Systematic research, evidence evaluation, and logical reasoning skills for formal discourse. Equips speakers to organize persuasive arguments, identify fallacies, and execute strategic impact calculus during competitive engagement.
A middle school curriculum unit focused on critical thinking, information literacy, and strategic task management across digital and physical media.
A project-based unit where students investigate how the setting of a novel (historical and geographical) acts as a crucial force in the story, culminating in the creation of a 'World Guide' presentation.
This inquiry-driven sequence focuses on etymology as a reference skill, teaching students to trace word origins to understand language evolution and historical context. Students move from decoding individual roots to analyzing how historical events shape the English lexicon, culminating in a 'word biography' project.
Students learn to research, synthesize, and organize evidence into a structured debate brief, moving from broad curiosity to targeted logical arguments.
Students move beyond finding sources to organizing scattered information into a structured debate brief. They learn to categorize evidence, rank its strength, and group facts into cohesive reasons to build a powerful argument.
Students become linguistic historians, investigating the etymology, cultural origins, and evolution of advanced English vocabulary through research and creative projects.
A 6th-grade ELA unit exploring how point of view shapes nonfiction and media. Students analyze the differences between first-person memoirs and third-person biographies, identify bias in journalism, and examine historical narratives through multiple lenses.
A project-based sequence where 6th-grade students learn to deconstruct debate resolutions, conduct multi-layered research, and synthesize diverse sources into cohesive arguments. Students progress from initial topic analysis to defending their findings before a peer panel.
This sequence guides 6th-grade students through the process of identifying, categorizing, and evaluating evidence for debate. Students progress from distinguishing facts from opinions to masterfully ranking the quality of evidence based on authority, relevance, and recency.
A sequence for 6th-grade students focused on transforming raw research into organized debate briefs using the 'Tag and Cite' method and the SEP categorization framework. Students learn to structure arguments through the Claim-Warrant-Data-Impact model and practice rapid information retrieval.
A comprehensive 4th-grade sequence on research mechanics for debate, covering search strategies, skimming, paraphrasing, quoting, and organization. Students move from raw data to 'clean', ready-to-use debate notes while maintaining academic integrity.
This sequence focuses on the critical thinking skills required to analyze conflicting information and differing perspectives within informational texts. Students progress from identifying bias and tone to evaluating evidence credibility and synthesizing multiple viewpoints into balanced accounts.
A series of lessons focused on mastering the art of persuasion and argumentative writing, from building claims to defending them against opposition.
A series of lessons focused on mastering argumentative writing through immersive, game-based activities and role-playing scenarios.
A sequence focused on the defensive side of debate, teaching 6th-grade students how to maintain composure, identify rhetorical traps, and pivot back to evidence during cross-examination. Students will move from non-verbal techniques to full-scale rapid-fire defense simulations.
A middle school ELA unit focusing on the social impact of logical fallacies. Students analyze digital discourse, learn to identify 'whataboutism', practice Socratic discussion, and develop strategies for 'steel-manning' arguments to foster healthier community conversations.
A 5-lesson sequence for 6th-grade students focused on identifying and refuting logical fallacies (Red Herrings and False Dilemmas) in live debate settings. Students develop active listening skills, learn polite rebuttal stems, and apply their knowledge in a structured, logic-focused debate simulation.
This sequence teaches 6th-grade students how to construct strong, debatable argumentative claims. Students move from identifying facts and opinions to crafting authoritative thesis statements with reasoning, ultimately testing their arguments through a town hall simulation and counter-claim analysis.
This sequence synthesizes refutation, weighing, and listening into short-form 'Spar' debates. Students learn to prioritize arguments, extend logic, and judge peer performances to build adaptability and engagement skills under strict time constraints.
A comprehensive unit on Cross-Examination for middle school debaters, focusing on strategic questioning, rhetorical control, and integrating admissions into rebuttal speeches. Students move from understanding the purpose of questioning to executing complex 'question traps' in high-pressure simulations.
A technical debate unit for 6th graders focused on 'flowing' (note-taking), shorthand symbols, tracking argument exchanges, and mastering line-by-line refutation to ensure no argument is left unanswered.
A comprehensive sequence for 6th-grade students to identify and challenge logical fallacies in debate. Students act as 'Fallacy Detectives' to uncover errors in reasoning like Ad Hominem, Straw Man, and Slippery Slope.
A comprehensive sequence for 6th-grade students to master the art of 'clash' and the Four-Step Refutation model in competitive and academic debate. Students move from identifying direct engagement to performing real-time rebuttals and rebuilding their own arguments after critique.
In this 6th-grade ELA sequence, students move beyond identifying point of view to analyzing narrator reliability and bias. Through flipped fairy tales, investigative case studies, and a final synthesis seminar, students explore how a storyteller's perspective shapes the reader's understanding of the truth.
Students explore how text structure influences meaning and authorial intent by analyzing multiple texts on the Great Chicago Fire. Each lesson focuses on a different organizational pattern (chronology, problem-solution, cause-effect, and description) to understand how structure shapes the reader's perspective.
A 6th-grade ELA sequence focused on media literacy and critical reading, where students analyze how different perspectives and presentation styles shape nonfiction accounts of the same event.
Students investigate how authors build persuasive arguments in nonfiction texts. They learn to trace claims, distinguish between facts and opinions, evaluate the sufficiency of evidence, and detect bias to determine the credibility of a text.
A middle school ELA sequence focused on identifying and deconstructing logical fallacies in modern media, culminating in a critical analysis project. Students learn to distinguish between ethical persuasion and manipulative tactics like False Authority, False Dilemmas, and Straw Man arguments.
