English Section 6

Professional Development and Support (post graduation)

Professional development support after graduation fall primarily into two arenas: interactions through the EMWP and participation in graduate student opportunities.

The EMWP offer both summer institutes—open and invitational workshops—and mini-conferences during the school year. Summer offerings range from one-week open programs that are topic focused (like Introduction to Writing Workshop, Nature Writing, and Technology and Writing) to the four-week Invitational Institute which is an intensive experience for practiced teachers of writing and engages participants to explore their roles as consultant, researcher, and writer. Mini-conferences are one-day events that are generally offered by EMWP fellows and that address areas such as standards-based strategies and writing across the curriculum. Mini-conferences are heavily attended by new and pre-service teachers and provide a rich opportunity for collaboration with local schools as a part of their staff development efforts.

Many of the students who enter masters programs at EMU are former undergraduates from the institution. That is clearly the case within the Literature and Written Communications masters programs.