| How Does the DWP Invitational Summer Institute Differ From Other DWP Opportunities? |
| As a teacher or administrator, you may have heard about a variety of Dakota Writing Project events and activities, such as the DWP Invitational Summer Institute, study groups, open institutes, writing workshops, panels, and presentations. How does the DWP Invitational Summer Institute differ from other DWP opportunities? |
| The DWP Invitational Summer Institute prepares teachers to become teacher-consultants—to become leaders in the teaching of writing in South Dakota. It gives them the opportunity, on a daily basis, to write, do research, share ideas, and become part of a community, as they work together intensively for four weeks. Because their focus is primarily the activities of the Invitational Summer Institute, they grow tremendously in that period of time. You can almost see the light bulbs over their heads starting to glow and burn brighter as the days progress. |
| Each teacher is required to do a demonstration, and they're carefully coached in preparing these demonstrations. These institute participants also get to participate in the exciting online National Writing Project E-Anthology, communicating with Writing Project teachers in other invitational summer institutes, from across the nation. We also usually bring in a professional writer for one day to work with them on their writing, as part of the idea of the Writing Project is to help them see themselves as writers. At the end, they earn six graduate credits (usually, free, as DWP pays half tuition and full fees, with the state covering the rest), and they become DWP teacher-consultants, eligible to be hired by DWP to prepare demonstrations and do other work for the DWP. |
| These DWP teacher-consultants are also eligible for other Dakota Writing Project and National Writing Project opportunities, including writing retreats, the annual NWP meeting, national institutes, conferences, seminars, and other events that help them continue to develop as teacher-leaders. You can read about some of their activities and accomplishments on the main DWP home page. |
| We encourage educators to participate in any DWP event or activity open to them, as these opportunities will help them to become stronger teachers of writing. At the same time, we encourage educators to apply for the Invitational Summer Institute, a powerful experience like no other, that opens doors. |
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