An Authentic Audience for a Cool 7th Grade Social Studies Project
We speak all the time about giving our students an authentic, real audience for their work. In Mr. Rothemich's 7th Grade Social Studies class, he had students reading, researching, and then writing to an authentic audience. When we do this, we will see our students shine as we do here.
Students read several articles and watched a news report on the instability in Egypt following the Arab Spring. These sources focused on the damage to ancient historic sites in Egypt and the theft of Egyptian artifacts that has become rampant in the security vacuum.
Students then did some research on different figures in the government that might be able to put pressure on the Egyptian government into protecting these sites in Egypt. Using a template, students wrote a persuasive letter to an official in the US government which ultimately asked these officials to encourage the Egyptian government to protect and preserve our shared history.
Several exemplary letters were mailed, and Julia Masse received a response letter from our Ambassador to Egypt, the Honorable R. Stephen Beecroft.
