WHAT:
The National Conversation on Writing (NCoW) is an initiative of the National Council of Writing Program Administrator’s Network for Media Action (WPA-NMA). NCoW is intended as a resource for literacy educators and advocates. NCoW aims to provide resources to stimulate discussions and instruction.
WHO:
WPA(from wpacouncil.org) The Council of Writing Program Administrators is a national association of college and university faculty with professional responsibilities for (or interests in) directing writing programs. Members include directors of freshman composition, undergraduate writing, WAC/WID/CAC, and writing centers, as well as department chairs, division heads, deans, and so on.
WPA publishes a journal and newsletter, holds an annual workshop and conference, makes grants and awards, develops position statements, offers consulting and program evaluation, and fosters extensive discussions about college writing and writing programs.
Faculty and graduate students with professional interests in writing program administration are cordially invited to join WPA.
The Network for Media Action (NMA) is an organization within WPA dedicated to monitoring media concerns and helping literacy educators and advocates respond to and initiate stories about writers and writing. The NMA-WPA provides position statements on key issues developed by experts and approved by the WPA Executive Board, tips on framing messages for media audiences, and other resources.
HISTORY:
NCoW began as a series of conversations within WPA about who writes, for what purposes, and
what they produce--conversations that run counter to many of the ways writing instruction and students are portrayed in the media and in public policy. The idea for a “National Conversation on Writing” (NCoW) began with
Dominic Delli Carpini (York College of Pennsylvania), in collaboration with Linda Adler-
Kassner (Eastern Michigan University), and in consultation with the NMA Steering
Committee.
NCoW has been developing materials since November 2006 and has gone public at several major professional meetings (NCTE, CCCC, WPA, NWP). March 2007 marked the initial showing at CCCC of NCoW’s inaugural project Who is a Writer? (What Writers Tell Us), and 18 minute film developed from contributions from 25 different filmmakers across the Country. November 2007 an initial website launches. During 2008 NCoW partners with the National Writing Project, forms a Steering Committee, and establishes Texas A&M-Commerce as the institutional home for NCoW, from July 2008 to July 2011. In 2009 NCoW establishes a prominent web presence and launches its first campaign (“Johnny Can’t Write? Are you Sure?”) and the Spotlight section featuring local uses of NCoW resources.
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WHY:
Public discussions about writing and writers rarely focus on the reading and writing that real people do every day. From essays for school to text messages, from grocery lists to business memos, everyone is a writer.
But these everyday acts of literacy--and the work that teachers do to help develop flexible writers who understand and can use different kinds of writing in these different situations--get little attention in policy reports and the mainstream media stories that are generated from them.
Instead, we hear "what Johnny can't write (or read or do)." As a result, many stories about real writers and writing remain untold. This neglect affects not just the ways that writing is taught and learned, but has long-term implications for the future of literacy education. It also affects who is included in--and excluded from--the discourses of American democracy. NCoW believes in:
- promoting the power and complexity of writing,
- spreading the word that everyone is a writer,
- advancing the work of literacy educators and the writing practices of students, and
- changing an old and tired story
The National Conversation on Writing (NCoW) is a venue for writers - teachers, students, everyday people - to contribute their stories about what writers do and can do. Collecting artifacts - films, audio interviews, writing, visual documents - about peoples' experiences with writing and literacy can provide a rich database of material attesting to the real work of real writers. NCoW is an invitation to everyone to share what we know about writers and writing.
We hope that:
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students and teachers in writing classes will share their work
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teachers will share assignments and activities that generate student artifacts about writing
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students and teachers will draw on work included in NCoW for their own analyses
See the Contribute section for more specific information about how to get involved. Browse our archive and add to it yourself. View the current Campaign and make use of the resources there as you generate local conversations about writing and writers. Turn the Spotlight on your students, programs, classroom activities, and local conditions by sharing what you are doing locally to help shape conversations about writing and writers.
PARTNERSHIPS:
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