Kerri Koch

CEE 588- Methods I

Professor Dunn

Unit Plan # 1

September 21, 2004

I. Long-term objectives

First and foremost, I want my students to love reading and writing. While I must say that English as a subject plays such a role in the way students learn about diversity and the world. Therefore, I hope to incorporate many different genres, current issues, what some would call “dead” issues, articles from journals and newspapers, movies, and nonprint text to show my students a glimpse of the world they will soon be apart of. I want my students to be independent thinkers; I want them to have minds and thoughts that are their own. My class will be an open forum for discussion of issues in literature and the world. I will have knowledge about the subject matter, use technology, and be able to provide outside sources for those interested in whatever it is we are doing. I will be apart of the class, not the head of the class. We are not only taking up everyone’s time because we have to, but also because the issues are important and will help on the road ahead of my students. I believe that my goals use PEP’s performance outcome to “integrate their (students) understanding of human development to design diverse learning experiences that promote intellectual, social, and personal development.” Most importantly NCTE’s standard number twelve that “students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes” takes the cake for me. Students should decide what and how they learn best. It should not be about the system, parents, or the teacher; the classroom should be about them.

II. Objectives for this unit plan

I want the students in this class take the story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” in particular with them throughout their lives. It teaches a lesson about the naivety of adolescent girls and that there is bad in the world at large. This story in particular is one that I struggle with; therefore, I want my students to be independent thinkers and help me understand how they view the issues presented by Joyce Carol Oates. Using different devices such as audio/video, the written word, and writing I want my students to understand why I choose to teach this rather uncomfortable story. The NCTE standards state that “students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the culture of the United States….” With this text and outside sources they will understand a little about the US and some issues facing adolescents. The plan also addresses standard number three of NYS standards for English Language Arts; “Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation…to present…their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information, and issues.” I want my students to know that the world is not a perfect place, and that they need to be intellectually savvy about issues in the world in which they live. Because it is such an uncomfortable story for most students their minds should be analyzing the reasons it is such. Discussion should be intense and thought provoking, and their writing should exemplify the discussion of the thoughts of others as well as their own thoughts and experiences while reading and watching the story. The motivation should be the story itself and if that does not work I will talk about my experiences and uneasiness with the story.

III. Time unit

This plan addresses three consecutive forty minute class periods.

IV. Context

This is for a high school in Upstate New York. The grade is eleventh and it is a class full of regents bound students. The students are middle class, white, and native English speakers. The school is well funded and very absorbed in technological advances. It is a nice school, familiar and comfortable, because it is in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. The classroom is small in size but so is the number of students- only fifteen. There are many literary posters, bookshelves, and a rug on the floor. It looks lived in. It looks more like an inviting home library full of students who all know one another and are comfortable speaking about what most would deem “hard” issues in literature and the world.

V. Materials, Activities, Methods

The materials I will need for this unit are as follows: a copy of the story for every student, a copy of the video tape Smooth Talk, a television, and a VCR.

Day One:

First I will ask students to form the desks in a circle, including myself in that circle (2 minutes).
To begin our discussion I will talk a little about the story we are reading (3 minutes).
I will ask the students to read the story underlining phrases or words that catch their interest (20 minutes).
For the remainder of the class I will open the circle up for discussion (14 minutes). I may have to start the discussion with my discomfort of the story, but I will do this only if no one else will start.
The last minute of the class will be to thank the students for their participation, especially for such an intense and difficult story. I will also let them know to bring the story with them the next day because we will be watching clips of the movie rendition of the story.

Day Two:

I will have a VRC set up to show some specific clips from the movie.
For about three minutes I will give a brief introduction to the film (when it was released, why we’re not watching the entire movie, the director’s name, and so on).
We will watch the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes of the film.
For seven minutes I will ask to hear opinions on the film (did they think it was a good representation of the story, did they like the casting, and was there anything they were surprised by?)
For the last ten minutes I will discuss their homework with them. I ask everyone to find at least one article from a newspaper or journal about the Pied Piper of Tucson. He is the man that inspired Oates to write this story. I will then ask them to write a three to five page paper on what they learned from all three sources about the same story. It will be a reaction paper of their thoughts on the video, story, and article. Questions such as: how do the three different types of media portray the story, did you like one more the rest, if so why, what are the similarities and differences of the three medias, and any original thoughts students might want to discuss? I will also tell them that they will be pairing off into groups of two or three to discuss the papers.

Day Three:

I will start the class by asking how everyone did with the assignment (1 minute).
Then I will group students into twos or threes and give them twenty minutes to discuss what they wrote about. They do not need to read their papers fully to one another, just give a summary of what they said using specific sentences to start the conversation. I will travel around the room listening in on what is being said and answering questions if anyone has any.
Then we will reconvene to a larger discussion. For about ten minutes I will ask if anyone was surprised by what others came up with or if anyone found an article that was particularly interesting that they want to share?
For the last ten minutes of the class I ask the class to think about the question why did we read this and does it teach us anything about life and/or the world? I want to know if students felt they learned something about themselves by reading this. Lastly I will tell them what the original title of the story was- “Death and the Maiden” and ask if they think that would have been a better title then the one it was published under. I think this title pertains to the social context of the story. It does not leave one wondering what happened and why?

VI. Assessment or evaluation

I will know that my students accomplished the objectives in part two of this plan by how effective and thought provoking the discussions in the small and the large groups went. If they were engaged, coming up with ideas on their own, and questioning the text, movie, and articles, then they got it.

VII. Reflection

N/A

VIII. Teacher Candidate Proficiencies

I believe this plan would show that I am knowledgeable in the discipline and pedagogy, integrating an understanding of human development to promote intellectual, social, and personal development, using multiple instructional strategies creatively, understanding group dynamics, and using technology to support student learning. I do not feel I used all of the proficiencies, but I am new at this I hope to able to touch on more the next time around.