This site celebrates the rich, 40+-year history of the National Writing Project through information about the NWP Archives Project and a collection of stories from our educators around the country. It's not only a look back, but a look forward to innovation and possibilities in writing and education. i.
(A Doodle)
ii.
(A Script)
(Curtain opens. Man walks to large screen, center stage, and scratches head. Projector shines spotlight on him. Man looks to audience, squints into bright light, and turns to screen. Projector projects images. Stage is a cave. Images are shadows the man watches)
A Ukranian grandmother, Hynka, who offers a child a box of Crayola crayons. A child doodling. The grandmother reading poetry. The two drawing Maude, a fusion of God and Mother Nature…The Great Whatever. Glasses of wine.
5th grade teacher, Mr. Finster, rolling on an electric wheelchair and assigning young people to write a story—a new story every week. Classroom is a garage sale of books, essays, vocabulary, and ideas.
Teachers ignoring the writing process. Students assessed with multiple-choice tests, reading assignments, and vocabulary quizzes. Boy doodling cartoons and poems. Boy writing, “There must be a better way.”
Boy sitting in an English class taking notes on how to write a research paper. His teacher tells him, “None of this school work matters. What matters is everything out there.” Teacher points out the window and shreds the term paper he turns in. She gives him an ‘A’ and says, “Go. Undo what school has done to you. Go write your world.”
Boy attends undergraduate readings. Boy meets David Bosnick, Ruth Stone, Leslie Heywood, Carol Boyce-Davies, and Art Clements. Boy reads Chinua Achebe, Shakespeare, Jean Rhys, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Nikki Giovanni, and Liz Rosenberg.
Boy applies to graduate school.
(Images of Kentucky: Derby, balloon races, mini-marathons, Irish Rover, Old Louisville, St. Mathews, the Mohammed Ali Museum, Actors Theater)
Boy meeting Jeffrey Skinner, Saranbande Books, Aletha Fields, Sue Mc.V, Ron Freeman, Jean Wolph, and Alice Stevenson. 100s of students at the J. Graham Brown School writing, creating, and graduating. Dottie Willis. Kentucky portfolios. Ten-minute play festivals. Culminating Projects. Hoops4Hope. Louisville Writing Project.
(The word, INSPIRED, dances across the screen)
Man assigning writers’ notebooks, attending conferences, meeting Sharon Washington, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Tanya Baker, Tonya Perry, Paul Oh, Paul Allison, Joye Alberts, Pat Fox, Christina Cantrill, Linda Friedrich, Judy Buchanan, and Troy Hicks. Man meeting teachers everywhere.
(Images of Syracuse, New York)
Man in front of the Carrier Dome. Man meeting Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Marcelle Haddix, Kathleen Hinchman, Zaline Roy-Campbell, and Kristiina Montero. Man collaborating on Writing Our Lives conferences and the Sudanese Lost Boys Cow Project. Man collecting data with relocated refugee youth. Journals and books. Man writing in a journal, “The roads don’t always lead to Johannesburg. They also lead to the National Writing Project. NWP = progress.”
(Images of Connecticut)
Long Island Sound. Kelly Gallagher. Bridgeport. New Haven. Jason Courtmanche. Lynda Valerie. Steve Ostrowski. Kwame Alexander. Invitational Summer Institutes, Young Adult Literacy Labs. Urban Sites Network. Birmingham. Chicago. NYC. A New England Board of Higher Education Award for Excellence.
iii.
(A Letter)
Dear NWP,
Thank you. Thank you for providing 40 years of professional development to educators like me. You invested in me as a young teacher and you showed me the road to take. Actually, you showed me how to perform on a stage. The rest has been history.
Brendan Kennelly, an Irish poet, once penned a poem called, “The Oldest Trilogy.” It was simple: “I love / to believe / in hope.”
The National Writing Project remains my hope, especially during a time when the voices of teachers and students remain marginalized. You stand for us and for that I am thankful.
Happy Anniversary! Here’s to the next 40 years together!
(Script Again)
(Man turns and faces audience)
(A word, ‘Ubuntu,’ shines on the screen: I can be me because of who we are together).
(Music cued. Audience dances. Man joins them)
(lights out)
Bryan Ripley Crandall is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University. He taught 10+ years in Louisville, Kentucky, and became a Louisville Writing Project fellow (XXI) in 2002. His research interests include adolescent literacies, professional development in urban schools, young adult literature, and the teaching of writing. Currently, Crandall serves the Bridgeport Higher Education Alliance and is a board member of Hoops4Hope, a global non-profit organization that supports youth development in southern Africa.
Bryan, my friend, you rocked this post.
Love the use of genre and inspiration, and all the energy you bring to your writing.
Peace,
Kevin
Here’s the 4th Stanza that didn’t make the cut:
iv.
(A Poem)
N otebooks. Writers’ notebooks
a nd the seed-rich soil of ideas, those hooks,
t he sketches and doodles of prose, those looks,
i ntellectual tomfoolerly from the nooks
o f readers, thinkers, artists and word-crooks,
n it-picking imagination (some of us rooks
a dvancing our teaching). We are the pedagogical cooks
l earning to laugh and laughing to learn with love. Shucks:
W hy did the fungi leave the party? Because there wasn’t mush-
r oom! Why was the tomato red? Because
i t saw the salad dressing! Why should u never fly w/ Peter Pan?
t hat’s easy. You’ll never, never land! Why did the scientist
i nstall a knocker on his door? To win the
n o-bell prize! What did the stamp say to the envelope?
g I’ve up? Stick with me & we’ll go places!
P ick up your room! Brush your teeth! Take out the trash!
r each for the stars! Crandall, you’re being an a@@!
o rganize these files! Sweep the floor! Go mow the lawn!
j ust stop picking on your sister: You’re the devil’s spawn!
e at your broccoli! Make your bed! Put your toys away!
c lean the dishes! Pick up the poop! You grew up in Clay (and
t hese are the words your Mommy & Daddy would say).
4 0 years ago, James Gray had an idea. 1974.
0 of us knew what his project would do, but we’d explore, &
t oday with its mission for writing, the core invests in 200 sites. Through it, wow,
h ow the work delights!
A be Lincoln: “The best way to predict the future is 2 create it.”
(n ational writing project folks don’t await it, they display it.)
n elson mandela wrote, “Education
i s the most powerful weapon u can use 2 change the world.”
(v oila! this is how NWP twirls, whirls, and swirls)
e. e. cummings penned, “It takes courage to become who you
r eally are.” (Fellows read as writers & with books, they explore).
s onia sanchez admitted, “I write to keep in contact with our
a ncestors and to spread truth to people.” (We stand tall
r each deep, and leap over the scholastic steeple).
y es, we are NWP and it is through writing we set students free…
(Thanks, KEV & NWP)
Bryan,
From a fellow in her first week of Pitt’s SIT, I found your words inspiring and thrilling! This is a very amazing project and opportunity for learners of all arenas!