For 30 years, we have been a site
of The
National Writing Project, an organization for teachers federally funded from
the US Department of Education. Our mission is to improve the teaching of
writing through “teachers teaching teachers,” thus improving learning in our
schools.
On this site you will find
information about us and our successful programs, links to information, online
application forms for our 2008 Invitational Summer Institute, and testimonials
from our teacher consultants.
The Benefits of the
GNOWP Summer Institute
By Cathy Tanguis
GNOWP Teacher -
Consultant
Serving as a facilitator for the Greater New Orleans
Writing Project during the summer of 2007, I had the opportunity to continue my
support of the site and extend my experience with the Greater New Orleans
Writing Project. This has proven to be equally rewarding and enlightening. It
has been gratifying to support the dedicated teachers who participated in the
Summer Institute, many of whom were still displaced as a result of the
hurricane. In spite of the challenges they faced on a daily basis, their dreams
for their schools and students remained resolute. GNOWP's Summer Institute
encouraged them to continue to improve their practices and supported their
efforts to do so in myriad ways. Most rewarding was the sense of community that
evolved over the course of the institute. Many of the teachers had lost their
support systems as they transferred from school to school in the wake of the
hurricane. The institute offered a solution to this isolation as the fellows
interacted and worked with one another over the course of the summer. Bonds were
formed and relationships flourished as a result of discovering shared values and
experiences.
“I Just
Don’t Know What to Do!”:Writing for
the Classroom beyond Katrina.
A Writing Workshop for Teachers to Develop Effective Writing
Pedagogy, Assignments and Assessments Using Best Practices and Relevant Writing
Information.
Friday, August 8, 2008, 9am – 3:30pm, and
Saturday, August 9, 2008, 9am -12:30pm
Lindy Boggs Conference Center – Lakefront Campus, UNO
This workshop / seminar will offer teachers
information and approaches to designing effective writing tasks that can also
address state assessments, and will assist teachers who are searching for more
effective tasks to address changes in adolescents’ behavior and learning after
Katrina. We will develop writing assignments creatively designed to meet present
conditions of teaching adolescents post-Katrina, and tasks which address
teachers’ needs, including addressing State of Louisiana assessments. We will
also develop assessments and pedagogy which complement our newly created writing
tasks with relevant information about best practices in the teaching of writing.
“This is a writing workshop for teachers who
want new approaches for teaching writing and helping students gain new skills in
writing. Our workshop will use the problems teachers are presently having in
teaching writing and assigning writing tasks post-Katrina. We will seek to
address these problems with new ‘teachniques’ for approaching the classroom.”
Our workshop will also address the issues of our
3rd year after Katrina, and analyze concerns about writing that may be related
to adolescent writing literacy. We will give teachers contemporary information
about the best practices of writing for your classroom. Each teacher will also
leave with new lesson plans, teaching techniques and assessments for meeting the
2008-2009 school year.