School-Year Programs

During the school year, the Western Massachusetts Writing Project offers a number of programs for teachers at the University of Massachusetts, at Westfield State College, and at other locations in the region. For current offerings, please click on the Calendar link on the left

Some WMWP programs are professional development conferences open to all teachers. Each fall, our Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing conference highlights the work of teacher-consultants from the most recent Invitational Summer Institute and offers opportunities to get involved in current school-year projects. In addition, WMWP usually offers a Spring Conference with a keynote speaker and breakout sessions.

WMWP believes that teachers who write are the best teachers of writing. To nourish teachers' writing, we offer a number of programs that provide time, space and support for personal writing, including a Writing-and-Response Group that meets monthly throughout the year and Writers' Retreats at a variety of inspiring locations. WMWP also sponsors a Teachers as Writers Contest each year.

To promote student writing, WMWP sponsors Creative Journeys, an in-service program that includes a student writers' workshop held at UMass. SummerWrite is a similar in-service program for teachers who would like to offer summer writing camps for students.

Summer Programs

WMWP's core program is the Invitational Summer Institute held at UMass each July. This program brings together K-13 teachers for an intensive experience in writing, sharing best practices, and research. Participants prepare to become teacher-consultants in their schools and throughout the region.

WMWP also offers a variety of one-week open institutes in the summer: watch the Calendar page for details.