Seven Valleys Writing Project

2009 SVWP SUMMER INSTITUTE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• When: July 6 - 30, 2009, 9am-4pm
• Where: The Beard Building, Cortland (directions)
• What: An intensive writing, reading, discussion institute dedicated to teachers teaching teachers
• With Whom: 15 teacher-leaders and the directors of the SVWP

Applying for the Summer Institute

• What are the benefits of participating in the Summer Institute?
• What are the important dates for applying and attending the Summer Institute?
• How are Summer Institute "Teaching Consultants" chosen?
• If I apply and don't get in, can I reapply for a following summer?
• Where is the application material online?
• What will it cost me to apply for the Summer Institute?
• Can administrators apply for the Summer Institute?
• Can teachers from outside of the English Department apply?

Participating in the Summer Institute

• What will it cost me to participate in the Summer Institute?
• What will my responsibilities be, as a Teacher Leader, after the Summer Institute?
• Will food be available or should we bring our own?
• Are there any childcare options?
• Where should we park?
• What sorts of things might we do during the Summer Institute?

Miscellaneous Summer Institute Questions

• I don't want to do the Summer Institute this summer, but I'm interested in staying in touch. How can I stay informed about the Seven Valleys Writing Project?
• Is it ok to bring my own laptop to the Summer Institute and will there be wireless access?

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Benefits of Attending the Summer Institute

• Support learning in Central New York for students and teachers
• Earn six graduate credits from SUNY Cortland
• Work with the colleagues you've always dreamed of
• Grow as a writer, researcher, and leader
• Submit work for publication
• Develop greater familiarity with technology
• Make connections with colleagues as interested in writing, learning and teaching as you are
• Enrich your practice by watching and participating in Teacher Inquiry Workshops (TIWs) conducted by your peers
• Develop your own TIWs that you can share with colleagues and use in your own classes
• Deepen your inquiry into teaching as an art and science
• Contribute to literacy in all disciplines in all the content areas in our region
• Develop your creative self
• Develop your skills as a collaborator with other advanced writers
• Learn to write more smoothly, easily, and often
• Learn how to teach writing more easily and naturally
• Finally read that theoretical book you always meant to tackle during the summer
• Take pride in the contributions you are making to Central New York and your teacher colleagues

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What are the important dates for applying and attending the Summer Institute?

• Please see the Summer Institute main page.

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How are Summer Institute "Teaching Consultants" chosen?

• All interested teachers and administrators complete an application. From the pool of applications a group is chosen for personal interviews. The Summer Institute team is then chosen from these interviews, with particular attention to achieving a balance of teachers from various content areas (we're not all ELA teachers, of course), all of our CNY regions (urban, rural, suburban), disparate school districts (small and large) and both genders. 

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If I apply and don't get in, can I reapply for a following summer?

• Yes. Space in the Summer Institute is very limited and so, regrettably, we have to turn away as many or more people than we accept. We encourage people to re-apply.

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Where is the application material online?

• The questions for the application are located on our splash page

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What will it cost me to apply for the Summer Institute?

• No.

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Can administrators apply for the Summer Institute?

• We encourage administrators and classroom teachers to apply and participate as writers and learners in the Summer Institute.

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Can teachers from outside of the English Department apply?

• Yes. One of the fundamental principles of the National Writing Project is that all teachers and all students benefit from writing and from experiences with real writing processes. We need math, science, music, art, and all other teachers to apply for the Summer Institute.

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What will it cost me to participate in the Summer Institute?

• Your graduate credits, parking, most books, all writing materials, loaner computers, wireless lab, paper and pens is all provided by the partnership of SUNY Cortland and the Department of Education.  Participants will need to provide for some of their meals (though we will likely have a few pot-luck meals and shared snacks along the way). We want to make participation in the Summer Institute convenient so that our focus is on the work we are doing.

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What will my responsibilities be, as a Teacher Leader, after the Summer Institute?

• After the Summer Institute, each Teacher Leader will be an integral member of the SVWP team and will lead discussion about learning and writing at SUNY Cortland and in the districts we serve. Teacher Leaders will also direct the workings of our writing project.  We have a Planning Committee that is always looking for motivated and capable leaders to contribute.

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Will food be available or should we bring our own?

• Both. For the most part, we will work together as a team to feed ourselves. We will likely have potluck lunches, go to lunch together, order pizza, and otherwise find ways to eat together. We are also working to make coffee, water, and other food available. We will post more information as soon as we know it.

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Are there any childcare options?

•  We are very interested in any information parents in the Cortland area might have about summer childcare arrangements they have used in previous years with success.

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Where should we park?

• We'll tell you on the first day of Pre-Institute

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What kind of activities might we participate in during the Summer Institute?

• Reading groups
• Listening to other teachers reflect on their practice constructively
• Book discussion and critique
• Learning software
• Teaching demonstrations for the other members of the Summer Institute
• Research on your inquiry project (each teacher picks his or her own to develop into a presentation and annotated bibliography by the end of the summer)
• Writer's Portfolio review with the whole group, going over your best creative, academic, and reflective pieces of the summer
• Interviews
• Public reading at Blue Frog in the summer
• Grant writing workshop
• Publication workshop
• At least a few after-hours sessions where people can share a libation
• Model constructive critiques of each others' work (as in the "fishbowl" activity many of us are familiar with)
• An afternoon of online simultaneous collaborative writing of an online story, each person taking a paragraph
• "Sprints" where writers are given a situation and have to write as fast as possible on the topic to then share out: "Write a humorous / frightening / melancholy piece," for instance.
• Starting each day with a paragraph on something central to our Summer Institute about writing, learning, or teaching
• Conferences with project leaders on your of teaching demonstration draft

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I don't want to do the Summer Institute this summer, but I'm interested in staying in touch. How can I be informed about the Seven Valleys Writing Project?

• Contact Brian G. Fay by emailing brianfay(at)7VWP(dot)com with your name, school, position, and phone number. 

Is it ok to bring my own laptop to the Summer Institute and will there be wireless access?

• Sure, bring your own computer. We'll have Dell laptops for those who don't have one. Bring your flash drive, too, if you have one, to transfer files. The internet at the Main Street facility is free and on all day.

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