Network Logic - Index of

Untangling the threads
These networks work on common problems identified by the TCs
and brought to the attention of the national office. To date, the NWP
has four such sub-networks: Project Outreach (formed when the
NWP realised that it was not serving poor and minority populations
equitably); the Urban Sites (which works through particular
problems of language and low-achieving schools); Rural Sites (a
network focusing on rural needs with a particular focus on
technology); and the English as a Second Language network (focusing
on second language learners). The national office coordinates the
evaluation and documentation of all 167 sites, its quarterly and
bimonthly publications and, increasingly, books written by and about
the writing project.
Teacher learning in the National Writing Project
Also enmeshed in each summer institute (and the forthcoming
workshops facilitated by TCs) is a view of learning that turns
conventional professional development on its head. Instead of
teaching teachers someone else’s ideas of how they should improve
their teaching, the institute begins with what teachers know and then
moves to what others have learned. This respect for teacher
knowledge is so powerful that teachers eventually open themselves up
to going public with their writing and teaching – in an environment
that invites feedback and critique. It is not hard to see over time how
teachers learn from one another, constantly thinking about how
particular strategies can be adapted to suit their particular students.
Besides learning from one another, teachers are introduced to a
wide variety of reading materials including books to expand their
own classroom library. They learn by reading and discussing research
on literacy and by being taught by experienced TCs who have become
expert in particular areas (such as assessment and multicultural
literature). In turn, teachers, through the process of being in a new
group, learn how to become good community members (for instance,
sharing the responsibility for being a presenter on one day and an
audience the next, or being the ‘logger’ of the day’s events). Teacher
learning here becomes multifaceted. Teachers are learning by
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