AbstractIn this study, we focused on the implementation of a disciplinary literacy inquiry unit with a group of sixth‐grade students. Guided by us, students learned about a local budgetary crisis, researched subtopics of interest to them (e.g., the effect of budget cuts on school athletics), and then wrote letters to their state’s governor sharing their concerns and striving to persuade him about their concerns when making budgetary decisions. These letters then became part of the public sphere through local news coverage. Our purpose in this article is to share and critique the implementation of a unit that was embedded in an authentic context.