UC Merced Writing Project Welcomes K-2 Teachers to Write from the Start! Presenters to Share Best Teaching, Writing Practices at Mini-Conference on September 27-28

MERCED - Teachers of kindergarten through second grade are invited to expand their repertoire of successful teaching techniques and enhance their own skills and confidence in writing at a special writing conference presented by the UC Merced Writing Project this Friday and Saturday (Sept. 27 and 28).

The Write from the Start! mini-conference will feature a selection of workshops conducted by UC Merced Writing Project’s expert teaching consultants. Among the workshops from which teachers can choose: “I Like My Mom” What’s Next for Young Writers; Increasing Writing Fluency; The Experience of Seeing - First Connections to Writing; Reading Fiction to Write - How to Make the Connection; and Nonfiction Writing from Innovative Research.

“We hope this conference will help K-2 teachers gain new insight on teaching the process of writing, continue their own professional development and connect with educators to share ideas on effective teaching techniques,” said UC Merced Writing Project Director Pauline Sahakian, Ph.D.

Another conference highlight will be Friday night’s keynote presentation by Gail Tompkins, Ed.D., director of the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project and professor at California State University, Fresno, where she teaches reading and writing in the Department of Literacy and Early Education. The author of many books and a former first-grade teacher, she has been inducted in the California Reading Association’s Reading Hall of Fame and received the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at CSU Fresno.

A California Writing Project site and affiliate of the National Writing Project, the UC Merced Writing Project serves kindergarten through college-level teachers and administrators throughout Merced County with programs designed to improve writing and learning in local schools.

Write from the Start! will be presented from 4:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, September 27 and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, September 28 at Peterson Elementary School, 848 East Donna Drive, Merced. The conference is open to all K-2 teachers and the registration fee is $100, which includes dinner on Friday and a continental breakfast on Saturday. For more information about the conference or to register, please contact the UC Merced Writing Project office at (209) 381-6559 or send an email message to Vicki.Hernandez@ucop.edu.

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