MiniGrantApplication


 * 2010-2011 State and Regional Networks Minigrants**

The Delaware Writing Project (DWP) located at the University of Delaware’s Center for Teacher Education submits a proposal for the 2010-2011 State and Regional Networks Minigrant. The primary goal of the minigrant request is to underwrite a study group initiative and state conference designed to further the continuity of DWP teacher consultants and increase the visibility of the Delaware site. The request is for $5,000.

Between 1999 and 2007, the Delaware Writing Project (DWP) hosted a writing conference for middle and high school teachers of writing. Teachers and districts were committed to the conference and attendance grew every year. After offering the conference at no charge to teachers for seven years, our site responded to the increased costs of the conference by charging a registration fee for participants and no longer inviting out of state scholars as keynote speakers. Instead we began to invite University of Delaware professors, such as Ralph Begleiter, Ben Yagoda, and Stephen Bernhardt, who offered their demonstrations as a professional courtesy to the site.

Even with these adjustments, the current financial climate at the state and university level regrettably forced DWP to cancel the 2008 secondary writing conference. In response to this situation, the DWP applied for the 2009-2010 Mini-Grant to support a book study group initiative and planned professional development. Our site supported a highly successful study group of teacher consultants who presented at our state "Festival of Words" conference. We celebrated a large step in our site continuity initiative, but despite our sincere desire to foster the continuity of our teacher consultants and expand our conference to include educators from grades K-12, without outside financial support, our site will not be able to offer this opportunity for scholarship and professional development again.

In our state, the Delaware Writing Project is a leader in composition theory and practice. Our teacher consultants design workshops that reflect the most recent research in writing instruction, both in the static form of paper and pencil and the dynamic environment of the Web. In Delaware, schools are wired for the Web and computers are available to students in classrooms, libraries, and labs. DWP teacher consultants have responded to the influx of technology by developing workshops that use technology to teach writing and which would benefit teachers in grades K-12, yet due to decreased funding, schools are not able to invite the teacher consultants into their schools to share the research and instructional strategies with teachers. To meet the needs of educators across our state and in the region, DWP will use funds from the minigrant to both facilitate a study group on using technology to enhance writing instruction and to host a state conference for K-12 teachers, //Write Now: "Teaching Digital Natives" 21st Century Composition,// introducing and extending the knowledge of educators K-12 as they teach students to harness the power of words using technology.

A state conference on the teaching of writing is of great importance at this time as Delaware has redesigned the state assessment program to de-emphasize writing, mostly to address political and fiscal concerns. The Delaware assessment program, which has been in place for over ten years and assesses writing at grade levels 2-10 has been ousted in favor of a new assessment that is in the development process. No clear writing component has been previewed to the public. Additionally, the reading component of the future state assessment, which in years past used a great deal of writing to assess comprehension through short and long response, as well as text-based writing, is being replaced, most likely, by a multiple choice assessment. It is critical that DWP be able to offer a state writing conference and study group to counter these movements and to remind educators across the state that writing is fundamental to thinking and learning.

The overarching goal of the writing conference is to provide educators with current research on effective writing instruction and then to connect that research and theory to pedagogy. Inspired by last year's study group selection //Teaching The New Writing: Technology, Change and Assessment in the 21st-Century Classroom//, simultaneously published by Teachers College Press and the National Writing Project, the book study initiative will extend its continuity and professional development success with a new selection for the 2010-2011 year.
 * Activities and Goals**

The 2010-2011 book study group will bring together teacher consultants from a wide variety of Summer Institute groups, grade levels and geographical representations to read, discuss and apply principles from the book "Teaching Digital Natives" by Marc Prensky. The product of the book study initiative will be a state conference offered to K-12 teachers. Titled //Write Now: "Teaching Digital Natives" 21st Century Composition////,// the conference will feature DWP teacher-consultants as the keynote presenter and as breakout session leaders. The conference itself is open to all K-12 educators across the state of Delaware and our neighboring states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

The goals of this year’s conference will be to · demonstrate the power of using Web 2.0 and digital writing to enhance writing instruction; · provide educators with the resources and support needed to implement this technology into their instruction; · increase the continuity of DWP teacher consultants by providing a forum for new and seasoned teacher consultants with workshops that emphasize the use of technology with writing to present at the conference; and · increase the visibility of the Delaware Writing Project and its position as a leader in writing instruction among educators in the state of Delaware.

Recognizing that professional development is most meaningful when offered over time in job-embedded contexts, DWP will add a study group component leading up to the writing conference. This group will be formed in September 2010 of current DWP teacher-consultants with the purpose to learn about Web 2.0 writing technologies and digital writing through reading //"Teaching Digital Natives"// and implementing components of these technologies and partnering strategies into their writing instruction. At the writing conference, participants in the study group will present what they have learned through the book study, discussion blogs, and classroom implementation to conference attendees.

