The Invitational Institute helps build community among teachers of writing and helps instructors keep abreast of research in the teaching of writing. It's good for the soul too!
What Is the Invitational Institute? Prairie Lands Writing Project offers experienced teachers the opportunity to apply and participate in an annual summer Invitational Institute. During the summer, these Teacher Scholars prepare for leadership roles by demonstrating their most effective practices, studying research, and improving their knowledge of writing by writing themselves. Upon successful completion of the Invitational Institute, they receive NWP Teacher Consultant certification and join our TC cadre, putting their knowledge and leadership to work to improve student achievement.
Here's what some of our Summer Scholars had to say about their participation in Prairie Lands Writing Project's Invitational Institute
The Invitational Institute helps build community among teachers of writing and helps instructors keep abreast of research in the teaching of writing. It's good for the soul too!
The Invitational gives the opportunity for a group of educators to be thrown in a room full of discussion, passionate writing, and friendship. What a way to spend the summer, offering yourself timeless learning and growth.
It’s always beneficial to observe and learn from colleagues. Participants were very receptive to how I implement writing, asking me critical questions about my practice, allowing for meaningful reflection.
The PLWP Summer Invitational is an opportunity to learn from yourself and others about the teaching of writing. You construct pieces that you are really proud of, and you are able to workshop these with your writing group. Your writing group’s response really makes you think about what you want to modify and why. This has been a great experience for me—a GTA—because I am able to enter into my third semester of teaching with lots of great ideas that I can incorporate into my classroom.
Prairie Lands gave me the opportunity to write and reflect about my writing and teaching. Through the demonstrations I was able to leave the institute with a variety of teaching strategies to help my students build their writing skills.
The summer invitational is guaranteed to rejuvenate any teacher, no matter what grade level, subject, or amount of experience. This is the only professional development where you can make new friends, explore teaching ideas, and rediscover your passion for writing.
In the Summer Institute, teachers learn from other teachers who are in the trenches with them. For this reason, the Summer Institute inspires and rejuvenates teachers! Teachers leave every day with a renewed sense of hope and a plethora of tools that can be immediately integrated into their classrooms.
Participating in the PLWP Summer Institute allowed me to find a heightened sense of focus for my personal writing practice, as well as discover an immense toolbox of ideas for how I might help my own students find a greater excitement for texts of all modes. However, I’m probably most appreciative of the supportive network of writing colleagues I gained along the way—a network that extends well beyond the boundaries of any single grade level, discipline, school district or county. I’m grateful for the chance I had to journey through writerly and teacherly conversation with my fellow institute participants and would happily urge teachers of any subject or group age to participate. On the surface, it may have looked like we were in a “class,”. . . . but the institute was so much more: it was a conversation, a celebration, a revolution, and something I definitely looked forward to each morning.
As teachers we hardly ever get to practice the skills we teach. At the PLWP Summer Invitational Institute (SI), teachers reconnect with their own writing selves, rediscover their own writing voices, rebuild writing fluency, and reflect on what it is like to be in their students’ shoes. The SI is a recharging experience. The Institute participants have the opportunity to work in a community of writers for four weeks and are given the time to investigate aspects of teaching writing they are interested in at the same time they learn from what other participants are learning. In the PLWP Summer Invitational, teachers have the opportunity to explore their own writing as art, as investigation, and as reflection. Participants then have the opportunity to share their writing with peers, receive feedback, and give feedback to their writing peers.
The Invitational is an excellent opportunity for teachers of writing to have time to WRITE and have their writing reviewed by their peers. I appreciated the opportunity to share ideas in a relaxed, informal setting.
PLWP is intensive and challenging. It pushes you to examine yourself as a writer and teacher. I am confident that participating in the institute has been the best professional development I could do for my students.
The PLWP Summer Invitational provided me with an opportunity to learn about and steal writing ideas from other teachers. I left the institute feeling revitalized and excited to get back to work, because I knew I had so many new tools in my tool belt.
This institute is a wonderful tool for teachers who are interested in extending or beginning to incorporate writing into their curriculum. A teacher who participates is able to get in touch with the writer within herself. I now realize writing is something I can do more of on a personal level as well as in my classroom with my students. Teachers will also be able to walk away with a wealth of tools to take back to their classrooms to use.
The PLWP Summer Invitational is a great place to learn more about one’s students and one’s self as a writer, and to discover new ways to engage students in writing. Over the course of the institute, my motivation to head into the new school year was sparked through the rich and varied discussions, writings, and relationships that were built. The best part: walking away with a wealth of knowledge brought to the institute by teaches with over a hundred collective years of teaching experience.