National Writing Project

Teachers Teaching Teachers #133 - Holocaust Educators Network: Teachers on a Journey - 12.17.08

On a snowy, windy night last week, Dr. Sondra Perl, Lehman College, CUNY, NY and five National Writing Project (NWP) teachers from rural sites joined us to describe their journeys as teachers of Holocaust studies.  We took a look at their experiences in 10-day seminars that Dr. Perl
led this summer and last summer. We learned more about how these teachers have integrated teaching
about the Holocaust into their work with students. Perhaps you will be
inspired by these teachers to begin your own journey into studying and teaching about the Holocaust.

On a snowy, windy night last week, Dr. Sondra Perl, Lehman College and Gradate Center, CUNY, NY and five National Writing Project  teachers from the Rural Sites Network joined us to describe their journeys as teachers of Holocaust studies.  These are the teachers who you'll hear on this podcast:

  • Danielle Bethune, McCool Junction Schools, Nebraska
  • Kristi Bancroft Boucher, Oxford Hills High School, Maine
  • Gail Desler, Elk Grove School District, California
  • Ilka Hanselmann, Wind Gap Middle School, Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania
  • Susan Hodgin, Moscow Senior High School, Idaho
  • Larry Neuberger, Miller High School, Springfield, Missouri

We took a look at their experiences in 10-day semHolocaust Survivor, Irving Rothinars that Dr. Perl led this summer and last summer. We learned more about how these teachers have integrated teaching about the Holocaust into their work with students. Perhaps you will be inspired by these teachers to begin your own journey into studying and teaching about the Holocaust.

The purpose of the Holocaust Educators Network (HEN) is:

...to provide a forum for faculty interested in studying and teaching the Holocaust. The Network extends the work of the summer seminars sponsored by the Memorial Library. Located at Lehman College of the City University of New York, HEN uses an inquiry-based approach to focus on how educators can engage students with difficult material and how writing and dialogue can help move students from shock and denial to empathy and action. We look to support educators from middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in the following ways:
  • By examining teaching practices both critically and generously;
  • By sharing resources and devising new approaches in workshops and in online forums;
  • By inviting noted scholars and researchers to present new work to the group; and
  • By developing and conducting workshops in teachers' own schools and communities.
(Image: Holocaust survivor, Irving Roth)

This summer the Holocaust Educators Network will once again offer a ten-day summer seminar led by Dr. Sondra Perl to middle school, high school, and college teachers from rural sites within the National Writing Project. To find out more or to apply for this summer's seminar, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

Don't delay! Applications for this summer need to be in by mid-January.

For the 2009 summer seminar, we invite applications in two formats: 1) applications by individual teachers who are already members of the National Writing Project (NWP) and 2) applications by teams of two teachers from different subject areas in which at least one is a member of the NWP. Click here to download an individual application form; Click here to download a team application form. Please note: applications for the 2009 summer seminar must be postmarked no later than January 16, 2009. Applicants will be notified of all decisions by March 2009.
This year, rural teachers outside of the National Writing Project may also apply. Click here for a flier with more information about the program; click here to download an application form.
Click Read more to see a transcript of a chat that was happening during the webcast. 

Teachers Teaching Teachers #129 - Writing in the Digital Age - A special National Writing Project show - 11.12.08

On this special episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, we welcomed to the show a couple of teachers, a couple of Writing Project Directors, and a researcher of Writing Projects, and Alice Barr. The Writing Project folks will be presenting and facilitating a 2-hour session at the National Writing Project's 2008 Annual Meeting on November 20. The name of their featured presenation, "Writing in the Digital Age," identifies some of the issues discussed on this podcast.

On this special episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Paul Allison and Susan Ettenheim -- with Alice Barr, a technology teacher in Yarmouth, Maine -- welcomed to the show a couple of teachers, a couple of Writing Project Directors, and a researcher of Writing Projects. These folks (along with James Shiroff from the Denver Writing Project) will be presenting and facilitating a 2-hour session at the National Writing Project's 2008 Annual Meeting this week. The name of their featured presenation, "Writing in the Digital Age," identifies some of the issues discussed on this podcast.

