Cultivating Writing Schoolwide — Secondary is designed to empower secondary and postsecondary educators with knowledge and strategies to increase their skills and confidence in using writing as a powerful tool in a 21st century learning environment.

Educators across all discipline areas will gain strategies for teaching the writing process and build an understanding of the four common academic modes of writing (argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive) as well as writing for a range of academic purposes.

Participants will explore the power of metacognitive writing to cultivate literacy and student agency.

This collaborative experience will allow educators, regardless of familiarity with the pedagogy of writing instruction, to explore strategies to help students access rigorous content and write like content experts.

Participants will engage in both synchronous and semi-synchronous learning. All strategies, digital activities, and digital tools experienced can be leveraged in face-to-face or virtual learning environments.

Performance Objectives

  • Intentionally include learning-through-writing instructional best practices within lesson design and delivery across all grade levels and content areas to deepen understanding and turn invisible thinking into visible learning.
  • Understand and utilize each mode as a writing tool to help students develop clear and efficient communication of ideas in order to understand the content more deeply and tackle any writing situation they encounter.
  • Understand and utilize the writing process as a learning tool to help students improve their academic writing and to develop a deeper connection and access to content.
  • Understand metacognition, strategically infuse metacognitive strategies into lessons and content, and support social and emotional learning through understanding the importance of metacognition in evaluation, feedback, and self-reflection.

Modules

Module 1
The Power of Making Invisible Thinking Visible Learning

Module 2
The Modes of Writing to Increase Overall Schoolwide Literacy

Module 3
The Writing Process to Empower Learners

Module 4
Feedback and Metacognition