I think this would be a fantastic way to bring many together for the sake of writing. If we carefully decided what to focus on and got a district level discussion happening around good writing practices, I think many would be willing to join the movement. Everyone I speak with is somewhat at a loss on how to move student's from basic writing to advanced writing.

This is a great way to help people figure out what other schools are doing in writing and help establish those little extras that change a proficient writing to an advanced writing......Barb

One document that could help teachers and students understand what it takes to move from Proficient to Advanced is Alpine Achievement's "Raising the Bar" document: http://www.d11.org/doi/literacy/lrt/LRT%20meeting%20materials/Cluster/alpine_csap_raising_the_bar_writing_p_a.pdf

I love this idea of a day to celebrate and motivate writing! I would love to be a part of the group to figure out how D-11 can participate. I am passionate about including "real world" writing into this as NCTE suggests. Since first teaching the definition essay at Palmer and now teaching it constantly in my Intermediate Composition course at Regis U, I think we should do something with this type of essay. Students' voices shine through with these essays and yet real world application with this type of essay is unlimited. We are always trying to define things! Like right now - define advanced writing . . .