The National Writing Project focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners.
The Augusta University National Writing Project Summer Institute opened its doors to area educators in June of 2018 at Augusta University to offer professional and personal development in the realm of writing and literacy.
The heart of the program is the summer institute, an immersive writing experience where a community of writers explore issues in writing and in teaching writing. They will learn how to write, to improve their writing, how writers think, and how to better teach writing.
The National Writing Project has been training teachers since 1974.
The National Writing Project has been training teachers since 1974 .
The National Writing Project has been training teachers since 1974 .
Submerging into the world of writing is one aspect of the summer institute. But it also allows educators to tackle topics that are interesting to them, or relevant to problems of practice. In other words, they can look at the things their students struggle with, and try to find solutions.
Educators will develop workshops from their solutions. Workshopping an issue allows teachers to take their solutions back to their own schools and share them with colleagues, to present them at literacy conferences, and to circulate new techniques locally, regionally and nationally.
In addition, the Augusta University National Writing Project will maintain a catalog of solutions – from workshops to resource materials – so that when a partner school calls for help, Harper can match a summer institute graduate with their need. That allows the program to provide a continuous resource bank of applied principles from the summer institute.
The Summer Institute will run in Summer 2021. Specific dates and times TBA. For more information on the institute or the Augusta University National Writing Project Summer Institute, contact Dr. Rebecca Harper at rharper7@augusta.edu.
"Dr. Rebecca Harper is to be commended for bringing the National Writing Project to Augusta University. It has been my joy and pleasure to watch our Summer Writing Institute participants learn to become better writers so they can model and teach others how to become stronger writers. Dr. Harper is a charismatic and enthusiastic professor who is well respected in her field. The creative and innovative strategies she shares are well received by the participants and their P-12 students. Augusta University is honored to host this prestigious professional learning initiative.”
— Dr. Judi Wilson, Dean, College of Education
