Rationale


 * The rationale can also be found as a docx file listed under the "Manage Wiki" link.

Our curriculum unit plan is a thematic unit exploring various perspectives of the conflict between man and society. This two-month long unit examines different ways in which an individual or individuals of a minority group come into conflict with the society they live in, as well as the possible repercussions of creating conflict with that society. We have broken down the unit into four perspectives of man versus society.

The main reason we chose this theme for the focus of our unit plan was to teach students how to make observations about a text and analyze a text through various elements, including conflict. Conflict is a key element studied in literature (man versus man, man versus nature, man versus the paranormal, etc), and this unit focuses in on one conflict that is consistent in both literature and the world that students live in. //Teaching Literature to Adolescents// explains various critical lenses that can be used to analyze a text, and using the conflict of man versus society to approach a multitude of texts helps build a foundation for using critical lenses in the future (Beach 185-192). This unit can be used within a curriculum that focuses on other aspects of literary elements as well as one that wishes to incorporate variety of text genres and authors. This unit brings in multiple perspectives and allows students to build a foundation for observing literature in the future.

The first section of our unit uses //The Little Mermaid// by Hans Christian Andersen to explore how challenging societal rules can bring an individual into conflict in society, and how this conflict often results in harming the individual. The second section of our unit focuses on //The Birth-Mark// by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This short story contrasts the first lesson section’s perspective by examining how an individual, being aware of society’s rules, might strive to avoid being in conflict with society. The second half of our unit observes how individuals as part of minority groups come into conflict with American society. The third section of our unit focuses on how individuals of minority groups are in conflict with society regardless of their actions. This section examines multiple texts related to Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II as well as Japanese-American literature. The final section of the unit explores how society’s rules may be illogical, and the ways in which individuals challenge society’s logic to bring change. This section begins with Langston Hughes’ poems, //Let America Be America Again// and //A Dream Deferred//, and finishes with Lorraine Hansberry’s play //A Raisin in the Sun//.

We chose this order of texts because we feel that these different perspectives of man versus society build on top of one another. We have been taught to always start with what the students know (Pace, LAE 6366); we are assuming that most, if not all, students are familiar with the traditional or Disney fairy tale of //The Little Mermaid//. We also believe that this story represents a very typical approach to man versus society, where Ariel rebels against her society to pursue love. We follow this perspective of man versus society to see what happens when an individual does the opposite of rebelling against society. The final two stories contrast the first two by looking at minority groups versus society rather than an individual versus society; this perspective gives minority and ESOL students the opportunity to personally relate their experiences to the texts and share their personal perspectives with other classmates. Having the ability to share personal experiences can be very beneficial and effective in teaching ESOL students, as seen in the article //Paw’s story: A Laotian refugee’s lonely entry into American literacy// (Townsend and Fu). We begin the perspective of minority individuals versus society by looking at the ways in which society stays enables the conflict to persist regardless of any individual’s actions. We chose to end the unit by showing that there are moments when society is recognized as being illogical. In these instances, individuals challenge society in order to bring change to society’s rules.

The texts and focus of this unit are appropriate for the tenth grade and meet many of the state standards for ninth and tenth grade. For example, the standard for reading comprehension states: “The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend grade level text” (LA 910.1.7) In both //The Birth-Mark// and Langston Hughes poetry, students will be using forms of slow motion reading, as introduced in LAE 6366, to develop reading comprehension skills through rereading and developing interpretations of the texts. Students will also be working on the standard for vocabulary development (LA 910.1.6) by making note of unfamiliar words which will then be defined by context clues and a dictionary to teach students the importance of rereading and fully comprehending the language and vocabulary being used in the text. We learned about different methods for handling vocabulary through Jago’s book, //With Rigor for All//, from Bean’s book //Content Area Literacy//, and from other materials in Dr. Fang’s RED 5337 course.

This unit also focuses on the tenth grade standard for literary analysis: “The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of the elements of a variety of fiction and literary texts to develop a thoughtful response to a literary selection” (LA 910.2.1). The unit focuses on identifying specific elements of fiction and literary text, such as conflict, characterization, and plot development in order to fully understand how the texts implement to conflict between man and society. Focusing on this strand is important because it feeds directly into a enabling a student to accomplish literary practices.

While developing the unit, we saw opportunities to develop many literacy practices that are examined in //Teaching Literature to Adolescents// (Beach 11-16). The unit is developed with the perspective-taking literacy practice in mind to examine multiple social worlds. By using a “unit worksheet,” we ask common questions across the unit such as, “What are some words that describe the world in this text? What are the rules you see in this society? What are the customs of this society?” Along with exploring social worlds, we also explore and try to explain characters’ actions in response to the social worlds they live in. This is done as part of the unit worksheet, and is further developed within individual focus lessons and activities. Students are also encouraged to make connections between the multiple texts that are studied and to the world around them. We encourage making these connections because, according to Judith Langer’s research, part of the learning process for students when studying literature is the ability to connect information to what they already know. Making these connections enable them to access and build upon prior knowledge. As students continue to study more texts in the unit, they will be able to connect similar themes and motifs across texts, using writing assignments and discussion to compare multiple texts to one another, and by using forms of visual presentations to connect the texts to the students’ worlds.

