Guide to Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale National Initiative 2006

Students are influenced by everything around them—family, religion, peers, school, and the media. Unfortunately, this means that music videos and television shows play a significant role in their ideas and beliefs. This unit addresses the stereotypes that develop from students' limited exposure. The unit's goal is to break down these stereotypes through new knowledge.

The unit begins by teaching students to see the 'stereotypical American' often portrayed in television shows. This includes the standard gender roles of mischievous boys and beautiful, stay-at-home wives. Students will learn about how the definition of beauty has changed throughout centuries.

After this introduction, the unit uses films, a novel, and several nonfiction texts to increase students' knowledge of Middle Easterners and Native Americans. At the end of each study, students will re-examine their initial stereotypes and use their new knowledge to paint a better picture of each culture. The final project allows students to choose a topic that fills a gap in their own knowledge.

I designed this six- to ten-week unit for my middle school reading class, but it also meets many social studies standards. Teachers can adjust it to meet the needs of high school students as well.

(Developed for Intensive Reading, grade 6; recommended for Reading and Social Studies, grades 5-8)

This curriculum unit will help teachers explain how Black people are depicted in African and American films. It will expose students to West African cultural groups, giving them a technically visual understanding of misinformation in the American film industry. It probes matters concerning the visual imagery surrounding American students including the glorifying of violence; the self-degradation of Blacks; the exploitative lewdness of spirit in film and the savoir-faire tactics of propaganda tools in American films.

Students will learn to adopt filmmakers' worldview through the telescopic eye of the movie camera and editorial cut. Using literary terms closely associated with the industry, students will be able to intelligibly question all aspects of film. Students will understand the making of films, keeping in mind the written story, the use of film editing and adaptations. This unit offers a learning environment that celebrates the phenomenal intellect of Black writers, directors and filmmakers, past and present.

This unit is designed for use in the high school classroom setting, fitting the mold for advanced or regular English language arts classes, social studies classes and students in film and/or cinematography classes. This unit is also appropriate for use in classrooms of varied racial diversity.

(Developed for English, grade 9, and African American Literature, grades 11-12; recommended for English, African American Literature, Social Studies, and Film, grades 9-12)

The Spanish Civil War through Film is an interdisciplinary unit that uses films, art, history, literature and music to help students understand the social and political situation in Spain and in Europe during the late 30s. It is designed to be taught in upper level classes: Spanish IV and with proper modifications, could also be taught in AP Spanish, and Spanish III.

As a result of this unit, students will learn about The Spanish Civil War, will learn how to watch and analyze movies and how to give opinions after analyzing different perspectives of the same event. In order to do so, they will work with an ample variety of movies related to the Spanish Civil War: they will be able to analyze newsreel movies, documentaries, state-sponsored movies and fiction movies. They will also deal with poems, articles, pieces of art and music from that time.

The unit is recommended for Spanish students with an upper-intermediate level since it will be conducted in Spanish.

(Developed for Spanish III and IV, and AP Spanish, grades 11-12; recommended for Spanish III and IV, and AP Spanish, grades 11-12)

Film offers a unique storytelling experience that students find tremendously engaging. Like quality literature, film can offer them a challenging text to decode. Ironically, while film is a communication tool that stimulates student engagement, film generally receives little critical study in the secondary classroom. As a multi-sensory technology, films contain countless, carefully selected visual and auditory details to be "read" by viewers, making these powerful texts worthy of serious examination. The focus of this unit will be on cinematic narratives that involve women struggling against cultural traditions within India, Africa, and Iran. Building on an initial study of literature from or about each region, this unit undertakes the critical analysis and comparison of their different film traditions. Using the films Water (Canada/India, 2005), Finzan (Mali, 1989), and The Circle (Iran, 2000), students will explore how stories reveal the diversity of global culture, address larger social issues, and uncover the universal aspects of human nature. Strategies will involve the identification and analysis of technical, aesthetic, and rhetorical choices made by filmmakers via critical viewing, reflective writing, and collaborative learning.

(Developed for World Literature, grades 9-12; recommended for World Literature, grades 9-12)

The Delicate Marriage of Theatre and Film is an exciting theatre arts curriculum designed to inspire and impassion the study of theatre in the secondary classroom. This curriculum effectively blends the genres of Classical Japanese Theatre and film into one magnificent educational experience. Students are introduced to the classical performance elements of Noh, Bunraku, and Kabuki Theatre through screening Japanese films which are based in each of these theatrical styles. This unit is designed to give students a greater appreciation for Classical Japanese Theatre while gaining a stronger understanding for the elements and power of Japanese film.

This curriculum is the result of an artistic search for a more organic theatrical experience which can be communicated in the classroom. This search has led the writer to the truest sources of theatre in the east; its primary form. Without a doubt, Classical Japanese Theatre is one of the most organic forms of theatrical performance that has survived centuries and is still performed in its original nature.

(Developed for Theatre Arts, grades 10-12; recommended for Theatre Arts, Cultural Education, and Film and Media Production, grades 6-12)

This unit provides suggestions for presenting five films about children from around the world to students: Children of Heaven from Iran, Not One Less from Mainland China, Into the West from Ireland, Rabbit Proof Fence from Australia, and The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun from Senegal, Africa. A desire to make U.S. children members of a world community is the strongest goal for this unit, but other objectives are met along the way. Each film provides a sense of common humanity and at the same time supplies clarifying and important images of local landscape, cityscape, family interactions, religion, and a whole host of cultural information. The films offer profiles of children with fortitude, courage, and strength of spirit. These visual glimpses into the lives of children in Ireland, Iran, China, Africa, and Australia furnish instantaneous opportunities for increasing empathy and understanding.

Several categories of information are provided for each film. These are: a brief background of film in the country or region represented; a synopsis of the film and background information about cultural issues, the director, and relevant historical information; ideas for teaching an element of filmmaking or cinematography with each film; and a brief discussion of a national or regional literary style that is evident in the film. Although the unit is planned for students in a middle school for the creative and performing arts, parts of it are suitable for a film studies class, world cultures class, or any curriculum studying one of the five countries covered in this unit. The curriculum might also be valuable to Language Arts teachers interested in reinforcing literary concepts and terminology.

