Preface
In March 2016 the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools® accepted public school
teachers from sixteen school districts in eight states and the District of Columbia to participate in six
national seminars held at Yale University. The Initiative is a long-term endeavor to influence public policy on
teacher professional development, in part by establishing exemplary Teachers Institutes for high-need schools in
states around the country.
Teachers Institutes are educational partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen
teaching and learning in a community’s high-poverty, high-minority public schools. Evaluations have shown
that the Institute approach exemplifies the characteristics of high-quality teacher professional development,
enhances teacher quality in the ways known to improve student achievement, and encourages participants to remain
in teaching in their schools.
Forty of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, are from school districts that are planning or exploring the
establishment of a new Teachers Institute for the Bay Area, CA; Chicago, IL; the Diné Nation, AZ and NM;
the District of Columbia; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San José, CA; and Tulsa, OK. Other National
Fellows come from existing Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; New Haven, CT; and
Philadelphia, PA. Overall, nearly two thirds of the teachers were participating as National Fellows for the
first time.
The National Fellows attended an Organizational Session of the seminars held in New Haven on April 29-30. The
seminars reconvened during a ten-day Intensive Session from July 11-22 and concluded in mid-August when the
Fellows submitted their completed curriculum units. The six seminars were:
- “Contemporary American Indian History,” led by Ned Blackhawk, Professor of History and American
Studies;
- “Energy Sciences,” led by Gary W. Brudvig, Professor of Chemistry;
- “Why Literature Matters,” led by Janice Carlisle, Professor of English;
- “The Number Line in the Common Core,” led by Roger E. Howe, Professor of Mathematics;
- “ ‘Over the Rainbow’: Fantasy Lands, Dream Worlds, and Magic Kingdoms,” led by
Joseph R. Roach, Sterling Professor of English and Professor of African American Studies, of American
Studies, and of Theater Studies; and
- “Making Sense of Evolution,” led by Paul E. Turner, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology.
The purposes of the program are to provide public school teachers deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach and
first-hand experience with the Teachers Institute approach. This heightens their leadership in an existing
Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the development of a new Teachers Institute. Each teacher writes a
curriculum unit to teach his or her students about the seminar subject and to share with other teachers in their
school district and, over the Internet, with teachers anywhere. The curriculum units contain five elements:
content objectives, teaching strategies, examples of classroom activities, lists of resources for teachers and
students, and an appendix on the district academic standards the unit implements. In these ways the curriculum
units assist teachers in engaging and educating the students in their school courses.
The curriculum units National Fellows wrote are their own; they are presented in six volumes, one for each
seminar.
The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute® is a permanently endowed unit of Yale University, which undertook the
National Initiative in 2004.
James R. Vivian
New Haven
August 2016
Introduction by
Ned Blackhawk, Professor of History and of American Studies
The ten curriculum units that comprise this volume, Contemporary American Indian history, range widely across the
scholarly landscape of Native American Studies. Together they collectively provide various ways of teaching,
contemplating, and engaging the subject of American Indians and U.S. history. Each draws upon published
scholarly works and uses their respective findings to explore more focused areas of interest, nearly all of
which are connected to concerns that have emerged from years of classroom instruction. Several draw upon primary
sources from the early twentieth century. Others draw upon existing textbooks and/or curricular standards to
expose the limits of current pedagogical approaches to both U.S. history and American literary study, while
others discuss ways of incorporating Native American history into diverse classroom environments.
Drawing upon a range of approaches to the field, this Institute seminar focused upon the contemporary political
history of American Indians within the United States, beginning with two prominent texts about the various forms
of urban as well as reservation activism that helped to determine the course of post-WWII American law and
policy. Fellows in the course engaged legal and policy questions, particularly those relating to the Termination
policies and practices of the United Government. Officially declared as U.S. national policy in 1953, the
process of “terminating” American Indian tribes’ unique political, sovereign status under
federal Indian law and policy took nearly a generation to reverse. Surveying the many activists, leaders, and
community members engaged in challenging these processes characterized our first sessions together, while
subsequent seminars explored the more contemporary concerns of Indian history. Ranging from discussions of
museum studies to readings about the changing economic history of Native America in the 1970s and 1980s, these
sessions helped to extend the themes from the earlier discussions into more contemporary eras. Several American
Indian documentaries, films, novels, and photographic works helped to deepen our discussions. Such works
included Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, selections from Louise
Erdrich’s The Round House; Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals and Skins, Mary
Kathryn Nagle’s Sliver of a Full Moon, the photography of Horace Poolaw, and the 12 short films
made about Great Lakes Indian life and culture, The Ways.Org. Such works helped to provide insights
into the more experiential nature of Native American history as well as expose some of the challenges of
contemporary Native American policy formation in modern America.
