As
a teacher of English (40% of job), as the director of the Writing
Center at the University of South Dakota (40%), and as the director of
the Dakota Writing Project (20%), I sometimes feel a bit fragmented. The
National Writing Project, however, has made life easier for me as a
Writing Project director because they have provided an elegant, finely
tuned system for applying for continued funding each year, a system
that not only saves me time but that also helps me to plan for the next
year and to provide thoughtful, organized reports about our ongoing
work. What's more, the insightful feedback I receive on the report from a
Writing Project leader helps to guide and inspire us at our site.
NWP also has provides numerous opportunities throughout the year that
help our site. To be able to attend helpful workshops, meetings, and
institutes led by Writing Project teachers from across the nation--some
of the best teachers in the nation(!)--how to describe what that has
meant to the Dakota Writing Project's teachers? Because I got to serve
on an NWP leadership team for a number of years, I learned how to work
effectively with my site teachers in creating institutes, workshops, and
other events for our site such as the DWP Digital Writing Marathon, the
DWP Holocaust Institute, the Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing
Camp for high school students, and, of course, the DWP Invitational
Summer Institute. Our teachers have also presented at and participated
in NWP events such as the Rural Sites Network Institute, the annual
meeting, the spring meeting, writing retreats, and
technology-and-writing events.
I think of the work that I did with Karen McComas from the Marshall
University Writing Project in West Virginia. The Electronic Writing
Marathon we created for NWP teachers led to the current work at my site
with the DWP Digital Writing Marathon, for which we have teachers
chomping at the bit to register. That one of our teachers, Jan Hausmann,
was able to attend the Holocaust Educators Network Seminar in New York
City as a result of our connection to NWP led to our site's DWP
Holocaust Institute, which centers on teaching the Holocaust and
American Indian genocide, with a focus on cultural identity--for the
first time in our state, teachers are talking about issues that they've
avoided and finding ways to help their students understand and write
about them. Those kinds of events and relationships don't happen
overnight, but they happen because of the very good thinking by NWP and
because they embed Writing Project teachers from across the nation in
the planning of all of their activities. The Writing Project helps
teachers not only to see themselves as leaders and writers but also
helps teachers to recognize that they are excellent educators who can
continue to grow and help their students even further. They do this
complex work by carefully managing the funds they receive, making every
dollar count, and they help us to do the same at all of our sites.
How can we possibly do without the National Writing Project? Why
would the federal government see fit to cut such an amazing
organization, one that has proven itself over and over again?
As a teacher of English (40% of job), as the director of the Writing Center at the University of South Dakota (40%), and as the director of the Dakota Writing Project (20%), I sometimes feel a bit fragmented. The National Writing Project, however, has made life easier for me as a Writing Project director because they have provided an elegant, finely tuned system for applying for continued funding each year, a system that not only saves me time but that also helps me to plan for the next year and to provide thoughtful, organized reports about our ongoing work. What's more, the insightful feedback I receive on the report from a Writing Project leader helps to guide and inspire us at our site.
NWP also has provides numerous opportunities throughout the year that help our site. To be able to attend helpful workshops, meetings, and institutes led by Writing Project teachers from across the nation--some of the best teachers in the nation(!)--how to describe what that has meant to the Dakota Writing Project's teachers? Because I got to serve on an NWP leadership team for a number of years, I learned how to work effectively with my site teachers in creating institutes, workshops, and other events for our site such as the DWP Digital Writing Marathon, the DWP Holocaust Institute, the Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp for high school students, and, of course, the DWP Invitational Summer Institute. Our teachers have also presented at and participated in NWP events such as the Rural Sites Network Institute, the annual meeting, the spring meeting, writing retreats, and technology-and-writing events.
I think of the work that I did with Karen McComas from the Marshall University Writing Project in West Virginia. The Electronic Writing Marathon we created for NWP teachers led to the current work at my site with the DWP Digital Writing Marathon, for which we have teachers chomping at the bit to register. That one of our teachers, Jan Hausmann, was able to attend the Holocaust Educators Network Seminar in New York City as a result of our connection to NWP led to our site's DWP Holocaust Institute, which centers on teaching the Holocaust and American Indian genocide, with a focus on cultural identity--for the first time in our state, teachers are talking about issues that they've avoided and finding ways to help their students understand and write about them. Those kinds of events and relationships don't happen overnight, but they happen because of the very good thinking by NWP and because they embed Writing Project teachers from across the nation in the planning of all of their activities. The Writing Project helps teachers not only to see themselves as leaders and writers but also helps teachers to recognize that they are excellent educators who can continue to grow and help their students even further. They do this complex work by carefully managing the funds they receive, making every dollar count, and they help us to do the same at all of our sites.
How can we possibly do without the National Writing Project? Why would the federal government see fit to cut such an amazing organization, one that has proven itself over and over again?
-- Michelle Rogge Gannon
Dakota Writing Project
South Dakota