Upcoming events

Spring Reception

            The Spring Reception is a social event which allows all teachers participating in the Summer Institute to meet and get to know each other.  The Spring Reception will be held Sunday, June 12, 2005, the weekend before the Summer Institute. 

Summer Institute

            The Summer Institute is a five-week program for 15-20 area elementary and secondary teachers.  Upon completion of the institute, teachers will receive six hours of graduate credit through English 499, a variable-topics course.  Teachers will develop as writers through writing exercises, as well as, learn the latest classroom theory and practices in teaching writing.  The participant’s tuition is paid for by a combination of a partial tuition scholarship from University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a $640 cash award from the Acadiana Writing Project.  The Summer Institute is open to all fields of education, not just English. 

            The Summer Institute will take place June 13-July 14, 2005 in Griffin Hall at the UL at Lafayette.  The institute will meet Monday through Thursday, from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.  Admission to the Summer Institute is by application only.  Applications are due by March 1, 2005 and in mid-March applicants will be contacted to schedule an interview.  

National Writing Project Spring Meeting

            A teacher consultant will attend the National Writing Project Spring Meeting in Washington D.C. on April 7-8, 2005.  The National Writing Project Spring Meeting allows teacher consultants from around the nation to meet legislators and talk about the importance each writing project plays in the community.  The teacher consultants will meet with Senators and Representative, listen to keynote speaker Jeffrey D. Wilhelm of Boise State University and attend a roundtable discussion on issues facing writing project teachers.

Festival of Writers

            Festival of Writers is being reinstated in spring of 2005, and is held by all five Louisiana Writing Projects; Louisiana State University Writing Project, Southeast Louisiana Writing Project, National Writing Project of Acadiana, Northwestern State University Writing Project and Greater New Orleans Writing Project.  The Festival of Writers is a weekend-long retreat featuring different workshops designed to improve teachers’ writing. 

Youth Writing Events

            Writes of Spring youth writing contest is open to students grades one through 12.  Teachers are encouraged to enter worthy writing samples of their students, or students can submit their own work in fiction, poetry and nonfiction, in both English and French.  The contest is divided into two divisions, Junior contest and Senior contest.  The Junior contest has five divisions: grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4 and grades 5-6.  The Senior contest is divided into three divisions: grades 7-8, grades 9-10 and grades 11-12.  Prizes will be awarded in each grade level for fiction, poetry, nonfiction and French.  Winners will also be invited to read their winning entries at an awards ceremony in the fall of 2005.