Note: This calendar is for instructors. It’s been designed as a sample for how a three-day/week (50 minute) course might scaffold readings, lessons, and assignments. There are more readings and lesson plans listed than your class will need—choose the ones for your course that represent your values and expectations as an instructor.
We recommend 1-2 readings per class, but consider the length of the reading and other work required for the day/week.
If you are teaching two 75-minute classes per week, please use the model calendar for M/W or T/Th classes.
Once you have made your selections, convert this calendar into a student-facing calendar. See the Student-Facing Calendar Template for one model of how to do this. If you find that you would like additional sample assignments or lessons, please view the E100 LessonShare Canvas site. If you would like input into how to adjust this calendar for you or your class’s needs, feel free to reach out to one of the E100 Assistant Directors. For more information about the model syllabus, calendar, and sample assignments, please see the E100 Instructor’s Guide and the E100 Course Materials BOX folder.
Sequence 1:
A Narrative Approach to Concepts, Invention, and Inquiry
Reading & Writing Due | Goals & Possibilities | Instructor Resources | |
Week 1: Intro to the Course By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 1 | Class Introductions, help students get to know each other; Course and Syllabus Overview, Assign Short Assignment 1 Possible Activities
| The L&S Exchange Podcast, “The First Day of Class” CTLM, “Belonging in the Classroom” Make sure your course Canvas page is published by the first day of classes and you reach out to your students in advance of the first day. Consider adapting and sending out an access survey before the semester begins. | |
Day 2 | Potential Readings The syllabus Course Readings Website (link)
Kepka, “Critical Reading” Powell, “The Practice of Rhetorical Reading” Dickson, “Reading and Disruptive Emotions” Choose readings on AI from the Generative AI Debate Lesson Plan (see lesson plan in next column) Writing Due Short Assignment 1 Complete the Access Survey | Introduce Sequence 1 including each of the short assignments and major writing project; Introduce Rhetorical Analysis; Discuss concepts that lay the course foundation: audience, purpose, rhetoric, drafting, revision Possible Activities
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Week 2: Beginning to Think Rhetorically By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 3 | Potential Readings Koenig, “What I Found in Standing Rock” Nguyen, “Asian American Need More Movies, Even Mediocre Ones” Jory, ”The Rhetorical Situation” Dirk, ”Navigating Genres” | Practice rhetorical analysis; Discuss reasons for writing in relation to audience and purpose; Build course vocabulary for discussing writing; Assign Short Assignment 2 Possible Activities:
| Students have access to a free New York Times subscription; direct them to set up an account Carillo, “On ‘Generous Reading’ and ‘Affectionate Interpretation’” Instructor’s Guide, “Rhetorical Analysis: The Guiding Questions” |
Day 4 | Potential Readings Reid, “Ten Ways to Think About Writing” Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts” Roberts, “Making Peer Review More than a Waste of Time” Writing Due Partial draft of Short Assignment 2 | Introduce and practice Writing Workshops; Discuss writing as a process Possible Activities:
| Instructor’s Guide, “Writing Workshop and Peer Response Practices” LessonShare, Workshop Handouts |
Day 5 | Potential Readings Young, "Should Writers Use They Own English?" Tan, "Mother Tongue" (Podcast) College Writing, Actually, “What is Linguistic Justice Actually About?” Explore the Wisconsin Idea: Office of the Chancellor, Wisconsin Idea Wisconsin Historical Society, “Progressivism and the Wisconsin Idea” Deadline for adding classes/dropping classes with full refund – confirm at https://registrar.wisc.edu/dates Writing Due Short Assignment 2 | Introduce Writing Project 1, the Wisconsin Idea, and portfolios; Discuss language and writing norms in relation to Young and Tan; Complicate ideas of the Wisconsin Idea Possible Activities:
| Savini, “10 Ways to Tackle Linguistic Bias in Our Classrooms” Baker-Bell, “Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy” Additional context about the Wisconsin Idea: What’s in a Name? Charles Van Hise and the history of eugenics at UW–Madison - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion |
Week 3: Revision, Process, and Storytelling By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 6 | Potential Readings Babin et al., Strategies for Getting Started Christiansen, “Story as Rhetorical” Lima, “Snowbound” (narrative essay example) Horwitz, “The Chapel” (student narrative essay on Canvas) Park, “Ko-ma-to-ray Stationary Store” (student narrative essay on Canvas) Lawson, “Oklahoma!” (student narrative essay on Canvas) Other sample student narrative essays available on Canvas | Discuss the Wisconsin Idea in relation to the project; work toward an understanding of the rhetorical power of story and description Possible Activities:
| Atilla Hallsby, “Rhetoric and Narrative” |
Day 7 | Potential Readings Blankenship, “Writing Is Recursive” Johnson, “What is Story?” Ira Glass on Storytelling, part 1 (YouTube) Shimshak, “The Appleshaped Earth and We Upon It” (audio available) Rodríguez, “Leave Yourself out of your Writing” from Bad Ideas about Writing Jackson, “The Manliness of Artificial Intelligence” Liu, “I was enough: How I stopped trying to sound smart…” | Discuss writing as a process; Discuss voice and AI in writing; Discuss Wisconsin Idea with Writing Project 1’s goals Possible Activities:
