Program Design

The Family Writing Project: No More Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Author: Arthur Kelly Summary: Describing the family writing project that he developed and led, Arthur Kelly explains that such programs offer families the rare opportunity to come together and create a community of writers: “As in National Writing Project summer institutes, participants in family writing projects discuss ideas and issues...

Creating a Team of Teacher Leaders in Remote Schools and Local Communities: The Yellowstone Writing Project’s New Pathway to Leadership

Authors: Allison Wynhoff Olsen, Kirk Branch, Alan Hoffmann, Amber Henwood, Hali Kirby, Cassandra Moos, Tyrel Shannon, Peter Strand, and Nigel Waterton Summary: Written as part of the Building New Pathways to Leadership initiative, this narrative and accompanying resources tell one site’s story of building a pathway to teacher leadership in...

A Critical Inquiry Framework for K-12 Teachers

Author: JoBeth Allen and Lois Alexander Summary: This sample book chapter explains what teacher-led critical inquiry means in a social justice context. Useful in planning inquiry groups with a social justice focus, it also includes excellent content to help teachers to bring a social justice focus to their individual inquiry...

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...

A Work in Progress: The Benefits of Early Recruitment for the Summer Institute

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...

Multi-Session Calendar for School-Based Professional Development

Author: Katelin Grande Summary: This blueprint/plan for a multi-day professional development series was created by teacher-consultants from the Hudson Valley Writing Project. Along with illustrating how reading, writing, and inquiry strands were designed strategically for the series, this plan also serves as a calendar for teacher-participants and includes time considerations....

C3WP: Teaching On-Demand Argument Writing

Summary: While developing a more expansive approach to writing, many teachers will still want to ensure that students are prepared for on-demand writing and assessments. This online learning experience from the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) focuses on on-demand writing. A PowerPoint with a slide-by-slide voiceover, the resource provides...

The Challenge of Change: Growth Through Inquiry at the Western Massachusetts Writing Project

Author: Susan Connell Biggs, Kevin Hodgson, and Bruce Penniman Summary: This National Writing Project monograph describes the inquiry process undertaken by leaders at the Western Massachusetts Writing Project when the site faced radical changes and challenges in funding and leadership. This process led to a reorganization of the site, with...

The Family Writing Project: Creating Space for Sustaining Teacher Identity

Author: Marilyn McKinney, Rosemary Holmes-Gull, and Saralyn Lasley Summary: How can teacher leaders and writing project sites develop effective ways to collaborate with parents and families? The writers, all with the Southern Nevada Writing Project, argue that family writing projects help develop a writing culture, nurture authentic writing and democratic...

Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development Programs

Author: Sheridan D. Blau, Rosemary H. Cabe, and Anne Whitney Summary: While there is significant research behind the NWP model, there is also a need for sites to evaluate their local professional development programming. This research study of the South Coast Writing Project’s IIMPaC (Inquiry, Inservice workshops, Models, Practice, and...