1)+Welcome

=**Welcome!** =

Welcome to the Boise State Writing Project and the 2011 Invitational Summer Institute. We are excited to embark on this incredible learning journey with you. Please use this Wikispace to learn about the central activities we will engage in as well as to begin conversations with other BSWP fellows.

About the Boise State Writing Project
The Boise State Writing Project (BSWP) site, an affiliate of the National Writing Project (NWP), was established at Boise State University in 2005. The NWP has a 30-year history and has been described by the Carnegie Commission as the "most important and influential grassroots movement for teacher improvement in the history of North America."

 The signature program of BSWP is the Invitational Summer Institute (ISI), a five week summer institute and year-long fellowship. The fellowship is free to invited fellows and earns 6 graduate credits and membership as a BSWP Teacher-Consultant. The ISI involves teachers in 1) articulating and demonstrating their own expertise through a teaching demonstration, 2) their own creative and professional writing agendas, and 3) reading, composing and researching in an area of interest involving literacy and literacy education. The Invitational Summer Institute involves a retreat, reading and writing groups, coaching for the teaching demonstration, lots of food and fun.

 BSWP also sponsors three strands of programs:

**In-service programs** for local schools and the public that feature advanced institutes, open institutes, courses and workshops. We also offer book clubs, reading groups and writing groups, both on-line and through face-to-face meetings, around various issues. We offer workshop series that are open to the public and that often feature national level experts. We offer a fall conference co-sponsored with the Idaho Council of Teachers of English, and a spring conference around one of our site initiatives.

**Continuation programs** for our own teacher consultants involve all of the above and quarterly leadership meetings, resource development (including the writing of curricula, professional books, and books for students), liaison activities with other professional organizations, concerts, poetry readings, and writing workshops.

**Site initiatives** are issues that our site fellowship has decided to address through education and public service. Current initiatives include our //Inquiry Initiative// for fostering inquiry oriented instruction in schools; our //Teaching for Social Justice and Democracy// initiative for creating more democratic classrooms, and literacy instruction that fosters democracy and social action; //Teaching Students in Poverty//; and an initiative for //Mentoring Student Teachers and Early Career Teachers into the Profession//.

 We also sponsor **s**pecial interests groups on //Assessment//, and on the //Teaching and Writing of Poetry//. We are involved locally, regionally and nationally in the Teacher Inquiry Community Network, English Language Learners Network, Rural Sites Network, and the Urban Sites Network. We have regional cohorts in both //Southern Idaho// (Twin Falls) and //Eastern Id//aho (Idaho Falls and Pocatello).