Welcome to the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) at the University of Washington! We are delighted to have you joining our instructional community and eager to get to know you and support you as you begin teaching in our program. All instructors new to PWR begin by teaching English 131. We provide a substantive orientation to the program prior to the quarter’s start. You will also take English 567 during Autumn Quarter, which will move past the more practical and hands-on training you get in the orientation and give you theoretical grounding in composition and rhetoric that will further support you in developing your pedagogical praxis and instructional positionality.

This manual is intended to guide you as you develop course content, as well as help you understand the philosophies of writing and teaching that this program encompasses. Ideally, it will provide both practical help (How do I create a writing prompt? How do I grade my students’ work?) as well as support your engagement with key pedagogical and philosophical challenges (How can students transfer the skills they are learning in this course into other contexts? How do I negotiate diverse student experiences or navigate conflicts that might arise in my course?) We hope that you will first read these materials as an overview of the course you are about to teach, and then return to them as you challenge and broaden your approach to reading and writing pedagogy over the course of your time at the UW and beyond.

The 2024 Manual features a photograph looking north from the bridge crossing Deception Pass. The rushing greenish water is bordered on each side by pine trees, and a blue sky with wispy white clouds stretches into the background. (Photo by Stephanie Kerschbaum.)