Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an expository paragraph. The instructional activity suggests using two previously read texts to model how to write the paragraph, but you could also have the class create a first draft, look at a few student samples on the overhead, and dedicate a day to editing and improving.