I have had great success teaching reading and writing courses according to a theme, a practice I was introduced to during my graduate work at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Each term, I select a general idea and align my reading and writing assignments, in addition to as many in-class examples as I can, to it.
Past themes include:
Food, Summer 2010
Archetypes, Fall 2010
Music, Spring 2011
Antagonists, Summer 2011
Types of Heroes, Fall 2011
Citizenship, Spring 2012
Fairy Tales and Myths, Fall 2012
Work, Spring 2013