NVWP offers a range of courses as well as consultant services that will design and coordinate individual training programs for educational groups.
The NVWP Summer Institute (English 699/Education 600)
This is a five-week intensive program for selected teachers from Northern Virginia who wish to become NVWP Teacher/Consultants. Participating teachers earn six graduate credits from George Mason University. Learn more here.
Writing and Learning Across the Curriculum (English/Education 695)
The Northern Virginia Writing Project is offering its signature professional development course, English 695/Education 600: Writing Across the Curriculum, to all educators in all schools, public and private. The course will meet during the fall semester at Fairfax High School, on Tuesdays, 4:30 to 7:30, from September 28 through January 11. The instructor will be Nicole Lehman. Participants earn three graduate credits in either English or Education from George Mason University.
NVWP is offering this course at a special reduced rate of $600, nearly one-half the cost of tuition for a course taken at the GMU campus. Participants should pay a minimum of $200 at the first class meeting, and then may pay the remainder of the tuition at any point prior to the last meeting of the semester.
The purpose of “Writing Across the Curriculum” is to assist teachers in improving student writing and the use of writing to learn across all curriculum areas. Half the sessions contain presentations by NVWP Teacher Consultants trained in the Summer Institute. These presentations will focus on specific topics, such as writing process, revision, and assessment. All presentations contain an underlying theory; activities through which teachers practice one phase of writing or the teaching of writing; questions, answers and discussion of ways to adapt these activities for participants’ own students; handouts which include information necessary to implement the presentation ideas in the classroom; and an annotated bibliography. All presentations are geared to the needs of the participants.
Summary of Details:
- Course: English 695/Education 600
- Location: Fairfax High School
- Meeting Times: Tuesdays, 4:30 to 7:30
- Meeting Dates: September 28 through January 11
- Instructor: Nicole Lehman
- Tuition cost of this three-credit graduate course: $600
To register for this course, email Mark Farrington at mfarring@gmu.edu or phone the NVWP office at 703-993-1168.
Theories of Composition (English/Education 697)
This is a course that includes the latest theories of composition instruction and enables participants to develop their own theory of writing instruction. Participants study and make personal connection with educational theory.
Research in Writing: A Teacher-Researcher Seminar (English/Education 696 and 697)
English/Education 696 is designed to acquaint classroom teachers with current research on composing and methods of studying writing in school settings. This course focuses on each participant developing a proposal to study some aspect of composing and on conducting the research. Findings are included in an in-house publication at the end of the course. Three graduate credits in either English or Education. Prerequisite: A course in the teaching of writing, including but not restricted to English 615, English/Education 695, or the NVWP Summer Institute. The intent of the prerequisite is to enable teachers to conduct research on principles they have already been introduced to in a teaching of writing course. Teachers with questions about the course or the prerequisite should contact the NVWP office.
English/Education 697 is a teacher-researcher seminar designed to acquaint teachers with current research methodology in language and learning. Participants in the seminar read research, conduct studies in their classrooms, and write reports of their findings. The seminar is a 3-credit year-long course of study.