Review Agenda Item
Meeting Date: 12/13/2023 - 3:00 PM
Category: Information Items
Type: Info
Subject: 16.2 CURRICULUM: Revised English Courses: ERWC 11 and ERWC 12 (meets A-G requirement “B”)
Strategic Plan:
Enclosure
File Attachment:
ERWC 11.pdf
ERWC 12.pdf
Summary: The District's Educational Services Department has recommended updates in our district-wide course catalog. When a course is discovered to be outdated or lacks sufficient information, a request is sent to the teacher(s) to update the course. At this time, we are submitting two revised English courses, ERWC 11 and ERWC 12. The ERWC is an integrated reading, writing, and oral communication curriculum that employs an inquiry-based, rhetorical approach. It is designed to inculcate the strategies, abilities, and habits of mind of fluent academic readers and writers through rhetorical analysis of compelling issues and interesting texts. Building deep conceptual understandings that transform how students read, write, listen, speak, and think, the curriculum is intended to help students transfer their literacy skills to new situations and increase student agency. Developed by teachers for teachers in a continuing collaboration between high school and university faculty, the ERWC modules have been edited and revised according to feedback from practicing teachers in classrooms across CA, Washington (WA), and Hawaii. New emphases in the third edition are transfer of learning, greater variety of literary and informational texts and writing and speaking tasks, and the inclusion of integrated and designated English language development and features from Universal Design for Learning. This includes student goal-setting and formative assessment. The grade 12 Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) engages students in discovering who they are as persons, the realization of the ways in which they can participate in society, and developing as critical consumers and effective communicators within society.   ERWC students will learn the following: - The value of reading and writing for communication, learning, and pleasure. - Read intentionally for a variety of purposes, including to learn content, to understand a variety of perspectives, to critique, and to learn writer's craft. - Understand the ways in which reading and writing inform and support each other. - Understand the ways that different aspects of rhetorical situations, especially audience, purpose, occasion, and genre—influence communicative choices. - Engage in intellectual conversations about important issues, including personal, societal, and academic. - Evaluate arguments, considering their purposes, audiences, structure, methods of persuasion, evidence, and reasoning. - Write effectively in a variety of academic, civic, and workplace genres. - Revise writing rhetorically at all levels of meaning from individual words to entire essay. Examine and reflect on strategies, processes, tools, and practices for ongoing learning and development. Be inquisitive, motivated, and self-directed learners. The Director of Curriculum and Instruction and the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services have approved the above courses.
Funding: The estimated cost will be between $20,000-$25,000. It will be funded through Local Control Accountability Plan Supplemental and Concentration Funds.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the Board of Trustees receive, for its review and consideration, as part of the first reading, the revised English courses: ERWC 11 and ERWC 12.
Approvals:
Recommended By:
Signed By:
Shannyn Cahoon - Director - Curriculum and Instruction
Signed By:
Robert Brough - Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services
Signed By:
Grant Bennett - Superintendent