(Developed for Creative Writing, Media, and Drama, grades 6-8; recommended for World Cultures, Communications and English, grades 6-12)

This unit is designed to imbue seventh and eighth grade middles school students with a deepening awareness of African storytelling through African produced film. Students will find cultural relevance in films heretofore unavailable to them; indeed, this is an innovative methodology which will challenge both the student and the teacher while adhering to state standards for Language Arts. Lesson plans encompass the use of a portfolio with graphic organizer, art projects, open-ended questions, and a student-as-teacher in class project. Elements of African storytelling will be studied with the role of the African griot as the transmitter of ancient secrets leading to a boy's destiny in Keita, a rite of passage film produced in Mali. Wend Kuuni is the story of a mute boy, displaced from his village and raised in the bush. The research on the background of African storytelling and on these films is included in the unit. The elements of filmmaking will be presented, appropriate to the level of middle school students, and the unit includes lesson plans dealing with cinematic conventions. Thus, the students can view the films in entirety first, studying the subtitles, and then watch clips or short sections of them in order to analyze the filmmaker's task. Students will enjoy studying the oral traditions of African storytelling with a new, realistic vision through film.

(Developed for Language Arts, grade 7; recommended for Language Arts, grades 7-8)

This unit draws from both social studies content and literature to allow students to conduct research to better understand culture. It is intended for middle grade students (grades 6th-8th) and revolves around an essential question, "Who Am I?" In this unit students explore Chinese culture through films, non fiction and fiction literature. The intention is that by exploring Chinese culture through research and films students may come to better understand their selves. The first part of the unit involves researching and analyzing Chinese history and culture in general and selected Chinese films in particular. Next the unit will analyze and compare cultures and gender issues facing young people in China with those of typical American students. Then students will design multi-media presentations on their findings about Chinese Culture, while concurrently producing an I-search, first person point of view narrative report. The unit will culminate with digital and media presentations exploring the theme Who Am I and How am I More Alike than Different from people from China?

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 6; recommended for Social Studies and Language Arts, grades 6-8)

Hollywood filmmakers have depicted the African-American race with such degradation that in order to reclaim the minds of young African-Americans the true story must be told. I have chosen four films and four novels to give students a direct view of where the African-American race has been to help them understand where they need to go. The films are: Sankofa, by Ethiopian Haile Gerima, Amistad directed by Steven Spielberg, Hotel Rwanda by filmmaker Terry George, and Beloved, screenplay by Akosua Busia a prince from Ghana. Companion novels are: Kindred, by Octavia Butler, Mutiny on the Amistad, by Howard Jones, Hotel Rwanda, (Bringing the True Story of and African Hero to Film), and Beloved, by Toni Morrison. These authors and filmmakers are diverse in race and gender; they produced their works under quite different circumstances.

We will highlight the differences in visual styles of the filmmakers and writing styles of the authors as each takes up themes of oppression and the quest for liberation. Slavery and the impact of African history on the U.S. today must be understood by students so they can appreciate their past and the struggle, pain, and sacrifices, of others.

(Developed for English and Language Arts, grades 9-12; recommended for English and Language Arts, grades 6-12)

The focus of this unit is fostering multiculturalism and social consciousness in tenth grade English Language Arts students. Using family life as a platform, the unit uses film and nonfiction texts to explore issues of social concern in foreign nations. The material focuses on apartheid in South Africa, the Travellers in Ireland, women in Afghanistan and the one-child policy in the People's Republic of China. Each of these issues and the skills required to understand them are scaffolded to ensure student growth. Carefully selected nonfiction texts promote reading skills and create active and informed readers. The films are engaging and offer opportunities to promote literacy and awareness of social issues. Explicit analysis of the films will provide students with critical thinking skills as well as a foundation for the appreciation of foreign cinema. This unit utilizes a discovery learning process that engages the students and challenges them to perpetuate the process of acceptance and understanding of other cultures. Students will engage in discussions, group activities, and written activities that prepare students to engage in lifelong literacy as independent learners. The content and culminating unit activities actively promote visual and cultural literacy as well as introduce the idea of social activism.

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 10; recommended for English Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 9-12)

The goal of this unit is a common one for the high school English teacher: to teach students to read closely, think deeply about what they have read, and demonstrate this in writing. What is unusual about this unit is that I have chosen to use techniques derived from film studies to accomplish this.

Film studies utilizes segmentation to analyze the structure of texts. Segmentation provides the means to systematically take a text apart and examine the relationships between the parts, analyzing them for the ways they work together to craft meanings. This unit seeks to teach students to segment a film first and then apply that same tool to a written text.

The long-range goal is to introduce the complexities of narrative structures into the classroom. After analyzing multiple narratives for possible meanings, the class will examine the ways that narratives themselves operate in accordance with specific societal and cultural demands and expectations. This introduces the beginnings of a conversation about ideology and narrative into the classroom. Hopefully the students will begin to realize that thinking of literature rhetorically reveals much about what we as a culture think about ourselves.

(Developed for AP Language, grade 11, AP Literature, grade 12, and Film, grades 10-12; recommended for Film Studies and AP English Language and Composition, grades 10-12, and AP English Literature and Composition, grades 11-12)

This unit started with the idea of teaching students about different cultures through cinema, but in the process of refining my topic, I came to realize I could also teach my students to understand a particular region's cinema through its culture. This symbiosis was a revelation to me, and I hope students will delight in it as much as I have. Students can learn from the movies a great deal about a nation's or region's history, geography, and people, including their values, hopes, and fears, but to understand the way filmmakers express these through cinema, it helps to know something beforehand of the culture from which these movies spring. In analyzing the cinema of Ireland, Iran, and Africa, students will uncover the artistic and cultural traditions out of which movies from each of these regions arise. This process of discovery should help students better appreciate the films. Students may be surprised to learn that the novel or short story is not necessarily the starting point from which all cinemas have grown. Arguably, poetry, visual arts, and oral tales have had, in many cases, an even greater influence on non-Hollywood films. This unit offers teachers an array of works in these other genres to use as vehicles to help students understand and enjoy the international films they will see. It is written with ninth grade students in mind, but can be adapted for students in grades 8 through 12.

