About Writing, a free, open-source textbook outlining 61 bad ideas about writing and writing instruction that just won’t go away.
AUTHOR: Tom Fox
FROM THE BLOG: With the thriving matsutake mushroom as a metaphor, Tom Fox reflects on the process of scaling up programs without imposing uniform ideas, and the risks and changes to take and make in the process.
FROM THE BLOG: We invite interested educators and NWP teacher leaders to comment on any of the priorities that spark your interest and may benefit from your knowledge, experience, or viewpoint. Open comment periods are a great mechanism for citizen advocacy and allow the Department to take into account public support and/or concern before implementing regulations.
AUTHOR: Steve Fulton
FROM THE BLOG: The results of student civic action projects are inspiring and exciting, but the presentation of these often final products obscures difficulties, false starts, and frustrations. Steve Fulton digs into the messy, uncomfortable learning that makes authentic projects so meaningful.