Appalachian Writing Project's annual writing conference
in Abingdon Oct. 1

Educators will learn best practices for teaching writing at every level from kindergarten to college during the Appalachian Writing Project's annual writing conference on Saturday, Oct. 1 sponsored by The University of Virginia's College at Wise.

The event, "Write AWAY!: Best Practices in Teaching Writing K-College," begins at 9 a.m. at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon and continues until 3 p.m. The cost of the conference is $20 for those who pre-register by Sept. 28 and $25 on the day of the conference. The registration fee includes a continental breakfast and lunch.

Participants will have their choice of 13 workshops throughout the day. Workshop topics include: "Ties that Bind: Handmade Writing Journals;" "Pattern Poetry: Writing a Poem a Piece at a Time!;" "Creating Magical Tales;" "The Pattern of Portfolios in the Writing Classroom;" "Collaborative Teaching: Creating a High Energy Classroom;" "Colloquial Language: Vivé La Difference;" and many more. All workshops are geared toward the Virginia Standards of Learning.

Local children's author, Donna Warmuth, will present the workshop "Inspiring Young Writers with Creative Prompts." Well-known authors such as Sharyn McCrumb have described Warmuth's work as "making history come alive for the average person." She is the author of Plumb Full of History: A Story of Abingdon, VA and has compiled three books in the Images of America series.

The Appalachian Writing Project, part of the Center for Teaching Excellence at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, is a local site of the National Writing Project (NWP). Since its inception in 1974, the NWP has spread to 185 regional learning communities, which are comprised of school-university partnerships. The National Commission on Writing has high praise for the National Writing Project because its model of teacher education is collaborative and its track record remains superb. NWP believes that quality teaching comes from sharing best practices and exploring together the problems of assessment.

For more information, contact Amy Clark, director of the Appalachian Writing Project and assistant professor of rhetoric and communication at UVa-Wise, at aclark@virginia.edu. To register, contact Jennifer Partin at 276-376-4530 or via e-mail at jlp8w@uvawise.edu. Registration forms are available at the Appalachian Writing Project website located at http://people.uvawise.edu/awp.