The National Writing Project at West Virginia University and the student chapter of National Council of Teachers of English at WVU are sponsoring a one-day conference for West Virginia teachers interested in inspiring writing in their classrooms. The Teachers as Leaders and Writers Conference will be held on the second floor of the WVU Mountainlair from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, April 16, 2016. State educators will lead sessions addressing innovative ways to teach different forms of writing in high school, middle school and elementary school settings.

Sessions will be led by faculty from WVU and other schools around the state. One of the 10 sessions planned for the conference is “Finding the Write Music,” which will be led by nationally published author Cheryl Ware, who will focus on building students’ understanding of literature through the use of music. Other sessions include “Line By Line: The Art of Diagramming Poems,” to be led by poet and WVU professor Mary Ann Samyn and a “Creative Writing Time for Teachers” session led by local English teacher and writer, Tiphani Davis. Full session descriptions are available on the conference website.

“We have so many thoughtful teachers in our area. We wanted a platform for teachers to share their practices with each other. We also wanted a space for teachers to share their own writing. That teachers are leaders and are writers is at the core of the National Writing Project,” said Audra Slocum, assistant professor of English Education in the College of Education and Human Services. Slocum is the co-director of the National Writing Project at WVU and the coordinator of the Teachers as Leaders and Writers Conference.

Those interested in registering for the conference can do so online at http://nwp.wvu.edu/. Early registration for the conference ends Sunday, April 10. On-site registration for the conference will also be held April 16 from 8:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. on the second floor of the Mountainlair. The fee for early registration is $20, and on-site registration is $25. Continental breakfast and a light lunch will be provided at the conference. For more information about the event, visit http://nwp.wvu.edu/ or contact Audra Slocum at Audra.Slocum@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

EEC/03/31/16

CONTACT: Christie Zachary; WVU College of Education and Human Services
304.293.0224; Christie.Zachary@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.