  • Seth Mitchell, high school teacher and Tech Liaison for the Maine Writing Project (University of Maine)
  • Sarah Hunt-Barron, middle school teacher, teacher consultant of the Upstate Writing Project in South Carolina and doctoral student at Clemson University
  • Rebecca Kaminski, Director Upstate Writing Project in South Carolina and professor at Clemson University, SC
  • Felicia George, Associate Director of the New York City Writing Project at Lehman College, NY
  • Laura Stokes, Inverness Research in California

We think you'll enjoy this conversation whether or not you are planning to join these folks at the National Writing Project’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio November 20 and 21.

These Writing Project teachers and their colleagues also shared stories about how they support their fellow teachers to further their development in teaching writing in a digital environment. Many interesting ideas about the students’ enthusiasm for writing to real audiences and generating more writing were discussed along with issues that local programs face when offering professional development services to teachers in their area.

Click Read more to see a transcript of the chat that was happening at the same time as the webcast.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #122 From Google Docs for Presidents to Drupal sites for Youth Voices - 09.17.09

On this week's Teachers Teaching Teachers, we followed up on two
collaborative projects that some of us have been working on: a new
Drupal site for Youth Voices and "Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future"

Looking for collaborative projects? Want to find out more? Listen to
this podcast, and join in the coming weeks as we continue to plan
together on Teachers Teaching Teachers.

On this week's Teachers Teaching Teachers, we followed up on two collaborative projects that some of us have been working on: a new Drupal site for Youth Voices and "Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future"

Teachers Teaching Teachers #120 - The National Writing Project and Google Team Up To Give High School Students a Voice -09.03.08

On this podcast we talk with four guesrts about Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future, an exciting collaborative project sponsored by the National Writing Project and Google, Andrew Chang, Product Marketing Manager at Google, Gail Desler, Tech Liaison for the Area 3 Writing Project in Northern California, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, co-director of the National Writing Project, and Paul Oh, the coordinator of the technology liaison program for the National Writing Project

Interested teachers should read How to Participate and then register [at http://nwp.org] by September 12.
Publishing of student letters and essays occurs through October 30,
2008. Please note, in order to register for this project, you must
first have an account on NWPi,

 

On this podcast we talk with four guesrts about Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future, an exciting NWP logo Google Docscollaborative project sponsored by the National Writing Project and Google:

  • Andrew Chang, Product Marketing Manager at Google
  • Gail Desler, Tech Liaison for the Area 3 Writing Project in Northern California
  • Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, co-director of the National Writing Project
  • Paul Oh, the coordinator of the technology liaison program for the National Writing Project

Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is open to U.S. teachers and mentors working with students ages 13–18. The project requires that the teacher have a parent/guardian permission (PDF) on file for each student prior to publishing their work on the Web and requires that students and teachers have Internet connectivity and use or create a free Google account.

Google accounts allow teachers and students to use Google Docs to compose, collaborate, edit, and share writing through Internet-accessible documents. The Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future website provides a secure way for teachers to publish students' publication-ready writing to a high-profile website intended to feature strong, well-reasoned, and persuasive writing by young people.

Interested teachers should read How to Participate and then register [at http://nwp.org] by September 12. Publishing of student letters and essays occurs through October 30, 2008. Please note, in order to register for this project, you must first have an account on NWPi,

Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future

For the Chart Log, click Read more, below.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #81 - Looking for the Passions and Keeping the Faith

The week before Thanksgiving, many National Writing Project (NWP) teachers participated in the NWP's Annual Meeting. Several presenters at the 2007 Annual Meeting joined us for a live webcast on Wednesday, November 28th. This is an edited podcast of that conversation with these teachers:
  • Cynthia Calvert, Alcorn Writing Project
  • Jason Shiroff, Denver Writing Project
  • Lynne Culp, UCLA Writing Project
  • Kevin Hodgson, Western Massachusetts Writing Project
  • Peter Kittle, Northern California Writing Project (invited)
  • Christina Cantrill, NWP Program Associate in Technology

We asked pairs of teachers who presented at the NWP Annual meeting to continue their dialogue on this webcast. We focused on their collaboration before, during, and perhaps after their face-to-face presentation. Find out what their conversations and questions are now.

The theme of the webcast was about how moments where teachers have the opportunity to gather and share practices, such as the NWP's Annual Meeting, are important points along the continuum of on-going conversations and sometimes even collaborations which begin long before the "events" and which often last long after.

We asked our guests to tell us what they learned from planning and presenting together -- both from each other as well as the extended network -- for their Writing Project sites as well as their classrooms.

Chat Log

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