Big Shifts in ERWC!

Welcome to the Teaching ERWC Podcast! This is officially our inaugural episode, and there is a lot to cover.

First, my name is Jeffery E. Frieden, an ERWC teacher at Hillcrest High School in the Alvord Unified School District. That’s it, just a teacher. Okay, I’m creating content for ERWC, so maybe not just a teacher. But other than a few clever networking opportunities I took using social media, I am just a guy trying to make his way through the modules.

In this episode, you will hear from Jennifer Fletcher, head of the ERWC Steering Committee. She lays out the vision for the future of ERWC, as well as the months ahead. Even though I have been teaching ERWC for a decade, Jennifer shared some details about ERWC that surprised me:

  • Over 15,000 teachers have been trained in ERWC
  • The curriculum in not only taught in California, but Washington state and Hawaii too
  • Leaders in the ERWC have presented on this curriculum internationally

Listen in anticipation about all the professional learning opportunities that are on the way and for an invitation to get involved.

Want to contribute to the podcast?

The Teaching ERWC Podcast is produced, written, and developed by members of the ERWC Community, who is made up of many voices from many backgrounds. The community invites its members to be part of the content being produced here.

If you have any interest in contributing to the podcast, please fill out this Google Form.

Welcome!

by Jennifer Fletcher

Welcome to the ERWC blog! We envision this blog as a way for ERWC teachers to dig into the nuts and bolts of the curriculum: to share teaching tips and success stories, explore problems of practice together, and ground ourselves in the key principles and frameworks that make the curriculum work for all students.

Here you’ll find advice from colleagues on teaching signature ERWC activities, such as descriptive outlining and rhetorical analysis. You’ll also find strategies for designing a year-long course, teaching a particular module, or using the ERWC Assignment Template to create your own units. And we’ll share “think pieces” on some of the larger issues that impact our work as educators, including the importance of culturally sustaining pedagogies.

We hope these bite-sized bits of professional learning sustain your connection to the ERWC community (now over 15,000 educators strong!) and support your essential work in the classroom. We’d love to hear from you, too, about how you make ERWC work—and how you make it better.

ERWC has always been about more than the modules. Teacher collaboration and expertise are the magic ingredients that make the curriculum effective. We’re delighted to invite you to join us in spreading more of that magic around!

To subscribe to the ERWC blog, please click on the button that says, “Follow.” Submissions for blog posts may be sent to Jennifer Fletcher at jfletcher@csumb.edu. Please see the publication criteria on the “Writing for the ERWC Blog” page. For more information on the California State University’s Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC), including how to register for an ERWC workshop, please visit the following websites:

ERWC Online Community:
https://writing.csusuccess.org/
CSU Center for the Advancement of Reading and Writing: https://www2.calstate.edu/CAR/Pages/erwc.aspx
ERWC Workshop Registration:
https://www2.calstate.edu/CAR/Pages/professional-learning-workshops.aspx

Jennifer Fletcher is a Professor of English at California State University, Monterey Bay and the Chair of the ERWC Steering Committee. You can follow her on Twitter @JenJFletcher.