Jenna Hood’s Rationale
The following is a three-week unit plan
for a 10th grade advanced American Literature class. The lessons are
geared for classes that meet for 90 minute times blocks 5 days a week. (The
lessons cover 85-minute time spans to take into account the time lost moving
between class periods.) The greater semester theme is America:
Self and Society, and is divided into three units: Unit I – Our Unique Voices,
Unit II – Oppression & Persecution, and Unit III – Active Members of
Society. The lessons outlined in the following pages are for the second
unit of the school year, Unit II – Oppression &
Persecution.
The coursework for all the
units will focus on the culture of the U.S. as expressed in its literature. Multiple
types of literature will be covered. In Unit II the class will read a short story, a play, an excerpt from an autobiography, an
oral history, an editorial essay, and several poems. All the works that will be
studied deal with the theme of oppression and persecution. In “The Lottery”
students will see the mindless conformity that leads to individual oppression
in the name of community good. In The
Crucible, we will see how rumors and lies create an evil oppression in
which any difference is latched on to and persecuted. In “The Battle
With Mr. Covey” an Excerpt from Narrative
Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave students will explore
the persecuted individual’s fight against oppression. “No
News from Auschwitz” and “The Ghost Dance at Wounded Knee” will allow students
to see the continual history of oppression as reflected in American literature
and to question what oppression remains in our society today. In all the pieces
students will explore their own views and feelings as they examine the works. In addition, to covering different
styles of writing, the pieces of literature in this unit cover different points
of American history. Many are part of a shared cultural literacy, a canon, that
I feel it is important to expose students to.
This class unit is designed for
students to take an active role in their learning. The lessons are heavily student-centered
with a focus on class discussion, group work and expository writing. This is
reflected in many of the Quality Core Curriculum objectives covered by this
unit. For example, some student objectives in the lessons are to read
critically, ask pertinent questions, recognize assumptions and implications, evaluate
ideas (Core Skills L.A. 9-12.2), use
inferential comprehension skills (Core Skills L.A.
9-12.11), an to write in narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and
expository modes (Writing/ Usage/ Grammar Skills L.A.
9-12.41). I believe these lessons will aid in actively engaging students
in a dialogue with each other and the society around them. I hope, in some
small way, to empower students, so that they can convert their learned evaluating
skills into their everyday lives.
I believe that my role as a teacher is
that of a facilitator. Often I may have to lead, push and pull students into reaching
a deeper understanding of the works we examine, but I believe that students
will often teach themselves if I help them develop the tools to learn.
Promoting literacy and imparting a framework for understanding literature and
writing is my goal. While I believe that it is important to focus on the
individual differences of the students, I feel that most variations in student
learning can be accommodated for by presenting material in a multitude of
mediums and styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.). I believe that my
teaching style can be summed up as a balancing act between two models outlined
in the text, Language and Reflection,
the model of Language as a Social Construct and Language as Artifact, with some
elements of Language as Expression forming a bridge between the two.
This semester theme and the units are
built on my optimistic hope. Because there is always a moment when we are all faced
with making a moral or immoral choice. Often because of one story or one book
or one person, we are able to make a different choice; a choice for humanity,
for life. And so that is the reason for this exploration of self and society
and in particular oppression in society. Because we must know about the injustices
others have faced. We must know about them, learn from them, and in gratitude
and hope, we must remember them.