ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the teacher as writers movement that has established a presence in the United States, England and New Zealand. The national writing project (NWP) had its genesis in the United States in the bay area writing project and is currently a national professional development initiative with many sites. The report emphasized the way in which teachers trained in the project were seeded back into the system to disseminate what they have learned, a cascading model also characterising the NWP in the United States. Teachers like Helen accepted the deal that they would be research partners in an action research project made up of a number of case-study sites. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the writing project model and how it operates as a network, and provides portraits of six teachers.
