Thread by @cecile_mcm

I’ve just finished @david_perell’s online writing course Write of Passage

imo this course sets a new standard on what good teaching looks like: the quality, thoughtfulness and energy with which the course was designed and delivered blew my mind

here’s what worked well for me

1/ excellent stories and writing frameworks

the team has been iterating on those stories and frameworks for years now, using student feedback as a driver for improvement—and it shows!

I’ll share the POP framework here as a teaser:
perell.com/note/pop-writi…

2/ unlocking my unique writing process and style

everyone’s writing process and style is unique

the frameworks are there to frame people’s thinking, it’s the stories that the team tell and the questions that curious peers and mentors ask that helped reveal what mine looked like

3/ writing as a form of self-expression

I wasn’t just taught how to refine my writing technique and style, I was coached into exploring writing as a new and enhanced form of self-expression

it’s a transformational course in the literal sense: I came out of it a different person

4/ unlocking ideas from my brain

thanks to the variety of prompts, I wrote about things that I had never thought of writing about which means I discovered new ideas in me and refined my ‘voice’

there are things I wouldn’t know how to say if I couldn’t use writing to unlock them

5/ unlocking ideas and styles from my heart

the teachings and safe opportunities to practice have helped me test new kinds of writing style

at some point, I found myself crafting a few sentences with a level of poetry and delicacy that I didn’t know I had in me

https://twitter.com/cecile_mcm/status/1582258779260739585

6/ editing as a superpower

getting feedback from others on my writing gave me energy and ideas when I felt stuck

giving someone else feedback on their writing required me to pay close attention to their message and their style which then indirectly helped me improve my own

https://twitter.com/chr_iswong/status/1591173498700865538

7/ live sessions as a twice-weekly dose of content and energy

every minute spent in a live session is worth your time: the sessions start right on time; roles and timings are orchestrated with precision; the content is excellent

I felt pumped as I dialled off each of them

8/ learning by doing

we were invited to apply every teaching through a variety of exercises: the course doesn’t ‘just’ get you to understand new frameworks and concepts, it gets you to try them on, to embody them

also: you never do the same thing twice, it’s never boring

9/ break-out rooms as a way to connect

breakout rooms were structured as thoughtful opportunities to test our thinking and writing with others in a safe space

I met incredibly interesting people in those virtual rooms, several of whom I ended up setting up calls with afterwards

10/ clarity and attention to detail

clear roles for everyone involved at all times (david, team, mentors, editors, students) and clear guidance anytime a breakout room or an exercise is announced

everything is intentionally designed in detail to maximise student experience

11/ an ambitious and rewarding publishing cadence

we were invited to publish one quality essay every week; a tough target but manageable and rewarding

when I showed up with my struggling draft on week 2, several peers and editors showed up to support and cheer me on

12/ I feel like a writer

I was given full permission over 5 weeks to embody the persona of ‘someone who identifies as a writer with her unique style and interests’ and I felt supported in my attempts

I’ve now transitioned from being ‘someone who writes’ to feeling like a writer

well done @david_perell and the WOP team and thank you 🙏

I’ll be back for WOP10 and will be using those meta learnings on ‘how to teach well’ in my own work

for anyone interested, here’s the link to the course (no, I was not paid to write any of this)

writeofpassage.school