Origin - The Wiregrass Writing Project has been in place since the spring of 1986. Director is Mr. Jimmy Holley; Associate Director is Mrs. Robin Strain Bynum. Twelve Summer Institutes have been held since 1986. This year's summer institute will be June 8 - July 9, 1998.
Purpose - The purpose of the Wiregrass Writing Project is to improve the communication and learning skills of Southeast Alabama students by developing a cadre of excellent, experienced classroom teachers who employ the most effective current approaches for teaching writing in their own classrooms and are willing to share their expertise with peers upon request.
Justification - During the thirteen years, since the inception of the Wiregrass Writing Project, 116 classroom teachers, from across the disciplines K - 12, have completed the 20-day, writing intensive Summer Institute. Those classroom teachers have served as the core cadre of teacher consultants who have presented inservice workshops, teachers teaching teachers, to effect long-lasting change in students' communication/learning skills.
Impact - Several programs generated directly in response to the Wiregrass Writing Project initiatives demonstrate the project's impact:
The Gulf Coast Conference on the Teaching of Writing, developed jointly with the Sun Belt Writing Project at Auburn University, provides a forum through which teachers, from Alabama and nationwide, can share the best of their own classroom experiences and interact not only with peers, but also with prominent theorists.
Think! Write! Workshops. These week-long sessions staffed by Wiregrass Writing Project fellows bring together teachers and youngsters at-risk to write in response to a whole language model based upon interactive prompts that build on student's strengths. Teachers participate in the thinking/writing prompts and note megacognitive observations of themselves and the students in their classrooms.
The Southeast Alabama Model United Nations Assembly gives students in the middle school the opportunity to experience the United Nations first hand. Each delegation of 4-7 students represents a different nation and demonstrates their proficiency in persuasive writing, research skills, and public speaking, while deciding important issues that affect the world in this mock assembly.
The Language Arts Conference provides opportunities for teachers in our Inservice area to gain informative, realistic, and workable ideas to use in their elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms. Concurrent sessions feature whole language instruction, literature, study skills, phonics, alternate assessment, and many more.
Site-based Professional Development Activities. Throughout the school year Wiregrass Writing Project fellows conduct professional development programs to improve literacy through written communication skills in 21 school districts in Southeast Alabama. These programs emphasize the role of writing to learn as a successful strategy to foster success in all students.
