The Teacher Breakthroughs project is powered by the National Writing Project and inspired by the book, When Challenge Brings Change: Teacher Breakthroughs that Transform the Classroom. The background below is taken from the appendix of the book.
In 2020—probably not the optimum time to start some kind of project—leaders at BAWP launched a new program to encourage teachers to write about their teaching lives. Previously and over many years BAWP had hosted various kinds of writing groups. In every case, it was clear that teachers had long-held dreams of writing about what they do, what they believe, and what goes on in classrooms and schools. However, one of the main obstacles was where to begin, where to focus in the daily jumble of events and challenges. The idea of starting with a breakthrough made it possible for teachers to zero in on something significant—even transformative—in their teaching lives. We traded in the existentialism of “write about your practice” for a more specific target. And with that change, the Breakthroughs Project came about.
The teachers who responded to the BAWP invitation to join the project came from all grade levels and with various amounts of writing experience—from none to some to a fair amount. Because of the pandemic, we were never able to meet face-to-face. Our gatherings to brainstorm, write, and respond were always virtual. They took place in the late afternoon or on weekends when teachers were exhausted from trying to conduct online classes. Somehow, someway, the urge to write and share about how we meet challenges kept our teacher authors going.
We cannot capture in this appendix the energy and goodwill, the heartwarming moments of togetherness. But we can offer a few of our breakthroughs project activities to mark a significant occasion: The 50th anniversary of the National Writing Project. What better time for us to write and publish, to multiply the teacher voices in articles, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, presentations, interviews, videos.
If you are considering a breakthroughs project on whatever scale, having a starter kit of activities (like the ones on this site) might be useful. Just remember: our activities took place with the assistance of Zoom and Google slides which should reflect your own settings: schools, classrooms, Writing Project institutes, or other professional development programs.