The Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) material consists of a template that organizes and guides 14 course modules. Each module takes between one and three weeks to teach and is composed of a sequence of integrated reading and writing experiences, beginning with pre-reading activities, moving into reading and post-reading activities, and continuing through informal and formal writing assignments. Along the way, students learn to make predictions about their reading, analyze content and rhetorical structures, and properly use materials from the texts they read to support their own written arguments.

The course materials include "teacher" and "student" versions of each module. The teacher versions offer sample responses and numerous options for instructing students in effective reading, writing, and thinking. The student versions are designed as handouts, which teachers can copy (in part or in whole) and give to students to facilitate the various reading, discussion, and writing activities. Pending copyright clearance, the materials will be available online.

Course readings appeal to the interests of high school students and are divided into two semesters. The readings and activities vary in style and genre; they also grow in complexity.

1st Semester

1. Fast Food: Who should take the blame for Americans' increasing obesity?
2. Going for the Look: Should companies be allowed to hire only those workers who project the "right" image?
3. Rhetoric of the Op-Ed Page: What are ethos, pathos, and logos, and how can we use these concepts to persuade others?
4. The Value of Life: Can human lives be valued in dollars and cents? Are some lives worth more than others?
5. Racial Profiling: Are racial and ethnic profiling real? What, if anything, do they accomplish? What should we do?
6. Juvenile Justice: Should children and teens be tried, convicted, and punished as adults?
7. The Last Meow: How far should Americans go to preserve the lives and health of their pets?
8. Into the Wild (Book module): Why would a young man attempt a perilous, solo Alaskan adventure that leads to death? (Nonfiction)

2nd Semester

1. Bring a Text to Class: How can students learn by helping us read texts that they like?
2. Language, Gender, and Culture: How do gender and culture affect what we say and how we say it?
3. Left Hand of Darkness (Book module): What if different types of humans lived on different planets within one galaxy?
4. The Politics of Food: How might our food choices make a political statement? A moral one?
5. Justice: Childhood Love Lessons: How can parents discipline with love and justice? What happens if parents do not?
6. Bullying at School (Research project): How can students create and present a school Code of Conduct that deals with bullying?

Assignment Template »» (.pdf)