Today was my first real day of brainstorming and seriously thinking about my unit plan. While writing down a list of questions to consider when starting the unit plan I began contemplating the idea of what is means to be an adult. This seemed like an interesting topic but the more that I thought about it the more I struggled with the idea of me being an adult let alone my future 7th and 8th graders being adults. So from there I tried to simplify the question. Who am I? This question is found in countless volumes of young adult literature, but it is also a question that I asked myself throughout my middle school experience.
My next thought, being an English concentration was what kind of books or short stories could I teach? I can't tell if it is simply my love of John Green or the brilliance of his stories that brought Looking for Alaska to the forefront of my mind. My sister read this book as part of her middle school curriculum and was ultimately the reason I picked this book off my bookshelf a few years ago. It's a story of self-discover by the main character and his interactions with a girl who seems to have herself all figured out. It has strong male and female characters in it and I believe it could be a great piece of literature for all students to look at the question of who am I from both the character's perspective as well as their own.
I wouldn't simply teach the novel though - I would supplement with a few poems and even a short story. I found a few poems that would make for great introductions into this unit including "One" by James Berry also "Who You Are" by Jean Little could work well in the unit.
This unit would address writing standards - there would be quite a bit of reflection going on because of the nature of the material we would be covering as well as some reading standards. Along with these a final project of sorts would focus on the media standards and including the use of technology when creating a project to express what they have learned.
From here I will begin to pull together resources and get a better idea of the actual strategies I might want to implement as part of this unit plan. I am very excited to begin work on this and will keep you updated!
I REALLY like this concept! Not only will it be good for exploring differnt types of texts and media, but it can also be beneficial for the students in exploring their own personal identity. I think this is a great idea and you have a strong base.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Taylor, Christine. This is a strong and relevant concept, and I really appreciate the integration of genres and skills you are imagining.
ReplyDeleteOne piece of advice: make sure that you start to narrow the skills focus for your unit. Although you might integrate multiple types of activities, your unit and student learning are better served when you have a pretty specific focus. So, while you might incorporate some media and writing activities along the way, you might have 1-2 reading standards be the primary learning goals for this unit (or select writing standards and assessment, but include reading and media texts as models).
My only other question you might consider right now, that is purely a practical consideration. Is this realistically a novel that you would be able to obtain and teach to a whole class? I have not read this title (although I really want to based on your description), so I can't speak to its content particulars. Instead, I ask because I would hate for you to design a novel unit and then not get to teach it in the future.
There are some creative solutions--such as book clubs where this is one of several choices, or copying a chapter for whole class study. But I want to raise this early in the process, so you have an opportunity to weigh the pros and cons. Strong start--I look forward to the projects evolution!