Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC)

 

Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) engages students in the discovery of who they are as persons, the realization of the ways in which they can participate in society, and their development as critical consumers and effective communicators within society. Teachers and schools build and personalize the yearlong course by selecting from approximately 35 modules (instructional units) to meet rigorous, college preparatory learning goals in reading, writing, listening, and speaking for all students while promoting student interest and motivation. Employing a rhetorical, inquiry-based approach that fosters critical thinking, student agency, and metacognition, the course includes six full-length modules drawn from five categories: 1) American foundational documents; 2) American drama; 3) full-length books; 4) research; and 5) contemporary issues (two modules). In addition, the course includes five concept mini-modules that address transferable skills applicable to conceptual development and practice across all modules, e.g., genre awareness, goal setting and self-assessment, rhetorical situation, and Aristotelian appeals. The core structure of all the modules— the Assignment Template—progresses along an “arc” from reading rhetorically (preparing to read, reading purposefully, and questioning the text) to preparing to respond (discovering what you think) to writing rhetorically (composing a draft, revising rhetorically, and editing). By the end of the course, students will have read a range of literary and nonfiction text genres and produced 10-12 culminating projects, including academic essays, research reports, creative writing and performances, and multimedia presentations, from initial draft to final revision and editing.