Each year, the Department of Rhetoric and Writing chooses a first-year forum book to be used in RHE 306. During the 2008-09 academic year, students in first-year writing classes will read Michael Lewis' The Blind Side. (During the 2007-2008 school year, students in Rhetoric and Writing 306 classes read Luis Alberto Urrea's book The Devil's Highway.)

Classes studying this text will be following a controversies-based model in which they will map out a controversy, analyze a position within the controversy, and advocate for a position within the controversy. These three main objectives provide the structure for the course, but instructors have some freedom when deciding how they will carry out each unit.

The resources provided below give Assistant Instructors a starting point as they begin to think about the specific assignments and day-to-day activities they want to use in their classroom.

Unit plans offer AIs a way to think about how they want to meet the goals of a particular unit in interesting and innovative ways. These unit plans give ideas for both a paper assignment and the daily activities that would be necessary to scaffold that particular assignment.

The Controversy Stubs page offers a starting place for AIs who are looking for a controversy to model for the class (AIs will conduct the mapping, analysis, and advocacy units for students) or for those looking to provide students with list of controversies to choose from.