If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. ~ Charlie Parker
nwp
Slice of Life: Rally for the NWP
Mar 18th
This is going to be a short Slice of Life today because most of my writing energy was taken up with composing a piece about saving the National Writing Project. We lost our federal funding and this weekend, those of us who are online are trying rally support for our organization by blogging and lobbying our legislators. If you have been part of any NWP event, or understand its importance in helping teachers, I’d encourage you to blog about it as well.
This is my post: Why the National Writing Project Matters
And organizer Chad Sansing has more information about the #blog4nwp weekend here at his own blog.
Me? I seem to have lost some of my actual voice with a cold (just in time for a four hour workshop tomorrow around digital storytelling) but my fingers are working just fine, and my other voice — my digital voice — feels pretty strong today.
I hope you can join us as writers, or at least, as readers and supporters of the National Writing Project.
Peace (in the rally),
Kevin
Why the National Writing Project Matters
Mar 18th
The National Writing Project has lost its federal support. Money to support the NWP, of which I am an active and vocal member and advocate, was on the chopping block during recent budget cuts. (See NWP Executive Director Sharon Washington’s response). It’s still too soon to say what the direct impact will be of losing that support, and what our local organizations (like my Western Massachusetts Writing Project) will look like in the near future. It’s been difficult to even digest the news, to be honest.
But we won’t go quietly.
Today and into this weekend, many of us with online voices are joining together for a Blog4NWP event (spearheaded by Chad Sansing, of Virginia) in which are using our spaces to lobby our representatives and our friends to push for reconsideration of the NWP’s importance in supporting teachers and their students.
As Chad writes:
On March 2nd, 2001, President Obama signed a spending bill to keep the federal government operating during budget season. The bill cut federal funding to the NWP as part of a Congressional effort to eliminate earmarks – federal funds legislated to support certain programs like the NWP. While pork-barrel projects are, perhaps, easy political targets for elected officials looking to make names for themselves as no-nonsense fiscal conservatives, the NWP is not a pork-barrel project and it makes no sense to eliminate funding to the NWP, a program with a proven track record in raising student achievement that provides teachers and students with authentic opportunities for communication, inquiry, and problem-solving – opportunities to practice those deservedly ballyhooed skills our students need to be college-, community-, and life-ready.
Here, I’ve tried to come up with a list of Reasons To Support NWP:
- It’s Effective. No other professional development organization that I have come across has been more powerful than the model that is at the heart of the National Writing Project: teachers teaching teachers. The experts in the network are teachers themselves, sharing their best practices and pushing each other to continually move forward with instructional ideas and innovations. The organization began with a small group of teachers in Berkeley, talking about writing, to become something larger. But it’s heart is the same: What I know, I pass on to you, and what you know, you pass on to me, and what we both don’t know, we learn together.
- It’s Far-Reaching. Whether it’s how to help rural teachers and their students in isolated areas, or urban teachers and their students in city centers, or considering how writing is changing in this Digital Age with multi-modal composition, or working to celebrate and support English Language Learners, or considering the possibilities of curriculum change like the Common Core or simply creating networks of teachers who come together to write as writers on regular basis, the National Writing Project is woven into the threads of the educational tapestry. It is about the major trends facing education and it is always moving in a direction that signals thoughtful, reflective work.
- It’s About Students. Whenever I am in a room with NWP folks, the talk almost always turns to our students. It seems to be a common lens — this question of, how will this help MY students? You may think, well, of course. You’re teachers. But I have also been in lots of rooms with non-NWP teachers at non-NWP events, and the tone and tenor of the conversations are often different than at NWP spaces. The role of the student is never more front and center than it is when NWP teachers are talking about the struggles and successes of a young writer.
- It’s About the Doing. The hallmark of a dull professional development session is the talking head at the front of the packed hall, disconnected from the folks there. I’ve been in that hall, all too often. Take a look at the audience, and they are most likely trying to check their cell phone or mobile device. In NWP sessions, the participants are almost engaged in activities, inquiries and construction of shared knowledge. The hands-on work of teachers actually and actively writing, sharing, reflecting, or constructing something new, or some twist on the old, is built into the foundational philosophy of NWP’s mission. You should always expect to be writing when you come into a NWP-led session.
