A professional development program for teachers, it grew out of a collaborative graduate class between Jim Grey, a professor at UC in the Bay Area, and local teachers enrolled in his course. Because Grey felt that the teachers had as much to offer about the art of teaching as he did; he encouraged likeminded professorial colleagues to start similar courses around the United States. Around their philosophy grew an organization which continues to give support to the concept of university—public school collaboration.
Published in Chapter:
Stepping into the Role of Professional Writer
Christine Aikens Wolfe (Carlow University, USA), Cheryl North-Coleman (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA), Shari Wallis Williams (University of Arkansas Little Rock, USA), Denise Amos (University of Louisville, USA), Glorianne Bradshaw (Valley Elementary School, USA), and Toby Emert (Agnes Scott College, USA)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 11
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-106-3.ch017
Abstract
A group of National Writing Project teachers from around the nation attended a Professional Writing Retreat in Santa Fe in 2004 and continued their collaboration. This chapter examines the progress of the group’s commitment to communicate by electronic means about writing about teaching. Teachers from the experimental group, those who answered the call to examine their continued involvement with the group, provide qualitative research narratives about how each responds as they help one another to step into the role of professional writer. Statistics gathered from both the experimental and a control group of teachers (who attended the same retreat but did not answer the survey) allow the reader to chart the teachers’ success in: (a) presenting together about being professional writers, (b) writing together as professional writers, (c) writing individually about teacher-practice, and (d) meeting at the National Writing Project’s Annual Meeting in order to continue to support each other’s work.