A workshop-style series designed to help 7th grade students strengthen their persuasive writing and speaking by identifying and eliminating logical fallacies. Students learn the Claim-Evidence-Warrant model and focus on avoiding Hasty Generalizations, Red Herrings, and Circular Reasoning.
A lesson sequence exploring the concept of Standard American English as a versatile tool for communication, emphasizing that language varies by context and that all dialects are valid. Students analyze the 'car analogy' from Khan Academy to distinguish between fundamental grammar rules and social conventions.
A lesson sequence focused on mastering the three rhetorical appeals (Ethos, Logos, and Pathos) through video analysis and a simulated school debate.
A debate and communication sequence focused on teaching middle schoolers how to build persuasive arguments through creative performance and structured analysis.
A lesson sequence exploring the intersection of civic duty, social contracts, and rhetorical analysis through the lens of the 'Shopping Cart Theory'. Students analyze a structured argument and participate in a Socratic Seminar.
This sequence focuses on the cognitive planning required before activating the microphone, bridging the gap between thought and oral expression. Students explore how to organize their ideas using graphic organizers and bullet points to prevent rambling during dictation.
A forensic-themed reading comprehension unit where students act as investigators to master predictions and inferences. Through case studies and evidence tracking, students learn to bridge literal text with deep narrative meaning.
A 5-lesson unit for 6th-grade students focused on the auditory elements of poetry, including onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, repetition, and performance. Students explore how sound creates mood and meaning through game-based learning and performance-oriented analysis.
This immersive sequence focuses on the auditory experience of poetry, emphasizing that poems are meant to be heard. Students investigate sound devices like onomatopoeia, alliteration, and consonance to understand how sound creates mood and prepares them for oral performance.
This sequence explores adages and proverbs as cultural artifacts that convey values and wisdom. Students distinguish them from idioms, compare global examples, connect them to fables, apply them to modern life, and debate their nuances in a Socratic Seminar.
This sequence guides 6th-grade students through the production side of idioms and adages, focusing on when figurative language enhances or hinders communication in various contexts. Students will explore misinterpretation through simulation, adapt their speech for different settings, develop character voices in dialogue, and use proverbs as persuasive tools.
This sequence explores the creative and literary side of homophones and homonyms through puns, riddles, and advertising. Students move from deconstructing humor to creating their own intentional wordplay, culminating in a showcase of their comedic and creative linguistic skills.
This sequence teaches 6th-grade students how to identify, understand, and use common foreign words and expressions in English. Through a mix of context clue analysis, tone comparison, pronunciation practice, and creative writing, students learn to enhance the sophistication and precision of their communication.
An advanced exploration of 6th-grade homophones using etymology and root word analysis. Students investigate complex word pairs like principal/principle and capital/capitol through case studies and simulations.
A comprehensive introduction to the art of persuasion, focusing on rhetorical appeals and crafting compelling arguments for middle school students.
A comprehensive unit on the subjunctive mood, focusing on formal suggestions, demands, and wishes in high-level academic and professional communication. Students engage in simulations and formal writing to master complex grammatical structures.
A project-based ELA sequence where 6th-grade students analyze the morphology of English, use affixes to create neologisms, and pitch inventions named using linguistic rules.
A project-based unit where 6th-grade students deconstruct the architecture of storytelling. Students analyze how plot structure, pacing, and tension drive narrative engagement through the lens of a novel study.
This sequence connects 6th grade vocabulary standards with science, social studies, and math by using analogies as cognitive tools. Students analyze complex systems and historical events through structural comparisons, culminating in an original analogy-based concept map project.
A 5-day ELA unit for 6th grade exploring John Lewis's 'March: Book One,' connecting historical events like Emmett Till's murder to contemporary activism through persuasive writing.
This inquiry-based sequence explores how character development reveals an author's theme. Students track a protagonist's journey through conflicts and choices to formulate and debate universal truths.
A comprehensive 6th-grade ELA unit focused on identifying, tracking, and discussing universal themes in literature. Students move from defining thematic statements to participating in high-level Socratic seminars, using 'The Giver' as a primary text.
A comprehensive book club unit for Natalie Babbitt's *Tuck Everlasting*, exploring themes of immortality, nature's cycles, and moral choices through guided discussion, vocabulary expansion, and project-based learning.
This sequence focuses on using text structure graphic organizers as blueprints for argumentative writing. Students transition from analyzing model essays to building their own logically structured arguments, including counter-claims and refutations, using visual tools.
This sequence moves to a higher level of analysis, asking students to compare and contrast how different poetic forms handle similar themes. Using a discussion and case-study approach, students examine 'Free Verse' versus 'Formal Verse' to understand the intentional choices poets make. The arc focuses on critical thinking, debate, and the synthesis of the elements learned in previous sequences.
A comprehensive sequence for 6th Grade students to explore the emotional weight and implied meaning of words. Students move from basic definitions to analyzing bias in media and refining their own writing for specific impact.
A comprehensive 6th-grade ELA unit exploring how authors use text structure (sequence, cause/effect, compare/contrast, problem/solution, description) as a deliberate craft choice to shape reader perspective and emphasize specific information. Students analyze text sets, evaluate persuasive impact, deconstruct mixed structures, and rewrite segments to observe shifts in meaning.
A journalism-themed sequence where 6th-grade students master pronoun-antecedent agreement by writing and editing news reports, exploring how grammatical precision prevents misinformation and libel.
A project-based writing sequence focused on crafting powerful introductions and conclusions using rhetorical strategies like ethos, pathos, and counter-arguments. Students move from 30-second elevator pitches to full persuasive presentations, learning how to 'hook' an audience and leave a lasting emotional impact.
