Welcome letter

Greetings and welcome to “Writing Matters,” Alaska State Writing Consortium’s Virtual Open Writing Institute!

As the teacher-leader for the class, I am excited about beginning our process together. This is the forth year I have taught this online institute. I realize for many of you, this is your first experience with a writing institute while others will have taken some classes and workshops in the past. Either way this class is a completely unique offering, utilizing online discussions and including the reality of your daily instruction.

You are probably in the busiest part of your school year so “Writing Matters” will allow you to make the best advantage of what you are currently doing in your classroom You will have the opportunity to reflect upon and evaluate methods and strategies with your class. You will have the opportunity to discuss ideas with other teachers. Finally, you will have the opportunity to experiment with personal writing. We will be using a combination of audio conferencing, online discussion, and web-based instruction. You will be receiving an email soon from our technical support explaining how to our site. As soon as you receive the information, begin trying everything out so we can quickly catch any glitches. Our blog site is http://aswcvirtual.blogspot.com/.

Our text is Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools by the National Writing Project and Carl Nagin. You may send for a copy of the book through The National Writing Project website at http://www.writingproject.org/Publications/books.

For now, just get excited about the possibilities. We will schedule an audio conference during the first week of the class. You will have an opportunity to hear from the other members of the class and ask any questions that come to mind.

I look forward to talking to all of you and “seeing” you online. Email me with questions at pfsep@uaa.alaska.edu or call me at 907 982 1456. I will be available after February 22.

Sondra Porter, teacher-leader