NNWP
College of Education
Mailstop 288
Univ. of Nevada-Reno
Reno, Nevada 89557

Phone: 775-784-1161
Fax: 775-784-4758

Kay Henjum began the Northern Nevada Writing Project's first Teacher Inquiry Initiative after attending a presentation at the National Convention in Pittsburgh.  Hubbard and Power’s book, Living the Questions, helped convince Kay that the group she assembled at Double Diamond ES could handle the little r – individual classroom research -- even if they didn’t feel ready for the big R – major published Research.  Kay's first inquiry group learned that the importance of research is to look at your students and your classroom practice with an analytical eye, the support of colleagues, and motivation to improve.

The Teacher Inquiry group at Double Diamond Elementary started small with a dedicated group of NNWP consultants.  They spent the spring of 2006 exploring a wide variety of questions.  They learned that there are several types of valuable inquiries in a classroom – those related to a specific student, (what will motivate Joseph to turn in his homework), a specific lesson, (how to teach possessives so students use them correctly in their daily writing), a specific event, (how to get students to enter the classroom and begin working quietly), or a general topic, (how to improve comprehension across the curriculum).  They learned the importance of asking ‘what’ or ‘how’ questions that can be answered, as opposed to ‘why’ questions that require speculation.  They shared their concerns, offered suggestions, read and discussed their Living the Questions text, and even went on a field trip!  They published their results and made them available to their principal, the NNWP, and other teachers on their staff.

During its second school year as a team, Kay's group focused on the same questions related to comprehension strategies across the curriculum.  They used Joelle K. Jay’s book, Reflection as the Heart of Practice, to continue their inquiries.

In January of 2008, Carol Gebhardt's teacher inquiry group all received school sets of the print guide their inquiry work had created together: The Going Deep With Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide.

The Northern Nevada Writing Project asks its Teacher Consultants to balance innovative writing lessons with current research that backs up their effectiveness.  Many researchers, we've discovered, are worth looking at.  Currently, we're looking deeply at the work of Robert Marzano.

Robert Marzano’s book Classroom Instruction that Works provides teachers with nine techniques to promote learning that have been researched and found to be the most effective with our students; comparison and contrast thinking is cited as the most effective strategy of the nine that Marzano shares in his book.  Marzano writes, “…the ‘art’ of teaching is rapidly becoming the ‘science’ of teaching.”   As writing teachers, we recognize the necessary balance of art and science in our instruction. Since Marzano’s examples are not specifically for writing instruction, Carol formed an inquiry group in February of 2007 that began applying these techniques to their writing lessons.

Eleven months after the project started, the print guide and an accompanying Compare and Contrast Resource Website debuted in Northern Nevada.

You can find out how to order a copy of this print guide by visiting the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Publication Page.

An NNWP Teacher Inquiry Group Builds a Print Resource
Reading in the Content Areas Project

What happens when six teachers from different schools with different types of students come together to answer the following question? "What strategies could we share that would help teachers who don't feel they are reading teachers help their students gain literacy skills?"

NNWP TC Kristi Pettengill headed this inquiry group, which started its work in 2005, and the guide they created was first printed in January of 2006. Over 1500 teachers now own copies of this inquiry group's final product, which was designed to inspire its users to think of their own inquiry questions about literacy.

You can explore some of the guide's resources from the Reading in the Content Areas webpage at WritingFix.

You can find out how to order a copy of this print guide by visiting the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Publication Page.

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NNWP's Mission Statement

The Northern Nevada Writing Project is committed to improving student writing by promoting the teaching of writing, recognizing teacher expertise and leadership, building a foundation of research, and encouraging teachers as writers.