Welcome to the site of the National Writing Project -- a grant-funded partnership and cooperative effort between Florida Gulf Coast University and the Southwest Florida Area Schools (Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades Counties). The FGCU-NWP Director is Lois Christensen, the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. Sara Kohlhauff, Pinewoods Elementary School, has been appointed to represent the area schools as co-director. Mark Simpson, also an FGCU education faculty member, serves as the current technology liaison for this site.

This partnership operates under the following assumptions --

• Writing is pivotal to learning, academic achievement, and job success.
• Writing instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through the university.
• Teachers are the key to reform in education.
• Universities and school in collaboration can provide powerful programs for teachers.
• Effective teachers of writing regularly write themselves.
• Exemplary teachers make the best teachers of other teachers.
• Writing is fundamental to learning in all subjects.
• Professional development begins when teachers enter teaching and continues throughout their careers.
• Real change in classroom practice happens over time.

Nuggets to be Gleaned at Other NWP Sites

TechKnowFile. Looking for ways to use technology
effectively at your school? Try a TechKnowFile: Integrating technology into the classroom is a must...

Other Worthwhile Sites

Two Teachers Writing. Good teaching is good teaching. Too often we get caught up in what’s happening in our own classroom walls or in the faculty lounge of our own school building. This blog is a place that erases all of those barriers and focuses simply on teaching kids to write and catching minds in the midst. It’s happening not only 872 miles apart, but in classrooms beyond our Midwestern town and East Coast City.

Useful Free Web Applications

Photostory 3. Bring your digital photos to life with Photo Story 3 for Windows. Download Photo Story 3 for free and experience your photos in amazing new ways.

Useful Free Web 2.0 Applications

PBWiki for Classrooms. PBwiki hosts more classroom wikis than anyone else in the world, and lets you create a simple, secure wiki in about 60 seconds. Wikis drive engagement and collaboration. A wiki is a live, evolving document – but gives you user tracking and access controls to monitor your wiki at all times. You can make your wiki public or private or anywhere in between.