FAQ

Over the course of the two weeks starting July 15, 2018 we will encourage you—educators, teachers, rangers, mentors—to take your writing and teaching self outside, into the natural wonders of open landscapes and historical spaces, and explore through the eyes of connected teachers, connected learners, and connected park rangers. We will connect with each other across the places and spaces using a range of digital and social media tools and share what we are wondering, exploring, and discovering.

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.

Write Out is created through a partnership of the National Writing Project (NWP) and the National Park Service (NPS). A national leadership team, including colleagues from both organizations, are leading the design and co-facilitation of Write Out while also engaging as a support team and participants.

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.

The two weekly make cycles will kick off with a beginning-of-the-week newsletter sent via email and also posted to the writeout.nwp.org. Newsletters will be filled with prompts to encourage creative explorations, resources and mentor texts to inspire ideas and support experimentation, as well as a range of invitations for ways to participate. Each week will also feature an online broadcast live event as well as a twitter chat; it will end with a newsletter that features highlights from the community.

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.

The 2018 event will run from July 15 to 29, 2018. It will be organized in 2 make cycles that will allow you to come and go as you need. During each cycle we will encourage you to stay and play for 10 minutes, to explore for a couple hours, and/or spend the week with us developing something you can use forward. It’s up to you how much time you give and why.

This open design is intentional and we hope that everyone will feel comfortable customizing the experience to their own interests and schedules.

No formal credit is being offered, however, you can apply for a badge by complete a related playlist via the National Writing Project’s organizational space in the LRNG platform. More details will be posted about this soon.

Write Out is supported by the National Writing Project through a grant from the National Park Service.

Whenever you connect with Write Out you are exactly on time. That is because Write Out is designed as a set of iterative cycles and you are welcome to come and go as you please. So you aren’t late … and it’s never too early.

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.

No, it is not. Please visit writeoutcamp.org to learn more about this opportunity for teens in Utah.

Great! Email us at educatorinnovator@nwp.org