Such discussions occurred in seminars held largely in the Native American Cultural Center at Yale. Visits to
museums also helped to deepen the class experience, including visits to the Yale University Art Gallery as well
as an all-day field trip to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, the world’s largest tribal
museum. The Pequot Museum visit included presentations about Native food sovereignty from regional tribal
members as well as visits to the museum’s extensive permanent exhibitions and film screenings.
Each fellow teaches in a range of school districts, ranging from Tulsa to San Jose, and including other
metropolitan school districts, such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Richmond, and Pittsburg.
Accordingly, fellows brought unique and varied perspectives to the relative familiarity or lack thereof of
Native American history within their existing classrooms, schools, and districts. All of the units are geared
towards either high school or advanced middle grade students.
Danielle Greene’s “The Constitutional Crisis of Cherokee Removal” surveys the changing legal
dimensions of federal Indian law and policy in the early Republic. This unit connects with common core themes of
emphasis found in the state of Virginia’s curricular codes and explores the varying aspects of Andrew
Jackson’s failures to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of the Cherokee Nation.
Jo Anne Flory’s “Rewriting the Narrative of American History: American Indian Identity and the
Process of Recovery” examines sets works about Indian history and by American Indian authors. It uses
three particular works to explore the historical eras surrounding their production and connects several of them
with the historical development of Oklahoma, particularly the expansion of Tulsa where she teaches.
Ludy Aguada’s “Dreaming from the Margins, Living in the In-Between: Identity, Culture, and the Power
of Voice” compares contemporary Native American works of fiction by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie. It
connects important themes within each text with the changing nature of American Indian law and policy,
identifying the legal themes such animating fictional accounts.
Travis Bouldin’s “Interpreting Movements of American Indian Activism” overviews four varying
activist movements for Indian rights. It particularly compares and contrasts the American Indian Movement and
the National Congress of American Indians and their respective and often differing approaches to the policies of
Termination and Relocation. He links such activist histories with efforts to pedagogical efforts within his
8th-grade classroom in American history.
Patricia LeAnn Hodge’s “Relationships of African Americans and Creeks in Oklahoma to 1936”
focuses on the changing forms of membership and recognition within American Indian communities in Oklahoma,
particularly within the Creek Nation and its shifting and increasingly racialized forms of citizenry and
recognition. Such racial formations in the early twentieth century were new to the Creek communities,
particularly regarding their long-standing relationships with both Free Black communities and Afro-Creek members
within the Nation. She traces this complex history through the early twentieth century processes of statehood
and to the New Deal, exposing new ways that the federal government eventually came to legislate such forms of
membership and recognition.
Tara Ann Carter’s “First and Second Wave Native American Literature” explores distinctive
phases of American Indian literary production. In a generally recognized period of cultural and creative
production termed by one scholar “The Native American Renaissance” authors such as N. Scott Momaday,
James Welch, and Leslie Marmon Silko all explored individuals coming to terms with and/or struggling to find
appropriate forms of cultural identity within an increasingly modernizing American society. Her project
continues such analysis into the twenty-first century and locates in particular Sherman Alexie’s work in
more ambiguous and ambivalent ways, in what she terms “second wave” forms of literary expression.
Ashley Pate’s “The Menominee Journey to Self Determination” provides an in-depth assessment of
one tribal communities’ efforts to ward off the legal challenges of Termination and to have their
sovereign status with the federal government “restored,” in a process known as restoration.
Identifying how Menominee leaders, such as Ada Deer, navigated the challenging legal and political channels of
both Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., her unit identifies under-recognized forms of civil rights activism and
struggles for political justice within rural, reservation areas.
Michael McCellan’s “Agents of Change: How American Indians Helped Change the World in Only Seven
Years” assess the Seven Year’s War of the Eighteenth Century. Examining how American Indian
diplomacy and affairs shaped the evolving conflict between France and England in the imperial struggle for
supremacy in eastern North America, his unit exposes the centrality of Indigenous peoples, politics, and power
to the composition of Revolutionary America.