| Shimshak, “How to Be a Flâneur: Introducing the Art of Urban Wandering to in English 100” |
Day 8 | Potential Readings Kepka, Providing Good Feedback and Receiving Feedback Writing Due Draft 1 of Project 1 | Writing Workshop on draft of Writing Project 1; Discuss and practice revision; Discuss how to put together a portfolio Possible Activities:
| LessonShare, Workshop Handouts |
Week 4: Revising, Reflection, and Delivering Midterm Portfolio By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 9 | No Class—Conferences Writing Due to Conferences Portfolio draft and questions about the portfolio/your writing | Collaborate on a plan for revision | Instructors’ Guide, Writing Conference Strategies [Note: Set the due date for the portfolio a few days after conferences. This will allow students time to fully engage with the revision process.] |
Day 10 | Writing Due Jackson, “The Manliness of Artificial Intelligence” Liu, “I was enough: How I stopped trying to sound smart…” McIntyre, “Working Through Revision” Kepka, What is revision? Read Writer's Memo Instructions Bring all materials from this Sequence: drafts, notes, revisions, reflections, etc. | Discuss and practice revision; Discuss how to put together a portfolio Possible Activities:
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Day 11 | Potential Readings Sifting and Reckoning online exhibit Mantyla, “Movies Explain the World (of Writing)” Shimshak, “The Appleshaped Earth and We Upon It” (audio available) – either revisit or assign for the first time Writing Due Midterm Portfolio | Introduce Sequence 2 and the second Writing Project; Transition from Sequence 1 to an exploration of expert opinion, field research, and/or managing information Possible Activities:
| Lesson Share, Sequence 2 Lessons If using the Sifting and Reckoning exhibit, make sure to go through the whole site and read the About page and the Gallery Guide Text Statement Bailey, “On Badger Belonging: The Complexity of Shared Identity at UW Madison” |
Sequence 2: Writing to Inform
Reading & Writing Due | Goals & Possibilities | Instructor Resources | |
Week 5: Intro to Writing with Information By the end of this week students should be able to:
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Day 12 | Potential Readings Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” DasBender, Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academic Mascarenhas, “Rhetorical Artifact” | Introduce informative writing and what counts as information and/or research methods; Introduce rhetorical artifacts; Inspire curiosity in students to research the world around them by identifying an artifact that is a part of a conversation they want to participate in Possible Activities:
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Day 13 | Potential Readings Carroll, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” Ortega, “The Environmental Injustices of Forced Migration” (informative essay example) Noble, "Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls" O’Neil, “These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI” Stokel-Walker, “ChatGPT Replicates Gender Bias in Recommendation Letters” Turk, “How AI Reduces the World to Stereotypes” | Introduce secondary research/Writing Project 2; Practice analysis of arguments/artifacts by mapping the rhetorical situation they are a part of and how sources affect credibility (ethos); Identify patterns within data or sources; Develop critical reading skills; Discuss the research process as “sifting and winnowing”; develop AI literacy around bias and accuracy Possible Activities:
| Moxley, “The Rhetorical Situation” |
Day 14 | Potential Readings Rosenberg, “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Resources” Wierszewski, “Research Starts with a Thesis Statement” in Bad Ideas About Writing “Regular vs. Research Questions” “Developing Your Research Question” Writing Due Short Assignment 3 | Introduce research questions; Work on developing research questions for Writing Project 2; Assign Short Assignment 4 and discuss the process Possible Activities:
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Week 6: Analysis and Synthesis of Information By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 15 | Potential Readings The Writing Center, “Generating Ideas for your Paper” Nordquist, “What is the Burkean Parlor?” Roozen, “Texts Get Their Meaning from Other Texts” | Practice summarizing a variety of secondary sources; Assign Short Assignment 5 Possible Activities:
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Day 16 | Reading/Activity Due Sift and Winnow Writing Due Bring a copy of your revised research question from the Sift and Winnow modules | Discuss and practice search strategies; Prep students for library session; Think critically about the role of generative AI in research; Assign Short Assignment 5 Possible Activities:
| [Make sure you have assigned all modules of Sift & Winnow BEFORE your library session. If your students do Sift and Winnow multiple days in advance of their library session, review the modules in class the day before the library session.] **If you would like students to do Sift and Winnow in person we suggest doing it this day The Generative AI & Research lesson plan fits well one or two sessions before going to the library, and after students have a topic and completed Sift & Winnow, so time according to your library day. |
