Teachers are the best ones to teach other teachers how to teach.  (Try saying that five times fast.)  This is the National Writing Project's philosophy, and it's simple, but it works.  Nevertheless, it's still a fairly radical idea when it comes to professional development.

Here's another radical idea: the NWP allows you to experience activities as a participant before you use them with your own students as a teacher.  Again, it's simple.  And yet so effective.  And so rare.

As a participant in a New York City Writing Project Summer Invitational, and a participant/facilitator in several NYCWP seminars, I've lost track of how many National Writing Project people -- those I've met and those I haven't -- have influenced my teaching practices, and those of my colleagues.  But I use their ideas all the time.  And I have benefitted so much from being around positive, like-minded, problem-solving experts. 

So many NYCWP people have been involved in sharing their teaching practices at the City University of New York, where I teach, that a lot of these methods and ideas have been picked up by people who've never heard of the NWP, but are nevertheless spreading its ideas and practices far and wide.  And the university and our students are so much richer for it.

There's no substitute for the NWP.  Teachers and their students need this organization.  We need the government to restore funding to the National Writing Project right away.

Kate Moss
New York City Writing Project participant
PhD Candidate in English, City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center
Adjunct Lecturer, Digital Literacy (Communications), CUNY School of Professional Studies Online BA/BS