The name of the class is Reading and Writing for Academic Achievement and since there was no curriculum assigned (and no money to buy one) I am using the LLI teal system (we bought it years ago for summer school and then ended up not using it) as my basis. Since the focus is non-fiction I've gone through and pulled out only the fiction texts and have been sifting through them choosing those that seem the most interesting. I'm then supplementing with books from Reading A-Z, articles from NewsELA and CommonLit as well as materials I have on shelves and can beg/borrow/steal from other teachers. It has been so much fun to return to pure teaching and just have fun with the material.
Our basic unit outline is to introduce a writing style (explanatory, persuasive, problem-solution, etc.) and a skill to go with it (cause-effect, thesis statement, etc). We then read texts with the same theme and complete graphic organizers and other comprehension activities. The students then use the graphic organizer to frame their own papers for that writing style, choosing their topic from within a given set of parameters. Some of their writing has been really amazing and it's so much fun to hear the kids walking in the room discussing the things they're reading and learning in the class.
Thus far we've done a problem-solution paper with the example texts being about sea turtles and the struggles they face due to boats, fishing and pollution (You should read the one paper--all about how this particular student can't get up on time for school and what he's going to do to fix the problem, it made me laugh out loud! He's still late to school every day.). This month has been centered around Halloween starting with a graphic novel version of Frankenstein (classic literature--not non-fiction but academic all the same) and next they are going to read about real medical conditions that mimic the classic traits of vampires, they're probably where the idea vampires originated from. Later they're going to study bionics and how this field of science technology is changing lives (and I have a TEDTalk for them to watch that then brings it all back around and connects to their Frankenstein unit). In order to deal with the more serious topics and getting them thinking globally (we're an IB school) and writing about world problems they're going to learn about the Lost Boys of Sudan and study things that people are doing to address the water crisis the world is facing. Very heavy topics for middle school, I know, but we're having fun too. Right now I'm almost done planning a unit based around the book entitled Weird Bodily Functions Explained. The book explains how certain gross bodily functions (vomit, belching, sweat, etc.) are actually necessary for life. The students are then going to write an explanatory paper about a different bodily function using a cause and effect format. Yeah, middle school boys and gross bodily functions, not really looking forward to grading those papers. Then for April Fool's Day we have a book about the greatest pranks of all times. I haven't gotten it cleared yet but I'm hoping to get a principal or two to agree to allow the students to pull a prank on him or her. Talk about motivation for an explanatory / persuasive paper---whoever writes the best paper will get to lead the way in trying to pull off a prank on the principal (I'm not telling the students that the principals will already know it's coming)---and it's all teacher approved! How often did you get that opportunity in middle school?
I could literally go on for hours about our plans: biographies and real life pirates, process writing and chocolate.... I'll just sum it up for you this way: I am having an absolute BLAST and from all indications the students are too!