FALL 2023 Missouri Reader November 2023 | Page 37

Argument Writing: Professional Development for Secondary Teachers

for Secondary Teachers

Factors

Rebekah E. Piper

Laurie A. Sharp, Ed.D.

Roberta D. Raymond, Ed.D.

Mary Jo Fresch

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The professional development supported teachers in implementing source-based argument writing in their classrooms throughout the year. The teachers used formative assessment tools to help assess what their students could do and where to focus next instructional steps.

C3WP Components

C3WP includes three interrelated components: professional development, a set of instructional resources, and formative assessment tools (Friedrich, et al., 2018). These instructional resources, assessment tools, and professional development resources are also available for free on the C3WP website for teachers who would like to incorporate source-based argument writing into their instruction.

Professional Development

Too often in schools, professional development positions teachers as passive consumers of knowledge (Little, 1993). This type of professional development is often offered as a half-day or full-day teacher in-service session, seldom to be revisited again. There is a need for high-quality, ongoing professional development for teachers, which NWP provides. The Learning Policy Institute defines effective professional development as “structured professional learning that results in changes in teacher practices and improvements in student learning outcomes.” They list characteristics of effective professional development.

Effective professional development:

1. Is content focused

2. Incorporates active learning utilizing adult learning theory

3. Supports collaboration, typically in job-embedded contexts

4. Uses models and modeling of effective practice

5. Provides coaching and expert support

6. Offers opportunities for feedback and reflection

7. Is of sustained duration. (Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, M., 2017)

C3WP is a program that includes these components of effective professional development as defined by the Learning Policy Institute. The professional development is focused on the content of argument writing, it incorporates active learning throughout, teachers model demonstration lessons for other teachers of the curriculum they create, and the professional development is of sustained duration, which amounts to 45 hours throughout the year (Friedrich, Bear, & Fox, 2018).

Instructional Resources

Persuasive writing has traditionally been taught focusing on ethos, pathos, and logos. Students have too often formed binary arguments that are developed as a pro-con debate (Olsen, 2018, p. 93). C3WP facilitates a different approach than the pro-con debate, instead focusing on a solution-oriented approach that is based on a nuanced claim and source-based evidence. Teachers are provided with a set of 25 instructional resources (called mini-units) for grades 4–12. The C3WP mini-units, such as “Writing Claims” and “Organizing Evidence” consist of four to six days of student instruction on a topic. The mini-units were created by NWP teacher-leaders, and because the mini-units come “straight from [the teachers’] practice,” the resources are “smart, tested, and accessible” (Bear & Fox, 2019). The mini-units that are provided on the C3WP website include text sets, or a compilation of texts that support the teaching of the mini-unit. The C3WP resources are provided to generate ideas for curriculum and instruction rather than to serve as “a curricular script to be followed lockstep” (Friedrich, et al., 2018). Teachers are encouraged to try out the C3WP resources in their classrooms, adapt strategies, and seek out their own text sets that are responsive to their students’ interests.

 

 

 

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