The ERWC professional learning workshops, a statewide initiative, are offered free of charge for high school faculty in the five-county area. The program offers a full-year English course for high school seniors to prepare them for college-level English. New teaching material has been developed for grades seven-11 to integrate more critical thinking and expository reading and writing skills into earlier grades. Course assignments focus on in-depth study of expository, analytical, persuasive and argumentative reading and writing, using topics relevant to students’ lives.
The workshops in the North Coast region—Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties—are scheduled throughout the year, including August 12 and 13 at Humboldt State. They train high school faculty to meet the new California Common Core Teaching Standards, which add more expository reading and writing to course content. The enrichment training is designed to enable teachers to reinforce student engagement in course material while preparing them for college and career success.
“The ERWC curriculum benefits students by providing them with flexible and practical strategies for reading and writing as well as engaging them in contemporary issues in a creative way,” says Humboldt State English lecturer Nicolette Amann. “I believe this is the best-aligned curriculum for what is expected in my freshman composition course.”
Since last August, 20 North Coast high school English teachers have completed the certification course. “ERWC changes the way students think about texts and their own academic skills,” says Amy Conley-Samuelson, who teaches senior English at Fortuna High School. “The focus on their opinions about non-fiction and contemporary issues gives them confidence to become both college students and voters. The course at Fortuna High means more students go directly into college-level English and more report academic success in their first year of college.”
Adds Kelly Troyna, who teaches 12th graders at Del Norte High School, “In recent years, our practice has been to teach at least one ERWC-like unit within every English-Language Arts course. The students’ engagement with the materials and the complexity with which they have synthesized the information have provided the impetus for us to expand our practice. We offer a true ERWC course that provides our students with further opportunities to hone their academic literacy skills.”
In addition to the August workshops for nine-12th grade English teachers, separate trainings for middle school teachers (grades seven and eight) will be offered throughout the region. The schedule and locations will be released later this summer and fall.
“The release of new teaching material is timely with the transition to Common Core State Teaching Standards over the next two years,” says Rose Francia, Humboldt State’s Early Assessment Program coordinator. “The ERWC teaching template is versatile and can be used to complement any lesson or district-adopted curriculum. This is an excellent opportunity to support our regional schools, teachers and, most importantly, our students, with materials that meet those standards and inspire students to become lifelong learners. The goal is to engage our students in building the crucial literacy skills they will need to succeed in college, careers and navigation of the adult world.”
A high school level Expository Reading and Writing Course teacher training will be held on Monday, August 12 and Tuesday, August 13 at Humboldt State University from 9am-4pm. Registration is required, at calstate.edu/eap/englishcourse.