(Developed for Language Arts, grade 9, and World History and Language, grade 12; recommended for English Literature and Language Arts, grade 9)

In this unit, the students will find information about Walker v. City of Birmingham and learn about the Civil Rights movement, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and the Constitutional questions involved in the case. The unit contains edited versions of Justice Stewart's opinion of the court by and Chief Justice Warren and Justice Brennan's dissenting opinions. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" must be obtained by the teacher. In groups, the students will analyze the reasoning and language of assigned sections of these texts and prepare and do a presentation, either orally or on Power Point. The class will highlight and take notes. The students, working together in groups, will prepare an outline for a paper that compares the four texts, and, in the computer lab, they will work on their paper for three class periods and finish it on their own. As they work through this unit, the students will learn to interpret, analyze, and synthesize prose and develop that ability, learn to work cooperatively, and develop their public speaking skills, their capacity to articulate their thoughts, and their ability to think on their feet.

(Developed for AP Language and Composition, grade 11; recommended for English, grades 11-12)

This unit seeks to explore the role of the Supreme Court in the political history of the United States through a very brief study of three landmark cases. The goal will be to explore these cases in depth, reading both the opinions and history surrounding those opinions in a way that will illuminate not only the powers of the court but also public reaction to its decisions. In this way, the students will compare the court of Marbury vs. Madison with the court of Bush vs. Gore, evaluate the positions and opinions of the court, and explore in relative depth the case of Dred Scott vs. Sanford. It is the goal of this unit to introduce the court, its history and some of its processes in an extremely concise way.

This unit makes use of a variety of teaching tools to allow students to explore the court in, what I hope is a fair and balanced way. Students will look into the various cases through both primary and secondary sources. They will evaluate the opinions of the court in various situations, as well as writing their own opinion. The unit culminates with a project comparing a modern case (Bush vs. Gore) with earlier cases (Marbury and Dred Scott) to allow students to develop their own perspective on the court from a modern point of view.

(Developed for US History I, grade 10; recommended for US History and Civics, grades 9-12)

This curriculum unit is designed to have the students understand the Supreme Court's role in American political history, regarding the development of individual rights and the role of public opinion in the Supreme Court's decision making. The students will interact as peer teachers to gain insight into their thoughts regarding the Supreme Court's role in shaping policy. This will provide a deeper understanding of the thought processes of Supreme Court justices as the students prepare "briefs" on important legal issues regarding individual rights. The Curriculum plan will be a vehicle used to infuse the ideas shared from the seminar, heading straight into the classroom, in unit lesson plan format. For example, I plan to have lessons focus on certain cases (Brown vs. Board of Education and Gideon vs. Wainwright). Teacher and student interaction is critical for this unit to be seen as practical to the student and the teacher. The quality of interaction will make this unit stimulating for everyone involved.

(Developed for AP U.S. History, grade 11; recommended for American Government and American History, grades 11-12)

The curriculum unit "Justice in Action: Reactions to Brown v. Board of Education" is designed to be implemented in a fifth grade classroom as part of their social studies curriculum. The overall objective for this unit will be to have students understand the significance of a particular event, such as a Supreme Court ruling or an act of civil disobedience, in the broader context of an overall movement or series of events that ultimately change our society. The unit consists of four elements that will enable the student to be able to define the purpose of the Constitution and the impact of the Bill of Rights and its amendments on their present day lives. The overarching theme of the unit is justice. The students will investigate and analyze the concept of justice. The main activity for the unit is an independent research project whereby the students will investigate events that transpired in the South in aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision that led to school desegregation. A final written assessment will determine the student's understanding of the complex nature of justice in action as the South struggled to desegregate their schools.

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 5; recommended for Social Studies, Civics, and Government, grade 5)

This unit will be useful for both an American history class and an American government class. It is also useful for Advanced Placement classes of the same variety. The unit is meant for students on the high school level. The unit itself deals with the obedience and defiance of Americans to the rule of law over the course of our history. Specifically, it is designed to require students to absorb the arguments presented in our history through research about pinnacle moments that have centered on the conflict between those with the willingness to abide to the law and those who seek to make drastic changes to the law as it exists. The unit will culminate in a role-play exercise. The long and the short of my rationale for this particular exercise is that it provokes students, who clearly have the penchant for adolescent rebellion, into inquiring about prominent figures in our nation's history while concurrently tapping into characteristics many of them may possess. My hope is that students will not only gather important information important to our understanding of American history but also connect themselves to it through dramatic presentation. Adjunct to this educational exercise is a voyage into the field of social psychology. Students will use theories of prominent theorists to evaluate our history and the people who have worked to profoundly reshape it. The unit ends when students have completed a series of seven role play reenactments and subsequently used the information gathered from them to answer this question: Over the course of American History have the people of this nation been a defiant rebellious sort or a compliant and conformist group: express the validity of your position with historical evidence.

(Developed for AP U..S History, grade 11; recommended for AP U.S. History, AP Government, and U.S. History, grades 11-12)

Chinese immigration to this nation is a shameful chapter in our history. Chinese men flocked to our western coast in search of gold in the 1840's and in search of work on the railroads later in the century. Many were lured under false pretenses, and streets paved with gold and opportunity were not to be found as expected. Discrimination was awful and intense. The efforts made by the Chinese to protect their rights in our court system set many important precedents for immigration and for civil rights. This curriculum unit tells that story. The teacher can use this unit to expand that knowledge base for themselves as well as their students; to produce an empathy for Asian Americans; to provide background information that will assist students in their understanding of the characters in the novels about the Chinese-American experience; to reduce racial prejudice against Asian Americans as we see that fundamentally, we share similar struggles and goals no matter what our race. It could be used in a history class as well as an English class in preparation for reading literature involving Chinese Americans.

