This resource provides ideas for administering an argument writing assignment that involves responding to a prompt about the value of a four-year college degree and completing reading or research to find facts to engage with as students support their claim. The information provided is specific to the state of Virginia in terms of both the suggested resources for research and the Virginia Standards of Learning rubric. Teachers can use this to prepare students for the End of Course writing assessment.

English Instructional Plan – Grades 9- 12: Current Events Persuasive Debate and Essay   

This lesson reimagines an existing instructional resource, "The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck" created by Franky Abbott, Digital Public Library of America.

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In this remix, "The Grapes of Wrath" and the related primary source documents are exchanged for "Farewell to Manzanar" and related primary sources accessed through secondary open-source databases.

Discussion questions ask students to consider the memoir in light of its historical context and students gain experience reading and evaluating visual sources including political cartoons and propaganda posters to understand how elements of rhetorical can shape and/or reflect cultural values.

A multi-day lesson designed to integrate Geography and Literacy in an integrated humanities, history, or English setting. 

English Instructional Plan – Grades 9- 12: Paired Passages – The Threat of Conformity and Indifference and the Power of the Individual  

This resource provides ideas for how students can engage with a variety of sources that tackle controversial issues as they work to consider and support their own opinion. It provides scaffolding for the original resource from which it is remixed to help students prepare to write an argument essay on a controversial topic.

Last March, schools all around the world were thrust into virtual learning, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the future, do you think virtual learning should continue to be an option for high school students?  Why or why not?** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.