Barbara Prillaman’s “Indian Boarding Schools: A Case Study of Assimilation, Resistance, and
Resilience” provides an overview of the varied ways that U.S. policy targeted American Indian children and
education. Showing both the detrimental and resilient forms of adaptation initiated by Native peoples in the
face of such forms of assimilation, she provides a series of sociological approaches to understanding and/or
re-casting understandings of American assimilation more broadly.
Ned Blackhawk
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.01.01 - Dreaming from the Margins, Living in the In-Between: Identity, Culture, and the Power of Voice
by Ludy Aguada
This unit was developed for use in an Advanced Placement English Literature or Language classroom. While one may
not think contemporary American Indian history belongs in an AP English classroom, if carefully crafted, it can
work. The skills on which both English exams focus—the ways authors of non-fiction and of imaginative
literature use language to achieve a particular end—can be taught using historical documents in conjunction
with and to frame Louise Erdrich’s The Round House and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the anchor texts for this unit. Students will develop close reading skills by
analyzing laws, policies, and Supreme Court cases that established the unique relationship between Native nations
and the federal government, and shaped policies on Native sovereignty and self-determination. They will examine how
narrative voice and point of view portray identity and culture. Finally, they will explore how visual images convey
voice in Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices. In their culminating project,
students will choose one piece from Dreaming to “mimic” in a piece about their own sense of
identity.
(Developed for AP English Literature and Composition, grades 11-12; recommended for English 3, grade 11, and
English 4, grade 12)
16.01.02 - Interpreting Moments of American Indian Activism
by Travis Bouldin
Throughout the Americas, American Indians have suffered many cruelties as a result of the arrival of
Europeans. American Indians have been captured as slaves, homelands have been looted and pillaged, and they
have been forced to leave the territories American Indians have held for centuries. While there were instances of
cooperation during the colonial period, the policy of removal was an incredible force that proved to be disastrous
for many tribes. American laws and policies led to a series of rebellions, battles, and massacres that
resulted in division and mistrust between American Indian tribes and the federal government. These same
policies continue to divide and lead to mistrust between the groups today.
In 1968, The American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in an attempt to encourage self-determination for all
Indian tribes. This American Indian civil rights group used a variety of tactics to meet their intended goal,
which includes protests, demonstrations, and the seizing of federal property. The American Indian Movement is
analyzed through four prominent events that united tribes and brought national attention to the movement. The
methods of AIM were often viewed as controversial as the protest and demonstrations were not always peaceful or
legal. In fact, three of the four movements involved the seizing and destruction of federal property.
In Washington, D.C., the impact of rapid gentrification can be felt in many communities. The city approves
permits for companies to rebuild and revitalize impoverished areas throughout the city. The fair housing
agreement states that residents will be able to return to the respective areas after construction. In
addition, the fair housing agreement indicates that a particular number of new units will be reserved for former
residents at a subsidized cost. In many cases, residents do not return due to contractual
technicalities. For example, rent may be at a subsidized rate, but parking and trash removal fees will cost
hundreds of dollars each month. Many residents are unable to pay the new fees, thus are unable to
return.
In this unit, students will have an opportunity to study the contemporary American Indian movement following the
American Indian Movement (AIM). Students will analyze the successes and failures of the movement through
collaborative discussions and seminars. In addition, students will analyze the effectiveness of AIM strategies
in the fight for tribal sovereignty and the enforcement of treaties using primary and secondary sources.
Ultimately, students will walk away with the tools and skills needed to take intake informed action in their own
communities and nationally.
(Developed for World History I, grade 9; recommended for American History, grade 8, and U. S. History, grade 11)
16.01.03 - First and Second Wave Native American Literature
by Tara Ann Carter
This unit analyzes the two novels, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and Winter in the Blood by
James Welch, comparatively with the contemporary text; Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True-Diary of a
Part Time Indian. These texts will collectively suggest that Contemporary American Indian literature spans
identifiable waves: A First Wave is the return to reservation life and tradition, ceremony and ritual of tribal
peoples; a Second Wave acknowledges the struggle of identity in America, but also asserts the need for life and
interaction outside of the reservation as means to complete one’s identity. The First Wave finds and satisfies
a deficiency of identity; the second signals a need for integrated experience to fully form that same identity.
Students will complete reading analysis and other formative assessments during their reading of these novels which
will help them connect the historical themes introduced at the beginning of the unit. This unit combines visual and
textual narratives as response to the racialized public misunderstandings about American Indian life and identity in
our contemporary era.
