Angie Hase, Lisa Gusewelle and Kelly Sassi attend i3 C3WP launch in Minneapolis

Kelly Sassi, Angie Hase, and Lisa Gusewelle attended the i3 C3WP launch in Minneapolis, Minnesota from June 20-22. C3WP stands for College, Career, and Community Writers Program, a renaming of the CRWP program we led in 2016-17. It is funded by a $36 million  i3 (Innovations in Education) grant that the National Writing Project received in January. The Red River Valley Writing Project participated in the grant proposal by recruiting the Belcourt and Dunseith school districts to be involved in this current scale-up of the C3WP.

C3WP provides professional development to teachers in teaching source-based argument writing. Outstanding research results were obtained from the first iteration of the program three years ago; student writing of teachers who participated in the program increased significantly in the four attributes of student argument writing--content, structure, stance, and conventions. Full results can be found here. 

Lisa Gusewelle takes the latest instructional materials for a walk.

The National Writing Project has developed a rich body of materials, from mini-units and other instructional materials, to formative assessment tools, videos, handouts and more to support argument writing in grades 4-12. 

Lisa Gusewell, Kelly Sassi, and Angie Hase (left to right) analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the RRVWP in scaling up the C3WP

Also, we can begin getting more excited for STEAM lessons as well. Argument mini units range from scientific topic such as nutrition all the way to space debris. This is a great year for cross-curricular lessons!

Angie Hase works with our site's coach for the C3WP, Casey Olson of the Elk River Writing Project in Montana.

While at the launch, Kelly, Angie and Lisa were introduced to the latest developments in these materials, tried out some mini-units, brainstormed problems and solutions for our writing site, heard about others' successes, and listened to a presentation from the lead researchers, Alix Gallagher and CJ Park, from SRI Education. 

Want to hear about some creative lesson plans? NWP National Director Elyse Eidman--Aadahl showed us American Creed, a new film from PBS about what it means to be an American, and your students can participate to by writing about what they think it means to be American. This program will be especially exciting for those TCs who participated in Letters to the Next President, as this program will have a similar publishing platform for student writers. 

Want to get involved in the C3WP? We are now recruiting the next cohort of teachers to experience the materials and develop leadership skills for sharing it across North Dakota. The format for this Advanced Institute will be a 3-day launch August 8-10th followed by monthly meetings during the academic year. You can Apply here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd47x5coWqac78VmpuN8Gj7GktohAyN5ZclayZK-OnGyQdIdg/viewform?usp=sf_link