The Capital City Writing Institute (CCWI) is a three-day summer invitational institute for developmental writing faculty across the state of Michigan (and beyond). It was created in response to a desire among our faculty to have sustained conversations about teaching writing and to share teaching strategies that support the specific needs of developmental writers. Writing faculty in the Department of Language Skills at Lansing Community College developed the institute in 2007 and offered it for the first time to faculty beyond our own campus in 2010. Due to the great success of the 2010 institute, we are pleased to offer it again in 2011.

Teachers teaching teachers

The Institute is loosely based on the National Writing Project Summer Institute model, which was established thirty years ago and continues to serve faculty through a "teachers teaching teachers" philosophy. As such, it requires that each participant present/facilitate a session on a specific topic, directly related to teaching developmental writing.

Our institute differs from a traditional conference in two ways. First, it brings together people who teach developmental writing at the college level. Second, it strictly limits the number of participants to provide adequate time for in-depth teaching demonstrations, small-group conversations, participant-initiated special interest groups, and impromptu social gatherings.

Please join us in Lansing from August 16-18, 2011, for three days of teaching demonstrations, discussions,  and fun with other developmental writing colleagues. This will be another successful institute for faculty engaged in this challenging and rewarding work.