The institute provides a community of teachers with an opportunity to support each other with innovative ideas and practices to take back to classrooms. Participants in the Meadow Brook Writing Project Summer Institute join an existing network that will continue to influence teaching and learning long into the future. 

Watch Kathleen and Mary discuss the Invitational Summer Institute

Each participant:

• develops a demonstration project to share with colleagues;
• practices writing freely in various personal and professional modes;
• reflects on his or her own writing and teaching practices;
• participates in a reading inquiry group;
• develops critical skills as teachers, theorists and writers;
• promotes conversation about writing across grade levels and disciplines;
• prepares for a leadership role as a consultant and counselor to other teachers.

Philosophy
The Meadow Brook Writing Project does not advocate any set formulas, pre-packaged plans or quick-fix remedies. Our philosophy includes the following points:

• Teachers are the key to improving education, and the best teachers of teachers are other teachers.
• Knowledge about teaching writing results from an interaction between theory and practice.
• Meaningful change happens over time.
• Teachers of writing must write.
• The teaching, learning and practice of writing are vital to a democratic society.

The institute is limited to 18 participants, including teachers representing a broad demographic spectrum and across grade levels. We also welcome teachers outside language arts who encourage writing-to-learn in their subjects. The cost of the institute is $1500 for three graduate credits in Writing and Rhetoric or $750 to audit.

Leaders
The director of the Meadow Brook Writing Project and instructor of record for the summer institute is Marshall Kitchens, associate professor and chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at Oakland University.

Daily leadership is provided by Mary Cox and Kathleen Reddy-Butkovich. Cox, co-director of the Meadow Brook Writing Project, taught at Renaissance High School in Detroit, where her students routinely scored well above the state average on the MEAP. She is a fellow of the former Detroit Writing Project and has occupied leadership roles in the state and national councils of teachers of English. Reddy-Butkovichm, also a co-director of the MBWP, is the Curriculum Coordinator for English Language Arts and Social Studies at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and is a past fellow of the Meadow Brook Writing Project 2001 Summer Invitational Institute.

More Information
For more information, contact Marshall Kitchens at (248) 370-4151, Mary Cox at (313) 824-4778 or Kathleen Reddy-Butkovich at (248) 540-7963. Send other e-mail inquiries to mbwp@oakland.edu.

Complete the application form online.

E-mail: mbwp@oakland.edu

Fax: (248) 370-4208 (attn. Marshall Kitchens)
mbwp@oakland.edu

Marshall Kitchens, Director
Meadow Brook Writing Project
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309-4401