“ . . . where teachers come to improve their writing in order to improve the writing of their students.”

Every year since 1982, the CWP has invited outstanding teachers from all disciplines and levels of instruction to participate in a Summer Institute on the UConn Storrs campus.

A key feature of National Writing Project sites throughout the country, the Summer Institute is an extended professional development opportunity for teachers to grow their agency as writers, researchers, and educators. At the heart of every successful SI is a simple but powerful belief in teachers teaching teachers—the conviction that educators learn best when they are treated as intellectuals, creators, and collaborators.

During the Summer Institute, teachers write every day, participate in peer response groups, revise their writing, share knowledge and insight with other teachers, conduct graduate-level research on current composition theories, build leadership skills, and grow as teachers and writers. Participants arrive as experienced professionals and leave as a community of writers, thinkers, and teacher-leaders who have spent sustained time reading, writing, reflecting, and experimenting with new ideas about teaching and learning. Beyond professional development, the Summer Institute is a pause from the rush of the school year and an invitation to think deeply, write boldly, and reconnect with why teaching matters in the first place.