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"The Friday Institute is deeply involved in bringing competency-based approaches into educator preparation, credentialing and professional development. To further this effort, the Friday Institute has begun developing a series of micro-credentials for teachers, coaches, and administrators. These micro-credentials often support and extend the learning opportunities offered in the MOOC-Eds but can also be earned by educators within or outside of the context of the course."
"We know not everyone can make a trip to the d.school to experience how we teach design thinking. So, we created this online version of one of our most frequently sought after learning tools. Using the video, handouts, and facilitation tips below, we will take you step by step through the process of hosting or participating in a 90 minute design challenge."
NWP’s approach to argument writing starts with having students understand multiple points of view that go beyond pros and cons and are based on multiple pieces of evidence, which ultimately enables students to take responsible civic action.
Participating in a conversation is central to our understanding of argument. Before students develop a solid claim for an argument, they need to get a good sense of what the range of credible voices are saying and what a variety of positions are around the topic. Students have to first distinguish between credible and unreliable sources, and then identify the range of legitimate opinions on a single issue. This initial move counters the argument culture by seeking understanding before taking a stand.
Many schools, especially in high-poverty areas, are accustomed to professional development providers that materialize for a short period of time, promise success, and then disappear. The NWP, however, relies on well-established local Writing Projects to provide professional development, believing that local teachers are the best teachers of other local teachers. This relationship helps break down resistance to change.
The C3WP framework rests on what are known as “cycles of instruction” that integrate the program’s three essential components: instructional resources for teaching argument writing, formative assessment tools, and intensive professional development—all developed by teachers for teachers.
Each C3WP instructional resource describes a four- to six-day sequence of instructional activities that focuses on developing a small number of argument skills (e.g., developing a claim, ranking evidence, coming to terms with opposing viewpoints). Ideally, teachers will teach at least four of these resources each year to help students gradually improve their ability to write evidence-based arguments
1. Focus on a specific set of skills or practices in argument writing that build over the course of an academic year.
rather than attempting to teach everything about argument in a single unit
2. Provide text sets that represent multiple perspectives on a topic, beyond pro and con.
A text set typically:Grows in complexity from easily accessible texts to more difficult;Takes into account various positions, perspectives, or angles on a topic;Provides a range of accessible reading levels;Includes multiple genres (e.g., video, image, written text, infographic, data, interview); andConsists of multiple text types, including both informational and argumentative.
3. Describe iterative reading and writing practices that build knowledge about a topic.
4. Support the recursive development of claims that emerge and evolve through reading and writing.
5. Help intentionally organize and structure students’ writing to advance their arguments.
there is no single “right” way to organize and use evidence in an op-ed.
6. Embed formative assessment opportunities in classroom practice to identify areas of strength and inform next steps for teaching and learning.
C3WP engages teachers in collaboratively assessing students’ written arguments to understand what students can already do and what they need to learn next.
Most participating schools and districts, including those in the original evaluation, are underresourced, are under pressure to raise test scores, and often experience high teacher turnover.
