Teachers Helping Teachers
The SJAWP (San Jose Area Writing Project) is a California Subject Matter Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project and the California Writing Project. An organization of, by, and for teachers, SJAWP is dedicated to improving the teaching and uses of writing at all grade levels (K-16) and in all disciplines. Teachers helping teachers.
Teacher Professional Development
Working from a firm belief in the power of classroom tested knowledge, the SJAWP is composed of successful, practicing teachers who have participated in the Invitational Summer Institute. In this intensive five-week program, teachers
- Read and discuss research on teaching English Language Arts
- Share writing in response groups
- Explore the relationships among writing, reading, thinking and learning in disparate subject areas
- Demonstrate successful teaching practices
- Develop professional leadership roles as practitioners, researchers, writers, and inservice providers
Literacy Development
Participants in the Invitational Summer Institute go on to become project Teacher Consultants (TCs). With these Teacher Consultants, SJAWP works directly with the schools to improve student writing and reading skills by teaching teachers to examine their language arts programs, students' work, and own teaching practices. SJAWP maintains that significant change happens over time rather than offering prepackaged formulas. SJAWP encourages diverse approaches to the teaching of writing.
Modern cynics and skeptics… see no harm
in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage
than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.
~John
F. Kennedy