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(Boone, NC)

After 16 years in the classroom, I thought I knew how to teach writing. However, NWP books and ideas borrowed from the NWP website have really upped my game. I have been able to increase my knowledge and feel more confident that I am using best practices for teaching writing.

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(Grand Rapids, MI)

Involvement with NWP helped my improve my writing instruction mainly because of the writing WITH my students. As they've observed and come to understand the [writing] process, they are not as frustrated when the first draft needed rounds of revision and refinement. Therefore, they are more patient and generally produced better, more satisfying writing. They also become a community who support and encourage one another through the process. And, perhaps equally valuable, most of the students become more appreciative readers who recognize how and why good writing is good.

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(Kennesaw, GA)

It has changed everything about my writing instruction. I no longer sit and provide feedback. Instead, I make myself vulnerable, taking the same risks I ask of my students by writing alongside them and opening my own writing up for feedback.

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(Center, ND)

Initially, I found myself deeply frustrated with the writing process in my classroom, often feeling disinclined to engage my students in it. This changed dramatically after attending the National Writing Project's C3WP (College, Career, and Community Writers Program) training. It was a pivotal moment where I finally felt equipped with the necessary tools to not only inspire my typical students to write, but to motivate every student to write confidently and take pride in their work. My journey into teaching began with a mission to expand the horizons of rural students, to offer them more opportunities than their small-town roots might suggest. However, I was unsure how to achieve this. Fortunately, the wealth of resources and support provided to me have been instrumental in creating new opportunities for my students, not just locally within our North Dakota community, but also at state and national levels. What I've come to realize, though, is that the most impactful writing my students do is that which resonates with and influences their local community and personal lives.

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(Boise, ID)

I was doing so many things with good intentions, but not with conscious competence. I was validated in my belief that for me to teach writing well, I needed to not only be a writer, but let students in on my process, craft, struggles, etc. I became more creative in my approach, seeking out opportunities for students to compose the kind of writing that is done outside of school with an authentic audience as well as doing more reflective and personal writing as a tool for understanding themselves, the world, and what they were learning.

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(Phoenix, AZ)

My involvement in the National Writing Project helped improve my writing instruction since I was able to share writing strategies that worked well within my classroom, and I was able to learn from other teachers about what writing strategies worked well with them.

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(Stratford, CT)

NWP has not only improved my individual practice with the students I'm still fortunate to teach, it has also helped me to lead summer institutes, conduct professional development, oversee young adult literacy labs, and lead WRITING OUR LIVES conferences. In other words, it has helped me to spread better practices to fellow teachers and to inspire youth into a world of writing, as well.

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(Spring Hill, FL)

The Writing Project helped my creativity and confidence as a writer, allowing me to bring my enthusiasm for writing into the classroom. My summer with the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project was one of my most fulfilling times of professional development training I've ever experienced. I made many friends and learned that writing can be used in many different ways in the learning process.

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(Blue Bell, PA)

I have improved as a writer since aligning with members of NWP. I am a more intentional and purposeful practitioner of writing instruction. I utilize outdoor spaces and placed-based writing as inspiration for writing and in building student connection to place and nature. I also encourage students to think about activism in terms of environmental causes that they feel strongly about and especially with young learners, we begin to have activist conversations. I also am more explicit with teaching the writing process as well as having students share their work with each other. I am also more intentional and purposeful about centering student agency and student voice in writing.

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(West Chester, PA)

The resources are abundant and have always supported my own pedagogy.

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(Clarkston, MI)

My involvement with the CRWP has improved my writing instruction by providing me with skills that I use in my daily and unit lessons. I have learned so much from the teachers in both the CRWP and the Dig Deeper Inquiry Group on how to create more engaging and authentic writing lessons for my students.

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(Stamford, CT)

I cannot begin to count the ways that the National Writing Project has improved my writing instruction! Next Generation Genres, a book that we discussed at the program and that I discussed with my colleague who was workin on his Doctorate, helped me to provide some of my students with an optional extension activity of making a podcast. While my students were working on reading informational texts, I wanted to offer them the opportunity to respond to those texts, synthesize their ideas, and create something that could live outside of our classroom! A handful of my students volunteered and they took their individual topics and worked together to find a new topic by synthesizing them both. My favorite was a girl who was reading about the Olympics and another girl who was reading about Fashion Photography decided that they would make a podcast about Olympic Uniforms. They conducted new research, wrote, and recorded their podcast which touched on gender inequality, the voice of olympic athletes in what they wear, and how olympic uniforms have changed over the years. We are submitting their podcast to an NPR Youth Podcast contest and are hoping for some air time! This is just one example of the many creative projects I never would have thought to offer my students had it not been for the National Writing Project. It inspires me to push my students and show them how powerful and valuable writing can be.