Title of project: Project DRAW: Digital Reading and Writing

Director/s : Dr. Lynne Anderson-Inman, Director and PI

Funding agency: U.S. Department of Education, Title II, Part A University School Partnerships for Improving Teacher Quality (through Teaching Research Institute)

Beginning – Ending Dates: 2006 – September 30, 2009 (need to check start date with Gale)

Description:
Project DRAW: Digital Reading and Writing was a three year literacy professional development project for teachers in 16 high need Oregon schools, funded through two separate grant awards (DRAW 1 and DRAW 2) from the Title II A University/School Partnership Program. DRAW I (2006-2008) included four school districts: Portland Public Schools, Nyssa School District, Molalla School District, and McKenzie School District. DRAW 2 (2007-2009) also included four school districts: Rogue River School District, Dayville School District, Myrtle Creek School District and Eugene School District.

In each district, an on-site Technology Teacher Consultant (Tech TC) (trained using funds from the Oregon Writing Project’s involvement in the NWP Technology Seed Grant Initiative) coordinated a variety of professional development workshops for participating teachers, planned in conjunction with the schools’ administrative leaders. Each Tech TC worked with teachers in two schools (one elementary school and one middle school) to enhance literacy instruction through technology-supported materials and strategies; defining problems and issues, creating local solutions, and celebrating successes. The range of professional development activities presented by the Tech TCs was diverse, and designed to meet the needs of the individual teachers and schools. The Tech TCs introduced teachers to a variety of literacy related software, online literacy tools, and strategies for effective lesson planning (e.g., Comic Life, Digital Storytelling, Delicious, Inspiration, Publishing, Research, Podcasting, Google Tools, I Touch Curriculum, Blooms Taxonomy, and Lesson Study.) With support from grant funds and the Oregon Writing Project our Tech TCs provided 33 hours of professional development activities at each site, for a total of more than 528 hours of teacher-to-teacher presentations.

Key people:

• Dr. Lynne Anderson, PI and Director
• Dr. Carolyn Knox, Coordinator
• Peggy Marconi, Research Assistant

Collaborators/partners:

• Oregon Writing Project at the UO (http://owp.uoregon.edu)

Partnering Districts:

• DRAW I School Districts
  • Portland Public School District
  • Nyssa School District
  • McKenzie School District
  • Mollala School District

• DRAW 2 School Districts
  • Rogue River School District
  • Dayville School District
  • Eugene School District
  • Myrtle Creek School District

Contact person: Dr. Carolyn Knox, Coordinator