Two days of the All Write!!! Summer Institute started this morning at the Warsaw Community High School Performing Arts Center. According to Crystal Leu, Lakeland School Corp. director of curriculum and All Write!!! Consortium board member, 500 to 600 teachers and administrators are attending the eighth annual Summer Institute from all across the United States. She said there are teachers from Seattle, Wash.; New York; and Denver, Colo.; but most are from the local area and Southern Michigan. The All Write!!! Consortium is a group of more than 20 school corporations that pool their resources together for top-notch professional development, Leu said. The school districts include Bremen Public Schools, East Noble School Corp., Goshen Community Schools, Imagine Schools of Fort Wayne, Manchester Community Schools, Tippecanoe Valley, Wa-Nee, Warsaw, Wawasee, Whitko and others. The summer conference is not limited to just consortium members. Each day starts at 8 a.m. and ends around 3 or 4 p.m. The conference used to be held in Shipshewana, but it grew out of that space. This is the third year at Warsaw for the conference, Leu said. During the conference, she said attendees listen to nationally known speakers from New York, New Hampshire, Maine and Texas as well as some local speakers. The speakers are experts on reading, writing and instruction. “Literature is a very important thing in school so teachers are always looking for best practices and instruction and they get that here,” Leu said. The first speaker this morning was Carl Anderson. He is a literacy consultant who works with elementary and secondary schools across the country and internationally. He is the author of books on writing. Other speakers scheduled for the conference included Jeff Anderson, San Antonio, Texas, known for his enthusiasm in making grammar, editing and writing a positive experience for teachers and students; Ruth Ayres, writing coach for Wawasee School District; Penny Kittle, professional development coordinator for the Conway, N.H., school district; and Christopher Lehman, an international speaker, education consultant and author of several books. “It’s a very cool thing that teachers give up their time in the summer to (learn to) better teach students. It’s also a great place for them to network and talk. It’s like summer camp for teachers,” Leu concluded. More information on the consortium can be found online at www.eastnoble.net/pages/East_Noble_School_Corporation/All-Write
