Community Literacy Center

Given the prominence of environmental and social concerns about water in our community, we believe this is a perfect time to invite additional publics into conversation about 21st century water challenges using multimodal literacy tools. The Writing Water Curriculum Project (WWCP), a curriculum focused raising awareness about water challenges in Northern Colorado, was developed in 2021-2022 with support from an educational outreach grant from the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University and in collaboration with interns at the Community Literacy Center. The lesson plans shared below are the result of an eighteen month collaboration between Community Literacy Center staff and local water scholars, field scientists, park managers, artists, and regional business owners.  Each is designed for use with a wide range of writers and intend to make accessible and interesting connections between water science and our lives through writing.  Many also include virtual field trips in the form of short videos featuring regional waterways and short interviews.   They are free to download and use.

Curriculum was designed and tested by a stellar group of CLC volunteers and individual lessons were piloted by SpeakOut! facilitators and community writers in workshops throughout Larimer County, Colorado. Special thanks to Emily Iskin, our graduate research assistant and expert in fluvial geomorphology, who provided essential consultation in water science and created original water-inspired art for the WWCP webpage and Mary Ellen Sanger and Nick Page for website design.  We invite you to explore these resources and reach out with your feedback and adaptations as we work toward a more sustainable and water-friendly world.