Western Massachusetts Writing Project Celebrates 20th Anniversary

AMHERST, Mass. – The Western Massachusetts Writing Project will celebrate its 20th anniversary on May 16 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. with a program and reception in the Marriott Center in the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Titled “Opening Doors and Re-Inventing Teaching Practices,” the program will feature remarks from Sharon Washington, executive director of the National Writing Project.

The project will also honor the newest Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, Anne Marie Bettencourt, of Hatfield, a co-director of the Writing Project and English teacher at Central High School in Springfield. Bettencourt is the fourth WMWP teacher selected as Teacher of the Year. The previous recipients include Mary Ginley (1998), Bruce Penniman (1999) and Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero (2011).

At the event, WMWP will release its newest publication, “Writing to Go II,” a book featuring a range of writing assignments by WMWP teachers, each coupled with student work for those assignments. Participating teachers and students represent schools in Hampshire, Hampden and Worcester counties.

The project will also celebrate its growth from a cadre of 15 teacher leaders who completed the first Summer Institute in 1993 to a multi-faceted project that in 2011-12 delivered professional development programs to more than 1,100 Massachusetts educators in 11 Massachusetts counties, with most activities centered in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, Middlesex and Worcester counties. To capture highlights of the past 20 years, the program will include a digital collage, a timeline, displays of other teacher and student publications, and features on key programs and future plans. A Massachusetts Senate resolution honoring WMWP, filed by Majority Leader Stan Rosenberg, will be read.

WMWP, a site of the National Writing Project, is affiliated with the English department and College of Humanities and Fine Arts at UMass Amherst.
 

For more information, visit www.umass.edu/wmwp/