- It’s about Leadership Opportunities. One of the things I have always marveled at with the larger NWP network is how acute folks are at identifying leadership in its teacher cadre, and then, bestowing responsibility on them. I am quite certain that the NWP teachers who take on projects and other initiatives are also teachers who are doing the same in their own schools, now that they understand how to tap into that passion for change and learning. Leadership in NWP is not necessarily a title that you wear on your shirt. Leadership in the NWP means seeing a direction ahead, getting resources to support your vision and then finding similar-minded folks to come along with you.
- It’s About Connections. I can’t even begin to name the incredibly talented folks whom I have worked with over the years on NWP endeavors. Bonnie, in Hudson Valley, and I are partners in many projects. I am forever indebted to thinking partners like Troy Hicks, Paul Oh, Christina Cantrill, Andrea Zellner, Bud Hunt and many others. I’d be hard-pressed to find a more willing audience for feedback and even more hard-pressed to find folks who are willing to share themselves and their work so often. The NWP is my professional network. It is not the only one, but it is the most powerful. And in the end, I think it my students who benefit from the influence of my NWP friends. I’d like to think, too, that I am not alone in this sentiment.
I could go on, but I’ll stop there.
I’ll leave you with information from Chad about Blog4NWP Day. He asks that we, “Please support the NWP by sharing your experiences with the project, its institutes, its teacher consultants, and the resources it freely provides for all teachers. As you post, send the links to Chad via Twitter (@chadsansing, by @ or DM), or email your link to him. He will collect and publish the links at his blog: http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/. If you tweet about NWP, please include @EdPressSec, @Ed_Outreach, @nwpsiteleaders, and @whitehouse in your tweet. Let’s use the hashtag #blog4NWP. If you post before or after this weekend’s window, please let me know and/or use the hashtag to make sure I pick up your article for inclusion on the #blog4NWP archive post. Please also consider sending your writing as an email to your local and state representatives in federal government.
Peace (in the NWP),
Kevin
PS — Here is an ongoing collection of posts during the #Blog4NWP effort (Chad is keeping the full list at his blog):
#blog4nwp Posts
Mary Tedrow – Mourning in America
Joseph Kahne – Congress Decides Literacy is a Bridge to Nowhere
Delaine Zody – Do you teach writing?
Susan R. Adams – How a Teacher Becomes a Writer
Leslie Morton – I started thinking numbers…
Ellen Shelton – Why the National Writing Project Matters
Kristin H. Turner – The Best Gift I Gave Myself – NWP
Bryan Crandall – In Support of the National Writing Project
Pam Moran – I Write for Savannah
Chad Sansing – A student voice in games-based learning
Britton Gildersleeve – #blog4nwp
Lisa @teachingfriends – Why We Need to Save the National Writing Project
Slice of Life: Counting Cars; Supporting Writing
Mar 13th
(This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers)
“Blue one.”
“Yellow one.”
Driving. Driving. My eyes are on the road.
“Black one.”
My ears are on the kids, who are scanning the roadway like vultures for fallen prey.
“Black one.”
“It’s not. It’s a Mercedes.”
“Sorry.”
Driving, driving.
“Blackoneblueoneyellowonebla…”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a dealership.”
“Fine.”
“Yellow one.”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
Somewhere, someone in the VW company is smiling. Talk about a viral advertising campaign. “Punch Buggy” is perfectly suited for adolescent boys, isn’t it? They’re usually bored on the drive. They love cars. And punching each other on the arm is just a perfect way to score a point.
Given the recent financial difficulties of the National Writing Project, it occurred to me as I was writing this post that we need something similar for times when we see any kind of writing that has been inspired by a teacher. It would raise the profile of writing and teaching, right? We could call it “Word Tap.” When you see the writing, you tap someone one the shoulder.
“Creative one!”
“Poetic one!”
“Informational one!”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
Peace (in the game),
Kevin
NWP Sells off Vowels!
Mar 8th
I’ve been disheartened by the news of the National Writing Project losing its federal funding. But there’s no better time for humor, right? I woke up this morning with a funny story of NWP selling off vowels as a fundraiser. So, I headed off to the Newspaper Clip Generator site to make this. I hope you get a laugh out of it and then make some phone calls to support the National Writing Project with your representatives and senators.