Day 17 | Potential Readings Carillo, “Reading and Writing are Not Connected” in Bad Ideas About Writing Powell, “Reading Rhetorically” Writing Due Short Assignment 4 | Discuss rhetorical reading and thinking about how to analyze sources to think about how the author is trying to shape the audience’s thoughts alongside evaluating how this shapes credibility Possible activities:
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Week 7: Information and Informative Writing By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 18 | LIBRARY SESSION or CATCH UP DAY | Prep students for library session; Think critically about research | [IN-PERSON Library SESSION typically falls between weeks 7 and 9. You will have the opportunity to choose the day that will work best for your class. The library day should fall shortly before Short Assignment 5 or another assignment for which students need to use sources. Feel free to adjust the calendar to fit with your assigned library day; you could even move the annotated bibliography to Sequence 3 if necessary. If you chose the VIRTUAL option of Library Session, you could spend a day in Sequence 2 working on this module in class. Make sure you have assigned all modules of Sift & Winnow BEFORE your library session.] |
Day 19 | Potential Readings Roberts-Miller, “Rhetoric is Synonymous with Empty Speech” from Bad Ideas about Writing PurdueOWL, “Synthesizing Sources” Hopes, “An Ode to Madison’s Lake Monster” (informative essay example) | Debrief Library Session; Identify strategies for Synthesizing information for an audience and purpose; Demonstrate the importance, relevance, or timeliness of an issue and a writer’s take on it. Possible Activities:
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Day 20 | Potential Readings Roozen, “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity” Gilsdorf, “An Accessible Campus” (student informative essay on Canvas) Graboski, “Walleye War” (student informative essay on Canvas) Other student informative essays available on Canvas Writing Due Short Assignment 5 (Brief Annotated Bibliography) | Consider how texts make arguments based on specific fields of study or from a writer’s ideological, political, or cultural perspective; play with generative AI to help develop students’ arguments; Learn how to distinguish a writer’s own voice from that of other sources; (Re)Introduce Writing Project 2 Possible Activities:
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Week 8: Working with Sources By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 21 | Potential Readings Stedman, “Annoying Ways People Use Sources” Selection from They Say, I Say Writing Due Bring one of the sources you will use for Project 2 to class | Practice summarizing, paraphrasing, strategic and artful quoting; Explain complicated information/ideas in a brief, engaging way Possible Activities:
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Day 22 | Potential Readings The Daily (Podcast), “Suspicion, Cheating, and Bans: AI Hits America’s Schools” Goode, Lauren, et al. “Let’s Talk about Chat GPT and Cheating in the Classroom.” Kovanovic, Vitomir and Rebecca Marrone. “MIT Researchers say using Chat GPT can rot your brain. The truth is a little more complicated.” McMurtrie, Beth. “AI to the Rescue.” Pomeroy, Ross. “Is AI eroding our critical thinking?” | Discuss AI-generated writing in the E100 classroom; continue working on synthesis and quotation skills Possible Activities:
| MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force, “Writing and AI Working Paper 1” E100 Instructor’s Guide, Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom |
Day 23 | Writing Due Draft of Writing Project 2 | Writing Workshop on Writing Project 2; Discuss what makes informative writing interesting Possible Activities:
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Week 9: Connecting Sequences 2 and 3 By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 24 | Potential Readings Bogle, “Dash That Oxford Comma” Babin et al., “Reverse Outlining” | Practice setting writing goals; Practice being a community of writers. Identify areas for revision and create a plan for achieving those goals. Possible Activities:
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Day 25 | Potential Readings Harrington, “Citing Sources is a Basic Skill Learned Early On” from Bad Ideas about Writing | Work on activities that have students practice how to cite and why it is important Possible Activities
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Day 26 | Writing Due Revised draft of Writing Project 2 | Reflecting on Sequence 2 Possible Activities: | You can give feedback on this revised draft of the essay (since there was no conference this sequence) , but the grade for this writing project will come with Portfolio 2 |
Sequence 3: Critique – Developing an Approach through Research and Argumentation
Reading & Writing Due | Goals & Possibilities | ||
Week 10: Engaging with Sequence 3 By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 27 | Potential Readings Parker, “Response: Never Use ‘I’” from Bad Ideas about Writing For Multimodal Projects: Gagich, “An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing” | Assign Short Assignment 6: Proposal for Writing Project 3. Possible Activities:
