COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Teaching Writing: Basic Writing Project Workshop Series
(30 hours)
Our introductory workshop employs several ways to learn about teaching writing. For a start teachers write, themselves, to concretely understand the supports that writers need. They examine samples of their students' writing to analyze patterns of development and typical difficulties. The participants review the research that offers solid guidance about what works in teaching writing. And in the largest segment of the workshop teachers experiment with a broad range of practical, successful strategies, troubleshooting and fine-tuning promising practices together.

Topics typically covered:

All of these strategies enable teachers to address the new Common Core Standards as well as to serve the needs of English Language Learners and Special Education students.

Learning Through Content Area Reading and Writing
(15 to 30 hours)
This program is for teachers whose primary responsibility is NOT language arts/English, though of course teachers of literature or writing can benefit as well. The organizing principle is reading and writing as tools of learning -- how teachers of any subject can engage students more deeply by using reading, writing, speaking and listening, and thus promoting skills crucial for student success in college and beyond. Participants learn instructional strategies that create an active learning environment. And they gain the opportunity to become a guide or coach as students take more initiative in their learning and interact productively with their classmates. Strategies include: brief easy-to-use activities that help students understand content; learning logs, jigsaw activities, dialogue journals, reading circles, and meaningful assessment tools.

Classroom Workshop, Using the Six-Plus-One Traits Assessment
(15 to 30 hours)
The widely-used 6+1 Traits approach to writing instruction and assessment can be most effectively taught within a classroom writing workshop. Good assessment must be matched with teaching strategies that help students create strong, meaningful writing. Classroom workshop especially enables teachers to differentiate this instruction to address individual needs, including those of English Language Learners and Special Education Students. A workshop provides opportunities for students to choose topics for writing and books for reading, using scheduled classroom time for focused mini-lessons, writing, reading, and sharing their work. They learn to collaborate with classmates, keep track of their own progress, and self-evaluate.

Teaching Writing With English Language Learners

(30 hours)

English Language Learners bring a rich diversity to today’s classroom.  Arriving from around the globe, they possess a wide-range of literacy skills in their first language, varying levels of English language proficiency, and cultural differences. Certain structures, including reading and writing workshop, differentiated instruction and sheltered instruction, enable teachers to individualize and address students’ learning needs.  Teachers will explore language development and its implications for teaching and learning in order to identify particular supports for ELL students. ELL students are expected to follow the standard curriculum as they navigate the American culture and language.  Writing-to-Learn and personal writing are key steps for ELL students as they bridge the gap into another language and culture.

Reading-Writing Connections
(30 hours)
Research shows that children grow best as readers and writers -- and as thinkers -- when they encounter not only subskills but also complete language events. Thus teachers can become more effective at teaching the language arts curriculum by integrating its elements. Writing helps students understand their reading; and reading provides the wide exposure to effective language and ideas that inform writing. This workshop helps teachers create literature-rich, student-centered classrooms, using practical day-to-day activities that make learning come alive. Key strategies and structures include read-alouds, storytelling, reading and writing workshop, effective comprehension strategies,literature logs, literature logs, dialogue journals, literature circles and text sets, peer writing/editing groups, publishing student work, thematic units, portfolio evaluation and other topics requested by participants.

The First Month of School: Establishing Best Practice Instruction
(12 hours)
The first month of school sets the tone and organization for the entire year. Let the first 20 days establish procedures for your Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop all in the context of a Balanced Literacy Block. Participants plan an organization process for the workshop approach that will make both teacher and student ready for the rigorous curriculum that the school year holds. Each component will be analyzed, prepared, and ready for delivery when school opens its doors. This approach is key to a successful year of literacy learning.

Literacy Coaching
(15 hours)
The role of the reading teacher/reading specialist has moved from the traditional specialist model to a collaborative coaching model. Key to the role of the Literacy Coach is to improve classroom instruction via modeling and co-teaching, providing professional development and building capacity and collaboration strategically throughout the school. Participants will:

Advanced Workshops
(15-30 hrs)
Because teachers wishing to extend the study of their craft usually bring their own strong concerns to the work, advanced IWP workshop syllabi are kept open and flexible. However, some key topics give shape to each course. In teaching writing, these may include: scheduling and managing a writing-intensive classroom; conducting student conferences; developing peer editing groups;effectively teaching and monitoring skill; designing assignments; publishing student work; evaluation, grading, and workable record-keeping systems; using writing to teach content in various subject areas; communicating with parents and administrators; developing a building-or district-wide focus on effective writing instruction; achieving on state assessments. Project leaders work with those in charge of scheduling a program and with prospective participants to plan the specifics for the course.

Literature Circles: Collaborative Reading and Writing
(15 hours)
Literature Circles are a powerful small group structure for reading and discussing fiction and non-fiction texts at all grade levels, across the curriculum. Literature Circles combine two very important educational ideas: collaborative learning and independent reading. Simply defined, Literature Circles are discussion groups of two or more students who choose and read the same article, book, or novel. The circles have regular meetings, with discussion roles rotating each session, until students no longer need such roles to hold thoughtful discussions. When they finish a book, each circle shares ideas about their book to the whole class using various communication modes - video, poetry, art, drama, etc. Then they trade members with other finishing groups, select more reading, and move into a new cycle. The focus of this IWP workshop is the management of this elegant student-centered strategy.

Using Data to Support Good Instruction
(30 hours)
In this era of yearly literacy assessment, schools amass a plethora of data. Rather than just label schools and teachers, this data should inform instruction. How, then, can teachers use assessment to benefit teaching and learning?

This workshop will:

    •  Describe  how to use data to measure student growth, design literacy programs, and

        guide instruction.

    •  Provide guidelines for analyzing data to identify strengths and areas for improvement in

        present literacy instruction and curriculum.

    •  Identify school-wide strategies, based on analysis of data, that insure systematic

        literacy instruction.

Participants will:

    •  Analyze trends in literacy development using their own school-wide assessment data.

    •  Design a school-wide literacy plan that uses action research and data analysis to achieve

        Best Practice instruction.

University Support

The IWP has long been affiliated with National-Louis University. IWP courses may be taken for one or two semester hours of graduate credit, depending upon the length of the program. For example, the 30-hour workshops may be taken for two hours of credit at a cost of $240. Individual teachers may enroll under this plan, though there is no obligation to do so and no difference in course requirements. The cost of tuition is over and above the workshop fee paid to the project by the sponsor. Credit may be arranged for other programs, provided that content and contact hour requirements are met.

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