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Hi Chris,
I have done something like you are considering some time ago and although I have no assignment to share with you, I can let you know about my experience and offer some suggestions.
When I did my essay assignment I was able to arrange with the English teacher so that the essay could fulfil requirements of her class as well as my science class. At that time the possible topics I gave were related to videos on global warming, pollution and extinctions. I did provide some guidelines but afterwards, I realized that those should have been more explicit such as making sure students addressed specific standards as per the curriculum. If you are following the NGSS now then I probably would require that students discuss aspects of the PE (Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.); cause and effect (Cross cutting Concept) and aspects of ecosystem dynamics, functioning and resilience (DCI).
At the time I did this, the focus for the English teacher was an argumentative essay and she concentrated on that aspect and I considered more the science. It would help if both teachers provide complementary guidelines to help make sure that students don’t just focus too much on one aspect. I also had students do a peer review but again realized later that a peer marking sheet would have helped to provide better direction for the reviewer. Unfortunately, I was only able to team up with a teacher once to try this and never did follow through and make it a regular part of my teaching practice. Certainly, I need to do this again.
I am not familiar with all the documentaries you mentioned but the ones I know of seem to be excellent choices that focus on controversial social issues with a critical science focus. One thing is that if you can manage to team up with the English teacher, this makes for better student buy-in as they see the fact of getting dual credit as somehow meaning less work for them. However, another thing I might consider before having them do a major essay is first do a shorter version to help students get the idea as to what is expected from both teachers and also practice their note-taking skills.
I think you have a great plan and it will probably fulfill your never-ending quest. However, hopefully you will also find it quite rewarding. Good luck!
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