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Four New Monographs Published for the NWP at Work Models of Inservice Series
By: NWP Staff
Publication:
The Voice, Vol. 10, No. 2
Date: 2005
Summary: Four monographs in NWP's Models of Inservice series describe inservice models that grew out of Project Outreach, which supports sites in developing programs to reach teachers of students in communities impacted by poverty.
The National Writing Project has published and made available four new monographs in the National Writing Project at Work, Models of Inservice series.
Through the NWP at Work series, teams of writing project teachers and site directors document the implementation of the core work of NWP sites. Each new monograph describes an inservice model that grew out of the Project Outreach Network, an NWP initiative that supports sites in developing programs to increase access, relevance, and diversity in local writing project sites. The four new monographs, briefly, are as follows:
The Professional Leadership Development Project: Building Writing Project
and School-Site Teacher Leadership in Urban Schools
Director Sarah Robbins and teacher-consultants Zsa Boykin and Jennifer Scrivner,
all from Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project, describe a flexible
model for promoting teacher leadership within urban schools. This monograph outlines
both the individual inservice projects and the framework for leadership development
that emerged from the inquiry.
The Saginaw Teacher Study Group Movement: From Pilot to Districtwide Study
Groups in Four Years
Mary K. Weaver and Mary Calliari, teacher-consultants at the Saginaw Bay Writing
Project in Michigan, describe a districtwide approach to teacher-led study groups
that resulted in significant changes in teacher practice and student learning,
as well as in leadership development among teacher facilitators. In an afterword,
Janet Rentsch, co-director of the Saginaw Bay Writing Project, focuses on the
collaboration between the university and the school district that supported the
successful program.
Southside Elementary Writing Focus: Site-Based Leadership Reforms the Writing
Curriculum on the Other Side of the Tracks
Nancy Remington and Robert McGinty from the Great Basin Writing Project in Nevada
describe a long-term school partnership that gave teachers at Southside Elementary
the opportunity to redesign curriculum and reshape the writing culture of their
school. This inquiry-centered approach to professional development—designed
and led by teachers with support from the writing project site—could be a
model for any school.
Oklahoma's Marshall Plan: Combining Professional Development and Summer
Writing Camps in Low-Income Elementary Schools
Eileen Simmons, a veteran teacher-consultant from the Oklahoma State University
Writing Project, describes the collaboration among writing project teacher-consultants
and site-based teachers to plan professional development before, during, and after
a summer writing camp for students at their school. This model, which has been
adapted in a variety of school settings, takes advantage of the summer months,
when teachers have time to interact, share ideas, plan together, and build a professional
community.
The mission and vision of the NWP drive all these approaches to professional development, each of which illustrates the creativity and responsiveness of individual writing project sites. These monographs provide a window into the complex needs and interests of teachers, and into the challenges of designing relevant professional development that supports teacher efforts to improve learning for all students, especially underserved students.
The first four titles in the Models of Inservice series are The Story of SCORE: The Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute Takes on a Statewide Reading Initiative; On-Site Consulting: New York City Writing Project; The Johnston Area Writing Partnership: The Capital Area Writing Project (North Carolina) Model for Building District Capacity to Offer Quality Professional Development; and The Fledgling Years: Lessons from the First Four Years of the National Writing Project in Vermont.
Copies of the monographs can be downloaded or ordered via the National Writing Project website.
