2013 Summer Institute is May 11 and June 3-13

Calling all excellent teachers in West Tennessee!

The Invitational Summer Institute is back, now in its official 20th year! The Dates are May 11 and June 3-13, 2013. 52 Renewal Points and a stipend will be awarded to teachers who complete the institute, all funded by a SEED grant from the National Writing Project.  Here are the quick details in MS Word:  Summer Institute 2013 details

Here is the brochure in PDF: WTWP_summer institute 2013 brochure

And here is the application form: WTWP_SI_2013 Application

Deadline to apply is April 15, 2013.

WTWP Connect

I invite you to join the WTWP Connect community here:

http://connect.nwp.org/west-tennessee-writing-project

 

 

 

Wrap up of 2012 Summer Institute

Eight teachers earned 52 Renewal Points at UT-Martin by participating in the 20th Invitational Summer Institute of the West Tennessee Writing Project, May 12 and June 4 -­ June 14, 2012.  Teachers shared demonstrations on using writing across the curriculum, learned how to incorporate more technology in their teaching, and honed their writing skills in small peer groups.  Teachers participating were from the West Tennessee Counties of Carroll, Dyer, Lauderdale, Madison, and Weakley.  Doug Billings, from Lauderdale Middle School, was the co-facilitator of the group.  The group will meet again in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 for Saturday follow-ups to share new writing, new teaching strategies, and updates on teacher inquiry.

2012 S.I.F.T. — Doug and Me

Doug Billings helped lead and manage the group of teachers in the 2012 Summer Institute.

A new TC from ISI 2012 and me

This is Donna, one of the many awesome new TCs who completed the 2012 Summer Institute for 52 Renewal Points. She teaches at Jackson Careers and Technology Magnet Elementary in Jackson.

WTWP carries on!

The West Tennessee Writing Project still exists, I promise!  I just have not been writing on this blog in quite a while (has it really been almost two years?).  

Some updates: in March 2011, NWP was cut from Federal Funding because it was considered an earmark.  Luckily, though, writing projects sites were still able to apply for grant funding through Title I SEED money.  Instead of having one pot of money devoted to NWP only, now the NWP grants are part of the larger pot of Educational Funds available.  The RFP’s came out in March 2012 for several kinds of grants, each one worth $20,000 (although, sadly, not requiring matching funds from the university).  WTWP applied for and received a Teacher Leadership Development Grant to fund the site’s major projects from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.  The programs include: 

1. A Fall Writing Retreat (Writing on the Water, Paris Landing, TN–dates TBA)

2. A Summer Institute in 2013

I am happy that WTWP continues on!  

National Day on Writing was . . . yesterday

Check out WTWP’s gallery:

http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/gallery_pieces.php?galleryid=2329457

What we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality.  Thanks for your submissions.  I approved everything that came my way, so if you sent something and don’t see it up here, you might try again.  As of today, Oct 21, I am still able to view and process new submissions.

Wow! W.O.W. was fun

The pictures are beginning to come in from last weekend’s Writing on the Water (W.O.W.) retreat at Paris Landing State Park, TN.  Sixteen of us gathered for writing, laughter, fried catfish galore on the buffet, and more writing.  Oh, and there were frog legs on the buffet Friday night: yum yum!   I’d like to thank Beth, Lana, and Lee for organizing another refreshing W.O.W. this year.  This is one of my favorite pics that Nelda sent me: Kentucky Lake at dawn.  Now what writer would not be inspired upon viewing this from their hotel balcony at the break of day?

Young Writers’ Clubhouses ready to go for 2010-2011

All dates and locations have been finalized for the Young Writers’ Clubhouse series for 3rd-8th graders, 2010-2011.  Memphis has been added to the list this year!

You can register online here: http://www.utm.edu/departments/ecce/youthwriting/writingreg.php

Brochures will be mailed out soon and also will be made available on both WTWP web sites.  Here’s a link to one: YoungWritersClubhouse2010_2011Redesign

Here’s a quick rundown of the dates, locations, and themes:
Oct 2- Martin (Gooch Hall)  “Food for Thought and Writing”
Oct. 30 Ripley (UTM Ripley Center) “Harry Potter Halloween”
Nov. 13 Memphis (Immaculate Conception Cathedral School)  “Food for Thought and Writing”
Dec. 4 Jackson (St. Mary’s School) “Marvelous Magazines and Comics”
Jan 29 – Martin (Gooch Hall)  “Writing with Music”
Feb. 12- Jackson (St. Mary’s School) “Script Frenzy”
Feb. 26- Ripley (UTM Ripley Center)  “Digital Storytelling”
Mar. 5- Memphis (ICCS) “Blast into the Future: Science Fiction”

WTWP’s Gallery of Writing is ready . . .

I just received approval and confirmation of WTWP’s space in the National Gallery of writing, sponsored by NCTE.  Here’s the URL: http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/2329457.

This is open to any WTWP TC and you can submit only one piece.  I have to approve all pieces, so don’t worry about non-WTWP folks sabotaging our gallery.

If you want to get a gallery for your class or other group, it’s very easy.  It took over a week to get WTWP’s up and running, so plan ahead.  You can get started here: http://galleryofwriting.org/about_national_gallery.php.