“Literacy expectations are likely to accelerate in the coming decades. To participate fully in society and the workplace in 2020, citizens will need powerful literacy abilities that until now have been achieved by only a small percentage of the population.” (NCTE)

The Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project is committed to serving the professional development needs of
educators from all grade levels and in all instructional settings, kindergarten through university. KMWP programs are grounded in research-based practices and aligned with national and state standards for literacy learning. Our programs promote reflective practice among all teachers and academic success for all learners. We enhance teacher leadership to prepare all students for productive citizenship.

The distinguishing characteristics of the KMWP professional development program include:

• Teachers teaching teachers
• Delivery through a variety of models, such as
  • Workshops
  • Multi-session courses
  • Small-team study groups
  • Sustained Inquiry
  • Collaboration with individual schools and/or districts to create professional development targeting specific site-based and instructional needs

We offer:

Evening & Weekend Seminars
A series of interactive workshops scheduled to meet the professional development needs of individual teachers

Mini-Institutes
Multi-day or week-long summer programs for individuals, schools, or districts

District-Wide & School-Based Partnerships
Ongoing support for teachers’ professional development and assessment of literacy programs

Examples

• School Workshop Series:
  Teacher consultants worked at a local elementary school to guide study of writing strategies and to support creation of a school-wide writing program
  
  
• Evening & Weekend Seminars:
  Teacher consultants facilitated colleagues’ trying out new technologies for teaching writing.
  
  
• Summer Programs for Schools/Districts:
  In a growing Atlanta area school system, teacher consultants worked with K-12 educators in a week-long summer institute aimed at improving instruction in reading and writing, while supporting participants’ own growth as readers and writers.
  
  
• District-Wide Partnership
  KMWP collaborated with a metro-Atlanta school district to facilitate The Writer’s Guild, a team of teachers who developed and field tested interdisciplinary lessons aligned with rubrics and sample student work. The collection, created by district K-8 teachers and KMWP consultants over a 15-month period, produced standards-based models for the district website.