South Texas Writing Project to hold institute

The South Texas Writing Project will host its 11th annual summer institute on the teaching of writing from June 5-30.The institute is co-directed by Dr. Ellen Barker, director of Composition and associate professor, and Dora Flores, a Laredo Independent School District instructor. “What it in involves is teachers writing fiction, nonfiction or poetry. There is a research component, and they’ll deliver a position paper based on the research at the end. They have to do a teaching demonstration that represents their best practices. From that teaching demonstration, we’ll compile a book of teaching demonstrations,” Barker said.When the teachers graduate from the institute they become teaching consultants and coordinate project workshops and faculty in-services, Barker added.”We worked with the Border Patrol recently on a grammar seminar, so what we’re doing is trying to instill best writing practices throughout the Laredo community by using other teachers to do this,” she said.The project also runs writing-intensive summer youth programs at United Day School.The project was started 11 years ago by Carlos Flores, author of “House on Hueco Street,” and Dora Flores, co-director of this year’s institute. They knew illiteracy plagued the border area, so they decided to do the leg work to bring a writing project to Laredo, Barker said.STWP called Laredo Community College home for 10 years after its inception. This is the first year the university has lent its facilities to host the project and the first year Barker has been a part of the directorship. Destine Holmgreen, associate director of the Writing Center and former summer institute co-director from 1999 to 2000, discussed how the South Texas Writing Project has affected her career.”I was sick of teaching when I went into the writing project. I was ready to quit, and it really rejuvenated me. That’s a real common experience. Since the summer institute I went from being an elementary school teacher to finishing my master’s to teaching English composition at the college level to being a member of the freshman composition pilot program that we did to reassess the way we teach writing here in Laredo, and then I became associate director of the Writing Center,” she said.”I went from being a very isolated teacher in the classroom to a member of a writing community, so if I didn’t know how to teach something I have a whole group of people that I can call to find out. It’s like an English teacher support group, basically,” she added.The summer institute will run the duration of the first summer session. STWP will grant teachers who participate a stipend and a scholarship for six hours of graduate credit.”Anybody you talk to who is a former TC and is out there in the community says that they use the teaching techniques all the time,” Barker said. “It changes the lives of people.”