(Developed for English, grades 11-12; recommended for History and English, High School grades)

Fahrenheit 451 is the focus of this unit which utilizes Supreme Court decisions to illustrate how American laws and judgments determine who is allowed to learn, what they are allowed to learn, and where they may learn it. Issues of censorship and freedom to think are brilliantly depicted in Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel and his accuracy in predicting events occurring in today's world speaks to contemporary students. Taught in a 3-week time frame to 9th grade scholars, the unit provides background in Supreme Court cases involving education and continues through reading and discussion of both the novel and Francois Truffaut's 1966 film, with essay questions, video viewing forms, and a day-by-day reading schedule.

(Developed for English 1 Pittsburgh Scholars Program, grade 9; recommended for English 1 Scholars, grade 9)

Both the reading level of entering students and the new CAPT mandates are forcing us, as teachers, to find new ways to incorporate both reading and writing across the disciplines. This unit is a great way to incorporate these skills along with the expected art elements and principles of design for high school students. If one provides students with literature that is not intimidating, they can focus on themes and construction, instead of worrying about comprehension. In this unit students will read and analyze a variety of different versions of Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, and Little Red Riding Hood while having a variety of other fairy tales available to them. Students will also be challenged to compare a variety of different styles of illustration and will then use Molly Bang's Picture This to learn the elements of creating a composition. After much comparison and discussion about fairy tales, students will be challenged to write and illustrate their own fairy tale, including all of the key elements they have identified in literature and art.

(Developed for Art, grades 9-12; recommended for Art and English, grades 9-12)

This unit entitled "Teaching the Elements of Literature Using Stories from Infancy to Age-appropriate" is designed to use fictional stories from all reading levels in ascending order, starting with elementary stories and concluding with the complexities of the fiction novel. By first reading elementary texts, the students will identify the structures of the story in order to apply prior knowledge to the next, more complex, story. As each successive story gets more difficult, longer, and closer to the students' age-appropriate reading level, students are transferring knowledge from their prior reading and applying it at each new level. While this in-class study of the Elements of Literature is unfolding, students are reading an individual selection in order to apply their knowledge, once more, in the form of a reader response composition. In this composition students are asked first to summarize their selection, then to identify and analyze some of the elements from the story (at least three), and finally to offer an evaluation of the text. Students will then write a story of their own (prompted or original), using the elements to create a work of fiction. The idea behind this unit is to construct an equalization strategy for any group of students who enter the classroom with various reading abilities.

(Developed for English Language Arts, grades 9-11; recommended for English Language Arts, grades 7-12)

This curriculum unit gives a theoretical basis for the need to present character education in a Montessori public school. The idea that reading is a valuable act through which students can learn to interact with people is brought into concrete form in activities and writing. The quality of prepared activities, discussions and writing assignments that encourage self-motivated learning is reflective of the Montessori philosophy of education. This unit seeks to provide some creative dramatic activities that guide students to recall sensory experiences, discipline the movement of the body and body parts, and endeavor to develop creative critical thinking. Much discussion occurs in debriefing that is based on carefully developed teacher questions aimed at reflecting critically on characters' thoughts, words, and behaviors.

This curriculum is developed around a unique situation in that I am the only Communications teacher at the middle school level of the k-8 school where I teach. This affords me the opportunity to teach and learn with the students over a three year period of time. To make use of such an opportunity, I have developed this curriculum so that a quality of character education would be discussed at each grade level. As well, the unit calls for a reread of a previous grades novel that is required reading on the school district scope and sequence. This reread of a text is called a text revisited or T-R. The second reading is for character education: engaging the text in a different way than for reading and comprehension. For sixth grade the T-R I is I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly, for seventh grade the T-R is Holes and for eighth grade it is The Giver. Also incorporated in the reading is a picture storybook for each grade level that has a similar theme as each of the longer novels. The picture story books offer a nonthreatening way to begin to look at respect, justice and courage as qualities of character education being put forth in this unit.

(Recommended for English, Theatre Arts, and Communications, grades 6-12)

In the past few decades civilian casualties in wars have increased. Half of those casualties are children. It is important for high school students to understand that over 2 million kids have died from wars; that over 8,000 of them are killed by landmines each year; that those who aren't killed, but are directly affected, are either severely wounded, recruited as child soldiers, raped, and/or orphaned (UNICEF). Rather than wait for my students to learn half-truths about the damage war can do to civilians, in particular children, I want to expose them to this topic by way of children's literature.

By exposing my students to these experiences via children's fiction and nonfiction literature, I hope that they will achieve a broader view of the world. I expect that my students will develop sympathy for the plight of others as they learn about the horrors some children face. Along the way, I intend to teach my students to develop a critical eye for texts; improving their ability to make decisions about the validity and purpose of literature.

(Developed for Language Arts, grade 9; recommended for Language Arts, grade 9)

Adolescents face issues that seem almost insurmountable, from acne to physical, mental, and substance abuse, homelessness, loneliness, and gender choices. Who can help them? Parents are often absent from the home, or are very ambivalent about the issues their children face. Educators might be considered the second choice for help. Our job is to instruct and help prepare students for the outside world. One way that teachers can help is through bibliotherapy.

Davis and Wilson point out that "developmental bibliotherapy. . . [is that which can help to] sensitize. . . students. . . to either potential or realized problems that occur during life" (Davis and Wilson, p. 2). Admittedly, teachers are usually not licensed therapists. But this is one way for teachers to help their students.

This unit presents lesson plans and suggested annotated bibliographies of books that can help students address various issues. It is built around S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, which deals with many of the issues teens face. It involves building careful relationships with students to foster a safe atmosphere for conversation. Students may then be willing to accept the teacher's suggestion for books that portray a character dealing positively with a serious issue which might affect the student herself.

(Developed for Language Arts, grade 7; recommended for Language Arts, grades 6-8)

The purpose of this curriculum unit is to motivate students to become critical thinkers, responsible learners, and lifelong readers. This curriculum unit will explore ways to engage African American high school students from grades nine to twelve to connect to the text. This unit will guide students to interpret, analyze and evaluate their reading as they cross the bridge to independent reading. Students will examine what they themselves bring to the text and then look again through various lenses based on gender, class, race history and ideology. Students will evaluate the literary quality of the text by creating a rubric with which to judge all books. The culminating assessment will be book reviews in a literary newsletter created by the students.

