Week 6 • Make your idea stronger
What will you change—and why?
Begin when Mr. Fullerton assigns Week 6. Bring your Week 5 draft, supporting evidence, and any feedback you have received.
Your first draft made the idea visible. Now test whether another person can understand it and whether its claims, steps, and resources hold up. Revision means improving the thinking as well as the wording.
Your destination: a revised plan and My Revision Record in Week 6 of your iCivics Project Notebook. Allow about 35–50 minutes, divided into short work periods.
Improve your community proposal using peer or supplied feedback. Focus on a clear action, a realistic approval or resource need, and a useful success check.
Revise your AC draft using Mr. Fullerton’s feedback and a reader check. Committee work begins only when he opens that phase; completing this lesson does not automatically open it.
Revise your AC draft using Mr. Fullerton’s feedback. Test clarity, evidence, responsibilities, fiscal assumptions, and a possible unintended consequence. Committee work begins only when he opens that phase.
Your six steps for Week 6
- Learn what makes feedback useful.
- Practice choosing a reasoned revision.
- Review your draft or the supplied practice draft.
- Prepare your revision record.
- Compare feedback, revise, and explain your decisions.
- Check the revised plan and finish.
Feedback should help the author act
Name a specific strength or unclear part. Point to a sentence, step, or claim.
Ask about evidence, who acts, what approval is needed, or who might be left out.
Offer a possible improvement and explain how it would help.
“I like it” is encouraging, but it does not tell an author what to improve. Try: “Your purpose is clear. I cannot tell who approves the new hours. Could you add that role before the trial begins?”
Decide what to do with a comment
- Use it: The comment reveals a gap or improves the plan.
- Adapt it: The concern is useful, but another change addresses it better.
- Keep your approach with a reason: Explain the evidence or constraint behind your decision.
- Ask for clarification: You need more information to understand the feedback.
You do not need to accept every peer suggestion. You do need to respond thoughtfully. If Mr. Fullerton identifies a requirement or approval issue, resolve it with him before proceeding; disagreement alone is not approval.
Revise before polishing: Correct an unsupported promise, unclear responsibility, or unrealistic step before adjusting spelling or appearance. Both matter, but a polished plan still needs sound reasoning.
Which response improves the thinking?
Find the highest-priority improvement
Choose your own draft or the practice case. Both prepare you to explain a revision.
Route A • Your Week 5 draft
- Read Mr. Fullerton’s feedback, if available. Identify anything that must be resolved before moving forward.
- Read the draft as the person asked to carry it out. Can you find the purpose, actions, responsible roles, approval, resources, and success check?
- Choose one or two important revisions. Write the concern and the part of the draft it affects.
If you are waiting for feedback, use these questions as a self-review. Mark unanswered coach questions as pending; do not claim your draft has been approved.
Route B • Fictional practice draft and feedback
The following weak draft is invented for revision practice. It is not the recommended plan from Week 5.
“We will open the book room every lunch starting tomorrow. Volunteers will run it, so it is free. Everyone will borrow more books.”
Known case facts: Four of six students in one group reported a scheduling conflict. The fictional principal approves hours and staff assignments. Staff availability and added costs have not been checked.
- Reader comment: “Who has approved the hours and supervision?”
- Evidence comment: “Does a small group’s report support a promise about everyone?”
- Resource comment: “What makes the plan free if staffing needs are unknown?”
Choose two comments and draft your own revision. You may use this case even if your real topic is awaiting review.
Study one possible revision after you try
After: “We propose asking the principal and book-room manager to consider a second weekly borrowing session. Before choosing a start date, they would need to check supervision and resources. A trial could help us learn whether students with a scheduling conflict can borrow at the new time. Added costs are not yet known.”
Why it is stronger: It separates a proposal from permission, replaces a promise with a testable question, and labels costs as unknown. It still needs a trial length and a specific way to gather results.
My Revision Record
Your record belongs in the Week 6 section of your existing iCivics Project Notebook. Preserve the Week 5 draft so you can explain the change. Put the revised version in Week 6; do not replace your earlier work.
Open your notebook here each time
Teacher review: The Week 6 section is ready in the master notebook. Mr. Fullerton will assign each student a private copy through Google Classroom; this button will be connected to that grade’s assignment before launch.
When connected, open your attached notebook from Mr. Fullerton’s assignment and find Week 6 • My Revision Record. Type in the blue response boxes. Google Docs saves automatically while connected. Return through this same button each time.
Your notebook prompts
- What I am reviewing: Identify my project draft or the fictional practice draft. What is its purpose?
