NWP – Write On!

I am writing this post today as part of an initiative to send out 1000 posts in support of the NWP. It stands to lose Federal funding.

What continues to amaze me is how hard this organization “works to improve writing and learning in the nation’s schools” and with a minimal budget. They began as a volunteer force but have been able to deliver a real teaching and learning force in all areas of literacy education with a small amount of federal funding.

What’s NWP? It’s the National Writing Project. I first learned of the group when my peer and mentor Kevin Hodgson introduced me to Twitter, blogging, and Google Reader. Kevin is a big part of my first and continued exposure to NWP, and through them I continue to learn a tremendous amount.

I have learned to reflect on my practice by reading and writing posts for this blog as well as Mrs. Poulin’s Blog, where I write about my kindergarten work. This also helped me to build confidence and now I can share what I learn with other teachers, including an entire new generation of educators worldwide.

I have learned about an abundance of on-line tools for sharing student work. As a result of this, my students interact with a number of websites daily, will begin logging in to Kidblog.org next month for personal writing, and carry on meaningful dialog with  students around the country via Skype.

I have a great PLN of peers on Twitter and we can share ideas through a number of tools, including tweets, a daily newspaper generated just for me, and the Twitter kinderchat on Monday evenings at 9:00pm.

My most valuable tool has to be my Google Reader account. I have amassed a collection of blogs with new posts coming in on different days. Today I see there are 20 new items to read if I have time. There are always a few that are must-reads, including Kevin’s Meandering Mind, as well as all of my kindergarten peers around the world.

What NWP has brought to our conversations is a connection of Teachers Teaching Teachers (another great blog) and everyone learns through the experience. I urge our legislators to support the continued funding of the National Writing Project. Through their work, they are reaching educators worldwide, building across-the-board literacy, everywhere.

Thanks NWP for being an important part of my own teaching/learning experience.