Peace (in the best medicine),
Kevin
Disheartening News: NWP Gets Cut
Mar 4th
One of my favorite bands is Los Lobos, who shot to fame with their version of La Bamba but whose album How Will the Wolf Survive is a classic mix of mexicano rock and roll. I was thinking of the title track yesterday of the wolf surviving in the midst of change as I received some disheartening news from the National Writing Project. In a recent budget action, President Obama signed a bill that cuts NWP (and other educational groups) out of the federal education funding formula.
Here is part of the text of the NWP bulletin:
Dear NWP Colleagues,
Yesterday President Obama signed a bill to keep the government running until March 18. The bill cuts about $4 billion in spending from the FY 2011 budget, eliminating funding for a number of education programs, including the National Writing Project, Reading Is Fundamental, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and Teach for America. These cuts impact NWP’s federal funding beginning October 1, 2011.
I know you have many questions about what this means for us as a network and for each of us as individuals. While we cannot answer all of these questions today, below are some we can answer. Despite the funding decision, legislative offices continue to voice strong support for NWP and the work of Writing Project sites in local communities. While this funding news is a significant setback, your countless efforts to reach out and educate Congress have had a tremendous impact.
NWP was founded on a set of principles and values, and these ideas still guide us today. We began as a single site in 1974, before federal funding, and we are a strong “human network” of sites and individuals that will not go away with the stroke of a pen. We are a powerful organization and we are here to stay!
We will continue to pursue options for federal and non-federal funding and will share them with you as soon as we have a definitive path.
Sigh. Anyone with any understanding of politics knows that once funds are removed, it is very difficult to get it back in a budget. That said, I am sure that teachers and administrators who are connected to NWP will make their voices heard and push for support for a network that provides important and valuable professional development around writing, reading, technology, social justice, and more. A spring meeting that is also a prime lobbying effort by NWP folks (including my wife) will no doubt be fraught with anxiety and passion, and provides a time to bend some important ears.
The NWP has a site set up for information related to the funding issue: come visit NWP Works.
I can’t imagine the National Writing Project going away, but I can imagine that things will be different. Like the wolf, which still thrives today (just not everywhere it once did and not in the same way it once did), the NWP will still be a vital connection for many of us whose practice and thinking has been transformed by the experience of being part of something that began with a few teachers talking about how to become better teachers.
Peace (in the survival),
Kevin
More Thoughts on Nurturing a Community
Feb 26th
After writing a post the other day about what DIDN’T work for an online writing space that I am part of for the Massachusetts New Literacies Initiative, I realized that I probably should come at the topic from the opposite direction: What DOES work for creating a strong online network?
Here are a few ideas that I have mulled over in my role as a participant and facilitator of various spaces. Some of the concepts here also stem from a book that my friend, Paul Oh, recommended many years back. The book — Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Spaces, by Derek Powazek — was published in 2002 and the world has changed considerably since then (of course). Still, much of what Powazek wrote about lingers in the back of my mind.
My ideas for creating and supporting and extending an online writing community:
- The most obvious idea is that users need to have some sort of shared connections. Disparate interests might bring folks together for the short term, but unless they find things to write about, to learn about and to share about, it seems unlikely that the community can last for the long haul. The thread that binds us together in online communities is the thread that leads us back there again and again. Sometimes, this might be groups within networks, or the entire network itself. We yearn to self-identify, don’t we? An online space can meet those needs that we have to be part of something meaningful.
- One of the ideas that Powazek writes about is the idea of a gated entry, which is the concept that a user must go through some process (registration, answer questions, etc.) before becoming part of the networking space. While you might assume this is to keep spam bots out, Powazek contends that by having a person invest time in the process, they are investing themselves in the network. Once invested, a person is more likely to think of themselves as part of the network itself, and not just a fly-by-night passerby. At the time I read this, I th0ught it to be counter-intuitive. Don’t we want the walls to be low? But over time, I have come to believe that he is right. A little work goes a long way to envisioning the importance of membership. Otherwise, you have people dropping anchor and never really becoming part of the network. They just take up virtual space.