In order to provide multiple opportunities to make connections across a wide variety of texts from different time periods, genres, authors and cultures, we chose to approach this unit using a thematic method. We know, according to //Teaching Literature to Adolescents//, that this approach has limitations that might force an interpretation on the texts being studied (Beach 57). However, as a means of adding strength to the thematic method, we chose to have students create their own final project, giving them freedom to develop their own interpretations and have their own agency. Another way that we strengthen this method is by observing a variety of approaches to man versus society in order to expand the scope of interpretation. Students will also have the opportunity to use their inquiry to explore man versus society through a combination of group discussions and student collaborations.

Most of the activities included in the unit plan are designed to promote generative thinking. Langer’s research shows that teachers should create challenging lessons to encourage students to develop more analytical thinking (Langer). Generative thinking can often be developed through allowing students to develop an initial understanding and an individual interpretation of the text(s), followed by the students taking a critical stance through discussing and sharing interpretations with one another (Langer). This process of thinking is also a way for students to interact with the text through envisionment building as well as opening up a new horizon of possibilities within the text (Langer). The section on //The Little Mermaid// widens students’ horizons of possibilities within the text; people are often familiar with the Disney version of the fairy tale, however, some students might not be aware that the original Ariel dies in the end. Students are also encouraged to build envisionments of the society around them throughout the entire unit. For example, students observe and infer the rules of society within //The Little Mermaid// and //The Birth-Mark.// Students also expand their envisionment building of the texts’ settings; for example, students will take what they have observed in the poem //Let America Be America Again// and apply it to visual presentations that communicate the conflict of the poem’s setting.

Another way to promote generative thinking is to have students collaborate with one another, as Langer described, by taking a critical stance and sharing interpretations with one another (Langer). Lessons from //The Birth-Mark//, all the “American Dreams” lessons, and the reading groups developed from texts about Japanese-internment camps encourage students to share their observations and interpretations with one another. For example, when students study //A Dream Deferred//, they will be broken into groups to share and discuss their individual ideas about the “American Dream,” and then will continue to apply their findings of this discussion and lesson toward studying //A Raisin in the Sun//. Students will be challenged to think generatively throughout the unit as they are asked to infer and draw meaning from the texts they read in relation to the societies’ settings, the characters’ motivations for actions, and the relationship between the characters and the society they inhabit.

In order for students to be successful in generative thinking, there are some steps that need to be ensured by the teacher. The teacher needs to provide overt instruction to offer new information and teach the students how to connect that new information to prior knowledge; the teacher also needs to develop activities for situated practice to help scaffold students in acquiring new literacy practice skills. Starting at the introductory lesson, we introduce the unit worksheet to the students and model how to use it. Throughout the unit each section of lessons uses forms of overt instruction to show students which questions can be answered in the unit worksheet from the text being studied. For example, when studying the Langston Hughes poems, the teacher will explain to students that there is not a character that affects the plot in the same way as //The Little Mermaid// or //The Birth-Mark// contains characters. Overt instruction is also used throughout the unit by the teacher constantly checking to make sure her students are learning the content. For example, whenever group discussion happens, the teacher will be walking around the classroom, listening to the group discussions, and supporting students’ learning with instruction whenever necessary.

Overt instruction is also important when introducing new literacy practice techniques or skills. Students use situated practice when doing variations of slow motion reading in both //The Birth-Mark// and in the Langston Hughes poems; this activity is a way for students to incorporate rereading, which will give students the opportunity to glean information from the text. The students are also introduced to a beginner’s version of color-marking, which is modeled by the teacher with the first few lines of the poem (overt instruction) and then handed over to the student to try in situated practice. This technique is a way of introducing students to more advanced literary analysis and close reading (Pace, LAE 6366). The lessons also provide situated practice to the students by explicitly connecting the texts to personal student experiences. The lesson on //A Dream Deferred//, for example, begins with a journal question and group discussion time on personal dreams and ideas on the “American Dream.” These thoughts generated on dreams and goals are then tied directly to the poem, the play that is started in the following lesson, and other texts from the unit.

The unit as a whole enables students to see conflict in the literary world of the texts being studied, while connecting these observations to the world around them. This unit teaches a concept that will be used throughout life and literature, and the literacy practices that are used are easily transferrable to other texts. We feel that having multiple genres within the unit also shows students that all types of text have importance, and that the students’ literacy practice tools can be used within a variety of genres for a many purposes. We hope that from this unit, students will have the tools to recognize the multiple perspectives of conflict between man and society.