5 About the Program in Writing and Rhetoric

The mission of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) is to offer high-quality writing courses to UW students that emphasize ethical composing across difference. To fulfill this mission, we train and mentor instructors in antiracist, accessible, translingual, and multimodal pedagogies that enact practices of inclusion and equity. With the Program for Writing Across Campus (PWAC) and in collaboration with numerous campus partners, we actively create and support knowledge-building about writing and writing instruction broadly within the program, the English department, and across campus.

Courses

PWR offers 10 different courses, all of which can be taught by ASEs and PTLs as well as by English department faculty. Below we briefly describe each of these courses to help you get a sense of what you might be interested in teaching in PWR. You can also find catalog descriptions and course syllabi on our website.

All 100-level courses in PWR involve a portfolio and share a set of four course outcomes. At the 200- and 300-level instructors are no longer required to use the 100-level course outcomes or a portfolio, but the outcomes still offer a foundational ground for course designs, assignment prompts, goals, and practices.

As you review the courses below, please feel free to reach out to any member of the PWR administrative team, including the PWR director, should you have any questions or want to learn more about them. Each year ASEs will have the opportunity to complete a scheduling preference form that communicates to the various English department program directors their interests in particular course assignments and opportunities.

109/110: Critical Composition 1 and 2

English 109 and 110 comprise a two-quarter stretch composition sequence that serves racially minoritized, first-generation, low-income, and/or student athlete populations in partnership with the Educational Opportunity Program and Student-Athlete Academic Services. The aim of this sequence is to give students more time and space to engage in the 100-level course outcomes. As a result of a curriculum redesign completed in 2021, students in this sequence receive both “W” and “DIV” credits upon completion of 109 and the “C” credit after completing 110.

As part of earning the DIV, W, and C credits, English 109 and 110 courses center culturally relevant material that goes beyond the reproduction of academic standards, genres, and knowledge and which invites students to consider the rhetorical valence of writing across public and academic contexts. An essential element of these courses involves fostering students’ sense of belonging and community here at the University of Washington.

In the picture to the right, department chair Anis Bawarshi and research librarian Elliott Stevens talk during the Winter 2023 English 110 research poster symposium, which brought together students from across all of our English 110 courses to showcase their final research posters and share their work.

Instructors and faculty who are especially interested in working with diverse students, developing pedagogies that are anti-racist and equitable, and building closer relationships of support with students should consider teaching this course.

111: Composition: Literature

English 111 (colloquially known as teaching literature+composition) is a space for exploring questions like these: How do stories create us? Why give attention to how stories develop and how they circulate? These questions and their kin motivated many of us to go to graduate school, and exploring them with undergraduates can be so helpful in thinking about why literary and cultural inquiry matters both inside and outside of the university.

English 111 uses the same outcomes as other 100-level EWP courses, with the difference that students enroll expecting a focus on writing in connection with cultural texts and imaginative works. The way people teach 111 varies widely, ranging from leveraging texts to develop academic writing skills to inviting students to think critically about experiences and knowledges using creative means.

Since English 111 gets in touch with the core questions as to what excites people about imaginative works, many instructors find that the approaches and assignments developed for this course continue to be useful for teaching cultural texts in composition and non-composition classes alike.

115: Writing Studio

English 115 is a two-credit support studio for international and multilingual students that is designed to be taken concurrently with another “C” or “W” course. Students have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of rhetorical grammar and grammars and to use the studio course as an opportunity to work within a small community of fellow writers to give and receive feedback as well as to draft and revise assignments and materials from their C or W course. A very limited number of 115 sections are offered each year.

121: Composition: Community-Based

English 121 is Community Engaged Composition and all 121 courses give students the opportunity to do some form of community engaged work through partnerships set up by the Community Engagement and Leadership Education Center (CELE). Most 121 courses involve students volunteering for an organization whose mission and purpose aligns with the course theme or, if an instructor has a particular connection to a specific organization, some 121 courses have had an entire class work toward supporting that organization in a mutually-beneficial way. Community engagement is considered as a course “text”, which means that instructors incorporate students’ volunteering experiences into the course in a variety of ways from in-class debriefing discussions to writing assignments connected to the volunteer organization. In this way, students have the opportunity to use writing and research in connection with their community engagement work, and students who have the opportunity to do community-engaged work early in their college careers often find it incredibly rewarding and some continue to stay involved and/or pursue other community engagement opportunities.

131: Composition: Exposition

All PWR instructors begin their teaching in the program by teaching English 131 and we have between 25-30 new instructors in the program each year. The course centers on giving students opportunities to engage the four 100-level course outcomes through two major assignment sequences culminating in a final portfolio that offers students the opportunity to revise, curate, and reflect upon the writing they have done over the course of the quarter. All of our 131 courses emphasize antiracist and accessible pedagogies, equity-oriented assessment, and attention to translingualism and multimodality.

182: Composition: Multimodal

English 182 makes multimodality a central emphasis of the course, and students who sign up are often excited about being able to play and engage with multimodal forms of composing and to compose genres that incorporate different modes in a rich, complex, and multifaceted way. Instructors are free to adapt their English 131 syllabi to enhance multimodality or to use the opportunity to experiment with new multimodal assignments including podcasts, videos, research posters, exhibits and more.

281/381: Intermediate and Advanced Composition

281 and 381 are 200- and 300-level versions of English 131 (which actually used to be numbered English 181). In 200- and 300-level courses, instructors are invited to build on the 100-level course outcomes with the expectation that students will dig more deeply into those outcomes. These courses can, but are not required to, incorporate a portfolio system.

282/382: Intermediate Multimodal Composition and Special Topics in Multimodal Composition

282 and 382 are 200- and 300-level versions of English 182, and often give students the opportunity to engage more deeply or fully with particular multimodal tools or genres. In 200- and 300-level courses PWR invites instructors to build on the 100-level course outcomes with the expectation that students will dig more deeply into those outcomes. These courses can, but are not required to, incorporate a portfolio system.