As students feel comfortable reading stories for young children, they will be empowered to critique the stories and study the authors, the history and the background of the writing. After they gain confidence, students will read and use multiple perspectives of history, gender, class, ideology, and race to critique an assigned text, Macbeth alongside the "urban" book, The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah, and a recommended book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neal Hurston.

(Developed for English, grades 9 and 12; recommended for English, grades 9-12)

This unit provides a cultural bridge from Aztec/Hispanic Mexico to Indo/Hispanic New Mexico primarily through reading literature from three historical periods in the development of the Chicano culture, beginning with the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, through migration to the North of Spanish and Indian peoples and coming to rest in the present time. The focus on the mythical kingdom of Aztlan serves to tie the stories together in a seamless river of time and to evoke a positive interpretation of the people and events that caused this cultural fusion. Students explore these connections through ideas, art and activities gleaned from the literature. They also gain a valuable historical perspective.

The unit is written for bilingual (English/Spanish) fourth grade children, but contains many adaptations suitable for delivery on a third through sixth grade level. By employing the teacher resource texts, the unit would be useful for high school and college students. The duration of the unit is an hour a day for one quarter. The idea of studying connections between any two ethnic groups that grow up side by side is a viable extension activity of this unit.

(Developed for Language Arts, Social Studies, and New Mexico History, grade 4; recommended for English, Language Arts, and Social Studies, grades 4-6 and High School grades)

This unit will focus on reading and analyzing the genre of fantasy. There are some specific aspects of fantasy that make it a genre of its own. We will study these aspects and learn what makes this genre so engrossing. In addition to reading, we will do some writing. It is amazing how easy it is for kids to create the supernatural. This unit includes a lesson to have pairs or small groups of students write an original piece of fantasy with illustrations — basically, to create a fantasy picture story book.

This unit specifically focuses on the use of fantasy books. Novels and picture books are used to teach the seven motifs of fantasy, which are: magic, otherworlds, universal themes, heroism, special character types, talking animals, and fantastic objects. The unit uses books that are for use in a sixth grade classroom. However, the stories can be used in any classroom, especially the picture books.

This unit also teaches seven literary elements, which are: plot, characterization, point of view, conflict, foreshadowing/flashback, tone/mood, and setting. These literary elements are looked at in fantasy picture story books as well as fantasy novels.

This is a great unit because it teaches the skills every English or Reading teacher needs to incorporate in their class, but uses stories that are popular with students today. We all know students these days devour any fantasy novel they can get a hold of. This unit takes that passion for reading and utilizes it for teaching basic concepts.

(Developed for Reading, grade 6; recommended for Reading and English, grades 5-8)

The curriculum unit "Using African and African-American Folktales in a Genre Study" is planned for an elementary multi-age classroom to coincide with the celebration of Black History Month. The unit will be a partnership of language arts and technology. This four-week curriculum is designed for primary students in grades 1-3 but can certainly be fleshed out for upper elementary students in fourth and fifth grades. The reading and study of African and African-American folktales will help students make connections to their cultural heritage as they engage a variety of texts. Students can experience the African values of vitality and inventiveness as they interact with small and clever tricksters and characters with Olympian strength and iron will.

Each week part of the lesson will be conducted in the classroom with follow-up lessons and activities in the computer lab. Participation in this unit will help students acquire a schema for the folktale genre. In keeping with the oral tradition of storytelling, they will work toward a final project of designing and publishing a podcast. Education and entertainment become partners in learning as students appreciate how these African and African-American folktales are "equipment for living" (Kenneth Burke) since they are part of our present life, connecting us to the past and guiding us to the future.

(Developed for Language Arts, Computer Science, Social Studies, and Black History Month, grades 1-3; recommended for Language Arts, Integrating Technology in Multi-Age Class, Social Studies, and Black History Month, grades 1-5)

This curriculum unit explores the teaching of the research paper by using trickster literature. It is geared towards students who have found the research paper challenging or have had yet to complete one. Each step of the research process is broken down for the students. High school students will research the various tricksters from different cultures and will explore the relevance of the trickster mythology to the culture in question. Students will also read a piece of literature outside of class and will identify the trickster(s) in the work as well as the role that the character plays in the work. They will also identify the author's reason for using that character. This unit contains instructions for teaching the research paper on the high school level and contains strategies that work no matter what the topic is. A sample library lesson and classroom activities are included.

(Developed for World Literature, grade 12; recommended for Language Arts, grades 9-12)

This curriculum unit is designed to teach children's literature to students with developmental disabilities, using children's picture books and films adapted from those books. Developmental disabilities include mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, and spina bifida. Children's picture books offer an introduction to literacy in a non-threatening atmosphere through vibrant colors and lively illustrations. The books will include folktales and fantasy stories about talking animals, stories with moral lessons, and stories about friendship and family. The films consist both of live action and animated versions. With intensive instructions using reading comprehension strategies, children can achieve basic reading skills. Word recognition strategies such as sight words, phonetic analysis, syntactic analysis, and semantic analysis will be used to strengthen their oral and written vocabulary skills. Activities will include reading aloud, shared reading, completing story maps, working with graphic organizers, exploring web sites, and making personal pictures books using digital cameras. Some of the elements of stories the students are expected to learn and identify are: themes, plot lines, main characters, settings, types of conflicts, problems, solutions, comparison and contrast. The curriculum unit will meet the standards of the Houston Independent School District's Functional Academic Curriculum for Exceptional Students (F.A.C.E.S.) Language Arts Module.

(Developed for Language Arts, Middle School grades; recommended for Language Arts and Life Skills, Middle School grades, and Language Arts, grades K-2)

The unit, Using Traditional Literature to Address Standards, tries to make current assessment practices more meaningful within early childhood classrooms. By using classic children's picture books and differentiated instruction, it shows teachers a way to adhere to mandated standards effectively, and simultaneously give their students a love of literature. The unit uses some of young students' favorite storybooks to show how they can help to teach various elements of literature. It will also give a variety of ways in which of these books can be used to differentiate instruction, including dramatization. The unit will help students to have a strong grasp on the elements of literature, and give them the tools with which to discuss and write about these elements.

