Indiana Writing Project

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Summer Institute
• Saturday Seminars
• Open Institute
• Inservice Workshops
• Administrators' Academy

 

Saturday Seminars 2011 - 2012

For More Information

Call the IWP office at 765-285-8414 or email us at iwp@bsu.edu. 

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JANUARY 21, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Writing to the Prompt: Preparing Your Students for I-STEP

Teaching students to be effective writers demands that we help them navigate the requirements of standardized test-taking. But we teachers do not always feel as if we know what advice and guidance to give our students. What can we do to help them feel confident that they have something to write about as they face that ISTEP+ prompt? How can we help them turn out a polished piece of writing within the fifty-minute time limit?

Join Susan Darling, veteran teacher and IWP workshop facilitator, to learn more about how student responses are scored using the Indiana’s ELA Rubric, to practice scoring along with your colleagues, and to examine the problem of writing for an unknown reader/grader. These same concepts and activities are also easily adapted for the high school ECA and for SAT preparation.

Spend three hours with Susan in order to take home an especially timely unit on Writing to a Prompt that you can use over the next few weeks to prepare your students to shine on the writing portion of the 2011 ISTEP+ test that begins on February 28. In fact, invite a colleague who can implement this unit right along with you.

Download the registration form for "Writing to the Prompt" (pdf)

 

SEPTEMBER  24, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The Fine Art of Conferencing

Do you have reluctant writers in your classroom that you just cannot reach? Did you know that simply interacting with a writer about a piece of writing will change his feelings about writing?

Come and learn the art of conferencing with students and the benefits of one-on-one conferencing for assessment purposes. Conferencing makes grading student work quick and authentic. It opens up relationships between writers and creates a writing community within the classroom.

Join us for this Conferencing seminar on Saturday, September 24. Come prepared to learn how to talk to your students about their writing and leave with a personalized classroom management plan for carrying out the conferencing component of the Writer’s Workshop. How will conferencing change your writers?

Jaime Ellis is the presenter for this workshop. Jaime is currently teaching at St. Mary's School in Alexandria. She has been an IWP Teacher Consultant since 2010.

Download the registration form for Saturday Seminars (pdf)

 

SEPTEMBER 24, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

A 90 Minute Reading Block? Oh, Yes, You Can!

Perhaps you’ve asked yourself (SEVERAL times!), “What do I do with a 90 minute reading block?” You know your students don’t have the stamina to read independently for that long. You’ve heard all kinds of rumors about what is and isn’t “allowed” in the reading block. You wonder if you’ll ever have time for your students to write.

Join us for a morning of interaction with fellow teachers as we explore the reading/writing connection. Leave with strategies and activities to make the 90 minute block of instruction even more effective.

Presenters are Kathy Flatter and Shirley Thacker, both experienced Indiana Writing Project teachers.

Kathy Flatter has twenty-five years of teaching experience, including positions as a literacy coach, an instructor for high ability students, and a classroom teacher; she currently teaches in the Liberty-Perry Community School Corporation. Kathy has been an IWP Teacher Consultant since 2007.

Shirley Thacker is a thirty-seven year veteran and is currently teaching at Wes-Del Community Schools. Her understanding of writing workshop has been evolving since 1990. She has been a National Board Certified Teacher since 2003, co-authored an article on teaching writing* in 2009, and has been an IWP Teacher Consultant since 2007.

*Martin, Linda E. and Shirley Thacker. “Teaching The Writing Process in Primary Grades: One Teacher’s Approach.” Young Children 64.4 (2009): 30-35. Print.

Download the registration form for Saturday Seminars (pdf)