Students use the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a high-interest lens to strengthen research, expository writing, and argumentative writing through questions about culture, global impact, and interconnectedness. They learn to gather and evaluate sources, turn evidence into clear claims, and revise for stronger organization, audience awareness, and persuasion. Across the project, students practice discussion, peer feedback, and reflection while producing a polished essay portfolio and public writing exhibit that show how research can both inform and influence an audience.

Students will conduct short research on World Cup-related questions, evaluate and organize information from news clips, maps, statistics, and short texts, and synthesize multiple sources into clear expository and argumentative writing. They will develop discipline-specific claims, use paraphrasing, quoting, explanation, and in-text citation to integrate evidence effectively, and strengthen their writing through planning, drafting, revising, editing, and rewriting for purpose and audience. Students will communicate their thinking through peer feedback, discussion, and presentation by participating in a gallery walk, a mid-project circle on culture and global impact, and a final publishing celebration. They will also build collaboration, critical thinking, and academic mindset by generating questions, responding to feedback, reflecting on how their thinking changed, and curating a revised essay portfolio and exhibit board.

Students will build a revised essay portfolio that includes source notes, research questions, an early draft, a revised draft, and a short reflection explaining how their evidence use and organization improved. They will produce two polished pieces of writing inspired by the 2026 FIFA World Cup—one expository and one argumentative essay—supported by annotated sources, topic sentences, and evidence maps. By the end, students will create a World Cup-inspired writing exhibit board that displays a final essay, cited source cards, and a visual map showing how claims, evidence, and reasoning connect. The project will culminate in a publishing celebration where students present their work, respond to audience questions, and share a brief self-reflection on growth, challenges, and changes in their thinking.

Open with a “2026 Kickoff Lab” where students rotate through short World Cup-inspired stations featuring news clips, maps, statistics, quotes, and striking visuals, then sort ideas into culture, impact, and evidence categories. In teams, they complete a “Pitch, Pass, Prove” relay by matching sources to possible claims and drafting a quick response to one essential question about how research informs or persuades an audience. Close with a rapid discussion circle and a brief notebook write in which students generate possible expository and argumentative topics connected to the tournament’s global influence.

Host a World Cup Writing Showcase where students display exhibit boards featuring their final expository or argumentative essay, evidence maps, topic sentences, and cited source cards alongside their revised essay portfolios. Invite classmates, families, teachers, or community guests to circulate, read, and ask questions during a publishing celebration in which each student gives a brief self-reflection talk about how their evidence use, organization, and thinking changed through research. Build in an interactive feedback station where visitors leave comments on what informed or persuaded them most, and close with a short gallery walk that highlights strong research habits, revision moves, and connections to culture, global impact, and interconnectedness.