(Developed for Literacy, grades 1-2; recommended for Literacy, grades K-2)

This unit is meant to be a thread woven into the junior year American Literature English core curriculum class. Throughout the year, students will consider the question: How can we uncover the authentic voice of a people, particularly the earliest peoples of the Americas? We will trace the beginnings of European contact with American Indians and their culture, identify the goals, deeds and effects of that contact, observe the myriad ways Europeans and then Euro-Americans filtered, manipulated, misstated or hid evidence of civilizations that existed prior to their arrival and listen to present-day voices for guidance in understanding the past. Using our American literature textbook as a jumping off place, we will evaluate its American Indian content, both in quantity and quality, then venture into the wider world of Indian representation, both media and literary, with a prime focus on expressions by Indians themselves. Students will develop understandings of our First Nations' history and meaning through these readings and research.

(Developed for English III and American Literature, grade 11; recommended for Language Arts, grade 8, and American Literature, grade 11)

The unit begins with an introduction to observation. In the next section the student's observational skills are put into practice. In this section we will begin to study some "things," food related items in particular. The next part of the unit, the "what do the things tell us" part of the unit, is where we start to think more deeply about the questions that came out of the things part of the unit. In this section we also start to think about what the objects can tell us. As it happens, all of the objects the students will study in this unit will have something to do with food preparation and eating. The next logical step, then, is to think about what types of foods individual cultures were eating such that they needed to make and use these food tools. In this section the students will choose a culture to research. They will try to discover what types of food were being eaten by their chosen culture, but they will also begin to study the ways in which information about cultures and peoples is gathered. After the students have researched another culture's eating habits, they will research their own eating habits. The last piece of the curriculum unit is a conclusion and a new beginning. The students will look at their own diet and the diet of the culture that they studied and develop a new diet for themselves based on the results of the nutritional analysis of the two diets.

(Developed for Wellness, grades 8-12; recommended for Health, Biology, Culinary Arts, and Social Studies, High School grades)

This curriculum was designed to help 7th and 8th grade middle school students in Santa Fe, New Mexico appreciate the Navajo and Pueblo crafts traditions. My plan was to develop study units which would give students an introduction to how native pottery, sandpainting, and weaving were created historically and how they are carried on in the present. A variety of presentation methods have been employed to accomplish this. Lectures, guest speakers, demonstrations, visiting artisans from the community, and a visit to the Museum Indian Art and Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology can help students make connections between their own lives and the lives of their native neighbors. A culminating visit to Bandelier National Monument rounds out the study of native arts.

The unit has been written with the hopes of addressing the issue of cultural sensitivity. It is hoped that students can begin to be more aware of other cultures around them, as well as become more aware of their own heritage. By exposing students to the rich Pueblo and Navajo folk traditions, I hope to increase awareness and appreciation of the artwork from these two very unique cultures. The students will be given a view of very old customs and traditions. Additionally, they will get a look a what is taking place with modern work created by native artists.

(Developed for Arts and Crafts, grades 7-8; recommended for Art and Social Studies, grades 7-8)

This unit uses ancient artifacts of the American Indians specifically in the southeastern United States found in mounds to introduce the ideas of more complex literary devices. The story of these artifacts as well as a trip to an ancient shell midden compirise a launch for student writing, reading and analysis of Sherman Alexie’s poetry and short stories. The unit culminates in a critical viewing and analysis of the 1998 feature film Smoke Signals.

The students will identify literary devices in a variety of texts crucial to reading comprehension. The students will participate in socratic seminars, crafts, writing responses to text, visual art, and film. The  culmination of this unit is the student’s story about themselves and the things they use to create their own identity and how those things are similar to ancient artifacts used to create the identity of those who inhabited the United States many years before 1492.

The unit is designed for the 9^th grade standard English/Language Arts student. It can easily be used in an honors environment by including additional American Indian authors to compare how each author uses literary devices effectively and how the author’s personal experience affect their writing. The lessons are designed to be varied to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

(Developed for English and Language Arts, grade 9; recommended for English and Language Arts, grade 9)

This unit that I have written on Native Americans has evolved into being a wonderful experience for me and will be for the kindergarten student. It can be used in other grade levels as well and adapted to any learning style. What you will find are different ways to teach using graphic organizers and art. There are several different skills reviewed in the unit, along with unique ways to teach them. A multi-curriculum approach has been used by taking skills from math, social studies, science and reading. The skills reflect several different subject areas and different concepts. They have been embedded throughout the unit to ensure that the students get to practice with previously learned standards and skills. Also, they will be exposed to different works of art. The works of art come from six different native nations. The six nations are Pomo, Seneca, Navajo, Cherokee, Nez Perce, Haida. A portfolio (journal) will be developed using drawing and writing activities about the work of art. A lending and loan program from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History will be used to bring actual works of art to the classroom. This will help with the drawing/ writing portion of the portfolio and will provide a basic motivation to study the nation. There is a strategy section with help for you and the student to get the maximum benefit from each nation in my unit. The geographical location is important because physical landform is discussed. The graphic organizers are simple and can be used to teach in different ways if you choose. The lessons that are included have works of arts that can be constructed. There are creative activities that can be adapted to suit your teaching style. I have also added suggestions on lessons on each nation. Take a look at this unit and enjoy the endless ideas for learning about another culture that has meaning to the early childhood student.

(Developed for Social Studies, grade K; recommended for Social Studies, Mathematics, Reading, and Art, grade K)

The focus of this unit is the creation of objects that represent and explore students' concepts of identity through studies in personal history and links to the physical environment. Direct comparison to the art and historical accounts of the American Indians will form an understanding of similarities in history and models for making personally representative objects. American Indian art forms are conversation pieces, multi-tasking as personal and group markers, as well as records of the culture of the surrounding areas. Examples explored with students will form a dialogue, which can open up opportunities for inspiration. Because the local physical environment is manifested in the choice of materials used in most Indian crafts, materials used in this unit should be gathered from local and authentic sources, preferably by the students themselves.

