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WTWP accepting applications

WTWP accepting applications

Posted: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 9:12 pm

The West Tennessee Writing Project (WTWP) will host the 19th annual invitational summer institute May 7 and June 6-June 30 on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin.
Deadline for application is April 15.
WTWP invites West Tennessee teachers from grades K-16, from all subject areas, to apply for participation.
The institute is for teachers who want to become stronger teachers of reading and writing and a part of the ongoing professional community of WTWP teacher consultants. Participants earn six hours of graduate credit in English from UT Martin“I can honestly say that never have I enjoyed any seminar or professional development session as much as the West Tennessee Writing Project,” said Dana Craddock, sixth-grade social studies teacher at Ridgemont Elementary School in Obion County and 2010 summer institute participant.
Tiana Page, eighth-grade language arts teacher at Camden Junior High, added, “Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought I would have gained the amount of knowledge I have in just four weeks. I have seen teaching demonstrations that are absolutely amazing, unique and can be adapted to almost every grade in one way or another.”
All teachers accepted to the invitational institute must be accepted for graduate study at UT Martin. Teachers receive six hours of graduate credit that may be used as part of a master’s program in education at UT Martin, for recertification, for points toward Highly Qualified Status or for hours above a master’s degree. Tuition and books are covered by grants from the National Writing Project.
“Recent studies have shown that students taught by teachers who have attended National Writing Project summer institutes perform better in all measured attributes of writing than their peers,” said Dr. David Carithers, UT Martin associate professor of English and WTWP director, explaining the benefits of the summer institute. “Combining more writing and better writing instruction in all content areas helps students understand material better while boosting overall test scores.
“After the WTWP summer institute, teachers return to their schools with new ideas on improving writing instruction that they can share with colleagues in a variety of ways,” he added.
In addition to sharing effective teaching strategies that include writing components, participants in the institute practice their own writing in a variety of genres in a small group workshop format. “I haven’t gotten so much enjoyment out of writing in such a long time,” said 2010 participant Kamilah Whitley of Craigmont Middle School in Memphis.
For more information about graduate studies at UT Martin, contact Linda Arant at (731) 881-7012 or larant@utm.edu.
To download the Summer Institute informational brochure and application materials, visit the WTWP website at www.utm.edu/wtwp. For more information about the institute or WTWP, contact Carithers at wtwp@utm.edu or call (731) 881-7290.

Published in The Messenger 1.26.11