Application Writing Workshops for Teachers

SUNY Cortland's Seven Valleys Writing Project (SVWP) is seeking applications for its 2009 Summer Institute, a professional development seminar for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers from across the region in all fields of study.

Applications are due Monday, April 20. Two application-writing workshops will be held on Wednesday, April 8, to provide information about the application process. The first is 3:30-5 p.m. in the Ahern Room of the Broome County Public Library, 185 Court Street, Binghamton, N.Y. The second is from 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. upstairs at Main Street SUNY Cortland, an extension facility the College operates at 9 Main St. in downtown Cortland.

The College's Summer Institute will take place from July 6-31 at Main Street SUNY Cortland. The SVWP provides participants with all books and materials including loaned computers. Each educator in the program receives six graduate credit hours through SUNY Cortland at no cost.

The SVWP's Summer Institute supports teachers' learning and writing as they develop research projects, personal writing projects and small-group leadership skills, said David Franke, associate professor of English and professional writing at SUNY Cortland. Franke is co-director of the SVWP with Brian G. Fay, a teacher at the Onondaga-Cayuga-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).

"Writing is thinking, a process of exploring, evaluating and understanding," Franke said. "When used well, writing can deepen a student's relationship to the subject, the world and other texts like no other activity. This is true in all subjects and at all levels, even kindergarten."

Franke and Fay both teach the Summer Institute, which accepts 15 competitively selected and outstanding kindergarten through high school educators to attend. The teachers will hone their written expression and improve research education-related subjects. Subsequently, they will share their knowledge with colleagues and students back in their home districts.

In 2008, SUNY Cortland was approved for the long-term, renewable federal Department of Education funding to start this local branch of the National Writing Project as a means of helping outstanding teachers across Central New York improve their practice through writing and research. SUNY Cortland was chosen because of the reputation of its faculty and its role as one of the largest teacher-education programs in the country. The project, which has as its centerpiece the month-long Summer Institute, now serves the 79 school districts in more than seven counties throughout the region, including Cortland, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Tompkins, Cayuga and Onondaga Counties. Applicants are required to have at least two years of teaching experience. Under-represented groups in teaching, including male elementary school teachers and ethnic minorities, will be encouraged to apply.

The Summer Institute participants will have an opportunity to develop individually as writers and to learn from SUNY Cortland faculty who are on the cutting edge of professional writing, new media technology, classroom teaching and learning techniques.

"The experience of Summer Institute is transformative," said Wendy Brown, a teacher at Lansing (N.Y.) Middle School. "Any writer or educator would flourish in this environment because it is both intellectual and nurturing together."

"The Institute was a fantastic way to meet and collaborate with other professionals in a respectful, fun and enlightening environment," said Anne Marie Heymann, an educator at Tully (N.Y.) Elementary School. "The course provided insight into more effective ways to teach writing, as well as ways to improve my personal writing, and I can't wait to take what I've learned and put it into practice in my classroom."

"This writing seminar has been the best thing I've done for my teaching career," said OCM-BOCES teacher Derek Villnave.

"The whole thrust is to support teachers so they can speak and teach from a position of personal knowledge, experience and passion," said Todd Howell, an Ithaca (N.Y.) City Schools educator.

Web site: http://www.cortland.edu/svwp