The 2007 IUSWP SI Fellows have been selected. This year’s SI Fellows are as follows: Kathy Briscoe, Pat Buechler, Lisa Cymbalist, Jennifer Dooley, Lisa Gardner, Jodi Gleason, Sherry Green, Tina Herring, William Hornickel, Jeromie Jones, Jim Lang, Rebecca Lee, Sandy Myers, Michelle Padgett, Deanna Pendley, Jennifer Pierce, Susan Ann Prater, Misty Ray, Danelle Woodruff. (Fellows Contact Info PDF File)

The National Writing Project is a program that is open to the best that is known about the teaching of writing from whatever source: from literature in the field, from research, and from the insights and experiences of successful teachers at all levels. The Writing Project proposes no packaged plans, no teacher-proof materials, no set formulae for teaching writing. We promote no single approach, though we favor a number of ideas that have emerged over the past decade, ideas now confirmed by more and more teachers. The National Writing Project remains open to discovery and qualification. This position is the sustaining strength of the Project.

Basic Assumptions of the National Writing Project Model:

Writing is fundamental to learning in all subject areas and at all grade levels. Summer Institutes therefore involve teachers from all disciplines and levels of instruction, primary through university.
As the process of writing can best be understood by engaging in this process, teachers of writing should write.
Teachers are the best teachers of teachers; successful practicing teachers have greater credibility with their colleagues than outside experts.
Real change in classroom practice happens over time. Working as partners, universities and schools can articulate and promote effective school reform.
Effective professional development programs are on-going and systematic, bringing teachers together regularly throughout their careers to examine successful practices and new developments (NWP, 1998).

About IUSWP IN NEW Albany, IN

IUSWP is a local site of the National Writing Project. There are five NWP sites in Indiana. The Indiana University Southeast Writing Project site has the unique distinction of being the only NWP local site south of the Indianapolis, IN area. The mission of the National Writing Project (NWP) is to improve the teaching of writing and improve learning in the nation’s schools. Through its professional development model, the National Writing Project recognizes the primary importance of teacher knowledge, expertise, and leadership. Ann Lieberman and Diane R. Wood in their article The National Writing Project write,” The National Writing Project’s distinctive social practices and networks create the learning communities that teachers need. Compelling descriptions of how teachers learn and studies of the organizational settings that facilitate professional learning have pointed to new ways to improve the professional development of teachers (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Darling-Hammond, 1993; Fishman & McCarthy, 2000; Hargreaves, 1994; McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993). These findings make it more apparent than ever that the old workshop delivery model for teachers must give way to vibrant and ongoing professional learning communities where teachers generate, as well as gain, knowledge. The National Writing Project believes that access to high quality educational experiences is a basic right of all learners and a cornerstone of equity. Through its extensive network of teachers, the National Writing Project seeks to promote exemplary instruction of writing in every classroom in America. The National Writing Project values diversity – our own as well as that of our students, their families and their communities. We recognize that our lives and practices are enriched when those with whom we interact represent diversities of race, gender, class, ethnicity, and language. The National Writing Project (NWP) is a nationwide professional development program for teachers, begun in 1974 at the University of California, Berkeley. The primary goal of the project is to improve student writing achievement by improving the teaching of writing in the nation’s schools. The NWP receives federal funding which it currently grants to 167 local sites in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Sites operate from university campuses and collaborate with surrounding schools and districts. Collectively, these sites serve more than 100,000 teachers every year, grades kindergarten through university, in all disciplines. The NWP model is based on the belief that teachers are the key to education reform, teachers make the best teachers of other teachers, and teachers benefit from studying and conducting research.

Come join the 2006 IUSWP in theire First Annual Summer Writing Conference.

Download the 2006 Conference Registration Form Here!

JUNE 23RD, 2006

eMail

IUSWP Director: Dr. Kevin Bailey
IUSWP Co Director: David Stoner
IUSWP Co Director: Tammy Nuxoll
IUSWP Co Director: Suzanne Jackson

Come join the 2006 IUSWP in theire First Annual Summer Writing Conference.

Download the 2006 Conference Registration Form Here!

JUNE 23RD, 2006

eMail

IUSWP Director: Dr. Kevin Bailey
IUSWP Co Director: David Stoner
IUSWP Co Director: Tammy Nuxoll
IUSWP Co Director: Suzanne Jackson

Come join the 2006 IUSWP in theire First Annual Summer Writing Conference.

Download the 2006 Conference Registration Form Here!

JUNE 23RD, 2006

eMail

IUSWP Director: Dr. Kevin Bailey
IUSWP Co Director: David Stoner
IUSWP Co Director: Tammy Nuxoll
IUSWP Co Director: Suzanne Jackson

Writing Project: Teachers Share Their Best Practices (2005)
A satellite program started by a $30,000 grant from the NWP allowed teachers in northern Virginia to finally take part in a nearby summer institute, reports the Winchester Star. [Registration required.]

