Editor’s Note: California State University is hosting its annual in-person literacy conferences June 20th in Sacramento and June 26th in Pomona. The theme for this year’s event is “Doing Language: Rhetoric, Identity, and Power.” All are welcome! Sessions feature strategies for integrated and designated English language development, fostering linguistic and rhetorical agility, and promoting equity and inclusion. The $75 registration fee includes lunch and a choice of location and date.
By Jennifer Fletcher
Happy New Year, ERWC colleagues! 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the inception of Cal State University’s Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum, a milestone we’ll be marking in multiple ways in the coming months. We hope you’ll join us for our spring webinars and June conference as we celebrate two decades as a community of practice dedicated to the success of all students.
We’re also continuing to celebrate the expansion of ERWC through the third edition of the curriculum. We think of ERWC 3.0 as the equity upgrade: the version of the curriculum that gets us closer to fulfilling our commitment to inclusive learning experiences, relevant issues, and representative texts. To paraphrase a certain organization for retirees that keeps contacting me now that I’m in my 50s, if you don’t know ERWC 3.0, you don’t know ERWC.
Here’s a quick test to see if an update session is right for you: Which of the following images represents the version of the curriculum you know best? (And if your idea of ERWC doesn’t go beyond a set of modules with “DRAFT” watermarked all over them, then we’d really love to see you in an update session!)
If you’re already team purple, you can probably stop reading here. But if you’re team blue/taupe, then we have some updates we’d like to share with you. For instance, did you know that ERWC has published new sample student essays with scores and commentary, new resources on writing and transfer, and new modules for grades 9-12? Or a new mini-module reader and customizable reader? If not, it might be time for an ERWC 3.0 tune-up.
What’s New?
In addition to dozens of new modules (including some just published in 2022), our professional resources for teachers have also been revised and expanded for the third edition to explicitly address integrated and designated English language development, Universal Design for Learning, culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies, and rhetorical knowledge needed for transfer. A new “Theoretical Foundations” resource was likewise created for the third edition.
Some more things that are new about ERWC:
- A redesigned website
- New student essays with scores and commentary for ERWC 3.0 modules
- New modules with Integrated and Designated ELD
- A new grade 11 course
- High Impact Strategies Toolkit to Support English Learners
- Free literacy webinar series
- Teacher blog
- Newly released 3.0 modules, such as “Community Activism”
- The return of in-person June literacy conferences
- Expanded ERWC strand at CATE
- New resources for writing instruction (Rhetorical Concepts & Adopting a Mentoring Stance)
- New rubrics for assessment
- New edition of They Say, I Say
- Increasing focus on strategies for expert learners in modules
- More tools (and flexibility) for semester- and year-long planning
Attending an ERWC 3.0 update session is a great way for teachers and administrators to give their curriculum the “equity upgrade” enacted by ERWC’s expanded frameworks, curriculum, and resources. We hope you’ll consider registering (or encouraging a colleague to register) for one of ERWC’s free update sessions soon if you haven’t already heard about all the changes to ERWC in the past few years. We’d love to connect with you in person or online and hear what’s new with you, too!
PS to folks in Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, and San Benito County: I’m super excited to be facilitating my first in-person ERWC update session since 2019 next month. If you know teachers and administrators who might be interested in joining us for two Saturday workshops at CSU Monterey Bay, please help spread the word. Registration closes February 10, 2023.
Jennifer Fletcher is a Professor of English at California State University, Monterey Bay and a former high school teacher. She serves as the Chair of the ERWC Steering Committee. You can follow her on Twitter @JenJFletcher.
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