SOL Tuesday: Takeaways from Participating in C3WP

Last night, as I was looking for a starting point in this blog post I began with this Haiku: 

creating, sharing

collaboration - trademarks

of Writing Project

I recently completed a year-long advanced writing institute through our local National Writing Project Site, Fox Valley Writing Project. The focus of this institute was on argument using National Writing Project's C3WP's Cycles of Instruction. 

As usual, I took more away from participating in this writing institute than I initially anticipated. I learned more about argument and how to better teach the moves of argument to writers. This work guided me in creating better mini lessons, knowing better what possible next steps with students could be, and having richer conversations with writers. 

My major takeaways of participating in C3WP included:

• Being introduced to Joseph Harris' Rewriting: How to Do Things with Text (Utah State University Press, 2005). This book helped me better understand the moves writers make, including illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, extending, and countering. It's a resource I plan to return to again and again, not only as a teacher of writers but also as a writer myself. 
• Although this isn't unique to argument, I learned how to layer my thinking more effectively using texts. As I have realized before, when I try the same task as I am introducing to students, I find that my teaching has more clarity and is more effective.
• Using the C3WP Instructional Resources and implementing several mini units in my classroom. 
• A reminder of the power of discussion and collaboration with other practitioners. Although our group was comprised of educators from different school districts, roles, and levels, I always appreciated hearing experiences and insights others shared. I left each session with new ideas and possibilities rolling in my mind. 

Overall, I love the community within a National Writing Project cohort, the work of learning through doing, collegiate conversation, and reflection. I am confident that I will begin the next school year utilizing even more of what I learned from C3WP. This will not only be better for my teaching, but it will positively influence my students.