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Author: Luke Rodesiler, Meenoo Rami, Gary Anderson, Cindy Minnich, Brian Kelley, Sarah Andersen Summary: The NWP principle of “going public with our practice” has taken on new meaning as avenues for connecting and going public have continued to open. This article takes a deep look at what happens when five teachers take their practice public and put themselves “out there” professionally. You’ll read stories of how teachers have overcome isolation by making connections and developing professional learning networks online, grown and evolved their own teaching practice, and developed their writer identity. The writers also share how online participation led them to new levels of teacher leadership through exciting professional opportunities that became available because of the visibility they gained by “going public with their practice.”
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Author: Sonia Nieto Summary: Sonia Nieto, a leading authority in bilingual and multicultural education, delivered this moving address, at an NWP Spring Meeting, about the “What Keeps Teachers Going” Project and teaching in the current socio-political context in general. Exploring the question of what sustains teachers in challenging situations and discussing the implications for professional development, Nieto encourages us to move beyond the “how and what” in professional development in order to explore the our relationships with students and the larger and more lasting question of “why.” Listen. An inspirational speech that reminds teachers what brought them to the National Writing Project in the first place and what has kept them engaged since.
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Author: Meenoo Rami Summary: The creater of #engchat, Meenoo Rami, describes how #engchat began as a weekly online chat for English teachers and has grown into a platform that has thousands of followers and hundreds of weekly tweets and retweets. Read a little about #engchat here and then join the conversation on Twitter.
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Author: Melinda Rench Summary: Social media, including platforms such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, offer teachers new and ongoing opportunities to connect with other teachers and literacy leaders in ways that were not possible for previous generations of educators. This short article offers a look into a few ways that one teacher has opened up her professional network and grown her pedagogical practice via social media. Have a read and then head out to Twitter, Facebook, the NWP Medium blog, or some other platform and get involved in the conversation.
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Guests: Meenoo Rami Summary: Described by NWP Executive Director Elyse Eidmann-Aadahl as “the book I would want to give all new teachers,” Meenoo Rami’s Thrive celebrates the influence of mentors and membership in a professional community as catalysts for the author’s own intellectual growth and personal empowerment as a teacher. In this NWP Radio show, Rami shares the stories of the mentors and communities that have shaped her practice.
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Author: Christina Puntel Summary: An elementary school teacher and bilingual coordinator pushes back against the mandated content/performance descriptors provided by her district to assert that the “core” of her curriculum is her students’ learning. “I teach with an ear close to the core of each child, to the core of the monarch unit, the silkworm unit, the family songs unit….” Her important reflection on the humanity of the students at the heart of classrooms and curricula will be of interest to teachers and study groups wrestling with the influence of mandated curricula on their teaching.
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Author: Kelly Lock Summary: Do you ever feel as if we live in a perpetual state of top-down, mandated pedagogy? How are classroom teachers responding to calls to act on these directives? This is the question Kelly Lock tries to answer as her school district orders an abrupt midyear mandated transition and required change to the writers’ workshop model. This article could be a valuable piece for educators who wish to discuss where we each draw the proverbial “line in the sand.” When do we give the new mandate a whole-hearted try and when do we adapt to include other strategies for the benefit of our students?
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Author: Anne Elrod Whitney Summary: When teachers write for others in their profession they are taking on a form of leadership and embracing a means of advocating for the value of classroom inquiry and reflective practice. This article by Anne Whitney, a researcher who has studied the professional practice of NWP teachers, invites teacher-writers to get beyond the hurdles of doubt as they approach publication of their professional writing. An inspirational article for teacher writing groups, it could resonate with teachers who are ready or getting ready to share their work more publicly.
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Author: Christine Dawson Summary: How might teachers pursue and support personally and professionally worthwhile writing practices in the midst of the many demands associated with teaching? How might writing groups sustain their work together – in person or online? This final chapter from The Teacher-Writer: Creating Writing Groups for Personal and Professional Growth, a book that documents the first year of a successful teacher writing group, includes strategies developed and a generative framework grounded in lessons learned by the group as they met face-to-face and worked online. Their story and what they learned together will be of particular interest to teachers who wonder how to build on their commitments to personal writing and sustain a collegial community that forms in the process of writing and sharing.
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Author: Howard Rheingold Summary: Teacher Brianna Crowley describes how shifting into being a connected educator expanded her network of colleagues and renewed her teaching career. She spotlights benefits and challenges for herself and the students, and provides advice for ways students can connect to the community and to their learning through social media. She also describes online communities that sustain her as a teacher. This resource can offer an informative door for those educators hesitant to learn along with their students in digital ways.