The National Writing Project: Creating a Professional Learning Community That Supports the Teaching of Writing

    Authors

    J. S. Kaplan

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Theory Pract.

    Keywords

    Education & Educational Research

    Abstract

    This article describes an effort to create a teacher learning community in which university and local school teachers worked together to improve the teaching of writing at elementary and secondary levels. I describe how a university's National Writing Project (NWP) engaged in developing a cadre of selected teachers to share understandings about the theory and practice of writing instruction. The specific focus is on the NWP summer institute and the effort of its leaders, the director, the codirector, and the teacher consultants, to increase understanding among participating teachers through conversations that shape relationships among members of the educational community and various constituent groups. Practical examples of how the NWP facilitators fostered writing instruction to benefit students and colleagues are detailed in the context of theoretical understandings about the nature and development of learning communities devoted to the teaching of writing.

    Journal Title

    Theory into Practice

    Volume

    47

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    336

    Last Page

    344

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000260575000009

    ISSN

    0040-5841

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