PWR Teaching Guide
The Program in Writing and Rhetoric is a part of one of Stanford's oldest traditions: first-year writing has been taught at Stanford since its founding and was the first requirement put in place by the University. With the exception of about 90 students enrolled in Structured Liberal Education (SLE), every Stanford undergraduate takes Writing & Rhetoric courses, and the students expect the courses to be useful, carefully designed, and effectively taught.
The resources in the right-hand column are designed to provide guidance in developing effective pedagogical practices for teaching PWR courses at Stanford.
All work in PWR is governed by the core ideas expressed on the PWR Goals and Principles page:
- PWR courses are courses in writing. In a traditional university-level course, writing is a tool for measuring student understanding of material presented through lecture, reading, and discussion. In a PWR course, writing itself is the main activity and goal.
- Writing abilities develop slowly and recursively. The college years are crucial to this development. Our job is to help students build on and improve the wide range of writing and speaking abilities they developed during high school. This improvement will deepen their intellectual experiences during their time in PWR courses, during their years at Stanford, and as professionals.
- Writing develops best under the guidance of a skilled instructor. PWR classes remain small to foster substantial interactions between students and instructors. PWR instructors meet in conference with each student at least three times each term and offer substantial written feedback on drafts of each major assignment.
- Instructors keep the focus on writing. Every assignment, classroom activity, discussion, or reading should connect clearly and explicitly to students' growth as writers and communicators.
- Writing is rewriting. Students in PWR classes take each major assignment through preparatory exercises and assignments, a full draft, and intensive revision of the draft, supported by individual conferences with the instructor, written feedback from the instructor, and systematic peer review.
- Students learn best by focusing on topics of interest to them. Most meaningful work in the university and in professional life involves finding an individual trajectory within institutional exigencies and constraints. PWR helps students gain mastery of this life-long challenge by encouraging students to explore projects of their own design within the shared framework of the course.
Additionally, PWR strives for overall program consistency and coherence by offering the following "contract" with students:
- All PWR courses follow a standard assignment sequence, tailored by each instructor.
- Required PWR courses have a commensurate workload across sections.
- PWR instructors offer detailed written responses to drafts of every major assignment, allowing sufficient time for students to revise effectively.
- PWR instructors respond promptly to all drafts and assignments, generally within one week of receiving student work.
- Each student has a minimum of three 30-minute individual conferences with the instructor.
- PWR courses include systematic procedures for peer review to support students' growth as writers and communicators.