Leading Professional Learning

Aims and Criteria for Collaboration in Content-Area Classrooms

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...

Sustaining Work with New Teachers

Summary: Teacher leaders interested in supporting early career teachers may find this resource useful as it describes how several National Writing Project sites developed programs for teachers new to the profession.  Originally supported by NWP New Teacher Initiative grants, new teacher programs were integrated into the ongoing work of the site....

Bless, Press, Address: A Formative Response Protocol for Writing Groups

Summary: A useful resource for a writing group, Bless, Press, Address is a classic NWP formative response protocol designed to guide feedback to a writer on a draft piece of writing or multimedia project. Rather than offering a summative assessment of quality, the protocol invites group members to share how...

Improving Students’ Academic Writing: Building a Bridge to Success

Author: Juliet Wahleithner, Jayne Marlink Summary: This report would be of interest to teachers engaged in or planning college-preparatory reading/writing initiatives.  It describes the statistically significant impact of a statewide professional development program designed to improve students’ understanding of and ability to write academically in high school, specifically in grades...

School Partnerships: A Year of Professional Development

Author: Mark Dziedzic Summary: Is your site currently working in or working to develop a school partnership? If so this rich resource offers a year-long calendar of events for one in-school partnership project, with links to materials used for each session. In addition to the year-long calendar, program leaders will...

Toward a Scholarship of Teaching Practice: Contributions from NWP Teacher Inquiry Workshops

Author: Patricia Lambert Stock Summary: In her keynote speech at NWP’s 2007 Spring Meeting, Patricia Lambert Stock reports on her study of an overlooked genre of educational research: the teacher workshop. Describing in detail a teacher’s presentation on using mock trials in teaching literature, she shows that such workshops not...

One Director’s Role as Leader, Contextualizer, Researcher, Enabler, and Site Conscience

Author: Sheridan Blau Summary: In this classic piece Sheridan Blau, founder of the South Coast Writing Project, reflects on the varied roles a Writing Project site director plays, emphasizing how the role is really about creating a context for teacher leaders to pursue the important work of the project. This is particularly...

Reflection and Practice on Leadership and Facilitation

Summary: This series of scenarios for planning professional development programs can serve as thinking and discussion guides for site leaders working with teacher leaders who are developing and delivering professional development. The scenarios guide leaders through a process of considering multiple brief PD requests, how they would put together a...

Demonstrating Teaching in a Lab Classroom

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.

Mandated Reform vs. Classroom Reality

Author: Joe Check Summary: How should teachers pro-actively respond to school reforms mandated from above? This article advocates for teachers to take the lead in determining how these reforms are best implemented at the school and classroom level through reflective inquiry practices. Specifically, the article covers three main lines of...