Teachers Teaching Teachers.
The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) is a practitioner network, connecting K-university educators—including teachers, principals, professors, parents, and out-of-school-time leaders—to explore literacy, writing, teaching, and learning across grade levels and disciplines.
PhilWP is a site of the National Writing Project (NWP) at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (PennGSE). PhilWP is also a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources consortium member.
Invitational Summer Institute
Since 1986, PhilWP's Invitational Summer Institute (ISI) on Writing and Literacy has supported teachers in developing an inquiry stance on teaching practice.
Building on successes of our 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, ISIs, we continue to integrate sources and strategies from the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program to support writing, inquiry, reflection, and justice-oriented action within and across disciplines. This year's ISI is financially supported by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, Penn GSE, and generous PhilWP donors.
We are excited to partner with Independence National Historical Park, Asian Arts Initiative, The Colored Girls Museum, and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History as hosts for the 2024 ISI.
Goals
As part of their participation in the ISI, teachers will:
develop an inquiry stance on practice;
deepen their knowledge of teaching with texts, including historical primary sources, and their ability to support students’ critical thinking and the co-construction of knowledge toward equitable and socially just ends;
broaden their repertoire of resources and tools to spur writing, reflection, and inquiry, including approaches from the National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) and digitized primary sources from loc.gov, loc.gov/teachers, and chroniclingamerica.loc.gov;
create and reflect on lessons for the classroom that develop students’ critical literacies, which includes planning with the support of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy Framework; and
collaborate as members of a literacy leadership community.
Facilitation Team and Guest Educators
Jen Freed, Penn GSE Doctoral Student; PhilWP TC
Amanda Schear, PhilWP Scholar 2024
Dr. Barrett Rosser, Penn GSE Graduate; PhilWP Scholar 2020-24
Ismael Jimenez, School District of Philadelphia Social Studies Curriculum Specialist; PhilWP TC
Lisa Yau, Grade 3 Teacher; Poetry Inside Out Fellow; PhilWP TC
Sam Reed, Teacherpeneur, Digital Discourse Teacher-Researcher, PhilWP TC
Bonnee Breese Bentum, 12th Grade Teacher, Digital Discourse Teacher-Researcher, PhilWP TC
Park Rangers and Interpretive Specialists from Independence National Historical Park; Mellon Fellow, Dr. Barnes
Educators at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
PhilWP Support Team
Dr. Jen McLaughlin Cahill, PhilWP Co-Director
Tatum Jenkins, Penn GSE Masters Student 2024
Rachel Jordan, Penn GSE Masters Student 2024
Kemba Howard, PhilWP Administrative Assistant