Urban Sites Network Resources
Featured Resources
The Path Toward Opening Night: One Road to Literacy
October 2009
Ben Bates
Ben Bates, co-director of the Oklahoma State Writing Project, explores the premise that directed script reading and play production provide roads to literacy for his students.
More ›
Resilience: Overcoming Adversity and Thriving
October 2009
The resources collected here illustrate approaches to teaching and curriculum that support the power of resilience for young people striving to learn in adverse situations.
More ›
New York City Writing Project “Retreats” to Write Again!
June 2009
Joe Bellacero
Overcoming the challenges of expense, distance, writer's fear of rejection, and being "just-too-darn-busy," the NYCWP organized its own Professional Writing Retreat and integrated professional writing into its regular work.
More ›
Additional Resources
African American Learners Project Annotated Bibliography
March 2008
This collection of readings reflects the contributions of the Thinking and Development Team for the African American Learners Project. These readings are intended to inform the thinking and practice of teacher-consultants and writing project sites interested in addressing the racial gap in student achievement.
More ›
Tampa Bay Writing Project Helps School Improve Scores
St. Petersburg Times,
May 2009
After partnering with the Tampa Bay Writing Project, Richey Elementary went from one of the county's lowest-performing schools in writing to scoring above grade level on this year's state writing exam.
More ›
Philadelphia Writing Project Teachers Create 'Classroom Buzz'
June 2009
The Philadelphia Writing Project is profiled for reframing the "achievement gap" by using writing to help teachers explore issues of social justice, language, and race.
More ›
Poetry Out Loud Makes Noise in NWP Classrooms
May 2009
Art Peterson
Poetry Out Loud, a program that encourages students to learn about poetry through memorization and performance, holds a competition that has inspired NWP teachers and their students.
More ›
There Just Ain’t No Wrong Or Right Way To Talk
Bristol Herald Courier,
June 2009
This newspaper column features Amy Clark, director of the Appalachian Writing Project, which recently won a $4,000 grant from the National Writing Project to study language patterns at public schools in southwestern Virginia.
More ›
Bibliography Helps Sites Strengthen Work with New Teachers
June 2009
To help sites implement successful new-teacher programs, the New-Teacher Initiative developed a bibliography addressing the teaching of writing, culture and its implications for teaching and learning, teacher inquiry, and professional development through participation in a professional community.
More ›
Spatial, Visual Rhetoric Meet New Media
UANews,
May 2009
The First Year Writing Showcase, which incorporates teachings in writing and visual communication, began at the University of Arizona in 2007 and has since seen exponential growth in participation among UA students, faculty, and instructors.
More ›
Connecticut Students Write from a Different Point of View
The Cheshire Herald,
April 2009
Each year, middle-schoolers from Dodd Middle School tackle a unique assignment designed to address perspective: they look at a piece of art and choose any aspect about which to write. The results are wonderfully creative.
More ›
Book Review: Reading for Their Life
2010
Michael W. Smith
In this foreword to Alfred Tatum's Reading for Their Life, Michael W. Smith, former director of the NWP at Rutgers Writing Project, urges readers to read Tatum's book as a call to action, and for us to heed it.
More ›