The unit is divided into sections titled Mask, Vessel, Cloth and Path. Each section provides activities that encourage the student's developing sense of self and includes a survey of American Indian art and culture.

(Developed for Art, Visual Arts, grades 8-12; VA Studies, secondary grades; recommended for Art I-IV, grades 9-12)

This unit uses images to illustrate Euro-American views of Native Americans throughout history. The unit shows that the colonial era uses the idea that the "New World" was a "New Eden." The Native Americans were portrayed as noble and exotic. This changed when colonists and Native Americans began the unavoidable clash of cultures. The savage image emerged and portrayed Native Americans kidnapping, scalping, killing, and burning villages. Next, the unit examines Manifest Destiny in visual form. The Native Americans are pushed out of the way as "progress" is made. Marginalized, driven west, and passed by, their way of life appears to become extinct. Concurrently, there are paintings that celebrate Native Americans. Many of the artists who portray Native Americans as a noble model were painting them because the artists believed Native Americans to be dying out. To examine assimilation efforts, the unit uses photographs taken at Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools, in particular photos of children arriving in their traditional garb and after they have been "processed." The new clothes and haircuts make a stark contrast to the before pictures. The unit will use photographs to capture 20th century points of view, including pictures of steel workers building high rise buildings. These can be used to contrast the stereotypical modern images using advertisements, mascots and video.

(Developed for U.S. History and Social Studies, grade 11; recommended for U.S. History and Social Studies, grade 11)

This unit is designed for high schools students in English or Language Arts classrooms. An exploration of Mesoamerican and South American ancestral literature is the unit's first goal. The second goal is to emphasize writing and this is accomplished through student journals, discussion prompts, entry and exit slips, and the unit's final assessment which calls for students to create their own myths. The unit includes a writer's template based upon Joseph Campbell's work in mythology and uses movies, classic and current, to delineate archetypes and themes.

(Developed for English IV, grade 12; recommended for English and Social Studies, grades 9-12)

The rationale for developing my curriculum unit is to provide an interdisciplinary unit for music history, theory, social studies, geography, and to introduce the concepts of field study research. More importantly, I wanted to used a method for helping my students retain both their knowledge and skills incorporated.

The discourse of my unit will survey some of the musical practices and tribal traditions that are a forgotten part of the American folk culture and music. The overall organization of my unit is divided into the following sections. The first section is the introduction and a brief explanation of my title. The second section is the unit rationale. Within this section, are my reasons and purposes for developing this topic into a curriculum unit. The third section is entitled "pedagogical strategies". In this section, I discuss the instructional methodologies for cultivating successful learning outcomes. Moreover, my state's curriculum guidelines and the Houston Independent School District's guidelines are mentioned (refer to the appendix). In the fourth section, the demographic data or profile as well as my classroom setup are discussed. Section five contains detailed information about the unit objectives and the expected learning outcomes. The next section is a discussion of the historical background and awareness of the culture before the coming of the European settlers. The topics in this section are tribal social systems, functions of music, Native American culture areas of the southeast and the northeast. The Southeast Culture tribes surveyed are Alabama, Choctaw, Coushatta, and Creeks. The tribal ceremonial rituals, traditions, performances, dance and musical genres, plus, theoretical analysis of melodic progressions, scales, rhythm, and the meter of various songs were examined.

The Northeast Culture Area tribes discussed in the unit are the Iroquois Nations and the Illinois. The tribal ceremonial rituals, traditions, performances, dance and musical genres, plus theoretical analysis of melodic progressions, scales, rhythm, and the meter of various songs were examined.

The last section of this unit is a summary or conclusion. By preparing this unit, I hope to encourage more teachers of the arts to write interdisciplinary units that will reflect an aesthetic appreciation for culture, art, dance, and music. In addition to this, by making correlated distinctions between compositional devices that are utilized to show idiomatic cultural influences on folk music we will reinforce the need to keep the arts in our schools because, "Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity" (Modest Mussorgsky as stated in Harper's Book of Quotations).

(Developed for Piano and Music, grades 7-8; recommended for Piano and Music, grades 7-8)

Symbols of Hierarchy: Things of Bling in the Pre-Columbian Americas is an introduction to Pre-Columbian civilizations of Central and South America. Activities in this unit will help high school students examine artifacts that were symbols of status and things of importance from representative societies of South America and Central America. The unit aims also to help students make connections to things of importance in our society today. The unit addresses district, state, and national curricular standards and goals for history and social studies. An essential question is framed to help students connect their study of the Pre-Columbian Americas with characteristics of contemporary society; how can ancient things of importance teach us about the relationship between material goods and social status in both ancient civilizations and in our society today?

The unit is aimed at urban ninth grade world civilizations classes in New Haven Connecticut. Activities include working with multiple texts.

(Developed for World Civilization, grade 9, and U.S. History I, grade 10; recommended for World Civilizations and U.S. History I, grades 9-12)

This is a curriculum unit whose aim is to expose twelfth grade students to the mythology of the ancient Maya, as part of state and local standards requiring the reading and appreciation of world literature and culture. The unit is based on a translation of the ancient text of the Popol Vuh. Students analyze the work as a literary selection. Through this analysis, and a period of guided research, students make inferences about the nature of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. Throughout the unit, students are drawn to considerations of the culture, traditions, geography, and the visual art of the Maya.

This unit spans a 2 to 3 week period in a block schedule, but is fully adaptable to a school year structured in two semesters in a standard forty-minute schedule. The lessons are designed for collaborative or cooperative teamwork, and are driven by an inductive approach to learning. Students simultaneously tackle discrete reading assignments, tasks involving specific literary foci, and research routines that culminate in an evaluative essay and group presentations. Evaluation takes place through informal and formal assessments throughout the unit.

