Overview/Rationale
This unit plan was designed with a 12th grade
Regents or AP class in mind. I feel that this would be the most appropriate age
group because some of the subject matter in Graceland is violent and
requires a relatively mature group of students studying it. Furthermore, the
complex analysis and critical thinking skills that I am encouraging through the
various portfolio and in-class assignment would probably be beyond the
capabilities of some of the younger grades. Overall, my goals in teaching this
novel were to give students ownership of the text: this is to be accomplished
through performance activities, fishbowl discussion, group-work, individual
research, student-generated discussions, and other such activities. There is
very little formal assessment being done during the first three weeks for the
simple reason that I want to give the students a chance to get some feedback
from their peers and myself before submitting it in a cohesive final portfolio.
I also decided not to give any kinds of tests and quizzes because I don’t want
students to be worried about memorizing facts for the sake of spitting them
back to me in a test. I would rather give them things like fishbowl discussions
where they apply their critical thinking and analysis skills to what they’ve
read and prove to me through articulation of their ideas that they have read
the text. It was fairly difficult for me to assess whether more time would need
to be spent on certain sections of the novel so my unit doesn’t really allow
for that in terms of time but, certainly, some of the days (like double library
day and presentation days during Weeks 3 and 4) could be adjusted to allow for
more discussion time if there is a need.