Kathy Saunders

Unit Plan

Unit PlanAuthors Embedded in American History

Unit Plan: Broad Scope Long Term Goals and Objectives

Unit: Personal History: Authors Embedded in American History

Essential Questions:

How does history impact the individuals who experience it?

How does an author impact the time period in which he/she lives?

Can an image capture the essence of history and reveal perspective at the same time?

Consider the role of theme, tone, and sound devices in literary works. What is the effect, or result, of such devices?

Evaluate the role of artistic expression in capturing the essence of historical events. Does artistic expression reflect the spirit and essence of the individual and the time-period?

Assessment:

Formative assessment will occur as a combination of the following approaches:

Informal assessments will include: teacher observation, classroom activities, pre and post-assessments in the form of exit/entrance slips, journals, interest inventories

Formal assessments will include: Collaborative group essay, storyboard activity, performance assessment: video, and summative/portfolio assessment encompassing individual and group activities.

Essay: Rubric and self-assessment

Storyboard: Menu and rubric

Video: Menu and rubric for performance assessment

Journal: Menu and rubric

Blog: Menu and rubric

Portfolio: Rubric scoring combined elements

Group: Essay, storyboard, video Individual: Planner, reflection, journal, blogs, peer and self-evaluation

Unit: Personal History: Authors Embedded in American History

Purpose: While working collaboratively, students will select an American author, research American history, and examine historical impact, create a unique visual, and:

1. Identify one author and select either:a. one poem to analyze –or-b. reflect upon his/her body of workc. incorporate literary analysis/devices

2. Select an historical framework/event during the lifespan of the author:a. synthesize facts with commentaryb. evaluate impact of time period upon authorc. evaluate author impact upon time period

3. Create one storyboard and video using animoto.com that reflects:a. common themeb. appropriate word choicec. pictorial representationd. threaded tonee. collaborative effort

4. Synthesize information in video through:a. appropriate music selectionb. meaningful tone/themec. relevant pictorial representationd. a length of two-three minutese. the incorporation of at least eight written commentary slidesf. the inclusion of minimum of twenty pictures (video clips optional (maximum 15 seconds))

Essay:

Identify one author of the period within the Civil Rights Movement and evaluate his/her contribution through literary type.

Classify the causes and effects of each author's writing from a historical perspective

Evaluate credibility of arguments, decisions, and impact of author on the time period and time period on the author

Storyboard:

Represent visually and verbally through a storyboard depicting the perspective of the author

Journal:

Create a series of diary entries from the POV of your author that examines the historical period

Take a current event and hypothesize how the author would respond to it based upon your prior experience and analysis

Blog:

Develop a blog with literary commentary from the author while identifying components of literary, expository and persuasive discourse

Video:

Summarize in your own words the perspective of the author through limited text and visuals

Personal History Unit Plan in American LiteratureDay90 Min. Block

Essential Question/Reflection

Activities

1 How does history impact the individuals who experience it?

Wordle

Think/Pair/Share/

TTYPANominate Partner

Exit Slip

2 How does an author impact the time period in which he/she lives?

Media Center Research

Portfolio RubricMenu Format

Teacher Website: Blog

Journal

Pre-write Essay:Menu Format

Exit Slip H/W

3 Identify one author of the period within the Civil Rights Movement and examine their contribution through literary type.

Entrance Slip

Media Center Research

SASTeacher Website: Blog

Journal

Pre-write: Draft /Edit/Re-writeMenu Format

Peer Evaluation Essay Form

Day Essential Question/Reflection

Activity

4Can an image capture the essence of history and reveal perspective at the same time?

Journal

Small Group Discussion and/or Blog

Final Draft Essay

Storyboard Concept

Menu Activity

5 How does one represent visually and verbally through a storyboard depicting the perspective of the author?

Website Blog

Storyboard Creation :Menu

Hands-on Application

6 Consider the role of theme, tone, and sound devices in literary works. What is the effect, or result, of such devices?

Menu

Journal

Animoto.com

Video

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7 Evaluate the role of artistic expression in capturing the essence of historical events. Does artistic expression reflect the spirit and essence of the individual and the time-period?

Grammar ActivityJournal

Animoto.com

Video

PortfolioCompilation

Portfolio Self-Evaluation

8 EQ: What is the relationship between history and the author of the same period?

Animoto Videos

Lesson 1 – Personal History

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Understanding (s)/goals

The learner will establish a foundational perspective on how living through an historical event can shape personal history.

Essential Question(s):

How does history impact the individuals who experience it?

Student objectives (outcomes):

The learner will synthesize events in his/her own life and relate the impact of historical events to the lives of American authors.

