The Oakland Writing Project’s (OWP) Advanced Institute was held at Oakland Schools June 28-July 2, 2004. The 15 teachers and 2 facilitators met daily from 9 am to 3 pm. The Institute’s goals were to provide OWP fellows (teachers who had previously attended a four week summer invitational) additional knowledge and skills that would enhance leadership not only in the Writing Project, but also in school change processes. The Advanced Institute consisted of three strands: (1) a “Leadership Project” which consisted of planning a classroom research project or a professional development activity; (2) Student Work: a study of student work with respect to diversity of students, quality of work, and diagnostic teaching; (3) Daily opportunities to write and study.
In addition, we pursued three focus areas:(1) Writing Workshop— rich, effective workshop teaching; (2) ELL- developing teaching practice that speaks to linguistic and ethnic issues; and (3) Social Justice—gaining understanding that helps us move toward more socially just practice, developing teaching that strives to inculcate a commitment to social justice.
Participants were given the book, The Power of Protocols: An Educator’s Guide To Better Practice, by Joseph P. McDonald to read and discuss. In addition, each participant received a binder containing numerous articles relating to the three focus areas. Although some of the articles were read and discussed during the week, the primary purpose of the articles was to provide resource material for use during the school year. Additionally, guest speakers in all three-focus areas were utilized to provide additional insights.
In order to continue discussions and support for our work, four continuity meetings were scheduled for the coming school year. The first book we will read and discuss is The Skin That We Speak by Lisa Delpit.