Homegrown Institutes offer an immersive, 3-5 day professional development experience tailored to the specific goals and priorities of your school or district. These multi-day events are designed to foster deep collaboration and practical learning around the teaching of reading, writing, and phonics, helping educators to enhance literacy instruction. Homegrowns often take place during the summer months, but they can also occur at any point during the school year.
Collaborative, Flexible, and Customized Professional Development
Each Homegrown Institute is developed in close collaboration with school leaders to ensure alignment with school or district priorities. This flexibility allows the content, pacing, and format to be tailored to the unique needs of your educators, students, and overall literacy goals.
Flexible Scheduling: Homegrown Institutes typically span four days (Monday-Thursday), with an optional fifth day for targeted topics or literacy leadership support.
Community of Learning: Institutes bring together educators within a district or school to engage in a shared study of literacy practices, fostering a community of learners focused on enhancing reading, writing, or phonics instruction.
Small Group, Personalized Support
To maximize the effectiveness of these institutes, RWP-M employs a low staff-to-participant ratio: 1 Staff Developer for every 30 Participants. This ensures that teachers receive individualized attention, guidance, and support to apply new strategies in their classrooms.
Choose from a Range of Topics to Meet Your School's Needs
Homegrown Institutes are designed to be responsive to the needs and interests of educators. Frequently requested topics include:
The Essentials of Teaching Writing, Reading, or Phonics
Assessment-Based Small Group Instruction
Bring the Best of the Science of Reading into Your K-3 Reading Workshop
Writing and Teaching with Decodable Texts
Nonfiction Reading: Working with Text Sets and Growing Knowledge
Foundational Reading Skills for Older Readers
Optional Fifth Day: Focused on Special Topics or Literacy Leadership
The optional fifth day of a Homegrown Institute can be customized to address a specific area of interest or to provide specialized support for literacy leaders. This allows for deeper exploration of topics that further enhance the impact of your literacy instruction.
Scheduling
Homegrowns often take place during the summer months, but they can also occur at any point during the school year. Homegrown Institutes are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.