Teaching Academic Writing to Secondary Students

Offered in collaboration with UC Irvine School of Education

This program is designed to train teachers and other professional educators in some of the best practices for teaching academic writing. These practices are derived from the Pathway to Academic Success Project developed by the UC Irvine Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, in the School of Education at University of California, Irvine.

The curriculum is based on decades of research and evidence-based practices proven to be effective for all students, but particularly to help English learners develop their academic writing. Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress-Writing have underscored the fact that our students and teachers need better support in writing instruction.

Who Should Enroll

This program is ideal for those who wish to learn about teaching academic writing (e.g., five different genres) to secondary students (grades 6-12), especially for educators working with English learners. The curriculum is designed for teachers and other educators, such as professional development facilitators, in educational settings, in professional learning communities, and/or for self-paced learning. Audiences include Secondary English Language (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) educators and administrators, literacy coaches, as well as curriculum and instruction directors.

Program Benefits

• Acquire an understanding of how to take a cognitive strategies approach to teaching various genres
• Apply and implement the cognitive strategies approach in reading and writing instruction
• Implement effective revision strategies to improve student writing
• Integrate contextualized language support to scaffold multilingual students’ academic literacy development
• Customize and curate resources for classroom use

Eligibility and Requirements

A specialized studies certificate is awarded upon successful completion of any three (3) courses in the program totaling six (6) credit units, with a grade of “C” or better in each course. To receive the digital certificate after completing all program requirements, students must submit a Request for Certificate. All requirements must be completed within five (5) years after the student enrolls in their first course. Students not pursuing a specialized studies award are welcome to take as many individual courses as they wish.