Students will watch a video of the blame scene from Titanic the musical. They will review the lyrics and make a preliminary determination about who they think is most to blame for the large loss of life on Titanic. Students will them look at the poster timeline created in Titanic 3 or they can scan their text to find examples that support their claim about who is most to blame. Finally, students will complete some online research to find evidence to support their claim. This will all be presented in a Glog on Glogster.

In this three week unit, students will practice skills related to argumentative writing. They will ultimately write an argumentative/persuasive letter to the school board regarding school safety policy.

Argumentative Writing Unit for 6th grade English Language Arts. 

Students will learn the components of an argumentative essay and learn to write an essay.  The unit will begin with an overview of bullying in order to present the argument of, "Should bullies be treated as criminals?".  This essay will be researched and written as a class practice and will not be scored.   The students will write a second essay in connection with an ecology unit in science titled, "Do humans help or hurt the Great Lakes?"  This essay will be used as a summative assessment.  The final scored assessment will an argumentative essay of choice on the part of the student.

In this problem-based learning module, students will use their knowledge of the ancient Roman Empire and will work to analyze critical theories historians agree contributed to the fall of Rome. Students will then work to compare the problems faced by the Romans with problems citizens of the United States still largely face today. Through this investigation, students should recognize how modern technology, government agencies, laws and resources help to solve societal problems that could have once destroyed an empire. With this new understanding, students should work to present a solution to a major problem that plagued the Roman Empire during the years leading up to its collapse.

Students will evaluate the arguments in the Declaration of Independence and then they will write their own declaration of independence to separate their school from the district. They will also plan for what will happen after the separation. This is a great connection to Animal Farm, but does not have to be taught while reading this book. 

This lesson teaches students how to write an effective thesis statement. Students first discuss what makes a good thesis statement and what form they should take, then write thesis statements and evaluate each others' work.

In this lesson, students complete a creative writing assignment to create a closing argument for a character from the short story of their choice that involves controversy. Students can choose to write in defense of the character or to prosecute them for what they did during the story.