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Day 28 | Potential Readings Moxley, “Argument - Argumentation” Stern, “Ditch the Jury, Do Justice” (student argumentative essay on Canvas) Zangs, “Introductory Science Courses: Generating Interest in Students” (student argumentative essay on Canvas) Other student argumentative essays available in Canvas | Develop understanding of argumentation and its varieties; Build critical reading skills, using specific critical strategies Possible Activities:
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Day 29 | Potential Readings Greene, “Argument as Conversation” Jordan, “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie Jordan” Bhatia, Aatish. “Watch AI Learn to Write by Reading Nothing but Jane Austen.” Stokel-Walker, Chris. “Chat GPT Listed as Author on Research Paper.” 10.1038/d41586-023-00107-z | Continue invention activities for developing Project 3; Introduce idea of argument as conversation Possible Activities:
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Week 11: Critique and Resource-Gathering By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 30 | Potential Readings Babin et al.’s “Finding the Thesis” “Creating a Thesis to Answer Your Research Question” “From Topic to Research Question to Thesis” | Developing research question to a thesis statement; Thesis workshop activity for developing Project 3 Possible Activities:
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Day 31 | Potential Readings Vieregge, “Exigency: What Makes My Message Indispensable to My Reader” Hjortshoj, “Footstools and Furniture: Variations of Form and Flow in College Writing” | Discuss audiences and exigence both for students’ own work and the sources they are using. Possible Activities:
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Day 32 | Writing Due Short Assignment 6: Proposal for Writing Project 3 | Explore persuasion and argumentation; consider how to refine proposals and ideas Possible Activities:
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Week 12: Developing a Critical Approach By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 33 | Potential Readings Watkins, “Integrating Evidence Appropriately” | Review creative approaches to argumentation; inspire students to take risks; Identify additional research that might be helpful/needed; Begin to develop a tentative perspective on the research. Possible Activities:
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Day 34 | Potential Readings Babin et al, “Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development” | Practice drafting and organizing Possible Activities:
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Day 35 | Potential Readings "Logos, Ethos, and Pathos" and "Counterarguments" (YouTube videos) Writing Due 1-3 pages of Writing Project 3 | Workshop research and ideas in-progress; Practice anticipating and responding to reasonable counterarguments, or alternative readings of the situation Possible Activities:
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Week 13: Workshop Short Week due to Thanksgiving By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 36 | Potential Readings Edwards and Paz, “Only Geniuses Can Be Writers” from Bad Ideas about Writing Stanford and Jory, “So You Wanna Be an Engineer, a Welder, a Teacher? Academic Disciplines and Professional Literacies” | Possible Activities:
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Day 37 | No Class—Conferences (Can hold conferences virtually) Writing Due to Conferences Writing Project 3 pages and questions about your writing | Collaborate on a plan for revision | Instructors’ Guide, Writing Conference Strategies |
Week 14: Presentations and/or Focus on Style and Organization By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 38 | Potential Readings Preparation for Design Lab presentation (Instructors have the option to schedule a day for Design Lab folks to come to class and teach students how to do multimodal projects) Design Lab, Presentations and Research Posters | Check-in about progress and concerns for the home stretch; Prepare for presentations; Strategies to incorporate images, media, or graphs into your Writing Projects. Possible Activities:
Can also refer to this resource: Presentations | |
Day 39 | Writing Due Full Draft of Writing Project 3 | Writing Workshop of Writing Project 3 Possible Activities:
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Day 40 | Potential Readings Listen to “The Public Speaking Secrets Behind TED Talks” from Central Time on WPR | Check-in about progress and concerns for the home stretch; Prepare for presentations; Strategies to incorporate images, media, or graphs into your Writing Projects. Possible Activities:
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Week 15: Presentations, Presenting a body of work, and/or Final Reflections By the end of this week, students should be able to:
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Day 39 | Presentations | ||
Day 40 | Presentations Writing Due Final Portfolio | Have students complete online course evaluations in class Possible Activities:
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[Note: All work should be submitted by midnight on the final day of classes. No assignments should be due after the final day of classes. This will free up students to work on their final exams for other classes and give you time to calculate final grades (usually due 10 days after the final day of classes. Extensions should be the exception, rather than the rule.] | |||