About Writing

Billy Collins: A ‘Reader’s Poet’ Reads at NWP’s Annual Meeting

Summary: Two-time Poet Laureate Billy Collins shared his poetry, insights into writing, and many, many humorous asides at the 2009 NWP Annual Meeting’s General Session.

Subversive Acts of Revision: Writing and Justice

Author: Heather Bruce Summary: Bruce explains how revision can be taught as a tool to critique unjust texts. She writes, “We must …speak back to those who would take our power from us and continue a legacy of damage to our students.” Reading this piece could spark powerful conversations about...

Publishing Students’ True Stories

Author: Rus VanWestervelt Summary: Creative nonfiction? What better way to engage students in all disciplines than to write real stories about life events that matter to them! And what if there were opportunities to publish these pieces in a journal designed and edited by youth? In telling the story of...

Collaborating to Write Dialogue

Author: Janis Cramer Summary: By engaging children in a collaborative workshop environment to help them learn to develop characters, consider word choice, and interweave dialogue and description, the author simultaneously helped her students to strengthen social and independent writing skills. Opportunities to perform their dialogues in front of the class...

Completing the Paradigm Shift to Process Writing: The Need to Lead

Author: Samuel Totten Summary: In this article from the NWP Quarterly, Samuel Totten describes the ever slow shift towards teaching writing as a process and some of the barriers teachers and schools face in making the shift. While the article is over a decade old, the issues that keep teachers...

The Landscape of Digital Writing

Author: National Writing Project, with Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, and Troy Hicks Summary: This first chapter of Because Digital Writing Matters explores the new digital landscape for writing, examining both the complexities and challenges of digital writing for teachers and students, and unpacking what is necessary for educators and...

Writing Together, at Home and Online

Summary: A sojourn at home can be the occasion for lots of creativity around topics and projects of interest. For those with internet access and a suitable devices, there are also ways to connect with others as you write. Here are some of our favorites from our colleague organizations in...

Reading, Writing, and Mentor Texts: Imagining Possibilities (NWP Radio)

Summary: Mentor texts can support writers and inspire writing in all genres in the classroom and beyond. This NWP Radio show is of particular interest to study groups and teacher leaders designing professional development that explores the use of mentor texts to support writing in academic disciplines. Presenters share resources...

Considering the 5-Paragraph Essay

Summary: The 5-paragraph essay: it is frequently derided, but hard to avoid. This collection explores the critique of the 5-paragraph essay, and considers how we could move beyond it to more creative and authentic forms of academic writing.

Argument/Opinion Writing for College Career, and Community (Kentucky Writing Project)

Author: Kentucky Writing Project Summary: The Kentucky Writing Project developed this rich collection of useful resources on argument writing, inspired by NWP’s College, Career, & Community Writing Program (C3WP). With mini-units, text sets, general resources on argument, professional development materials, specific units on science & social studies, and much more,...