Friday, February 13, 2009

K-12 Topic: National Writing Projects

10-second review: Why do teachers who attend writing projects over the summer say the experience changed their lives?

Title: “Teacher Transformation in the National Writing Project.” Anne Whitney. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2008), 144-184. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary/Quote: “In an NWP (National Writing Project) Summer Institute, experienced teachers from kindergarten through college in all subject areas who have been selected through a process of application and interview gather for five weeks of all-day sessions. The teachers engage in daily personal and professional writing and meet in writing groups. They also demonstrate successful teaching practices of their own, see demonstrations by scholars in education and composition, and spend time discussing and unpacking the principles that underlie those demonstrations.” p. 144.

Comment: In Part 2 of my review of this article, I will describe the author’s suggestion for evaluating the effects of these summer institutes in the teacher-participants’ own classrooms. RayS.

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