FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Write Out is a summer open online adventure for educators sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service. We hope to provide a range of new and interesting ways to explore the natural and historical resources around you, using as our lens the principles of Connected Learning.
Signing up below means that you will receive the information about this event, and if you decide that you want to participate, the event newsletters will also come via email beginning July 15. Each week will start with a newsletter organized around that week’s “make cycle.” The cycles are not chronological but are instead meant to be iterative; you can choose to participate in both cycles or come and go as per interest and availability.
WHO IS ORGANIZING THIS AND WHAT ARE THE GOALS?
The national leadership team currently includes:
- Judy Buchanan, National Writing Project
- Christina Cantrill, National Writing Project
- Cris Constantine, NPS Northeast Regional Office
- Susan Cook, Homestead National Monument
- Kevin Hodgson, Western Massachusetts Writing Project
- Kristin Lessard, Weir Farm National Historic Site
- Dorothy Luongo, Hudson Valley Writing Project
- Vicki McQuitty, Maryland Writing Project
- Bethany Silva, New Hampshire University/Philadelphia Writing Project
As NWP and NPS educators, we value making and peer-supported learning and as a team will work to support and encourage these kinds of connections and explorations. Our specific goals include:
- To create a fun and collegial connected learning opportunity for educators during the summer;
- To support educators in exploring ways they might open and connect the doors of their classrooms and boundaries of their public parks and historic spaces by exploring spaces and places together;
- To build upon resources created over the last few years through local National Park Service and Writing Project site partnerships across the country. (See: Opening the Walls of the Classroom and the Boundaries of the Park)
Learn more about Write Out, its origins, and local partnership work @ NWP Radio—Write Out: Place-based Making with Writing Projects and National Parks.
Write Out will utilize social media to support sharing and connecting; you can connect to Write Out via email, via twitter via the hashtag #writeout, you can also join our G+ Community (to be established), and you/or you can connect via a blog if you have one (or want to newly begin). Additional spaces tbd; you can work where you are most comfortable.
If you are new to working in social online spaces, please note that we will post guidelines and resources for how to get started closer to the event itself. This is an opportunity to try some things and we welcome your questions and explorations.
HOW MUCH TIME WILL WRITE OUT TAKE?
This open design is intentional and we hope that everyone will feel comfortable customizing the experience to their own interests and schedules.
IS CREDIT BEING OFFERED FOR WRITE OUT?
IF THIS IS FREE, WHO IS PAYING FOR IT?
AM I LATE?! WHY ARE SO MANY USING THE HASHTAG #WRITEOUT ALREADY?
Also note that other people use #WRITEOUT as a hashtag too; we welcome you to connect to these other communities too if you like and think through synergies in the work.
IS THIS THE SAME AS THE WRITE OUT CAMP IN UTAH?