- Putting on the annual Indiana Teachers of Writing (ITW) fall conference, Friday, Oct. 9th. (See story elsewhere on this page.)
- Entering our second year of partnership with Noblesville High School, where our focus is on academic literacy, especially reading in the different content areas. We meet once a month with a team of teachers from various disciplines. We’d love to work with your school in this way.
- Entering our second year of partnership with John Marshall Community High School (Indianapolis Public Schools). We will be establishing goals in conversation with principal Michael Sullivan and his faculty. It’s a new year at John Marshall, and we hope the start of a new era there. Our focus is on writing, both in English classes and across the curriculum. This partnership is also part of a national study of partnerships between National Writing Project sites and secondary schools (with a special focus on 7th and 8th grade student writing).
- With the help of an Urban Sites Network mini-grant, a group of HWP teachers are meeting regularly to discuss equity issues, using Glenn Singleton’s book Courageous Conversations. We are also thinking of ways to address equity issues within HWP and to stimulate such conversations in area schools.
- Planning events for the National Day on Writing, sponsored by NCTE. Our teacher-consultants are spearheading activities within their schools, and we will have an evening event to commemorate the day in both South Bend and Indianapolis. See October calendar for details, or email Steve Fox ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Mary Nicolini ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) .
- Co-sponsoring the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for central and southern Indiana. Our partner in this new endeavor are the wonderful folks at Clowes Hall at Butler University. Stay tuned for the launch of the 2010 award competition!
- Looking for ways to follow up on our two summer workshops on writing in ESL classrooms (one held in 2008 and one in 2009). We had several ESL teachers in our Indianapolis summer institute and would love to have more next summer. We’d also love to work with ESL teachers in your school or district.
Yes, we’re busy. If you are an HWP teacher-consultant, get involved! If you are visiting this site, interested in the teaching of writing and reading, let us know how you’d like to be part of our work, partnering with us to advance literacy in Indiana.