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

Performance Task(s): Wordle, Think/Pair/Share/TTYPA: Nominate Partner, Exit Slip

Other Evidence: Informal assessment through teacher observation, interest inventory and participation in paired and individual activities.

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

Learning Activity: The learning activity begins with an attention getting sound of a large airliner as students view a picture of a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers. This activity involves one of the most prominent historical events of the learner’s generation: 9/11. Students are asked to reflect on the impact of history on their personal history as a scaffolding activity and a foundation for learning. Students then pair and discuss their thoughts with a twist. Instead of discussing their own views, they nominate a partner and discuss their perspective with the class. This encourages engaged conversation and the importance of listening while reinforcing the social awareness and motivation to be acknowledged in class. Students then participate in an activity whereby they create both an individual and then a

synthesized list with peers. This information is narrowed and combined with the class in a wordle.com activity whereby students can visualize two things. First, they can see the commonalities with their peers in words that are larger. Next, they can see how they differ from others and the varied contributions of the class.

This creates a foundation for the unit plan where students will consider how history has had an impact on American authors, their contributions, and how they, in-turn- impacted others. Students will engage in a reflection of their own feelings through journals that will enable them to consider the point of view of the author in a later activity.

During the bathroom/stretch break, a music video will play to lay a foundation for the activity after the break. The video is about 9/11 and individual response to events.

The learners will then listen to a song and reflect upon memories associated either with the song, or memories that are ‘sparked’ in response to hearing the song. Literary concepts such as tone, theme, etc., will be explored as a scaffolding activity toward the final performance assessment of a collaborative video.

Ultimately, students will consider sound and imagery as a link to personal imagery that will enable them to consider a variety of contributions and engage auditory, visual, and musical intelligences.

The exit slip activity will ask students to reflect on a favorite song from childhood, the images that are conjured, and the associations/mental pictures that reflect the memory.

Connect to Power Point through this link for an interactive view: day one.pptx

Lesson 2 – Research, Reflect, and Report/Introduction to Assessment

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Understanding (s)/goals

The learner will identify one author of the period within the Civil Rights Movement and evaluate his/her contribution through literary type.

Essential Question(s):

How does an author impact the time period in which he/she lives?

Student objectives (outcomes):

Students will measure impact of author on a time-period in history and evaluate the symbiotic relationship between author’s impact and impact of history on author. Students will also work collaboratively to achieve a multi-dimensional contribution to the portfolio assessment.

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

Performance Task(s): Research and select authors of the Civil Rights Movement period and work collaboratively through a blog activity to narrow selection to one. Menu consideration of tasks through essay participation, journal and blog.

Other Evidence: Informal assessment through teacher observation of website research, group commentary, TTYPA and nominating ideas.

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

Learning Activity: The student begins the daily lesson with a muted picture of Anne Frank’s Diary in the background and a reflection as to whether an author can impact history and the impact of history on an author. The picture is a mental scaffold to a later activity that uses Anne Frank as an example (from prior year’s world history class) and a real-world application of the essential question.

The next activity links to the prior day’s lesson whereby students reflected on a childhood memory and the associations through imagery. The reflection on imagery is a scaffold to the next step: storyboard.

The concept of Anne Frank as an example of such an author creates confidence for students and meaning-making through a journal activity.

The bathroom break song is James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” to evoke memories and link learning.

The overall project is introduced in the form of a summative assessment that incorporates collaboration with the group and individual contributions combined into one student portfolio. The concept of menu is introduced to allow differentiation and options to address multiple intelligences and multiple learning styles. Students are allowed to provide images, commentary, and music in differing quantities in order to preserve social appearance and to motivate the learner to excel at 21st century skills. LEP and Exceptional Students can choose a variety of approaches to reflect knowledge and understanding while fostering creativity.

Rubrics are provided for the portfolio, essay, menu items; however, in order to not over-saturate the learner with too much in one period, day three will include rubrics for journals and blogs. Furthermore, the peer evaluation and self evaluation forms will be provided on the third and fourth day, respectively.

Students are reminded of the value of individual contribution, peer relationships, and acceptable use policy in the Media Center. Once in the Media Center, students follow directions for research of authors and also for participation in teacher website blog through links.

As a ticket out the door, students must indicate the collaborative author selection and provide input as to how they feel about the selection. Authors will not be duplicated in the class and groups must reach a common agreement as part of the requirement.

This lesson provides a scaffold into day three as students will begin research of author, select literary works, and follow directions to construct a draft essay with specific group member roles. The roles are provided by choice through menu selection and correspond to the formative assessment in the portfolio.

Connect to Power Point through this link for an interactive view: day two.pptx