Learning the Language of Academic Writing: Using the C3WP as a Scaffold in the Secondary English Classroom

Using academic language and employing textual evidence as support is a critical component of academic writing. However, many secondary students struggle to join academic conversations because of the skills associated with this type of writing. Through the implementation of the National Writing Project\u27s College, Career, and Community Writing Program (C3WP) (2018) and focusing on the moves of academic writers presented by Harris (2006) and Graff and Birkenstein (2017), students can find ways to use evidence in a more constructive way in their research and argumentative writing. This essay will analyze student writing samples at various levels of skill development and discuss examples of how this process looks in an actual classroom in order to examine how these resources help secondary students develop their academic writing skills. While it is a representation of one teacher’s experience, it serves as an example of the C3WP in action