Teaching Writing

The Write Time with Author Derrick Barnes and Educator Dr. Chandra Maxwell

By National Writing Project
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Summary:

 Award-winning author Derrick Barnes, National Book Award Finalist and two-time Kirkus Prize winner known for Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut and Victory. Stand!, joins Dr. Chandra Maxwell, an NWP teacher-leader and equity-focused literacy researcher, to discuss the power of intentional writing and diverse literature in education. Originally published on October 1, 2025

Headshot of Barnes and Maxwell with show title on dark gray background.

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Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, NC with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.

Dr. Chandra Maxwell is a Lead English Language Arts teacher at David Wooster Middle School in Stratford, CT. She became interested in English Literature as a student at Central Magnet High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Through her English teacher, Mrs. Cynthia Fernandes, she learned about the power of intentional writing as found in the works of Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry. As a result, Dr. Maxwell has done extensive research on equitable reading intervention programs for middle school students so that all students can be exposed to intentional reading and writing practices.

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Teaching Writing
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