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This Creating Awareness through Action Oriented Writing and Research lesson plan also includes:
Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth graders research a listed issue by watching a documentary and reading more information before drafting a persuasive letter to their chosen CEO or politician.
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Instructional Ideas
- Encourage pairs or small groups to work together on a single issue, from conducting research to formatting letters
- Have your class present their arguments and read their letters in front of the class before mailing
- Share any responses from the letters with the class on a Social Action bulletin board
- Design a cross-curricular assignment between social studies and language arts to address all aspects of the project
Classroom Considerations
- Project is based on the textbook Dream of a Nation, which is available as an ebook in the attached resources
- Aimed toward eighth graders, but applicable to middle schoolers and high schooler alike
- Letter rubric is not available through the link, but you can find it on the publisher's website, or use your own rubric
Pros
- Provides all necessary templates and graphic organizers for the assignment
- Aligned to writing and language Common Core standards
- Comes with a list of relevant topics for research, including green energy, childhood obesity, prison reform, public school systems, and healthcare inequality, as well as documentaries that align to each topic
Cons
- None