Author: Lucy Ware Summary: As co-director of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, Lucy Ware decided to remake her site’s approach to selecting readings for the Invitational Leadership Institute. Her framing of the problem and participatory solution could work for any site team concerned that the connection between teachers’ shared practice and...
Author: Roni Jo Draper, Paul Broomhead, Amy Petersen Jensen, and Daniel Siebert Summary: If you are looking for a book chapter that will help you think through content area reading and writing beyond taking tests and basic writing, read this. Facilitators planning and/or framing the thinking of a group that...
Author: Lisa Houk Summary: Lisa Houk, a teacher-consultant with the Oakland (MI) Writing Project, details a structure in which “host” teachers provide opportunities for observation by “guest” teachers in a format that allows for preparation, facilitation, and debriefing.
Author: Meg Petersen and Megan Birch Summary: Arguing that the Common Core State Standards “represent an opportunity to disrupt and transform existing instructional practices and ways of thinking about curriculum,” the authors challenge teachers to move beyond facilitating writing toward becoming authentic intellectual partners with their students in response to...
Author: Marva Solomon Summary: Are you engaged in or facilitating a workshop, pd program, or study group of teachers who are ready to move from discussion and research to developing actionable plans for teaching writing in their classrooms? If so, this template outlining an action plan could be a useful resource....
Author: Anne-Marie Hall, Roger Shanley, and Flory Simon Summary: Of particular interest to teacher leaders planning their site’s invitational institute, this monograph from the Southern Arizona Writing Project describes how site leaders’ addressed the challenges of recruitment by revising their year-round calendar to more seamlessly integrate pre and post-institute experiences with...
Summary: A leader in the field of teacher research, Marian Mohr left a legacy of resources to support teacher inquiry. This article provides an excellent annotated bibliography of resources for anyone interested in participating in or guiding teachers through the inquiry process.
Author: Elaine Avidon, et al. Summary: This e-book includes powerful chapters written by teacher-consultants about the individual and collective impact of their work and its alignment to their site’s mission and beliefs about professional learning. Reading select chapters would support fellows in imagining different kinds of school coaching; alternatively, the...
Author: Susan Bennett Summary: This is a succinct overview on the role of coaching in the Summer Institute at the Redwood Writing Project. The document describes the relationship between the coach and the person being coached, carefully laying the groundwork for a supportive and collaborative, non-evaluative relationship. While the piece...
Author: Anne DiPardo Summary: DiPardo addresses the divide between narrative and expository writing, noting the problematic tendency in composition teaching and scholarship to privilege “pure” exposition. She argues that instruction which fosters this divide, which contends narrative and expository are separate modes, denies students the opportunity to develop a complex...