A study was conducted to determine if and how teachers changed as a result of participating in a National Writing Project summer institute. The study investigated the process of change as based on reports of 16 elementary through college level teacher-consultants who attended the institute. The decision-making operation process of the teachers to try an innovation, adopt, adapt, or reject it was observed through three focused, informal interviews and three surveys developed to elicit the teachers' perceptions without interference in the actual institute experience. A review of the literature on change provided a basis for the research, and a theory of the practical grounded in experience resulted. The study identified the types of changes that are possible and the factors that influence teachers' decision to try or not try a teaching method. (Extensive appendixes include: (1) personal data about the participants, (2) a timetable of research procedures, (3) data collection information, (4) questions developed for the three interviews, (5) pretest and postinstitute evaluation surveys of teaching methods for writing, (6) results of survey data, and (7) a list of goal definitions for teachers of writing.) (AEA)