Write for Texas
Supporting Administrators & School Leaders
One big challenge educators all face is having enough TIME-- time to reflect, time to plan, time to garner support for initiatives. The commodity is perhaps most scarce for campus and district administrators stretched in multiple directions and supporting multiple initiatives.
An ongoing mission of Write for Texas is supporting educators at all levels to implement change. We hope you enjoy learning about some of the outreach and professional development designed for administrators as they prepare to support teachers and campus educators to use the resources and and apply the principles of effective writing instruction.
Video: Administrator Support is Key
New Outreach
Published Article
An article by Project Director Ellie Hanlon in the August 2016 edition of Texas Lone Star, a publication of the Texas Association of School Boards, features ways in which school board members can also influence classroom teaching practices to improve student writing.
Emphasizing that change requires commitment from all levels, "The Write Stuff: How to Create a Cadre of Strong Readers and Writers in Texas" engages school board members to consider focusing policy discussions and agendas on the importance of research-based instructional practices. It further supports board members to become knowledgeable about expectations for student writing skills at various grade-levels, and encourages them to look for evidence of strategies that promote reading and writing in all content areas.
Keynote Address
The 2016 Summer Institute held in Corpus Christi was co-hosted by three project sites and targeted administrators with an immersive, hands-on training experience. Opening remarks for the one-day session were delivered by Write for Texas Director Ellie Hanlon, who addressed the audience of principals, curriculum directors, and other district administrators from South Texas and the Coastal Bend area.
Like the rest of the day's training, Hanlon's address was also interactive, engaging audience members to reflect on the "10 Key Writing Policies and Practices" and discuss current practices at their campuses. Groups considered evidence of learning, needs of teachers, and actions they as leaders could take to support reading, writing, and thinking across the content areas.
Read more about the impact of the collaborative workshop and testimony from participating administrators on the project website in "Latest News."
From the Archives
Write for Texas
Email: readandwritetx@texasreading.org
Website: writefortexas.org