Unit 2: Immigration, Identity, and Dreams

Expected Unit Length: 6 weeks
Major Assessment: Narrative
Minor Assessments: 19-22 Journal Entries
Points Possible: TBA

Unit Summary:

Our goal for this unit was to utilize mirror texts to help our students develop both academically, socioculturally, and socioemotionally. We were informed by our teacher that they had all shared their stories amongst themselves one day through a community circle. Many of the students told us that it was a very emotional day; they were crying, laughing, and learning from each others’ experiences. We wanted to build on this sense of community within the classroom and help them tie their experiences to the community at large for a final, end of the year project. Thus we focused on telling our stories and giving students a way to explore their own stories through mirror texts, and eventually writing and recording their own story, or narrative.

The final assessment, writing and recording of their own narrative, measures storytelling: plot structure, content, and setting for this particular time. However, the students have such wealth of experience to draw on to create a compelling narrative. Thus our assessments, both the summative and formative ones, build on this prior knowledge and help them build structure into an already great story. 

Standards:

W.10.1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant significant evidence.

W.10.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

W.10.5.Develop and  strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose or audience.

W.10.6. Use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display  information flexibly and dynamically.

SL.10.1.Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

SL.10.5. Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

RL.10.1.Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.10.6. Analyze how a particular point of view or cultural experience is reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of literature.

RI.10.6. Explain how an author develops the point of view

RI.10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums, determining which details are emphasized in each account.

RI.10.9. Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical or literary significance, including how they address related themes and concepts.

Unit Objective:

Using various stories and informational text as a mentor text, students will develop basic writing skills such as summarizing, paraphrasing, and citing. In addition, they will begin to create strong writing pieces that uses typical literary tools such as figurative language and imagery.