Technology Initiative Projects
Capacity Building Grants
As part of the Technology Initiative, interested writing project sites were invited to apply for capacity-building minigrants to build local leadership capacity for designing and leading professional development with a focus on using technology in support of writing.
Seven Participating Sites
Northern California Writing Project, California
This grant supports an invitational advanced institute for teacher-consultants on the use of technology both in the classroom and in professional development. Led by the site’s technology liaison and supported by teacher-consultants who have already developed technology-rich classroom practices, this advanced institute, which takes place over a series of Saturdays, focuses on the use of established and emerging technologies in teachers’ own writing and professional lives. The overarching goal is to support teacher-consultants interested in determining effective practices in the teaching of writing in a technological context. The anticipated outcome is an expansion of the site’s leadership capacity—particularly as it relates to professional development—for future work in using technology for writing.
San Diego Area Writing Project, California
This grant supports an advanced mini-institute on technology and an academic-year study group focused on the use of technology and digital tools in the teaching of writing in high-priority schools within the site’s service area. The specific goals are to increase both access to and the relevance of San Diego Area Writing Project programs to teachers and students, and to increase the site’s capacity to develop and offer inservice programs on using digital tools for writing and learning.
National Writing Project at Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida
In this project, titled Building Capacity Toward Technology Integration, the National Writing Project at Florida Gulf Coast University will provide a series of workshops in which participants learn skills and develop competencies in various technologies to support the teaching of writing. Asynchronous communication tools will be used to support networking among participants to further community development and leadership at the site.
Nebraska Writing Project, Nebraska
This grant supports a teacher research team of eight teacher-consultants who will develop and disseminate technology-based projects in their classrooms during the 2005–2006 school year. These teachers will then lead summer technology-based project work for the site and also support the site’s leadership team in thinking about new technologies and how they impact the site’s and teachers’ work.
Philadelphia Writing Project, Pennsylvania
This grant supports Philadelphia Writing Project teachers in expanding and sustaining their explorations of storytelling and multimedia as a means to teach writing in the classroom. PhilWP TCs, who have already been introduced to new technologies as well as methodologies for storytelling through the use of multiple modalities, will be supported in developing this work in their classrooms. They will closely document this work and then collaborate with colleagues to share the different ways that this kind of storytelling can be brought into a range of classrooms and curricula.
Dakota Writing Project, South Dakota
This grant supports an electronic writing marathon for Dakota Writing Project teacher-consultants. In this marathon, participants will explore and write in a different online technology environment each week, discuss their experiences in these environments, and reflect on how these environments might improve writing, learning, and teaching in their classrooms. Participants will then be asked to develop an inquiry question and apply what they’ve learned during the marathon to their classroom situations, documenting their progress.
Sabal Palms Writing Project, Texas
This project supports teacher-consultants in using newer technologies in the teaching of reading and writing, especially to English language learners. Through a series of workshops in a variety of technology applications that support writing in the classroom, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to use the applications in their teaching of writing. These teachers will then be mentored and encouraged to become part of a cadre of professional development providers offering training in the use of technology to support writing in the classroom.