CSU Reading and Writing Course Template -- Blog 4

Reading and writing are two of the fundamental aspects of studying English. In one way or another, they are connected to everything that we do as teachers and everything that our students do as, well, students. Beyond the scope of school, writing is a skill that will last them a lifetime, perhaps even longer depending on their will to use it. Now, it is quite unlikely that any of us will teach the next Shakespeare, but it is nevertheless important that our students understand how to read and write constructively. Luckily, California State University has some pointers to improve our teaching abilities.

This CSU template discusses both reading and writing, how to both do and teach them more effectively, and discusses some ways of assessment. The template emphasizes an idea that it calls “reading rhetorically” which essentially means to the purpose of the text, the intentions of the author, and the effect of the audience. In order to achieve this, reading is broken into three parts: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. Pre-reading is the process of surveying the text and determining what the reader already knows. During the second part, reading, the readers do not simply blaze through the text and let it go; in order to read rhetorically, they must apply the knowledge from their pre-read to the text as they read. Finally, in the post-read, readers begin to summarize and respond to the text by asking and answering questions about the logic (logos), writer (ethos), or the emotions (pathos) of the text.

The template also discusses writing rhetorically on top of reading rhetorically. Before starting the actual writing, the template suggests that readers begin with a pre-write of some form. This could be a brainstorm, free-write, preparing cluster maps or outlines, or using a series of quick-writes. During the writing process, the reader should compose a draft divided into the parts: the introduction where the thesis is presented and the topic and background information is established, the body where the topic is discussed and supported by arguments and quotes where appropriate, and the conclusion where larger claims are implied and connected and calls the reader to action.



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