ABOUT US
Writing to Win Team 2006
| Back Row | Front Row |
|---|---|
Dr. Warren E. Combs, Writing to Win Trainer Erin Van Note, Client Support Specialist Jerry Rogers, Writing to Win Trainer |
Arnelle Combs, Client Support Specialist Martha Starnes, Exemplary Schools Programer Stephanie Stewart, Writing to Win Trainer |
HISTORY
In 1978, Dr. Combs, founder and President of Writing to Win, said "yes" to a request to work with a local elementary school writing project funded through a blending of local and federal funds. He was a professor at the University of Georgia, quite satisfied with academia. No one knew then that those two years would instill in him a vision of what the teaching of writing could be. Teachers leveled with him, and he listened. He stopped recommending ideas to teachers and started demonstrating strategies with their students as the teachers watched from the back of the room. In a few short months of work with grades 3-5, Dr. Combs saw more and better writing than he could have imagined. The K-2 teachers asked to participate, and the resulting K-5 effort put the school in the local and state news.
As the years passed, the Writing to Win system evolved and began showing up in public and private school districts in the state of Georgia. Today, Writing to Win school sites exist in several states. The key to a successful writing system is thorough and proper training of qualified educators as Writing to Win coaches, supported with Writing to Win instructional materials. The new 2005 edition of Writing to Win instructional materials exceeds state and national writing standards, is simple to use and gives teachers the instructional tools to effectively engage their students as writers.
PHILOSOPHY
Writing to Win draws on a long tradition of theory and research in the teaching of writing.
The Writing to Win journal component owes much to Toby Fulweiler's, The Journal Book.
The process-writing component reflects the conclusions and recommendations of:
- The National Writing Project (NWP)
- The National Curriculum Report
- The Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE)
The grammar component, Sentence Building, is based upon over 40 years of sentence-combining research and practice.
The philosophy of Writing to Win remains both pragmatic and flexible. Writing to Win uses a standard, simple vocabulary of writing instruction. There is no effort to appear trendy, just clear and simple. In the reputed manner of Flannery O'Connor, Writing to Win posits that all writing has:
- Voice (style)
- Pictures (content)
- Flow (organization)
These three words describe it all. All good writing has voice, pictures and flow. There are students who are primarily voice (style) writers, those who are primarily picture (content) writers and those who are primarily flow (organization) writers.
Four points round out the Writing to Win philosophy:
- Writing serves as a tool for learning across the curriculum
- Student self-assessment insures authentic student writing
- Classroom routines for writing instruction can be seen and understood by visitors
- Teachers create authentic models of writing for each writing prompt they assign
VISION
An energized community of writers in every classroom of a Writing to Win school site is our vision. Writing to Win trainers present systematic routines for:
- Engaging students in journal and process writing
- Helping students publish their writing
- Recognizing students and teachers who excel as writers and teachers of writers
Writing to Win trainers see the possibility that every school they visit is capable of meeting Writing to Win standards to become a Writing to Win Exemplary School of Writing.
Our objective is to help a district catch our vision of a community of writers in their schools and see how they can customize the Writing to Win system to create that community.