Summer Institutes

You are enrolling in a class, but you are also joining a community–the Nebraska Writing Project, a vibrant network of educators dedicated to the teaching of writing across grade levels and content areas. The Nebraska Writing Project offers a variety of programs, workshops, and awards, for teachers, students, and community members, but the Summer Institute is our signature program. We follow the summer institute model developed by the National Writing Project in the late 1970’s, now offered by over 150 writing project sites across the country and validated by many research studies as an impactful model of professional development. The model is focused on developing teachers as writers, facilitating inquiry, and inviting teachers to teach other teachers. Rather than a one-way transfer of knowledge, we center collaborative inquiry and practice, and therefore the class is always co-facilitated by an English faculty member, an Education faculty member, and a local teacher.

The Advanced Institute is next-level institute that changes focus each year.  Local teachers in the Nebraska Writing Project Board and Co-Directors team help propose and select topics that are responsive to current teacher interests.  It's designed for teachers who have completed a National Writing Project Summer Institute with NeWP or another site, but sometimes we have teachers join us in special circumstances.  The class is co-taught by a UNL faculty member from TLTE (Teacher, Learning, and Teacher Education) or English, and a local teacher, and it follows the Writing Project style and values. 

You can attend in-person on UNL’s City Campus, live via Zoom, or a mixture of the two. We have an OWL device that facilitates interaction between in-person and zoom attendees, and we usually have a facilitator dedicated to each space. 

1. You’ll write! One goal of the Summer Institute is nurturing teachers’ own writing practice, as we believe the best teachers of writing are writers themselves. You’ll have the opportunity to practice writing for your own meaningful purposes, and you will be placed in a supportive writing group.
2. You’ll participate in shared inquiry by reading and discussing. The form of this shifts year-by-year, but often, there is a shared book that the whole institute reads and discusses, in addition to smaller inquiry groups shaped by participant interest.
3. You’ll facilitate, as each participant develops an EQUIP, an interactive workshop that invites peers to engage in a problem, issue, or approach to teaching writing. You are not expected to arrive as an expert in your EQUIP topic–often teachers identify an area in which they want to grow, and you will receive individualized coaching from a facilitator as you develop your workshop.

The Summer and Advanced Institutes are cross-listed with the TLTE (Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education), and you can receive either English credit or TLTE credit. To take the class, you need to apply to the university, but you do not need to choose a particular academic program. If you do choose a particular related program in the future, these credits can usually be applied toward that program.

The Summer and Advanced Institute are part of a variety of UNL programs, such as the Certificate in Teaching Writing, the MA in English, the online MA in Teaching Learning and Teacher Education, and more. Teachers have also successfully transferred their  institute credits into a variety of programs at other universities. If you have questions about transferring, we recommend contacting your particular program to verify that they will accept these credits.

Graduate tuition at UNL for the 2024-2025 academic year is $383.00 per credit hour. The Summer Institute is 6 graduate credits, but for in-state teachers, it is half-price (3 graduate credits), making the class $1149. The Advanced Institute, at 3 grad credits, is also $1149. For anyone who is not a Nebraska resident, tuition is $1119 per credit hour. 

Depending on if you take other courses during summer, your total fee cost may differ. The fees for the Summer Institute are estimated to be approximately $500, but may be higher if you take additional courses at UNL during the summer session. The fees for the Advanced Institute are estimated to be approximately $400. 

These general student fees include: 

• Registration fee: $20
• Library fee per credit hour: $8.25
• ID card fee: $20
• Technology fee per credit hour: $15
• University Program / Facilities Fee (Summer rate): $280.80 per term
• Online Course fee per credit hour: $35

Fees may be higher if you take additional courses at UNL. Please feel free to reach out of you have questions! 

More information on general Graduate student fees can be found here.

NeWP offers a Teacher Leadership Scholarship Program. These applications are reviewed by the four Co-Directors (all Nebraska teachers) and the Director.  Scholarships are awarded on the basis of (a) financial need and (b) leadership potential, especially potential future leadership within the Nebraska Writing Project. 

After being accepted to the SI, you can apply by emailing Rachael a paragraph that offers any context that would be helpful in assessing financial need and shares a bit about your leadership experience and interest, such as interest in future involvement with NeWP, along with what you bring to leadership for and with other teachers.  For example, you can discuss areas of expertise, collaboration style, perspectives/experiences you hold that are underrepresented in conversations about teaching and writing and in NeWP (e.g. we currently do not have many elementary teachers, representation from Northwest Nebraska, science teachers, neurodivergent teachers, etc), and/or leadership possibilities the summer institute might equip you for moving forward.  Usually, students apply for a scholarship after being accepted to the SI, because the application process involves sharing some larger context about the Nebraska Writing Project that can be helpful in writing the scholarship application paragraph.  As part of the scholarship, after the Institute, we ask recipients to meet the Director for a in-person or virtual coffee to discuss how NeWP can potentially support recipients in leadership and leadership development moving forward.

No, the Nebraska Writing Project Institutes are for teachers of all grade levels, K-16, and all content areas. In the past, we’ve had everyone from high school math teachers to first grade elementary teachers participate and do exciting work within the institutes. Teachers have an opportunity to focus their major project on an approach to teaching writing that fits their particular context, and they also benefit from exchanging ideas across areas and levels in our group activities and discussions.

Definitely not! We welcome teachers who have any kind of relationship with writing, and our goal is not professional publication. One of our beliefs is that all teachers and students can see themselves as writers–and something powerful happens when they do.

You will have a 15-20 minute phone conversation with one of this year’s facilitators. They will share additional information about the institute and the Nebraska Writing Project, ask you a few questions about your interest in the institute and your classroom, and then give you a chance to ask any questions you have.

You are welcome to explore our website, subscribe to our newsletter, attend any events that are open to the community, follow us on social media, and/or reach out to the director, Rachael Shah (rshah@unl.edu).