Building Teacher Knowledge and Creating Capacity Through Writing Professional Development: A Promise of Educational Opportunity

• In Event: 42.051 - Collaboration, Agency, and Equity in Literacy Professional Development

Abstract

This case study is an examination of the impact of writing professional development at an urban K-5 public elementary school in a large Southern city. The purpose of this study was to investigate how university faculty can initiate and cultivate a writing community in partnership with a local urban elementary faculty, examining beliefs, pedagogical practice, research from the field of writing, and the impact of an intensive year-long collaborative around writing. Results indicate that three themes: Structured Collaboration, Developing Participants Skills Related to Teaching the Writing Process, and Developing Professional Development Practices at the School Level were significant. An increase in student writing within a diverse and shifting student and community population, resulted in a theory of action and planning.

Author

• Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge