One-Day Workshops for Outreach and Revenue

University of Mississippi WP’s Wednesday Workshops not only provide a small source of steady revenue, they have been effective in marketing UMWP’s other programs. This effort has resulted in several contracts with local schools:

For the past several years, the UMWP has offered a series of one-day workshops focusing on a specific topic. Starting last spring, our focus has been completely on areas of the CCSS. We hold ten Wednesday workshops per semester – five for grade bands K-5 and five for grade bands 6-12. We have this procedure down to an art form at this point. Workshops are $100 per participant plus $20 for CEUs (if desired). Districts may send five teachers for the price of four. We provide lunch for the participants. Workshops will “make” if we have six participants, as this is our break-even point. Most of our workshops have 12-15 participants.

Our workshops for last year and this year are as follows:

Not only do the workshops provide us with a small but steady revenue stream, but also they allow us to market our other programs and reach schools that might not have a lot of money for PD but can send a few teachers at a time. Many teachers attend more than one session and take the knowledge they have learned back to their districts and share with other teachers.

We actually have acquired several contracts with districts that sent a few teachers to one workshop and then decided that they wanted the same training plus modeling days for their entire district. Ultimately, they provide the UMWP with visibility and publicity.

Our workshops for last year and this year are as follows:

Explore the Core: Basic Boot Camp for New Teachers, Support Staff, Gifted and Special Education Teachers

The University of Mississippi Writing Project has designed a basic overview of the changes that Common Core will dictate for your school. Join us for an interactive workshop to discover the meaning behind the Common Core State Standards in your classroom. Together we will look at the standards and determine just what these changes mean to the average classroom teacher and student.

Close Reading and the Use of Comparative Texts

This hands-on workshop will focus on taking close reading strategies from everyday practice to the grade book. In the morning, we will examine model lessons and practical strategies needed to engage readers of all levels. We will explore the pairing of texts to create lessons that are both interesting and connected. In the afternoon, we will shift our focus to what teachers already know and do. Teachers are asked to bring their own texts and explore how to use these materials to get the most out of their current lessons.

The Core of Argument—A Three-Part Series

• The Beginning of Argument
• The Logical Argument
• The Visual Argument

This three-part series will explore the teaching of argument. The time between sessions will give teachers an opportunity to delve into strategies and content learned with their students while mining questions for the next session. Together, we will demystify the art of teaching argument so that students can truly be successful. (Each session can be attended separately at the standard fee of $150 for each workshop or all three can be combined for a registration fee of $375.00)

Writing to the Core

Common Core State Standards dictate that students write informative texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. In addition, students must be able to write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events. This workshop will demonstrate practical examples and model lessons for today’s common core classroom. We will carefully examine what students must know and be able to do in order to be college and career ready in the area of writing.

Sourcing the Code

This interactive workshop will investigate the art of research as demanded by the Common Core State Standards. Time will be allotted to examine practical examples while offering everyday classroom applications. Model lessons will focus on gathering relevant information from credible print and digital sources while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Writing, Rubrics, and Reflecting

When are your students writing? What have they achieved? Where do they need to go? Join us for this as we focus on student writing samples and how these samples align with the PARCC Writing Rubric. The afternoon session will focus on strategies designed to pull the best out of student writing.

Not only do the workshops provide us with a small but steady revenue stream, but also they allow us to market our other programs and reach schools that might not have a lot of money for PD but can send a few teachers at a time. Many teachers attend more than one session and take the knowledge they have learned back to their districts and share with other teachers.

We actually have acquired several contracts with districts that sent a few teachers to one workshop and then decided that they wanted the same training plus modeling days for their entire district. Ultimately, they provide the UMWP with visibility and publicity.