If I Were in Charge
Argument Writing & Civic Engagement
Integrated Disciplines
📚 Reading & Research
📝 Argument Writing
🇺🇲 Civics/Social Studies
Project Overview
This project begins with the mentor poem, If I Were in Charge of the World, by Judith Viorst. After analyzing the poem's structure and message, students write their own fill-in-the-blank versions, imagining what they would add, remove, or change if they were in charge of the world. Their poems are then published as a collaborative digital class book, providing an engaging introduction to the unit.
Students then transition from imaginative thinking to authentic problem solving by considering changes they would make if they were in charge of their school. After selecting an issue they feel passionate about, students conduct research to gather facts, examples, and evidence that strengthen their arguments. They use this research to write a persuasive essay that clearly states a claim, supports it with relevant evidence, addresses opposing viewpoints, and proposes a realistic solution.
The project culminates with students sharing their essays with teachers and school administrators, the authentic audience for their work. Because students are writing to real decision-makers, they experience the power of persuasive writing as a tool for civic engagement and meaningful change within their school community.
Design Challenge
Middle-grade learners are tasked with developing evidence-based argumentative essays spanning several paragraphs. Since drafting lengthy papers often feels tedious or purely academic, students can lose focus when their only audience is an instructor. I crafted this specific learning experience to breathe life into the writing process, providing a real-world platform where students lobby for actual improvements. By connecting their work to school-wide impact, we transform a standard assignment into a powerful exercise in civic advocacy.
Instructional Design Decisions
Several instructional design decisions were incorporated to increase student engagement, ownership, and authentic application of persuasive writing skills.
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Engaging Launch- The project begins with Judith Viorst's poem, If I Were in Charge of the World. Students first imagine the changes they would make if they were in charge of the world, providing a creative and engaging introduction before transitioning to more realistic school improvements.
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Student Choice- Students choose the school issue they feel most passionate about changing. Providing choice increases ownership, personal investment, and motivation throughout the writing process.
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Research-Based Writing- Students conduct research to gather facts and evidence that strengthen their arguments. Rather than relying solely on personal opinions, students learn to support their claims with credible evidence.
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Authentic Audience- Students write for teachers and school administrators rather than solely for their classroom teacher. The class selects exemplary essays to share with decision-makers, giving students an authentic opportunity to influence change within their school community.
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Relevant & Meaningful Learning- The project empowers students to recognize that their voices matter. By writing about issues that directly affect their daily lives, students experience persuasive writing as a meaningful tool for civic engagement, problem solving, and advocacy.
Learning Progression
The project begins with the mentor poem, If I Were in Charge of the World, by Judith Viorst. Students analyze the poem's structure and message before writing their own creative versions. This engaging anticipatory activity introduces the idea of imagining change while encouraging students to think creatively and express their opinions.
Students then narrow their focus from the world to their own school community. After identifying three changes they would make if they were in charge of the school, they organize these ideas into an outline that becomes the foundation for their persuasive essay. Their three proposed changes become the main ideas of the body paragraphs.
Once students have established their claims, they strengthen each argument through research and personal experiences. They learn to distinguish between opinion and evidence by gathering facts from reliable sources and incorporating in-text citations to support their reasoning. This process helps students understand that effective persuasive writing relies on credible evidence rather than personal opinion alone.
After completing the body paragraphs, instruction shifts to essay organization. Students learn how to write engaging introductions that capture the reader's attention and establish a clear claim, followed by conclusions that reinforce their argument and leave a lasting impression. This sequence allows students to focus on developing strong supporting evidence before composing the beginning and ending of the essay.
Students then participate in a structured revision and editing process. Using revision and editing checklists, they evaluate their own writing before participating in peer review and teacher conferences. This iterative feedback process helps students strengthen the quality of their arguments, improve organization and word choice, clarify their reasoning, and correct errors in capitalization, usage, punctuation, and spelling before publishing their final essays.
The project concludes with authentic publication. Students share their completed essays with classmates, who select exemplary samples to submit to teachers and school administrators for consideration. Presenting their work to real decision-makers reinforces the purpose of persuasive writing and empowers students to use their voices to advocate for meaningful improvements within their school community.
