Menu DWP Home About DWP DWP History DWP News and Events DWP Reflection & Articles DWP/English Calendar Apply for Summer Institute Past Institutes How DWP Invitational Institute Is Different Holocaust Institute 2009 Holocaust Institute Registration Form Holocaust Institute Flyer Professional Development Partnerships Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writers' Camp DWP Teacher-Consultant Map DWP Library/Reviews Connections National Writing Project Prairie Winds SD Council of Teachers of English SD Department of Education USD English Department Vermillion Literary Project Survey for Elementary Teachers Contact Information: Dakota Writing Project Dakota 212, 414 E. Clark St. University of South Dakota Vermillion, SD 57069-2390 phone: 605 677-5229 fax: 605 677-5298 dwp@usd.edu Twenty-six Years of the Dakota Writing Project: A Real-Life Drama in Three Acts by Nancy Zuercher, DWP director 1989-May 2007 Like the thirty-second version of Macbeth, this version of DWP’s history gives only a sense of all its years through themes and key events. Act I: 1980s: Vision, enthusiasm, institutes (and mystery about its grandiose beginnings and sudden shrinking) The Dakota Writing Project officially became a site of the National Writing Project in early 1981, at least according to NWP.  When James Gray, NWP’s founder, met with faculty of higher education from South Dakota (including Nancy Zuercher), Minnesota, and North Dakota in Fargo in 1981, he ignited enthusiasm for sites in the Upper Midwest. Led by Bill Proctor and Hazel Benn (NSU), South Dakota group had an ambitious vision of exemplary teachers of writing coming together to share their best practices with other teachers, kindergarten through college in all disciplines and held the first four-week invitational institute in Aberdeen that summer. A troika of Bill Proctor (NSU), Jim Swanson (DSU), and Stewart Bellman (BHSU) directed the project in its infant years, with DSU and BHSU holding a summer institute for K-12 teachers. During the early 1980s, with Board of Regents’ encouragement, which did not extend to funding, each campus named a DWP co-director with the understanding that the DWP directorship would rotate annually among the campuses. When that arrangement proved unworkable, Stewart Bellman became the sole DWP director, leading to DWP’s move to BHSU in 1986. Apparently, attempts at securing funding from the Bush Foundation and the Department of Education, and possibly other sources, had not succeeded. In 1988, the University of South Dakota hosted its first summer institute, a two-week event with no federal funding. Group spirit more than made up for the lack of funding. The Write Connections, DWP’s newsletter, began publishing “at least twice a year.”  In 1989 Bellman named Jean Helmer and Nancy Zuercher as his successors. They decided to become equal partners, calling themselves each DWP director, and the University of South Dakota officially became DWP’s home. Act II: 1990s: Experiments, collaboration, expansion During the early 90s, the summer invitational institute, which expanded to three weeks, moved around the state, mainly to provide somewhat equal access to teachers on both sides of the state. Institutes met at the School of Mines, the Belle Fourche Community Center, Black Hills State, and the University of South Dakota, the latter two as joint DWP and South Dakota Humanities Institutes. Teacher-consultants offered schools their institute demonstrations as professional development. In 1992 DWP became a charter member of NWP’s Rural Sites Network, which began with three years of complaining and later achieved status within NWP for rural sites equal to that of urban sites. DWP TCs later served on its leadership team and planning committees. In 1995-97 DWP provided two-week open institutes for three summers as part of NSU’s year-long Writing for Learning grant. In 1996 Michelle Rogge Gannon, after her first summer invitational institute, established DWP’s web site. NWP got ESEA status, and DWP began its tradition of communicating with our SD Congressional delegation for continuing federal support. The web site began DWP’s tradition of experimenting with cutting-edge technology. In 1999 DWP and NWP assisted Sinte Gleska University in developing its NWP site, Sicangu Writing Project, with a mission to preserve Native American culture through writing and provided the leadership for its first summer institute. Act III 21st Century: Technology, accountability, (re)vision Technology blossomed. The University of South Dakota, via WebCT, hosted the NWP E-Anthology for two years. Summer institute applications gradually grew to total submission on-line, The Write Connection's last paper issue was snail-mailed, and the newsletter morphed into an on-line newsletter and then a weblog. Experimenting with cutting-edge technology during electronic writing marathons and other activities gained DWP national recognition as a pathfinder in technology. NCLB and state standards forced DWP and the schools to new levels of accountability and influenced summer institute demonstrations, which grew to include videotaping and hiring a demo coach. The DWP Board held monthly meetings on-line and met face-to-face for (re)visioning retreats. DWP teachers participated in an increasing number of NWP activities and leadership roles, among them: NWP annual and spring meetings;  Professional Writing Retreats; Rural Sites Leadership Team, Retreats, and Institutes; Technology Institutes and Retreats,; and the NWP Electronic Design Team. The Northern Midwest Regional NWP, which included NWP sites in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, organized and met once a year. In 2007 DWP’s hosted its own professional writing retreat, led by Nancy Zuercher and Cindy Heckenlaible.