Best Weapons of WWI Tournament
Messalonskee Middle School’s eighth grade students on Team Acadia practiced their research and argument skills as they engaged in a “Best Weapons of WWI” tournament. Pairs of students researched one of the many new weapons of WWI like airplanes, zeppelins, machine guns, and poison gas. After viewing an example of an effective argument and the scoring criteria, students wrote an argument explaining how their weapon impacted the war and the world. Students had to think beyond the death these weapons caused, and consider how the economy, environment, military strategy, or its legacy were influenced. As weapons went head to head, students gave feedback on the arguments. Each round, winning teams were able to revise their arguments and tailor it to their next opponent. It was great to see students revise their arguments multiple times and utilize their peers’ feedback to strengthen their writing. The winning teams from each class were dreadnoughts, airplanes, and the howitzer. The champion of champions from these three was the dreadnought! #WeAreRSU18
