NWP Writing Strand at NCTE Convention: Writing for All Students

By: NWP Staff
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 9, No. 3
Date: 2004

Summary: The NCTE Annual Convention, which runs concurrently with the NWP Annual Meeting, will once again offer a strand of sessions by NWP presenters. This article lists and summarizes these sessions...

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, which runs concurrently with the National Writing Project Annual Meeting, will once again offer a strand of related sessions by NWP presenters. The strand of sessions, Writing for All Students, will run Saturday, November 20. Please check the NCTE Annual Convention Program for locations and to confirm session scheduling. The strand currently includes the following sessions and presenters.

8:00 a.m. session
Academic Writing for English Language Learners
What is the connection between academic language and English language learners? How can teachers help students to acquire academic language? And what does the acquisition of academic language do for English language learners? During this session, we will work with literature selections, academic protocols, and writing strategies that can help all students, especially English language learners, achieve academic success.
Presenters: Norma Mota-Altman, UCLA Writing Project; Chair, Tammy Nuxoll, Indiana University Southeast Writing Project; Recorder, Rhonda Bower, Indiana Writing Project

11:00 a.m. session
Inquiry Projects for All Students
In this session, teachers from the NWP National Reading Initiative will describe and demonstrate how student inquiry projects can work to motivate and scaffold reading in both language arts and content areas. Beginning with a theoretical framework drawn from Dewey and Vygotsky, we will work to design inquiry projects that emphasize reading/writing connections and reading comprehension strategies. In addition, this session will feature examples of student work and discuss reading and the Internet.
Presenters: Judith Rodby, Charlie Troughton, and Sarah Rider, Northern California Writing Project; Chair, Bea Sousa, Indiana Writing Project; Recorder, Susan Darling, Indiana Writing Project

1:15 p.m. session
Learning from Student Writing
Looking at student writing collaboratively frequently reveals strengths and weaknesses of student writing that might be missed in an individual assessment. In this session, participants will experience how using a protocol to look at student work deepens our understanding of student performance and informs our teaching and/or practice.
Presenters: Mia Robinson, UCLA Writing Project (California); Diane Waff and Shirley Brown, Philadelphia Writing Project; Chair, Robin Scott, Indiana Writing Project; Recorder, Jenny Ulman-Smithson, Indiana Writing Project

2:45 p.m. session
Writing for the Workplace
Writing for the workplace is often perceived as an objective for students not bound for college. But even Ph.D.s eventually enter the workforce and have to write a memo. In this workshop we’ll look at how workplace writing is for all students. Teachers from the Northwest Indiana Writing Project will discuss how they developed authentic assignments so that students write for real readers who respond to their writing in real ways. The session will also examine how the reading/writing connection relates to workplace writing and how students can acquire problem-solving skills while engaged in a workplace writing assignment.
Presenters: Carolyn Boiarsky, Paula Consdorf, Terri Ransom, Mary Yorke, Mary Cusic, and Megan Iussig, Northwest Indiana Writing Project; Chair, Nancy Narwold, Indiana Writing Project; Recorder, Robin Sowder, Indiana Writing Project

4:15 p.m. session
Crafting Writing Assignments that Work
Participants in this session will discuss the theory and practice of creating assignments that elicit thoughtful, rather than rote, writing. In addition to analyzing two persuasive writing assignments, participants will begin crafting their own assignments with the success of all students as the goal.
Presenters: Kim Patterson, Mississippi State University Writing/Thinking Project; Pam Brown, Oklahoma State University Writing Project; Michele Bell, Philadelphia Writing Project; Chair, Tammy Taylor, Indiana Writing Project; Recorder, Andrew Majewski, Indiana Writing Project