Throughout the study group period, participants in the study group will learn from teacher consultants who have developed workshops on using Web 2.0 and digital writing and from reading the //Teaching the New Writing// text. Members of the study group will have three in-person meetings as well as participate in a blog about the book and implementation of the technologies. Teacher-consultants will be offered a **$400.00** stipend for participating in the study group and presenting at the conference. The cost of the stipends will be split between the minigrant (as reflected in the budget) and ** $2000 ** from the core NWP grant to the Delaware site. The goals of the study group component of the project are to · increase the continuity of DWP by offering a study group opportunity to its teacher consultants; · increase the expertise and capacity of DWP teacher consultants so that our teacher consultants remain current on writing research and pedagogy; and · provide authentic examples of Web 2.0 technology and digital writing in local contexts to share at the writing conference.

The proposed budget includes a stipend to pay a DWP teacher consultant to work collaboratively with the DWP project coordinator to facilitate the study group, respond to blogs, and coordinate the logistics of the conference day. This is in response to budget reductions at the state and University level that reduced the number of program coordinators at DWP from 2.5 to 1. DWP also has one graduate assistant and one administrative assistant to assist with the facilitation of the study group and conference.
 * Roles and Responsibilities**

As with any writing project, the teacher consultants are the heart of DWP. It is their expertise, leadership, and context that provide the authentic application of research and pedagogy. We are excited about the opportunity to nurture our site’s continuity through the development of the conference study group. We know that the teacher-consultants who make up the study group will embrace the tools of Web 2.0 and digital writing and create high-quality examples in local contexts to share with other educators in Delaware.

The keynote address on the day of the conference will be given by Dr. Patricia Scott, DWP teacher consultant and former DWP technology liaison. She completed her doctoral work in 2007 and found that the yearlong professional development program she conducted on using technology to enhance writing instruction demonstrated a significant increase in teacher leadership; as teachers became more proficient in technology, their philosophy of writing shifted, and they assumed leadership roles in their schools. Dr. Scott will be available to the conference study group and as a presenter at the conference.

Dr. Scott’s keynote address will be supported by breakout sessions lead by DWP teacher-consultants who have developed workshops using the Read-Write Web and digital writing. Teachers from the conference study group will also collaborate and present sessions. Breakout sessions will include sessions on digital storytelling, using blogs with literature circles, collaborating using wiki spaces, revising using web resources, and the Read-Write Web.

If our grant application is successful, DWP will be able to continue to build the expertise and strength of our current teacher consultants while providing local and regional educators with a powerful professional learning experience. The writing conference, //Write Now: "Teaching Digital Natives" 21st Century Composition,// and the pre-conference study group will emphasize the importance of writing and demonstrate the strength of DWP as a leader in composition and writing instruction.

__Budget__ The online budget worksheet provides a detailed account of how the funds will be used. In addition, DWP will also use ** $2,000 ** from the core NWP grant toward this project. We will also charge a registration fee of $10 per person to pay for refreshments and other incidental costs.

__Project Timeline:__

Summer 2010 · Teacher Consultant Leaders from 2009-2010 Book Study Group present to 2010 Summer Institute Fellows · Summer Institute Fellows are encouraged to create a workshop focusing on using writing in the 21st century classroom (blogs, RSS feeds, wikki’s, podcasts, etc.)

September 2010 · Advertise the writing conference and the creation of the conference study group. · At the first study group meeting, one of the teachers from the Summer Institute who designed a workshop emphasizing technology will present his/her workshop. · Study group members will begin to brainstorm ways to integrate technology into their instruction.

October 2009 – February 2011 · Conference study group members will participate in a virtual discussion group on //Teaching Digital Natives// by Marc Prensky · Conference study group members will use the strategies and techniques in their classrooms, collecting student artifacts of projects to share at the spring conference. · Conference study group members will meet in person in September, November, and January to discuss the book chapters and to troubleshoot problems connected with using technology in their classrooms to facilitate writing. · DWP coach will be available online and in person for coaching as teachers implement the strategies. · Conference study group members will be divided into two teams to present at the conference. Using a shared web document they will plan their presentation.

February 26, 2011 · Delaware Writing Project’s Conference on the Teaching of Writing: //Write Now: "Teaching Digital Natives" 21st Century Composition// o Key Note: Dr. Patricia Scott, DWP Teacher Consultant and Former Technology Liaison o Breakout sessions on using technology applications, digital storytelling, and the Read/Write Web in the classroom by DWP teacher consultants and the study group teachers and students. o Poster session of the study group projects and student work.

March 2011 · Write progress report on the project including feedback from the study group and initial impressions and evaluations of the conference.

April –Jun 2011 · Write and submit the final report on the project.

__Summary__ The world of writing has gone beyond the confines of composition books and number two pencils. Technology and the Read-Write Web have created a new frontier for writing that will be explored through the Delaware Writing Project’s 2011 Conference on the Teaching of Writing, //Write Now: "Teaching Digital Natives" 21st Century Composition//. The conference is open to educators across the state and will feature keynote address and breakout sessions by DWP teacher consultants who have researched and designed workshops integrating writing, technology, and the Web. Additionally, DWP will host a pre-conference study group of DWP teacher consultants who will meet in person and in virtual classrooms to read and discuss //Teaching Digital Natives//, by Marc Prensky. While in the study period, teachers will implement ideas from the book in their writing instruction. On the day of the conference, these teachers will present what they have learned about teaching writing using the tools available on the Read-Write Web. Our desire is to create a professional learning community that increases the continuity of the teacher consultants in our site while showcasing the Delaware Writing Project as a state and regional leader in writing instruction.