Hawai`i Writing Project Mission Statement:
The mission of the Hawai`i Writing Project (HWP) is to improve and integrate the teaching of writing and reading in Hawai`i 's schools.
The HWP is an affiliated site of the National Writing Project, a national, federally funded professional development network. Committed to serving the broadest range of teachers and students in Hawai`i , the HWP is particularly interested in:
• Helping teachers to understand the power of writing as a way of learning in all subject areas connecting reading, writing, and thinking.
• Honoring Hawai`i 's diverse peoples, rich cultural heritage, evolving language, and unique island environment.
• Working in partnership with others for the betterment of education and community in Hawai`i .
What is HWP?
The Hawaii Writing Project is a site of the National Writing Project (NWP) . The NWP was started in 1973 at the University of California at Berkeley and currently there are 189 sites including Canada and Europe. In 1996 The Council for Basic Education stated that "the National Writing Project is perhaps the most successful and certainly the most far-reaching of all the recent initiatives to improve the condition of writing. The NWP is successful because it is helping teachers become competent writers themselves, and so, to be better teachers of writing." Research has shown the effectiveness of its approach. For example, of more than 2,700 Writing Project teachers surveyed by the Inverness Research Associates in 2000, 95% said their experiences with the Writing Project would translate into improved writing skills for their students. NWP research has shown:
- 95% of NWP teachers learned concrete teaching strategies;
- 93% of NWP teachers learned up-to-date research and practice;
- 88%of NWP teachers learned ways to assess student work and plan teaching;
- 86% of NWP teachers gained the ability to teach more diverse students;
- 85% of NWP teachers gained the ability to help students meet standards.
The Hawai`i Writing Project began in 1980 at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. In 1997 a new main office was established at Kap`iolani Community College. The goal of HWP is to improve student writing and reading abilities by providing professional development programs for K- College teachers. Using the model developed by NWP, the institutes emphasize teachers teaching teachers. During the intensive summer institutes participating teachers and HWPstaff share techniques that are effective in helping students develop literacy and learning skills. Teachers become students, and in doing this they are better able to relate to what their students go through. More than 1200 teachers have benefited from HWP institutes, many of whom teach subjects other than English.
To find out more about the institutes HWP offers, check out our Programs page and/or read samples of alumni work on our Selected Works pages. HWP also coordinates a statewide Celebrate Teen Reading program and engages in partnership with individual schools or clusters of schools. To learn more about these school-year programs, click on the Programs link.
HWP also maintains a statewide network of alumni who receive a newsletter published twice yearly. A regular feature of the newsletter is a KUDOS section listing recent awards and other honors garnered by HWP alumni. Check out our Kudos section in the Newsletter online for some of these teachers who make good things happen in our schools.
