Write On Kentucky

Since 2022 many changes have been on the horizon for KWP. We have relocated and are now a branch of the Instructional Support Services division of the Kentucky Educational Development Corporation. We have a new state director, Shawn Justice, and Co- Director, Liz Prather. We are rebranding and recharged to continue the mission of equitable access to best practice writing instruction for ALL Kentucky teachers and students.

At KWP we strive to create the best opportunities for teachers to experience true writing instruction as it should be. All of the strategies we share are evidence based and supported by the work of The National Writing Project. It is our aim to bring the most recent and engaging instructional practices to every classroom in Kentucky.

Each month we will share with you proven strategies, professional resources, current research, learning opportunities and spotlights on teachers and districts that are leading the way. We also want to publish teacher and student writers each month. We hope to hear from you about what you would like to see in upcoming editions of Write On Kentucky.

Writing requires that students read closely, synthesize and categorize the information, then create a composition. When we look at Bloom’s Taxonomy, we see that all of these tasks require a much higher cognitive level than simply summarizing information. In order for writers to become proficient at this, there must be multiple opportunities each week, across content areas, to read, discuss, think and then write. At the Writing Project we call this “Layering Reading, Writing, Thinking and Discussion”. We would love to come model this process for you!

Contact our Executive Director to set up a date. Shawn.justice@kedc.org

Research shows that students learn more when they actively participate in their learning, rather than passively listen. Furthermore, studies have also shown that “student participation, encouragement, and peer-to-peer interaction was consistently and positively related to the development of critical thinking skills” (Howard, 2015, pp. 6). Class discussion has also been linked to greater student motivation, improved communication skills, and higher grades (Howard, 2015). But just like effective lectures or assignments require planning and preparation, so too does class.

In 2003, when my friends encouraged me to commit a large part of summer break to participate in the Morehead Writing Project Summer Institute, I had no idea the transformative impact the opportunity would have on my growth as a teacher and leader. Though writing intuitively came easy for me, I thought that made me a good teacher of writing, which was not the case. The Writing Project required me to examine my practice, inquire into writing theory, pedagogy, and best practices, and apply and demonstrate my learning and growth. The Writing Project has provided me with resources and opportunities to improve my practice, leadership opportunities that have led to the most important work of my career, and, perhaps best of all, what has proven to be a life-long collaborative cohort of colleagues and friends who have encouraged, deconstructed, modeled, and provided feedback for and with me to make me the best teacher leader I could be. The Writing Project has been life-changing, and I feel fortunate and grateful that I trusted my friends enough to heed their advice 21 years ago!

I am forever grateful that I spent the summer after I started teaching in a Summer Institute for the Morehead Writing Project. Those teachers challenged and encouraged me. They became my mentors and friends. My love for the Writing Project led me to becoming a member of the Morehead Writing Project Leadership Team and a returning fellow for both in-person and online institutes. I have also worked as a Teacher Consultant for the Kentucky Writing Project and enjoyed traveling the state to share trainings and continually learn from passionate educators. I can not imagine my career without my involvement and support from the Writing Project.

A short story by Lindsay Ellis Johnson

Begrudgingly, she picked up the first book from the personally curated stack I had delicately placed on the coffee table in front of her. She scanned the front cover and snapped it over to see the back before rolling her eyes, setting it to the side, and grabbing the next book from the stack. That one did not even survive the front cover check. She stacked it on the already discarded pile. I exhaled and turned to scan the library to desperately search for other possibilities. I noticed her classmates sprinkled throughout the library. A group of students was clustered around new releases while others were waiting in line at the check out. Some students were sitting like Raegan on the couches. Unlike Raegan though, these students had their books open or were excitedly showing their books to their friends...

Join us for our July Boot Camp and three follow ups throughout the year to break down the instructional processes and systems for teaching on-demand writing at any grade level.

Even if you have missed the bootcamps in July, you can still register for the school year follow ups by contacting Shawn.justice@kedc.org.

July

• Exam in KWP Argument Cycles of Instruction
• Break Down OD Prompts, Rubrics and Organization
• Plan Pacing for OD opinion/argument Cycles of Writing

September

• On Demand Scoring Training
• Cycle I Student Work Analysis
• Plan Pacing for opinion/argument Cycle II

November

• OD Scoring Calibration
• Cycle II Student Work Analysis
• Plan Lessons for opinion/argument Cycle III

February

• OD Scoring Calibration
• Cycle III Student Work Analysis
• On-Demand Simulation and Final Practice Planning

Lunch included

Ashland - KEDC

8:30AM-3:30PM

Lexington - KEDC

8:30am-3:30pm

Bootcamp: July 26

Session 2: September 11

Session 3: November 22

Session 4: February 7

September - November TBD

This session will show writing teachers ways to:

• Implement writing with your HQIR
• Take small, incremental steps toward implementing Writing Workshops
• Rituals and Routines of Writing Workshop
• Three essentials for Writing Workshop—time, choice, and response.

Registration fee: $45 with a free book (pictured to the right).

September - November TBD

Session Goals:

• Fine-tune your writing curriculum to achieve student success by developing and assessing writing skills with instructional techniques to Implement writing with your HQIR.
  
• Understand which instructional strategies are best suited to teaching writing skills, and gain specific examples for implementing these strategies.
  
• Learn how to utilize specific strategies of explicit writing instruction to obtain desired student learning outcomes.
• Examine samples of writing rubrics, proficiency scales, and checklists, and learn effective teaching methods to use them as assessment and instructional tools.

Registration fee: $45 with a free copy of the book used in the KWP Summer Writing Institute (pictured to the left).

Our mission is to promote and build leadership capacity, based on the National Writing Project model, within schools and districts across Kentucky; utilizing mentorships, coaching and training in the practices of equitable, evidence-based, vibrant learning experiences for all Kentucky students in the area of comprehensive literacy grounded in reading, writing, critical thinking and discussion.

Contact us at kwp@kedc.org

Or check out our website.