Summer 2025
Teach GWN
In this journey, members of the GWN community will develop curriculum and facilitate a community studio for one or more cycles within GWN’s Collaboratory structure. Each cycle involves facilitating three community studios, one per month. Participants will gain valuable skills in leadership, teaching, and community building. Mentees and mentors can facilitate a community studio either solo (if they are 18 or older) or together as a pair.
Girls Write Now Collaboratory
This Journey is Closed, but You Can Pre-Enroll in a Spring 2027 Journey Now!
Teach GWN Courses
The Teach GWN journey offers three courses: one that supports you in developing your curriculum and facilitating community studios, another that focuses on enhancing cultural competence, and a third that covers best practices in mentoring, which will help you effectively guide and support participants during studio sessions.
Courses:
- Teach GWN: Facilitating Community StudiosThis course provides training in the techniques and best practices for leading and managing community studio sessions. It focuses on creating engaging and productive environments that support learning and collaboration among participants..
- GWN Toolkit: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging
This course equips participants with essential strategies and tools to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment. Through interactive content and practical exercises, learners will develop skills to enhance diversity and promote a sense of belonging within their communities. - GWN Toolkit: Mentoring Best Practices
This course provides participants with effective strategies and techniques for successful mentoring relationships. It covers key practices for guiding, supporting, and empowering mentees to achieve their goals and thrive in their personal and professional development.
Teach GWN Mentoring
Mentees and mentors in the Teach GWN Journey will be paired for at least one cycle. Each pair will meet for a minimum of two hour-long sessions per month. Mentees will either develop curriculum for their community studio with guidance from their mentors or collaborate with their mentors to develop and facilitate a community studio together. This journey is open to mentor/mentee pairs, peer-to-peer pairs, and members who have been mentees or mentors in the past.
Teach GWN Community Experiences
Mentees and mentors in the Teach GWN Journey are required to teach three community studios per cycle, attend one training session and one facilitator meetup session. Additionally, participants are asked to attend one community studios led by their fellow facilitators. The weekday, time, and exact dates for your facilitated studio sessions will be determined based on your schedule before the journey begins.
Please see below for the live virtual meeting dates for Teaching GWN’s 2024 Fall cycle.
Fall cycle:
- Teach GWN Orientation: Tuesday, 10/15/2024, 7 pm ET
- Facilitator Meet-up: Saturday, 12/14, 6 pm ET
- November studio period: 11/12-11/25
- December studio period: 12/9-12/20
- January studio period: 1/13-1/27
Spring cycle:
- Teach GWN Orientation: Tuesday, 2/18/2025, 7 pm ET
- Facilitator Meet-up: Saturday, 4/19, 6 pm ET
- March studio period: 3/10-3/21
- April studio period: 4/14-4/25
- May studio period: 5/12-5/23
What Past Participants Have to Say
Teach 360 Adventure
Teaching GWN is a Journey in the Teach 360 Adventure.
All Journeys within this Adventure focus on leadership to help mentees and mentors develop leadership skills and be inspired to create a better future together. Learn more about the other Adventures offered at Girls Write Now below.
Find Your Journey
Find Your Journey
From Manuscript to Published Book with Gatekeeper Press (Spring 2027)
In this Journey, mentees and mentors will take the next step in their publishing experience by helping transform the creative nonfiction writing developed in the Fall 2026 Everything Is a Story: Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction Journey into a professionally published anthology through our partnership with Gatekeeper Press.
Everything’s a Story: Nonfiction that Reads like Fiction (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, mentees and mentors will explore the ways in which creative storytelling techniques can be applied to nonfiction writing of all kinds, from memoir and personal essay to op-ed and how-to articles. We will dive into what makes a story—from structural archetypes to writing that flows—and learn how to harness the power of story to make nonfiction compelling and transformative.
Wild Ideas: Nature, Science & Creativity (Fall 2026)
Created in honor of Helen Ghiradella, the biologist who uncovered the hidden architecture of butterfly wings, this Journey invites you, mentor and mentee, to explore the natural world through the complementary lenses of scientific inquiry and creative expression. Through close observation, research, and reflection, you'll investigate the forms, patterns, and processes found in nature, then build an original project—writing, visual art, media, performance, music, or a form of your own choosing—that celebrates where these disciplines meet. Along the way, you'll sharpen your powers of observation, stretch your interdisciplinary thinking, and develop the ability to translate scientific understanding into meaningful art.
Hooked on Fiction: Story Structures for Plotters, Pantsers, & Plantsers (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, we’ll tackle one of the most daunting parts of novel writing: the opening chapter. Participants will explore how to hook readers while establishing character, setting, and stakes—asking big questions like where to begin and how to share key details without overload.
Building Buzz: Publicity in the Publishing Industry (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, mentors and mentees explore how books are marketed, discovered, and reach bestseller lists in the digital age.
The Power of Punchlines: Stand-Up Comedy for Change (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, mentors and mentees will explore the power of comedy as a tool for social change, with a special focus on stand-up comedy. From climate change and economic inequality to LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, and mental health, participants will learn how to write and perform material that blends humor with meaningful social critique.
Civil Discourse: Connection & Persuasion (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, you—mentor and mentee—will build essential skills in public speaking, argumentation, and critical thinking. Through hands-on activities and lively discussion, you'll learn to craft persuasive speeches, construct well-reasoned arguments, and present your ideas with confidence. You'll explore what makes communication land, sharpen your thinking under pressure, and practice responding to perspectives unlike your own in a structured setting. By the end, you'll be able to make your case clearly, engage in dialogue that goes somewhere, and carry these skills into academic, professional, and civic life.
Independent Study (Fall 2026)
Create your own experience with our Independent Study Journey. Mentors and mentees meet as a pair, attend events of interest, and use coursework to help plan creative projects and meet your goals.
Lead Community Change (Fall 2026)
Lead Community Change is a dynamic two-cycle Journey that harnesses the transformative power of storytelling to drive social impact. Aspiring young leaders and activists will unleash their creativity to develop and implement innovative community-based social activism projects, supported by Girls Write Now’s rich storytelling resources.
Dark Tales: A Horror Book Club (Fall 2026)
Step into the shadows of horror and discover what makes a story truly unsettling. Across three monthly book club meetings, you—mentor and mentee—will dig into close readings and lively discussion of selected works, examining how authors build suspense, conjure atmosphere, evoke fear, and use the genre to probe deeper social, psychological, and cultural questions. Together you'll unpack narrative technique, character development, and the many shapes the genre can take. By summer's end, you'll have a richer appreciation for horror, sharper critical instincts as readers, and a store of inspiration and craft to carry into your own writing. Required books this cycle: Dark Is When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce, The Body by Bethany C. Morrow, and I'll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel.
