UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIAMERCED

WRITING PROJECT

2008 Summer Invitational Institute

• Good writing teachers are writers themselves.

• They know the Daily Journal is a good place to THINK: experiment with new ideas, clarify ideas, and store ideas for later use.

Daily JOURNALING for 20 min.

Writing and reading the DAILY LOG . . .• The Daily Log is a record of

each day’s events.

• Writing a Daily Log teaches note-taking and note-making strategies as well as creative report writing.

• Log keepers experimented with many genre such as letters, stories, poems, songs, news articles, plays, and myths.

GOOD WRITING INSTRUCTION ISN’T MAGIC! It is knowing what works, when it works, and why it works….

Best Practice Demonstrations• Coaching and demonstrating best practices

are the core of our Leadership Training in the Invitational Institute.

Examining Student Work

• Showing and discussing student work is integral to best practice demonstrations

“This is what my students were doing. This is what they do now.”

Fellows Actively Participate as Students in Each Other’s

Presentations

WRITING GROUPS: Respond, Revise, Edit!

• Fellows wrote and revised 4 five-page essays

• Writing groups responded with praise & questions to clarify

• The types of writing varied but included both personal and professional pieces

Successful, Writing Groups Require:

• Building Trust• Being Honest• Pointing to what

works• Reading closely to

identify an opportunity for development

• Writers who are willing to consider readers’ needs.

Reading, Writing & Discussing Research in Teaching Writing

Fellows studied three books on teaching writing and did a book-talk on a fourth.

GRADUATION DAY!From Fellow to Teacher Consultant of

The UC Merced Writing Project

A California Writing Project Site –

Affiliate of the National Writing Project

Leadership Opportunities for our Teacher Consultants• Workshop Presenter

• Inservice Coordinator

• Teacher Researcher

• Writing Group Member

• Book Study Group Member

• School Partnership Coach

• Special Interest Study Group—– ELL Network – Embedding State Writing Standards– K-3 Network—Emergent Writers– ISAW Network—Academic Writing– Adopted Texts and Writing Instruction– Technology and Writing

• Advanced Institute Participant• Returning Fellow• Young Writers Academy Leader• Summer Seminar Leader• CWP Statewide Program Participant

Thank you for your support!

UCMWP Teachers-Teaching-Teachers

We develop teachers’ knowledge-base of composition theory and examine best practices

through classroom research.

*NCLB authorized agency

Please call for your professional development needs.