Kids tell tales at Spartan Writers' Camp (2005)
The Lansing State Journal shows how a summer outreach program run by the Red Cedar Writing Project inspired young creative writers.

Teachers Get Time to Learn (2004)
The Western Pennsylvania Writing Project helps Willkinsburg become the first school district in the state to offer a year-round program for teachers on how to improve students' reading and writng, says the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The National Writing Project—180 Sites . . . & Growing (2003)
The NWP is "finally becoming the visible mover and shaker it deserves to be because of its mission and record of accomplishment," according to this October 2003 Education Update piece.

The NYC Writing Project: “Neglected ‘R’” (2003)
In the October 2003 issue of Education Update, Marcie Wolfe and Nancy Mintz discuss the core work of the 25-year-old New York City Writing Project and talk about ways in which it is enacting recommendations of the National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges.

Training Gains Make Better Kentucky Teachers (2001)
Attributing dramatically improved writing test scores to the efforts of the Eastern Kentucky Writing Project, a Louisville Courier-Journal article heaps praise on the writing project model.

A Marriage That Worked: The Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the NWP (April 2000)
Mary Ann Smith, co-director of the NWP, discusses the little-known liaison between the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the National Writing Project.

An Interview with Richard Sterling: The National Writing Project—It's About the Intellectual Integrity of Teachers (January 1998)
Richard Sterling, director of the National Writing Project, discusses his plans to expand the project and place it at the center of school reform.

The National Writing Project After 22 Years (June 1996)
Mary Ann Smith discusses the lessons that the National Writing Project has learned during its 22-year history about teacher leadership, the teaching of writing, the qualities of worthwhile staff development and the bumpy landscape of education reform.

Books

Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms (2004)
NWP contributed a chapter to Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms, a new book from the RAND Corporation featuring education reform programs that have conducted successful scale-up efforts.

Powerful Designs for Professional Learning (2004)
This National Staff Development Council (NSDC) publication examines an array of professional learning strategies, including NWP’s process of having educators engage in and reflect upon the practice of writing both as learners and teachers.

Teacher Leadership (2004)
NWP is featured in a new book, Teacher Leadership, by Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller, that examines research on teacher leadership and recent changes in teachers’ roles.

Because Writing Matters (2003)
Because Writing Matters, a new book by the National Writing Project and Carl Nagin, affirms that writing must be a central focus in all classrooms if schools are to improve student performance.

Inside the National Writing Project (2002)
Ann Lieberman and Diane R. Wood analyze what makes the writing project model so successful and show how other professional development efforts can learn from it.

Teachers at the Center (2000)
Teachers at the Center recounts the exciting early years of the National Writing Project in personal, insightful, and humorous stories that only James Gray, its legendary founder, could tell.

Monographs

Sites Describe Inservice in Monograph Series (2002)
Get a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at four sites' inservice models in NWP at Work: Models of Inservice.

Where is the NWP located?
NWP sites are located on the campuses of 195 universities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These university sites partner with local schools to improve the teaching of writing in order to improve student writing and learning.

What does the NWP offer to teachers?
Sites of the National Writing Project provide high quality professional development for teachers through a “teachers teaching teachers model.” Programs include summer institutes, school-year inservice programs, and programs that develop teacher leadership, thereby encouraging teachers to remain in the profession and to continually hone their skills.

What do teachers say about the National Writing Project?
Ninety-eight percent of teachers surveyed by Inverness Research Associates in 2003 said that NWP professional development is better than other types of professional development they have experienced. Ninety-eight percent said that what they learn via the writing project translates into improved writing skills for their students.

How do students benefit?
A three-year Academy for Educational Development (AED) study of the NWP found that third and fourth grade students taught by writing project teachers showed significant improvement in writing achievement over the course of the school year. In response to timed writing assessments given in fall 2001 and spring 2002, for example, 82 percent of third-graders and 85 percent of fourth-graders reached adequate or strong achievement for effectiveness in persuasive writing by their second assessment.

Is the National Writing Project a good federal investment?
The National Writing Project is a cost-efficient model that leverages local investment. In 2004-2005, NWP sites raised $22.3 million in local funds.

The National Writing Project is authorized to receive federal funding through fiscal year 2007 under Title II, Part C, Subpart II of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Come join the 2006 IUSWP in theire First Annual Summer Writing Conference.

Download the 2006 Conference Registration Form Here!

JUNE 23RD, 2006

IUSWP Director: Dr. Kevin Bailey
IUSWP Co Director: David Stoner
IUSWP Co Director: Tammy Nuxoll
IUSWP Co Director: Suzanne Jackson