- An obvious element of a strong network is the concept of the “welcome wagon,” which is someone who says “hello” to newcomers, offers some advice on where to begin and is available for questions. Steve Hargadon did this at Classroom 2.0 in its early years, and I thought it so important that in the networks that I manage, I always have that in place. This gives instant feedback to new folks, and lets them know there are people who care about them in the space. In larger networks, you’d have to deputize folks to help with the welcome wagon. But don’t push it aside. It gives a humanizing approach to a virtual community.
- Design matters, and you want the design of a site to be friendly, reflective of the values of the connections, and (even with the initial membership obstacle discussed above) easy to use. Most people don’t have patience. It’s sort of like a first-impression. Make it difficult to add a post, or submit a comment, and you may have already lost the battle for folks already uncomfortable with technology. The trick here is that most of us (me) are not programmers, so we use sites that have built-in templates, with some wiggle room for changes. Even so, we can make choices that reflect our communities.
- I find it useful to have some sort of notifications of new activity going out to users. The trick is to find the balance between useful information and blabber that will turn people off. But notifications are a good tool for drawing someone back to a site for participation and reminds them of why they joined in the first place. It’s beneficial to allow users to opt out of notification alerts, too.
- Create paths for leadership by being open to members becoming leaders of the site you have created. This can be difficult if you have a vision for the site, and then suddenly, you realize that users have a much different vision. But their leadership and activity is what keeps the space alive, not you (not me). At some point, you need to slowly give up some of the reins if you want your site to be more than just a kingdom in which you are the undisputed ruler.
- The corollary of that point is to be ready for change and accept it as a natural progression of a site. This has sort of happened at a writing site that I helped create, in that the places that I thought would be high interest are not always high interest, and an unexpected idea has suddenly flourished and thrived. It took me the longest time to realize, “this is what our site is about right now,” but that realization gave me satisfaction, too. The members spoke their minds with their actions.
- Activities matter, particularly when a site is built around the writing of users. Having regular activities that folks can participate in provides them with an invitation to come back and contribute. Many people will respond to that kind of invitation. We can’t expect that folks will constantly live at the site (unless you are a Facebook community, I suppose).
- While we are shifting into the age of multimedia, the fact is that writing is still the main form of communication for most networking sites. A good site allows for images and video and audio, but still provides an easy way to write and respond to writing. In a few years, this may no longer be the case that writing is the center of a network, but it is right now. Make sure a user can tap into the inner writer.
- Remember that most sites have a lifespan, which means that your site (your idea) might die out naturally. You might go through the grieving process, and even get frustrated at your members. Don’t. I can list a few blogs and communities that I have been part of that were valuable for a time, but then, disappeared off my radar. They served a purpose for the time and then, didn’t. That happens. Be ready for it.
I hope this is a bit more positive than my last post, and it sure has helped me think through more things related to online communities. I value the ones I am in and look forward to the ones I may be in and fondly remembers the ones that I was part of. What more can you ask for.
And, of course, what have I missed? What works for you in your networks?
Peace (in the reflections),
Kevin
Words That Move Us Into 2011
Jan 3rd
This weekend, as our regular writing prompt for the iAnthology writing space, I used AnswerGarden as a way to get our folks to write a word or short phrase that captures their feelings about the new year. By late afternoon, there were almost two dozen submissions into the Garden. A nice feature of AnswerGarden is that you can take the submissions and move them into Wordle.
Look at how big the word “Optimistic” is here! (The larger the word, the more times it was submitted).
Peace (in the words),
Kevin
We’re All Experts in the Instructional Age
Dec 31st
The other day, my 10 year old son said he wanted to learn how to make an Origami crane. He was thinking of his cousin, who recently had surgery and is having a painful recuperation. He wanted to give her a Christmas present of a paper crane. (He had also just read The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, so he was inspired a bit).
He didn’t bother to ask me if I knew how to make a crane. His first impulse was to ask if he could use the computer to find a video tutorial on how to make the crane. (And then later, it was to ask if I could run out and get him some Origami paper).
In a matter of minutes, he was watching someone’s hands folding paper into a crane, step by step. He was then cutting up paper and trying his hand at it. Later, he needed the help of his uncle, who knows how to do Origami, but the video tutorial led him on his way.
