Introduction
The WrITE Institute is the heart of the WrITE Project. Participants of the SI will engage in teaching and learning explorations as well as writing in different formats and genres. They will be required to critically evaluate their peers’ written work as well as to collaborate on tasks such as making daily logs and putting together position papers and an anthology. Each activity and task undertaken by participants as an individual or as a group during the SI aims to enhance their metacognitive skills about how writing is learned and developed as well as how the process of writing becomes internalised. Through coaching and facilitation provided by experienced researchers and teacher consultants, participants will be empowered to conceptualise what they have learned and observed in the SI. From this standpoint, they will then be in a position to make effective and meaningful instructional shifts to enhance the writing of their own students.
Objectives
Being the core component of the WrITE Project, the objectives of the Summer Institute are:
Components of the WrITE Institute
Teachers invited to the WrITE Institute come together as a community of successful teachers to prepare themselves to be WrITE Project Teacher Consultants who will conduct in-service workshops / seminars in their own schools or other schools to promote effective language teaching practices.To this end, the teachers will be prepared through a combination of the following SI activities.
Highlights
In addition to the more generic areas laid out in this section below, every year's SI has a focus on a particular theme.Some of the past themes included peer observation, peer response groups, creative reading and writing through language arts as well as assessment for writing.
Assessment during the WrITE Institute
Typically, there are no tests or grades assigned to participants' writing.Facilitators will deal with problems as they arise, based on reading participants' journals.Fellows must:
Follow-up programmes for WrITE Institute Participants
Some of the SI participants are invited to continue their ties to the WrITE Project as Teacher Consultants, and they will offer professional workshops / seminars for their colleagues and / or teachers at other schools.In this way, the ‘teacher-teaching-teacher’ model is operated. For others who are not ready to be Teacher Consultants, the Director will offer a variety of activities to maintain their interests.
Past Events
Current event
The WrITE Institute has been integrated into the CUHK MAELT Programme as a regular course titled Professional Development in English Language Teaching.
Participating schools
The WrITE Institute is the heart of the WrITE Project. Participants of the SI will engage in teaching and learning explorations as well as writing in different formats and genres. They will be required to critically evaluate their peers’ written work as well as to collaborate on tasks such as making daily logs and putting together position papers and an anthology. Each activity and task undertaken by participants as an individual or as a group during the SI aims to enhance their metacognitive skills about how writing is learned and developed as well as how the process of writing becomes internalised. Through coaching and facilitation provided by experienced researchers and teacher consultants, participants will be empowered to conceptualise what they have learned and observed in the SI. From this standpoint, they will then be in a position to make effective and meaningful instructional shifts to enhance the writing of their own students.
Objectives
Being the core component of the WrITE Project, the objectives of the Summer Institute are:
- To identify, celebrate and enhance the professional role of successful classroom teachers by inviting them to share their expertise with one another
- To encourage participating teachers to engage in writing of different genres and formats as the process of writing can best be understood by immersing oneself in it
- To enable participating teachers to reflect on their practices through peer observation and learning conversation (that is, structured discussion)
- To promote evidence-based teaching practices (for example, action research) based on collaboration between teacher educators and front-line teachers
- To improve the teaching and learning of English in Hong Kong schools – WrITE's ultimate mission
Components of the WrITE Institute
Teachers invited to the WrITE Institute come together as a community of successful teachers to prepare themselves to be WrITE Project Teacher Consultants who will conduct in-service workshops / seminars in their own schools or other schools to promote effective language teaching practices.To this end, the teachers will be prepared through a combination of the following SI activities.
Highlights
In addition to the more generic areas laid out in this section below, every year's SI has a focus on a particular theme.Some of the past themes included peer observation, peer response groups, creative reading and writing through language arts as well as assessment for writing.
- Writing - Teachers will write on topics they know about and choose for themselves.They will also experiment in writing in a variety of genres.At the close of the SI, they will submit a piece of writing for publication in the SI Writing Project Anthology.
- Editing / Response Groups - There will be four to five teachers in a group who will offer one another help in various ways as they respond to each others' work.Feedback among group members may range from searching for ideas to appreciation.
- Guest speakers - Renowned scholars or successful teachers in the field are invited to give presentations on specific topics on writing.
- Teaching and Learning Exploration (TALE) - Teachers have to share with other SI participants what they have learned about teaching through their everyday teaching experience during the SI.
- Coaching - The Director of the SI will meet with teachers prior to their demonstration / presentations for quality assurance purposes.
- Reading and Reading Response Groups - In the SI, teachers have the time and opportunity to seek out and read what they wish. Some readings are assigned while others can be identified by the teachers themselves. They shared their views with others in the reading groups.
Assessment during the WrITE Institute
Typically, there are no tests or grades assigned to participants' writing.Facilitators will deal with problems as they arise, based on reading participants' journals.Fellows must:
- attend and participate in all group activities
- do a successful TALE, including debriefing and necessary revisions
- complete the assigned readings
- participate in a reading group
- develop pieces of writing within the requirements specified by the WrITE Project
- participate in a writing group
- meet other requirements, such as keeping a journal to be established by facilitators
Follow-up programmes for WrITE Institute Participants
Some of the SI participants are invited to continue their ties to the WrITE Project as Teacher Consultants, and they will offer professional workshops / seminars for their colleagues and / or teachers at other schools.In this way, the ‘teacher-teaching-teacher’ model is operated. For others who are not ready to be Teacher Consultants, the Director will offer a variety of activities to maintain their interests.
Past Events
- 2004 WrITE Institute
- 2005 WrITE Institute
- 2006 WrITE Institute
- 2007 WrITE Institute
- 2008 WrITE Institute
Current event
The WrITE Institute has been integrated into the CUHK MAELT Programme as a regular course titled Professional Development in English Language Teaching.
Participating schools