Teachers
teach, writers write. That's what I believed before I participated in
Puget Sound Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute. As a
teacher of writing, I wasn't ineffective. I worked in a low income
Seattle Public School, and my students were doing well enough for the
Assistant Principal to recommend me for the Summer Institute. My mission
was to bring back strategies from the writing project. I accomplished
my mission and so much more. I was pressed to learn about myself as a
writer. I wrote and wrote daily for one month. I participated in writing
groups and opened my writing to comments from colleagues. It was
difficult, and I began to understand how my students feel about writing
in school. My writing and the writing of teachers grade-levels
pre-kindergarten through college became the basis of an inquiry that
created community, listened attentively and challenged us to answer
questions that focused our work, both as writers and as teachers.
Additionally, we learned classroom strategies from each other,
researched and presented reports on writing, and built a community of
resources that remain my most valuable teaching tool. I participated in
PSWP in 2005, and I can still contact any of the teachers in my cohort
and bounce ideas, ask questions and gain insights into teaching.
Several years ago, I moved to the Hudson Valley. My Seattle network
was still in place, but I wanted a local community of teachers to work
with. I found Hudson Valley Writing Project in New Paltz and
participated in another Summer Invitational Institute. It was not like
taking a class over again. The nature of the professional development
offered by National Writing Project model uses the expertise of
participating teachers and guidance of dedicated staff to bring about a
new and relevant experience that value teachers as researchers of their
collective work.
Because of the work that I have done and continue to do with the
Writing Project, I now recognize developing writers are more capable of
writing than I once believed. My Kindergarten, first and second grade
students all write for a variety of purposes. They identify themselves
as writers, and this year my students chose the name, The Authors, to
identify their group.
This work has also opened the door for my participation in developing
writing curriculum at the district level for Seattle Public Schools,
working as a Teacher-Consultant for both Puget Sound and Hudson Valley
Writing Projects, and encouraged me to use my voice and pen to advocate
for children, teachers and the teaching of writing.
Funding of the NWP assures that a highly effective process that
allows teachers from all areas of the US to connect in an influential
dialog about writing and learning continues to grow. I have participated
in many other professional development opportunities, all had something
useful that I brought back to my classroom. None offered the ongoing
support to ask questions and grow beyond the initial information
learned. NWP is unique in this most important way. Please reinstate
funding for NWP.
Teachers teach, writers write. That's what I believed before I participated in Puget Sound Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute. As a teacher of writing, I wasn't ineffective. I worked in a low income Seattle Public School, and my students were doing well enough for the Assistant Principal to recommend me for the Summer Institute. My mission was to bring back strategies from the writing project. I accomplished my mission and so much more. I was pressed to learn about myself as a writer. I wrote and wrote daily for one month. I participated in writing groups and opened my writing to comments from colleagues. It was difficult, and I began to understand how my students feel about writing in school. My writing and the writing of teachers grade-levels pre-kindergarten through college became the basis of an inquiry that created community, listened attentively and challenged us to answer questions that focused our work, both as writers and as teachers. Additionally, we learned classroom strategies from each other, researched and presented reports on writing, and built a community of resources that remain my most valuable teaching tool. I participated in PSWP in 2005, and I can still contact any of the teachers in my cohort and bounce ideas, ask questions and gain insights into teaching.
Several years ago, I moved to the Hudson Valley. My Seattle network was still in place, but I wanted a local community of teachers to work with. I found Hudson Valley Writing Project in New Paltz and participated in another Summer Invitational Institute. It was not like taking a class over again. The nature of the professional development offered by National Writing Project model uses the expertise of participating teachers and guidance of dedicated staff to bring about a new and relevant experience that value teachers as researchers of their collective work.
Because of the work that I have done and continue to do with the Writing Project, I now recognize developing writers are more capable of writing than I once believed. My Kindergarten, first and second grade students all write for a variety of purposes. They identify themselves as writers, and this year my students chose the name, The Authors, to identify their group.
This work has also opened the door for my participation in developing writing curriculum at the district level for Seattle Public Schools, working as a Teacher-Consultant for both Puget Sound and Hudson Valley Writing Projects, and encouraged me to use my voice and pen to advocate for children, teachers and the teaching of writing.
Funding of the NWP assures that a highly effective process that allows teachers from all areas of the US to connect in an influential dialog about writing and learning continues to grow. I have participated in many other professional development opportunities, all had something useful that I brought back to my classroom. None offered the ongoing support to ask questions and grow beyond the initial information learned. NWP is unique in this most important way. Please reinstate funding for NWP.
--Anita Rose Merando
Hudson Valley Writing Project
New York