Assessment Plan
Formative Assessment
Throughout the unit, student understanding is monitored through class discussions, research and planning checks, exit tickets, teacher conferences, and observations during Writer’s Workshop. Students receive ongoing feedback as they develop their claims, select relevant evidence, organize ideas, incorporate citations, and draft the components of their persuasive essays.
Writing Process Evidence
Students demonstrate their engagement in the writing process through completed outlines and drafts, peer feedback, ARMS Revision Checklists, CUPS Editing Checklists, and marked proofreading drafts. Comparing rough and final drafts provides visible evidence of how students apply feedback, revision strategies, and editing skills to strengthen and polish their writing.
Summative & Authentic Assessment
Completed essays are evaluated using the Persuasive Writing Proficiency Scale to determine students’ proficiency in argument writing. As a culminating experience, students read and evaluate one another’s essays using the same criteria, discuss the effectiveness of the arguments, and select one essay from each group to submit to school leaders for consideration. This authentic audience gives students an opportunity to apply persuasive writing to a meaningful, real-world purpose.
Student Artifacts
Student artifacts demonstrate both the creative launch of the unit and the culminating application of persuasive writing skills.
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Collaborative digital class book featuring students’ If I Were in Charge of the World poems, demonstrating creative writing, voice, audience awareness, and digital publication.
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Selected If I Were in Charge of the School persuasive essays, demonstrating students’ ability to develop an opinion, organize and elaborate on ideas, incorporate research evidence and citations, and communicate a persuasive argument to an authentic audience.
Reflection
One of the strengths of this unit was the way it began with a creative, collaborative poetry experience and gradually narrowed its focus to an individual persuasive essay. The class poetry book provided an engaging entry point that encouraged student voice and creativity, while the school-based topic gave students a relevant purpose for writing. The authentic audience also increased the significance of the final product. Students were engaged in the writing process during both the poetry and persuasive writing portions of the unit.
If I were to teach this unit again, I would be more deliberate about establishing and maintaining deadlines for each stage of the writing process. Many students are still developing the time-management skills needed to pace themselves through a longer writing assignment. Clear checkpoints would not only keep the unit on schedule, but also serve as an important scaffold by helping students manage the individual steps of the writing process and remain focused during Writer’s Workshop. Without those checkpoints, some students can extend the process several days beyond the intended timeline.
I would also continue to teach the stages of the writing process as distinct instructional steps while students are developing proficiency. Separating prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing allows students to understand the purpose of each stage and practice the strategies associated with it. As students become more proficient and independent writers, I would gradually remove these scaffolds and expect them to manage the process more efficiently. Ultimately, the goal is for students to internalize the writing process so they can independently take a piece of writing from prewriting to publication within a much shorter period of time.
Standards Alignment & Skill Development
Priority Standards
These standards drive the primary instruction and assessment throughout the unit.
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Argument Writing: Develop a clear opinion and support it with relevant facts, ideas, reasons, and evidence. Organize ideas logically and provide an effective concluding section.
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Organization & Cohesion: Produce a clear, coherent multi-paragraph essay with logically grouped ideas and transitions that connect claims, reasons, evidence, and explanations.
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Writing Process: Develop and strengthen writing through planning, drafting, revising, peer and teacher feedback, editing, rewriting, and publishing.
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Research & Evidence: Gather relevant and reliable information from multiple sources, paraphrase or quote evidence accurately, and incorporate appropriate citations to strengthen an argument.
Supporting Standards
These standards are reinforced through specific activities and stages of the writing process.
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Text Evidence: Draw relevant evidence from grade-level informational texts and accurately quote or paraphrase information to support ideas.
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Writing for Purpose & Audience: Produce both shorter and longer pieces for different purposes and audiences, including poetry and persuasive writing.
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Technology & Digital Publishing: Use technology to produce and publish writing, including collaborative digital poetry books and final persuasive essays.
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Grammar & Conventions: Demonstrate command of grade-level grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when editing and publishing writing.
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Titles & Source Conventions: Apply appropriate conventions, including quotation marks and italics, when referring to titles and incorporating source information.