As we prepare for our third season of pandemic teaching and learning, we are all tired and we are all stretched thin. We know deep in our bones that teachers need more TLC than PD, but we also know that we must continue to work to support student engagement and learning. Whether you need a respite to reconnect with your teacher soul, new solutions to solve your teaching challenges, or credit hours toward your degree or certification, the Morehead Writing Project Online Winter Institute is the answer.
The Morehead Writing Project Online Winter Institute will provide educators with a supportive collaborative community as well as tools and strategies to meet our challenging and changing education environment. Teachers will have the opportunity to design the intensity of their own program as determined by their personal capacity and needs.
“The Morehead Writing Project Online Institute has always been a life- and career-changing experience,” said Dr. Deanna Mascle, director of the Morehead Writing Project. “Our asynchronous format and project-based learning approach also offers teachers a respite from the intense demands of pandemic teaching while developing tools and strategies to support their classroom practice.”
Mascle said: “Our goal is to help you develop comprehensive literacy strategies that will help your students learn and succeed, but more than that we hope to help you develop a classroom community that will sustain you and your students through the continued challenges of pandemic teaching and learning.”
The National Writing Project has been delivering research-based comprehensive literacy professional development for decades and the Morehead Writing Project has been delivering online professional development (led by Kentucky educators with experience teaching online and hybrid classes) for almost a decade. “NWP and specifically the Morehead Writing Project know how to teach online and hybrid classes. We have our personal experience as well as our national network to support this work. The Morehead Writing Project Online Winter Institute is a unique professional development experience — and it is one that many teachers need in our current moment.”
The Online Winter Institute offers research-backed PD designed to fit the individual schedules and needs of educators. This professional development is approved by the Kentucky Department of Education, the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant, the FY20 Kentucky Comprehensive Literacy grant, and the Effective Instructional Leadership Act which makes this professional development right for teachers, teacher leaders, literacy coaches, supervisors of instruction, and administrators.
Benefits offered by the Morehead Writing Project’s Online Winter Institute include:
- An online self-paced program, educators will gain first-hand experience that can later be applied to their specific teaching context
- Project-based learning is embedded in the program to help educators gain first-hand experience and insight into developing their own project-based units of instruction
- The creation of individual online lesson plans is a requirement of the OI which means educators will be coached through the process and gain access to both models and a library of resources that can be adapted for their classroom needs
- Led by educators with experience teaching both online and hybrid classes, participants will be introduced to a wide range of tools and strategies that can be harnessed for their future teaching challenges
- Comprehensive literacy instruction (reading, writing, and critical thinking) runs throughout the work of the OI which will help educators at any level across all content areas embed these strategies in their classes
Learn what teachers had to say about the 2020 Online Summer Institute or contact Site Director Dr. Deanna Mascle for details.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- IS THERE A CHARGE? Yes. The cost is $1,000 for 36 hours of professional development credit. Those interested in graduate credit can enroll in Eng 608 for three graduate credit hours (and Eng 609 for an additional three hours and a total of six) through Morehead State University’s graduate program. Students enrolled in the classes for graduate credit do not need to pay the PD fee.
- WHO SHOULD ENROLL? Educators from kindergarten through college in any discipline, teacher leaders, literacy coaches, supervisors of instruction, and principals. We are approved to provide professional development by the Kentucky Department of Education. We are also a preferred provider for the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant and the FY20 Kentucky Comprehensive Literacy grant. In addition, the OSI has been approved for EILA credit.
- WHAT IS THE TIME COMMITMENT? The OI will take place during the winter (Dec. 14-Jan. 8) session at Morehead State University. The Online Institute will be offered asynchronously which means there is not a specific time and date that you need to work. There will be weekly expectations, but you can meet those on a schedule that best fits your life at the time. You should expect 8-10 hours of work each week (obviously double that if you elect to take six graduate hours). You will also have the opportunity to jumpstart the work if you sign up now.
- WHAT IS THE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE? Registration for the winter session at Morehead State is now open and if you are interested in graduate credit you should begin that process ASAP. Registration for professional development credit should also be initiated ASAP although details and payment can be amended until Friday, Dec. 11.