Which had me thinking of the session that I was part of in Orlando with the National Writing Project and Make Magazine, and how we talked about the ways in which the Internet is spreading knowledge so quickly, and how regular users are now becoming the experts in any number of ideas, no matter how small, strange or arcane. My son knew where to turn. He knew where the experts were, and it was on the Internet.
In the most recent edition of Wired Magazine, TED Curator Chris Anderson poses the argument that we are now in the era of Crowd Accelerated Innovation, spurred on in part by the ease of video production and publishing. Those small pockets of unknown experts are suddenly visible and available, and inspiring others to become experts, too. Anderson uses the example of a six year old child who learned to dance like a star by watching moves on YouTube, and then he got noticed by (his parents, I assume) posting his own dance moves on YouTube.
Anderson notes that the world is awash in instructional videos these days, and he’s right (I wrote a few weeks ago about the use of a video that helped me with my designing of a video game). He notes that a community of learners needs some key players in order to bring the video or idea into the public consciousness:
- The Trend Spotter, who notices an innovation early on;
- The Evangelist, who makes the case for that innovation;
- The Superspreader, who broadcasts the innovation widely;
- The Skeptic, who keeps the conversation honest;
- The General Public, who become the participants.
This list has me wondering how it might translate into the classroom. But it is more likely these kids are already there; they are just working under our radar screen. It reminds me of when I introduce a new technology, and how discovery by one student gets fed to the whole room — usually by the second person to learn about it. The discoverer is not often the one who broadcasts it to everyone. It’s usually their friend, who realizes the social cache of sharing something cool.
So who is most often the skeptic? You got it. The teacher.
Peace (in the instructions),
Kevin
Sunday Morning X by X Poetry
Dec 20th
Each weekend, over at our iAnthology network for National Writing Project teachers, Bonnie or I or a volunteer post a writing prompt. It’s always sort of a challenge to find an idea that will engage as many of the close to 400 members as possible (on average, about two dozen folks will contribute to a prompt each week).
Yesterday morning, I was trying to come up with an idea when I got a link shared to me by Ira Socol, who was responding to my post about 25 word stories. I loved the poems he shared, which are structured poems. I didn’t see a name of the style, so I called it X by X (X being the number of lines and then X being the number of words per line).
The response has been pretty wonderful, and I have been using Cinch to record audio responses to everyone’s poems, giving some voice to my reactions to their writing. I love the simplicity of Cinch and how easy it is to embed into our site. And since it a site where geographic distance is everything, having a voice connected to your writing gives it a certain power of response, I think.
Here are the poems that I wrote and shared:
2×2
Coffee cup
filled, steaming
3×3
Dog walking, cold
fingers, cold toes,
silent morning frost
4×4
Four balls bouncing loudly
against the garage floors
echo like a shotgun –
can’t take it anymore
5×5
Lying here in the silence
of the night, no movement
in the house, save me,
and my own restless thoughts
6×6
The smiling face is silently mocking
the reason why I am crouched
on the floor, with my youngest.
I hold the plastic action hero
in the air, as if fighting,
when what I desire is peace.
7×7
“Seven” is what I said when asked
what is my favorite and magical number.
We sit, elbows touching, at the table
where his fingers hold a crumbling cookie
of fortune and mystical numbers of chance.
I expect the next question: “Why seven?
but it never comes; only quiet munching.
And here is my podcast, via Cinch:
Peace (in the Sunday poems),
Kevin
PS – If you are a Writing Project teacher looking for a supportive space for writing, drop me a comment and I will invite you into the iAnthology network.
A Myriad of Resources from NWP Annual Meeting
Dec 16th
The National Writing Project sent out a flurry of posts the other day about its resources and materials gathered from the NWP Annual Meeting last month in Orlando.\
- What Bloggers and Tweeters were doing and saying during the conference
- Some of the videos of the conference
- Shared Flickr Photos
- Writing samples from teachers from the General Assembly
- A Day in the Life of a Writing Project teacher
- And Donalyn Miller’s keynote address about the hurdles of writing (see above)
Peace (in the NWP),
Kevin
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