Red Mountain Writing Project
The Red Mountain Writing Project (RMWP) is the English Department's community outreach program that focuses on helping Birmingham-area teachers (K–12) to improve their own writing and the writing of their students. The RMWP is part of a larger network called the National Writing Project, a granting agency funded by the US government, that sponsors over 170 local sites across the country. The RMWP has two project directors, one of whom is rhetoric and composition specialist Bruce McComiskey.
The National Writing Project motto, "teachers teaching teachers," is fulfilled by the RMWP in three ways. First, the RMWP sponsors an intensive four-week seminar for area teachers in all grades and disciplines. In this seminar, teachers produce personal and professional writing that is published in an anthology, and they conduct teaching demonstrations on theoretically informed methods for writing instruction. Second, teachers continue their involvement following the summer seminar through participation in research groups, writing groups, and weekend seminars. Finally, RMWP teachers take the teaching strategies that are developed during the seminar back to their local schools and share them with other faculty, multiplying the impact of the program many times. Through the RMWP, the Department of English influences Birmingham-area education in all grades and all disciplines.
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