CUWP One-Week Workshop
The Central Utah Writing Project One Week Workshop is a three (3) credit, intensive course that meets every day for one week in the summer, during which teachers of all grade levels and subject areas learn research-driven strategies to cultivate students’ ability to write and think well. Throughout the week, participants will explore their own writing process, engage critically with professional literature, and develop writing-related lesson ideas for the upcoming school year. To engender within participants the skills, attitudes, and empathy necessary to effectively model the writing process in their own classrooms, this course will emphasize nurturing the “writer-within” each participant.
Directed by teacher leaders who are CUWP Fellows, the strength of this workshop comes from the community of teachers who participate. Together we will cultivate a dynamic environment to hone both our writing practice and our pedagogy. We know that the best teachers of teachers are other teachers, and that teachers who are writers themselves are the most effective writing teachers. Our aim is for teachers to learn together and come away from this workshop with a renewed excitement about and commitment to writing and the teaching of writing.
2024 Workshop Details
2024 Dates
Those who register for the One-Week Workshop are expected to attend all dates listed below to receive full PD points/university credit.
Summer Workshop Dates:
Monday, June 10 – Friday, June 14 (8:00 am – 4:30 pm)
Reunion Day:
Thursday, June 20 (8:30 – 12:30 pm)
2024 Workshop Facilitators
Craig Jeppson
Wasatch High School Social Studies Teacher
CUWP Fellow, 2019
Regan Gull
Skyridge High School English Teacher
CUWP Fellow, 2014
Why Should I Participate?
- DEVELOP COMMUNITY WITH OTHER TEACHERS whose experiences align with – and differ – from each other’s. This includes teachers of all grades levels and subjects. We will learn and share with teachers whose teaching contexts perhaps differ from yours. We will write, share, laugh, cry, eat, and connect as humans with each other through the summer.
- WRITE DAILY – IN A VARIETY OF GENRES AND ENGAGE IN A SMALL WRITING GROUP for attention, appreciation, and suggestions for the next draft. Each participant will produce a piece of writing by the end of the week that we will publish into a shared anthology.
- PARTICIPATE IN A SMALL-GROUP PROFESSIONAL LITERATURE CIRCLES to investigate questions we bring from our own teaching experiences. We hope to activate a mindset of ongoing professional inquiry.
- CURATE A COLLECTION OF TEACHING STRATEGIES to reach ALL of our students. Participants will share their own learning and teaching ideas, which will lead to a collection of resources, strategies, and teaching materials all participants can bring into their own teaching contexts.
- EXPERIENCE WORKSHOPS from teachers and experts that center on what really works in our teaching of writing.
- EARN 3 COLLEGE CREDITS OR 45 RECERTIFICATION POINTS toward relicensure that reflect your renewed commitment to writing instruction. See 2023 course syllabus here.
Frequently Asked Questions
We meet for one week, usually in mid June, with a kick-off event in May and a joint reunion day with the CUWP Summer Institute participants the week after the one-week workshop. See above for this year’s specific dates.
The workshop is currently held on Brigham Young University in the Joseph Fielding Smith Building (JFSB). Parking on campus for participants will be free.
We welcome early career teachers, experienced teachers, elementary educators, as well as teachers across the curriculum who are current teachers in classrooms ranging from kindergarten to college. There is no minimum number of years of teaching experience required. No need to apply; you can just register if you are interested!
$400 for enrollment for recertification points but not university credit; $550 for 3 SUU credits.
The course fee covers stipends for the teacher facilitators, reservation of classroom space at BYU, meals on three of the meeting days (the kick-off, the last Friday of the workshop, and the reunion day), learning materials, and a professional development book for each participant.
You can register to receive 3 credits from Southern Utah University (SUU). These are offered to you at a discounted from regular graduate credits. The cost for summer 2023 is $500 for those who want to earn university credit, Consider asking your principal to help you cover this cost; many will!
All participants will be eligible to earn 45 relicensure hours or up to 3 USOE professional development credits.
Participants are expected to attend every day of the summer institute. If you know you will need to miss more than one day, consider registering the following summer!
Below is a sample schedule of our days together. During the workshop, we will also participate in a walk-and-write event one morning, host a guest speaker one day, and participate in a reunion day with the CUWP Summer Institute fellows and past fellows the week after the workshop concludes.
8:00 am – light breakfast and writing time
8:30 am – teaching workshop or writing groups
10:15 am – break
10:30 am – teaching lab presentations by participants
12:00 – lunch
1:00 pm – reading groups
2:00 pm – sacred writing time
3:00 pm – teaching lab preparation workshop
4:00 pm – daily reflection and preview of next day