As a university professor for the past twenty plus years, I have worked with a lot of outstanding teachers. What a privilege! More recently, in my position as the Director of the Fox Valley Writing Project, I have come to understand that all teachers, including the outstanding ones, are in need of professional support and development. No one would quibble with the fact that once you’re good at being a teacher, you have to keep working at it; as teachers we need to learn new things, study our work, and improve ourselves professionally.  However, teachers need support so they can continue to do the important work with which they are entrusted each day.  And, for many of our best and our brightest, the local writing project is where that support is found. 
 
In east central Wisconsin, we have outstanding teachers facing pay cuts of 8% in addition to increased benefit costs. That's a lot – even for a single teacher -- when you start out with $38,000 and have assumed significant debt for an advanced degree. I know strong, "new" teachers, as well as highly effective, well-seasoned ones, who now have no financial incentive to continue their professional development.  In fact, they have little incentive – financial or otherwise --- to stay in the profession.  More than ever, all teachers -- but especially our most outstanding ones -- need the NWP network.  
 
FVWP's small annual grant from NWP leverages itself two-and-a-half times to provide professional support and development for K-12 teachers throughout the Fox Valley in Wisconsin.  FVWP teachers provide writing institutes, teaching inquiry work, writing camps for adolescents, and literacy workshops in the summer and throughout the academic year; the teachers who lead these offerings and the teachers who participate in them all learn from these experiences. I’m no business woman, but I know good deal when I see it. NWP gets darn good returns -- especially when the investment is in support of our best and our brightest teachers.  
 
Continue funding for NWP. 

 

Dr. Patricia Scanlan, Associate Professor
Reading Education  Department
Fox Valley Writing Project Director
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
(920) 424-3325