About Us

The Great Bear Writing Project at the University of Central Arkansas is a university-community program that supports Arkansas teachers in the teaching of writing across subject areas and grade levels as well as teachers’ professional growth as educators and teacher leaders.

Summer 2015 Programs

For teachers: Invitational Summer Institute— June 10- July 1, 2015 Application (See the webpage for the 2015 ISI)

For students: Bears Write! Summer program for students in grades 4-9 —

See what past participants, who have earned the title “Teacher Consultants,” have to say about the program!

Founded in 1999 by Dr. Stephanie Vanderslice, the Great Bear Writing Project is one of over 200 sites of the National Writing Project (NWP) network housed at colleges and universities in all 50 states, plus the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong. The NWP has been recognized internationally for its highly effective, “teachers teaching teachers” model of professional development. As a result, it has been included the “No Child Left Behind,” act as an officially authorized in-service provider.

In addition to providing teachers across Arkansas with strategies that help their students become better writers, an essential skill for success in the 21st Century, the Great Bear Project offers teachers a long-term professional development community, an intellectual home. Research shows that the best teachers are often those who are connected to a network of professionals–such as the Writing Project provides–who address problems and find solutions together. Finally, numerous studies have indicated that students of teachers who participate in writing project professional development generally have higher literacy test scores than the rest of the student population (for further information on these studies, see the National Writing Project website).