Dear Reader, 

In explaining the EWC Ecosystem, I found that a letter is more conducive in relaying our message accurately. Our curriculum is too deeply intertwined with our philosophy, and merely writing a “course description” is far too sterile.

Before delving into an overview of the Eyre Writing Center, I begin - as I always do - with a message to families who are currently part of the EWC community: thank you. For entrusting EWC with your children, for caring about our mission, for spreading the word, for your patience. And now, for taking the time to read this letter.

From the outset, we have stated the following:

We believe that strong writing skills serve as the bedrock of being a stronger thinker. That ability to write and think clearly is integral not only to a liberal arts education, but also to our roles in the community at large.

I restate this passage because those skills make up the curricula in the EWC ECOSYSTEM that emcompasses all of our offerings. Our goal is for every student who goes through our EWC Ecosystem to write better, think more critically, and develop a deeper understanding of the liberal arts.

At the center of the Ecosystem is the CORE, the basic classic literature and liberal arts knowledge fundamental to a students' education. The CORE aims to provide a concrete framework for our mission using our proprietary EWC MATRIX. The Matrix distills our mission into the CORE TEN categories:

Each of the ten categories is then further broken down into specific skills, or “TILES” that will enable us to take a targeted approach to a holistic liberal arts education. We display the tiles in our EWC Matrix in more detail below.

And so, what does this mean for you? Where should your child start? We suggest the following trajectory:

1. Most of our students begin with the Intro Series (100s and 200s) in which we will teach the fundamentals from building complex sentences to writing full research papers and personal narrative. 
2. Throughout the Intro Series, students would receive report cards and a complete evaluation of their writing using our matrix, which would then place them into one of 5 CORE classes.
3. Each CORE curriculum addresses the “tiles” outlined in the matrix above. The student will receive updated matrices and feedback  at EWC to track improvement as they progress through the CORE classes.
4. Students can also take other EWC modules (Grammar, HUM Series, EWJ, Workspace) that serve as “boosters” to supplement the CORE curriculum for additional writing guidance.

We hope this letter clarifies the direction that EWC will be taking its curriculum, and the rest of this packet will describe the EWC Matrix and our individual classes in more detail. The privilege of being an educator in your child’s life is not lost on us, and it is an honor to wake up every morning to the mission of bettering tomorrow’s world through a widely accessible and high-quality liberal arts education.

Maybe, just maybe, it will happen. We think it can. And for that chance, thank you.

Sincerely,

Jane

Over the past year, we have spoken to hundreds of families to give feedback on their students’ writing and answer their questions. By far, the number one question I heard was:

What skills do my children need to learn to be a good writer?

We decided to take our answer a step further by creating the EWC Matrix. Its purpose is two-fold:

ONE: Assess progress using a targeted approach by scoring each “tile” to hone in on what skills the students will need to improve (Green, Orange, Red)

TWO: Create a roadmap for your child’s liberal arts education by identifying our CORE TEN categories and specific “tiles” within each category. We will outline “tiles” each individual class will aim to address. 

As you read through our course below, tiles specific to each unit will be highlighted so that you can see what skills each unit aims to address. Note that for the CORE Levels 1-5, cells colored in BLUE are covered in each of the units across the board.

We hope that the matrix would serve as a helpful roadmap and provide a concrete framework for navigating the liberal arts.