Welcome to PWR

Welcome to the Program in Writing and Rhetoric! When you teach Writing and Rhetoric courses in PWR, you take part in one of Stanford’s oldest traditions: first-year writing has been taught at Stanford since its founding. Every Stanford undergraduate student participates in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (with the exception of about 90 students enrolled in Structured Liberal Education (SLE)), and the students expect the courses to be useful, carefully designed, and effectively taught. We think you will enjoy working with Stanford’s first- and second-year students as you guide them toward more mature and powerful writing.

For Lecturers and Teaching Fellows, teaching in PWR provides opportunities for ongoing professional development, for conducting research, and for participating in a vibrant community of writers and scholars. With access to the PWR resource library, technology to support teaching, and PWR colleagues and staff, you will have the opportunity to develop your pedagogy as you design and facilitate writing courses for PWR.

For graduate students in English, Comparative Literature, and Modern Thought and Literature, teaching in PWR is a crucial component of the graduate curriculum: building on your experiences as a TA, you will have an opportunity to think carefully and in detail about your own writing as well as that of your students, to develop further as a professional in the company of others committed to a life of teaching and scholarship, and to create materials (syllabus, assignments, and handouts) that will be very helpful to you as you begin a job search.

For all others who take an interest in the teaching of writing, the Guide provides an overview of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric’s goals, policies, and practices. We also invite you to consult the PWR website at http://pwr.stanford.edu.