Report written by Katrin Poom

The international joint conference "Reading Is Writing Is Thinking" of Estonian Reading Association and the project Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) took place in Tallinn Pedagogical University on 7th January 2000.

The RWCT project was initiated in Estonia in 1997. During the first two years 35 teachers from Estonian schools and 31 teachers from Russian schools were trained by lecturers from the USA. At the beginning of the year 1999, the participating teachers already started working as teacher trainers themselves and by December most of them had successfully conducted their first independent training courses.

The aims of the conference were the following:

• To bring together teachers who had completed the one-year RWCT training course (there are about 700 such teachers at the moment), and to give them the opportunity to share their success, ideas and knowledge through presentations on stands and in workshops;
• To strengthen connections between the RWCT projects in the Baltic states and find new possibilities for cooperation;
• To present possibilities for developing critical thinking and for creating activating learning environment;
• To strengthen the connections between the Estonian Reading Association and the RWCT project;
• To present the work and achievemnents of the Reading Association and the RWCT project to the broader public.

RWCT project managers and coordinators from Latvia and Lithuania also took part of the conference. Colleagues from Finland presented a new interactive project "Matilda".

The agenda of the conference was the following:

On stands, students' works were presented to show the results of using different RWCT strategies. Teachers could ask questions from their colleagues and share ideas. The "first generation" teacher trainers had displayed an overview (their own and the course participants' portfolios) of the training courses. In workshops new strategies and projects were presented. The presentations were mostly conducted by practicing teachers.

The topics of the workshops were the folowing: · A possible variant of the 21st century literature textbook - ERNI computer programme (RWCT teachers); · Interactive literature project "Matilda" for students (Teresia Volotinen, Finnish Reading Association); · Charity project "A Book from Child to Child" (RWCT project coordinators); · Regularities of thinking processes and their use in learning (RWCT in cooperation with the Open Mind Institute); · The integration of the Estonian and Russian school through critical thinking (teachers from the RWCT Russian group); · Combination of strategies: My definition and the three-step interview (RWCT teachers); · The book on the child's desk (the information centre of the Estonian Children Literature); · "Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking" (a workshop for introducing the project, RWCT teachers).

The conference was supported by the biggest Estonian hotel group: Reval Hotels, and the cooperation continues. It is a sign of time that economic circles grow more and more interested in good education and in people who think critically.

The feedback to the conference was very postive. It was the teachers' wish that the conference would turn into an annual tradition. Techers look forward to conferences were they can share their own practical experiences, their knowledge, and results of researches as well as learn together. It was also mentioned that it is important to hear thoughtful presentations from scientists of pedagogy. Next time there should perhaps be fewer presenters with longer presentations.

The Estonian poet H.Runnel has written the following lines, "change yourself and the world changes…" The self analyses and portfolios from the teachers participating in the RWCT project and the feedback from students indicate that they have started to change themselves.

I wish strength and vigour for learning to all the particpants of the RWCT project because one cannot change others without changing oneself!