First NWA Writing Project Administrators' Retreat Successful in Purpose

Photo by Matt Reynolds

Participants discuss writing instruction at the first Northwest Arkansas Writing Project retreat for school administrators.

School administrators who attended a Northwest Arkansas Writing Project retreat June 10 gained knowledge and strategies they could introduce to teachers.

The writing project, which is based in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, sponsored the full-day retreat focused on improving writing instruction at the University of Arkansas Global Campus in Rogers.

"The purpose of the retreat was to build administrators' capacity as instructional leaders, with an emphasis on the argument writing standards in the Common Core," said Vicki Collet, project coordinator and assistant professor of elementary education. "The retreat offered educators the opportunity to think, read, and write together about instruction at their schools."

"As a leader, anytime I can take one thing away from a training I can use to aide in student achievement, it was successful," said Eddie Ray, principal of Hackett Elementary School.  "For me, the writing project training was a success."

Chris Goering, associate professor of English education and director of the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, recognized the importance of providing such training to educational leaders.

"What it means to teach writing in our schools is different today than it was five years ago," Goering said. "Any school system undergoing rapid change will rely on the support and instructional leadership of building principals and district leaders."

For nearly 20 years, the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project has focused on improving writing in area schools. As one of 200 National Writing Project sites, it provides professional development for educators and directly reaches young writers through Kidswrite and Teenswrite summer camps.

For more information about writing project events, contact Goering at cgoering@uark.edu or Collet at collet@uark.edu or visit nwawp.uark.edu/