A Brief History of the Alaska State Writing Consortium
Over
twenty-five years ago...
...a group of enthusiastic teachers and administrators prompted their school districts to embark upon a cooperative effort to improve the teaching of writing in schools throughout Alaska.
Out of those beginnings grew the Alaska State Writing Consortium, a dynamic, ongoing effort providing Alaskan educators with an essential resource for professional development, teacher leadership, and classroom research, focused upon the teaching of writing and increasing student achievement.
ASWC training is modeled after the highly successful Bay Area Writing Project, birthplace of the National Writing Project. Today, ASWC is proud to be listed as one of the 195 National Writing Project sites in the United States.
Through summer institutes, ongoing staff development workshops and credit courses, ASWC aims to enlarge the educational community by providing a network of teacher consultants throughout the state, based on the premise that successful teachers are the best teachers of other teachers.
Workshops, Courses, and Publications
During its illustrious history, the ASWC
has trained over 4,000 of the state’s
teaching force through summer institutes, school year workshops, and credit
courses. As teachers retire, new replacements are encouraged by ASWC member
districts to participate in ASWC training. In the last 25 years, there have
been over 100 institutes in locations from Kotzebue to Ketchikan, Bethel
to Barrow.
One, two, three and four week sessions center on teachers teaching teachers – about effective writing practices and research – that cross all grade levels and subject areas. Basic and Invitational Institutes are the foundation of the ASWC training repertoire. In addition, in order to respond to the differing needs of Alaskan teachers and districts, the ASWC developed and adapted specialized institutes on Primary Literacy, Writing Assessment, Reading and Writing Connections, Classroom-based Research, Technology, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing and the Visual Arts.
Online institutes and courses have been operating in Alaska for over a decade and continue to grow in popularity reaching teachers formerly cut off because they teach in remote parts of the state often accessible only by air or water. Based on the continued success of the ASWC, other Alaskan organizations formed similar consortiums in math, science and the arts on the original ASWC model.
In addition to professional development the ASWC has produced a five part video series, “Writing: Alaskan Style,” a periodic newsletter, “Northword,” a monthly e-newsletter "ASWC-Notes," and anthologies of writing by Alaskan teachers, "Shaping the Landscape."
Most recently, the Lead Technology team of ASWC teachers published the organization’s first online e-zine, "Northern Lit," where students and teachers can submit their fiction, non-fiction, and digital media work to the final stage of the writing process: publication.
In October 2006, the ASWC celebrated its 25-year history at the Alaska State Literacy Association Conference in Juneau. Guests for a formal celebration at the Alaska Governor’s Mansion included Richard Sterling, Executive Director of the National Writing Project; Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, NWP Site Development Director; Dr. Marilyn Buckley, longtime ASWC advocate and supporter; Annie Calkins, one of the “mothers” of ASWC; Governor and Mrs. Frank Murkowski; and dozens of teacher leaders from across the state who have served the organization.