(Developed for World Literature, grade 12; recommended for World Literature, grade 12, and Native American Literature, grade 11)

This is a nine week unit for a high school environmental technology program. The unit includes background information on the atmosphere and global warming and an inquiry based sequence of activities to lead an exploration of the possible effects of global warming on the local environment. Throughout this unit, students interpret relevant graphs, text, and images depicting the lines of evidence scientists have ascertained and use to predict possible effects. With these images and graphs in their minds eye, students then engage in mapping activities to understand how this aspect of their local environment may be affected. Having students also gather relevant environmental data in the field locally helps students comprehend the data they access from the internet. Students formulate hypotheses based on the data obtained online as to the possible effects that data may signal for the global environment. The sequence of events in this unit is designed to teach students how an environmental scientist would interpret the environment through maps, photographs, and field measurements. This unit provides students with experiences to gain an understanding of this global environmental problem and to make the data and rationale for predictions of possible effects more understandable and relevant to their lives.

(Developed for Environmental Technology, grade 9; recommended for Environmental Science, grades 9-12)

This curriculum unit on global warming is meant for a middle school science classroom and is being used as a bridge between two very different topics in the 7th grade North Carolina science curriculum. The students begin with a unit on atmosphere and weather and then move onto a unit in human biology. This unit will tie those two topics together by first of all explaining the science of global warming and its impact on the atmosphere and planet in general and will then discuss the possible consequences to human health, particularly in relation to the spread of disease.

In addition to closing the gap between the two topics, this unit also includes some interdisciplinary lessons that will be done in conjunction with other teachers at my grade level. Students will be working individually, in small and large groups, and participating in whole class discussions. Students will be analyzing graphs, creating graphs, writing persuasive letters, analyzing their own impact on the environment, conducting research, and presenting information. They will become more knowledgeable about trying to create change within their own homes and communities. The broad goal is to make them more scientifically literate and make them responsible, knowledgeable citizens.

(Developed for Integrated Science, grade 7; recommended for General Science, grades 6-8)

This unit is intended as a cross disciplinary approach to the science of global warming. It is meant to educate the high school community as a whole on the effects of sea level rise, a forecasted phenomenon with the onset of global warming, to our environment and economy. My goal is that math, biology, language arts and business teachers will integrate into a lesson how the science of global warming is related to their subject. The topics covered in each class will then be used in the school wide Earth Day event in which all students will have a role in participating. The Earth Day event is designed to introduce the science of global warming while highlighting sea level rise as the main theme. Biology classes will hold an art exhibit of food chains found in ecosystems which will be affected by sea level rise. Math and business classes will calculate area lost and develop a cost benefit analysis. English classes will write persuasive essays to politicians and hold a poetry reading and/or rap contest. By incorporating each student and teacher there will be more of an impact and appreciation for the event and for their future impact on the Earth.

(Developed for Biology, grade 10)

In this unit I will present the physics of global warming and explain the most likely consequences of global warming. I will also address the chaotic nature of weather and why it is difficult to predict and discuss the current scientific theories about the possibility that stress on the climate system of our current rate of production of greenhouse gases could possibly result in a catastrophic change in our climate. The science is absolutely clear that global warming is occurring. The extreme increase in greenhouse gases, resulting primarily from burning fossil fuels, is the cause of these potentially catastrophic changes in the Earth's climate. Although there are many uncertainties about the specifics of global warming, it is clear that it is one of the most pressing issues facing humankind. It is a global issue that must be addressed and mitigated with a sense of urgency that may be unprecedented. It is also my hope that any teacher who is interested in the issue of addressing the problems of global warming will find within this unit the background scientific information to address the subject in their classroom. This unit is intended to provide relevancy to the study of global warming for high school physics classes and general science classes.

(Developed for Scholars Physics, grade 11-12, and General Science, grade 9; recommended for General Physics and Scholars Physics, grades 11-12, and General Science, grade 9)

My goals for this unit are to teach children to reason and think on their own. Children will use the scientific method, make connections, and think critically. My unit will touch upon many concepts but most importantly it will focus on "the basics." For example, students will learn about the Sun and Earth. Students will also learn about greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. Students will do hands-on experiments. Most importantly, students will learn about the consequences of global warming and what we can do to help. The purpose of this unit is to teach students about the most important environmental problem of the 21st century, global warming. The unit will focus on many key concepts. It is important that students learn about this topic, global warming, because it relates to life. As teachers, it is our duty to make students aware of such pressing issues like global warming. My students will be given the facts. My hope is that students will not only understand what global warming is, but also want to help. I hope I motivate my students to make immediate changes in their homes and community, simply starting by educating and encouraging their family.

(Developed for Science, Math, and Language Arts, grades 4-5; recommended for Science, grades 4-5)

In a time when climate change alters the face of the Earth — when melting ice caps are on almost everyone's tongue — it seems appropriate to integrate a global warming curriculum in an English classroom. Such a curriculum acknowledges the power of writing and verbal communication as a way to salvage science from the wreck of misinformation and deliberate ambiguity.

If students know how to write, they will understand how other writers use specific techniques to serve a purpose. They will also know how to use writing to process information, develop a greater understanding of topics such as global warming, and pass their knowledge to others.

Students will write poetry, a short story, and a speech while learning about climate, atmosphere, and fossil fuels. They will examine the consequences of global warming, the controversy surrounding the issue, and suggestions for mitigation. An overview of climate change and the greenhouse effect will enable students to conduct in-depth research. At the end of the unit, students will show how science and English can work together to improve our world.

(Developed for English, grade 12; recommended for English, grades 10-12)

This unit is designed primarily for high school chemistry, biology, or physics classes. Additionally there are many parts that could very easily be used in a mathematics or social studies class. The bulk of the content is chemistry, but the energy balances and transfers fit nicely in a physics curriculum. Also the way in which the different biological components fit together and the beginning ecological issues go well in a biology class. But why global warming? While the actual consequences of global warming will be discussed later, suffice it to say they are disastrous. Unfortunately many people are not aware of the stakes. We need to empower people and help them realize that they can make a difference in the world, even on problems that are global in scale. We will look at the advantages of biodiesel over petroleum, mostly from a scientific perspective, but with some conversation of the economic and geo-political ramifications.

(Developed for Biology and Chemistry, grade 9; recommended for Biology and Chemistry, grades 9-12)