Should researchers be able to excavate, examine, and remove Native American artifacts from historic sites? Should companies be permitted to build on sacred Native American land? After watching West of the West's documentary, The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, and reading OPED pieces about the controversies surrounding the the removal of artifacts from San Nicolas Island and the building of the Dakota Access pipeline, middle schoolers craft an OPED piece in which they present their stance on the questions.

Concepts

opinion writing, persuasive arguments, persuasive techniques, california history, native americans, north american native americans, native american history

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Provide scaffolding for the assignment by asking class members to identify arguments for and against the question and post these ideas

Classroom Considerations

• The activity presumes writers have experience crafting opinion articles and have studied persuasive techniques

Pros

• The 11-page packet includes the plan, the writing prompt, and the referenced articles

Cons

• The resource mis-identifies the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island as a member of the Pechanga tribe
• Beware the spelling (Nicholas Island for Nicolas Island) typos, and grammar errors in the resource, articles, and writing prompt

Common Core

W.4.1.a W.4.1.b W.4.1.c W.4.1.d