PhilWP Summer Institute Gives Teachers Space to Write, Reflect, and Reimagine Learning

In an era of AI-assisted assignments, scripted curricula, and relentless pressure to do more with less, a group of educators gathered at Penn GSE this summer to do something increasingly rare: slow down.

The Philadelphia Writing Project’s (PhilWP) 2026 Invitational Summer Institute (ISI), themed “Inquiry-Based Writing Pedagogies,” brought together K–12 educators from across the region for two weeks of writing, reflection, collaboration, and professional renewal. The annual institute, a signature program of both PhilWP and the National Writing Project network, has been running in Philadelphia since 1986. 

While every Summer Institute has a different emphasis, the mission remains the same: helping teachers explore writing and inquiry not just as instructional tools, but as ways of thinking, learning, and building community. 

“This year's focus on inquiry-based writing pedagogies felt like an invitation for teachers to slow down, ask meaningful questions, write alongside one another, and reimagine what writing instruction can look like across disciplines and grade levels,” says Jen Freed, an EdD candidate in Penn GSE’s Literacy Studies program and a PhilWP Teacher Consultant who has helped facilitate the Institute for the last three years. “Even more than that, writing became both the method and the artifact of reflection, a way of capturing teaching reflections and the method for engaging young people.” 

Unlike traditional professional development workshops that often emphasize quick strategies and takeaways, PhilWP’s Summer Institute immerses educators in the very practices it advocates. Participants write, share, revise, discuss, and inquire together, experiencing learning from the perspective of both teacher and student. 

“I also think one of the things that makes ISI distinct is that it's not just a one-size-fits-all professional development, fast-tracked course where teachers receive new strategies to bring back to their classrooms,” says Freed, who doesn’t just help run the Institute, but was once an Invitational Summer Institute participant herself. “It's a community of practice where educators are positioned as knowledgeable professionals, writers, learners, and collaborators.” 

That emphasis on community emerged throughout the program. Participants engaged in writing groups, descriptive review protocols, multimodal composing projects, and conversations that extended well beyond scheduled sessions. A critical component was collaboration with local cultural institutions, including the Penn Museum and The Colored Girls Museum, which the group visited to spark reflection and inquiry. 

“Rorujorona Ferrell, who has generously supported PhilWP for many years, saw to it that we had indoor and outdoor spaces at Penn Museum that enabled all of us, facilitators and participants alike, time for deep writing, discussion, and contemplation of how to best support each other and the children and youth we serve,” said says PhilWP Director and Lecturer in Educational Practice Jen McLaughlin Cahill. “And Vashti DuBois, the founder and director of The Colored Girls Museum has made profound intellectual contributions to PhilWP's community of practitioner researchers, both at Penn GSE and in Philadelphia at large.”

“Throughout the two weeks, participants learned new protocols and instructional approaches,” Freed says. “Even more than that, they built relationships that will hopefully sustain them in this profession.” 

“A valuable part was getting to converse with and write alongside a pool of dedicated educators at a range of stages in their careers across private, charter, and public schools,” says Kyle Layne-Allen, a 2019 graduate of Penn GSE’s Independent School Teaching Residency program who attended ISI this year and teaches English at Abington Friends School. “I don't often get to converse with teachers beyond the independent school world, so this program helped me go beyond my perspective to find overlapping experiences in our school systems. Being in conversation with my cohort also widened my scope of education and the teacher's role in collaborating with other teachers to challenge, question, and ultimately uproot our U.S. education system's specific drawbacks.” 

PhilWP’s ISI serves educators across grade levels, disciplines, and career stages, so it also creates opportunities for elementary, middle, and high school teachers to learn along with—and from—one another. 

“To increase access, teachers from the School District of Philadelphia were eligible for a fee waiver through generous funding provided by the Spencer Foundation as part of a Research Practice Partnership grant awarded to the Philadelphia Writing Project,” adds McLaughlin Cahill.

For many attendees, the most valuable outcome may not be a new classroom strategy but a renewed sense of purpose.

“As for what I hope participants take away, I think it's both practical and personal,” Freed says. “Of course, I hope they leave with new ideas for teaching writing and facilitating inquiry. Perhaps more than that, given the state of education right now, I also hope they leave reminded that they deserve spaces to be writers themselves, to be curious, to take intellectual risks, and to continue learning alongside other educators.” 

That sense of belonging is a defining feature of PhilWP, organizers say. The Summer Institute is not a standalone event but an entry point into a larger professional community that continues meeting, collaborating, writing, and learning together long after the summer ends. 

“I've already been in contact with one classmate about playing some hoops together, with another about meeting up at an Ethiopian restaurant in West Philly, and one more about doing a teacher reading group,” says Layne-Allen. “Another even helped me connect with other educators in the independent school world and shared lesson-planning resources from her curriculum.”