Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 12:53 pm

The Messenger 01.21.09

Deadline for the West Tennessee Writing Project (WTWP) annual invitational summer institute is Feb. 27.
The institute will be May 16 and June 8-July 2 on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin.
WTWP invites West Tennessee teachers from grades K-12, from all subject areas, to apply for participation. The institute is for teachers who want to become stronger teachers of reading and writing and a part of the ongoing professional community of WTWP teacher consultants.
“Recent studies have shown that students taught by teachers who have attended National Writing Project summer institutes perform better in all measured attributes of writing than their peers,” said Dr. David Carithers, UT Martin assistant professor of English and WTWP director. “Combining more writing and better writing instruction in all content areas not only helps students understand material better but also helps schools improve test scores.
“After the WTWP summer institute, teachers return to their schools with new ideas on improving writing instruction that they can share with colleagues in a variety of ways,” he added.
All teachers accepted to the invitational institute must be accepted for graduate study at UT Martin. Teachers receive six hours of graduate credit that may be used as part of a master’s program in education at UT Martin, for recertification, for points toward Highly Qualified Status or for hours above a master’s degree. The invitational institute is offered as English 700-701. Tuition is covered by grants from the National Writing Project. Participants cover incidental expenses associated with participation.
For more information about graduate studies at UT Martin, contact Linda Arant at (731) 881-7012 or larant@utm.edu. For more information about the institute or to request an application, contact Carithers at (731) 881-7290 by phone, (731) 881-7276 by fax or wtwp@utm.edu by e-mail. To download the informational brochure and application materials, visit the WTWP Web site at www.utm.edu/wtwp.