June 16 - July 11, 2008
The cornerstone of the Indiana Writing Project is the Summer Invitational Institute held for four weeks during Ball State University's second summer session. The institute brings together nearly twenty educators who teach at the elementary, intermediate, and secondary level. Participants learn from each other ways to improve how writing is taught.
The Summer Institute operates under the belief that the best model for a workshop is teachers teaching teachers. Throughout the institute, participants write, research, and reflect on their teaching, sharing the outcome of these experiences with other participants along the way.
The IWP advances the principles of the National Writing Project through its programs. These overarching principles concisely summarize the perspective we try to promote in teachers of writing, the underlying reasoning for this perspective, and the value we see in it.
Application form for 2008 Summer Institute (pdf)
"No longer will my students have meaningless writing. No longer will they be writing by themselves as I sit on the side and watch. No longer will I treat their written work as nothing more than an assignment.
"Instead, my classroom will be filled with writers. Writers discussing and sharing their writing. Writers conferencing with one another. Writers publishing work that they are proud of. Writers proud of what they have written. Writers aching with caring."
- Linda Reynolds, 2000