- Feedback and source: What comment or concern am I considering? Is it from Mr. Fullerton, a peer, the supplied case, or my own review?
- Before: Copy the sentence or describe the step that needs attention.
- My decision: Will I use, adapt, question, or decline the suggestion? What evidence or reasoning supports that choice?
- After: Write the improved sentence or step. Repeat this before-and-after record for a second important concern.
- My revised plan: Put the changes together into a complete version that another person can understand.
- My contribution and next step: What did I contribute? What remains unresolved, and what needs Mr. Fullerton’s review?
Prepare your first feedback decisions now. Complete the revised plan and contribution reflection after Step 5.
Give feedback, then let the author decide
Project coaching: 11:45–12:15 • G4 Thursdays • G5 Mondays • G6 Tuesdays.
- Prepare: Bring your draft, feedback decisions, and one unresolved question.
- Share: Each author names the purpose and a part they want help testing.
- Discuss: Students lead while Mr. Fullerton listens. Readers name a strength, ask a specific question, and suggest an improvement. Authors explain what they heard before responding.
- Revise individually: Each author chooses a reasoned response and completes their own revised plan and record.
- Report back: Your agreed spokesperson summarizes a meaningful change, its reason, and the remaining coach question when Mr. Fullerton rejoins.
Discussion Guide
Give every author time. Keep comments focused on the plan and invite clarification.
Evidence Checker
Check whether revisions stay within the evidence and whether estimates remain labeled.
Connection Maker
Record agreed changes, reasons, and unresolved questions in the team document.
Rotate from Week 5. A fourth member serves as Process Checker, ensuring every student gives feedback and records their own response. Do not let one author rewrite everyone’s work.
Working independently or waiting for your group?
Use the supplied reader, evidence, and resource comments to test your own draft. Or revise the fictional draft. Complete two before-and-after decisions and explain why they help. Label the feedback as supplied or self-review, not as a conversation that did not happen.
Team record: Add a revised shared plan, a short change log, remaining questions, and each member’s next contribution to the assigned team document. Retain earlier versions. Your individual record explains your own thinking even when the team uses common wording.
Turn a vague comment into a useful question
The feedback just says “add detail.”
Ask which part is unclear. Try checking who acts, when, with what resources, and after whose approval. Write the specific detail you decided to add.
I disagree with the suggestion.
Restate the concern fairly. Explain your evidence or constraint and offer another way to address it. If it concerns a coach requirement, ask Mr. Fullerton to clarify before moving ahead.
My revision creates a new problem.
That is useful to notice. For example, adding a session may help access but require staffing. Record the trade-off and a focused next question instead of hiding it.
We have no coach feedback yet.
Complete a reader or self-review using this page. Keep the coach-review status pending. For G5–6, wait for Mr. Fullerton’s directions before entering a new AC phase.
Sentence starter: “The feedback pointed out __. I changed/kept __ because __. This improves __. I still need to check __.”
Show the improvement, not just the new version
- I identified where my feedback came from.
- I explained two important feedback decisions with reasons.
- I included before-and-after examples and a complete revised plan.
- I checked that claims, responsibilities, resources, and approvals remain accurate or clearly uncertain.
- I explained my individual contribution and the next review question.
Your revised community proposal is ready for Mr. Fullerton’s review. Begin presentation preparation when he assigns the next mission.
Use Mr. Fullerton’s directions to submit the revised draft for review. Begin committee work only when he opens that phase and provides the assigned materials and roles.
Use Mr. Fullerton’s directions to submit the revised draft for review. Bring unresolved authority, cost, or implementation questions forward. Committee work begins only when he opens that phase.
Follow Mr. Fullerton’s posted Pearson directions for the subject and submission. This website does not submit work to Pearson or Anytime Congress. If assignment details are not posted, your notebook remains ready for review.
Stop here • Week 6 is complete
You may improve your revision record. Begin Week 7 when Mr. Fullerton assigns it. Next: prepare to explain, review, and support a decision.
Teacher guide • Week 6
Assess the quality of feedback decisions, visible improvement in reasoning, preservation of evidence limits, and individual accountability. A justified decision to retain wording can be strong work; two changes made only to satisfy a count may not be. Require students to explain two concerns even if one leads to clarification or a reasoned decision to retain the approach.
G4 revises a community proposal. G5–6 respond to coach feedback before any assigned committee phase. This lesson does not specify or activate current YLI platform procedures. Supply those directions when appropriate. The fictional and self-review routes allow students to practice without inventing peer participation or coach approval.
Before launch, assign private student copies of the completed Weeks 1–8 master through Google Classroom, connect each grade’s assignment link, and provide the relevant dates and submission directions.