Graduate Catalog
Oregon Writing Project
NOTE: Applications are not being accepted for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Oregon Writing Project (OWP), a collaboration between Lewis & Clark, area schools, and the National Writing Project, offers programs designed to improve the writing of Oregon’s K-12 students and teachers. For 30 years, OWP has been a vital resource for teachers across content areas who recognize the value of using writing as a means of thinking, exploring, and increasing academic achievement with students.
Oregon Writing Project Certificate in the Teaching of Writing
NOTE: Applications are not being accepted for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Certificate in the Teaching of Writing is co-sponsored by the Oregon Writing Project in cooperation with the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling Center for Community Engagement. This program is aimed specifically at developing teacher expertise in coaching writing for students and faculty.
K-12 educators enrolled in the Teaching of Writing graduate program take 14 required semester hours of coursework. During this program, participants gain an understanding of how to teach and coach writing. Teachers research their own writing curriculum, reflect on their teaching practices, read current research in writing pedagogy, and examine models of successful professional development.
Following the National Writing Project model of "teachers teaching teachers," participants share successful writing activities and develop and implement curricula. They formulate research questions about their teaching practices and document the effects of their instruction by collecting and analyzing student work. While the bulk of the program focuses on developing and strengthening student writing, we also research and develop coaching and presentation skills. In the final course, participants write articles for professional journals about their research and practice in the teaching of writing.
Certificate Requirements
A minimum of 14 semester hours, distributed as follows:
Required Courses
| ED 592/ED 692 | Oregon Writing Project: Workshop in Teaching Writing (Invitational Summer Institute) | 7 |
| ED 594/ED 694 | Oregon Writing Project: Practicum in Teaching Writing | 2 |
| ED 596/ED 696 | Oregon Writing Project: Advanced Institute | 2 |
| ED 597/ED 697 | Oregon Writing Project: Writing for Publication | 3 |
Elective Courses
Electives are available but are not required. Elective classes might focus on writing for specific age groups (Example: ED 590 Oregon Writing Project: Teaching the Emergent K-2 Writer), or on genres. A full list of all Oregon Writing Project courses is available in this catalog.
Certificate in the Teaching of Writing Courses
Note: The course numbers given below are for on-campus courses. All courses have off-campus equivalents with a 600-level version of the course number. A full list of all Oregon Writing Project courses is available in this catalog.
ED 592 Oregon Writing Project: Workshop in Teaching Writing
Content: The four-week Invitational Summer Institute provides a supportive, dialogic environment in which to explore possibilities as writers, teachers and leaders. The theory and practice of writing are examined through individual demonstrations, reading and discussion of current research, and writing and sharing in writing response groups. Twenty-five K-12 participants develop their leadership potential for a variety of roles, including local school/district reform efforts that support the education and success of all of Oregon's diverse student population. Social justice and social action undergird the experience in an attempt to embrace democratic ideals.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Participants must submit an application and have an interview to be accepted into this program.
Credits: 7 semester hours.
ED 594 Oregon Writing Project: Practicum in Teaching Writing
Content: After the camaraderie of the Summer Institute, too often teachers return to the isolation of their classroom. But you can reclaim your institute community in the Saturday Seminars. Whether you long for the conviviality of teachers sharing stories or you miss a community of teacher-writers who seek to increase their students' love for writing or ability to punctuate, you will fill your needs in the Saturday Seminars. Saturday Seminars are a year-long series of 3-hour workshops facilitated by the OWP director and co-directors as well as OWP teacher consultants. This class will focus on practical classroom strategies and discussions that help develop students as writers as well as teachers as writers. Topics vary from session to session, but each will include time for writing and reflection as well as a framework or lesson to take back to the classroom.
Prerequisites: ED 592/ED 692.
Credits: 1-2 semester hours.
ED 596 Oregon Writing Project: Advanced Institute
Content: This course is part of a series of OWP courses for teachers interested in working as writing coaches in schools and districts. Participants will examine current research from writing and coaching fields to learn effective coaching practices, develop grade-level and content-level inservice workshops, practice presentation skills. Participants will engage in an individual inquiry to apply the principles they develop through the course to support local school and district reform efforts aimed at improving writing instruction for diverse learners.
Prerequisites: ED 592/ED 692, ED 594/ED 694.
Restrictions: Consent of instructor.
Credits: 2 semester hours.
ED 597 Oregon Writing Project: Writing for Publication
Content: This course is part of a series for OWP graduates interested in becoming writing coaches in schools/districts. Teachers will write narratives of school/teaching life, articles about theory and practice grounded in classroom lessons, opinion pieces about issues in the teaching of writing for publications. First class is a three-day writing retreat.
Prerequisites: ED 592/ED 692, ED 594/ED 694.
Restrictions: Consent of instructor.
Credits: 3 semester hours.