(Developed for English 1, grade 9; recommended for English, American History, and Native American Studies, grades
9-12)
16.01.04 - Rewriting the Narrative of American History: American Indian Identity and the Process of Recovery
by Jo Ann Flory
This unit centers around the study of American Indian history and federal Indian policy through the study of three
central texts: Tulsa: From Creek Town to Oil Capital by Angie Debo, Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.,
and Winter in the Blood by James Welch. These three texts (two non-fiction and one fiction), are tied together
thematically in how they each respond to a particular crisis in American Indian history, and both loss and recovery
of cultural identity. These books each respond to a particular crisis of misunderstanding in American Indian
history. Students will explore the primary concerns of each text, and how they are conveyed through the
author’s rhetorical choices (their particular context, purpose, topic, audience and voice).
Activities include a research project focused on Tulsa’s early Creek history, analysis of non-print texts
(comparing and contrasting photographic representations of American Indians from different time periods), and
writing “Where I’m From” poems.
This unit was written for 11th grade English Language and Composition students, but it would also be
well suited for any 11th or 12th grade American Literature or American Studies class.
(Developed for AP English Language and Composition, grade 11; recommended for American Literature/English and
American Studies/History, grades 11-12, and AP English Language and Composition, grades 11-12)
16.01.05 - The Constitutional Crisis of Indian Removal
by Danielle Greene-Bell
The following curriculum unit focuses on the hypocrisy laden in the federal government’s dealings with Indian
Nations and tribal removal. Using the five fundamental political principles that inform the US Constitution, the
lesson investigates how a theory of a concept (the five fundamental political principles) relates to its real-life
application (Indian Removal) is an essential one to understanding the true functions of government. Living in a
society increasingly at political odds with itself, it is essential that students understand the limitations of our
democratic republic, and how the interpretation of the Constitution is at the whim of whomever is reading it.
Ultimately, students will investigate and analyze the manner in which American Indians are governed to determine
whether this minority group’s rights were and are currently violated under the Constitution. Students will
analyze in-depth whether or not the system checks and balances set up by the US Constitution, given President
Jackson’s abuse of power, is effective and sustainable. Students will be charged with speaking out and
engaging in civil action in instances where the application of the Constitution is not living up to its fundamental
political principles. Students will question whether the actual document of the Constitution is the source of
injustice or whether it is the people who are carrying it out that are the problem. Finally, students will be able
to answer the following questions: 1) What are the constitutional origins of Federal Indian law and policy? 2) How
did Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act and Marshall’s Indian Law Trilogy landmark cases shape Indian
Land law? 3) If recognized as distinct according to the Constitution and by Marshall, how does the United
States’ presently deal with Indian Nations? The students will write a culminating essay answering the
questions of “Are the fundamental political principles, on which our Constitution was founded, afforded to
American Indians in the United States? Why or why not? What does it for further American Indian/US relations? Create
possible legislative solutions that could help solve our broken relationship?”
(Developed for Civics and Economics, grade 8; recommended for Civics and Economics, grade 8)
16.01.06 - Relationships of African Americans and Creeks in Oklahoma to 1936
by Patricia Leann Delancey
Most Oklahomans would say they have Native American heritage, including those at my inner-city three-quarter
African-American populated high school. Last year, I asked my students how many had Native ancestors. Close to 70
percent said they did. However, when I asked how many have a CDIB card (proof of Indian blood) or a tribal
membership card, less than 10 percent said yes. Why then do we self-identify? Is identification the same as having
blood quantum and how does that work with the few that have actual citizenship in an American Indian tribe? The
relationship of the Creeks with African-Americans is a long and intricate one, but I think it is a good window into
understanding a lot of the relationships seen across the country. The complications of tribal citizenship, blood
quantum, ethnic identity and tribal self-determination are a microcosm of what happened in the larger history of the
United States, including the larger issues of slavery, removal, reservations, allotment, termination, citizenship,
Jim Crow laws and the exclusion of Creek Freedmen. This unit will look at the relationships between
African-Americans and the Muscogee Creek up to the time of Indian New Deal in 1936.
(Developed for U. S. History, grade 11 ; recommended for U. S. History and Oklahoma History, grades 9-12, and AP U.
S. History, grades 10-12)
16.01.07 - Agents of Change: How American Indians Helped Change the World in Only Seven Years
by Michael McClellan
The Seven Years' War, (French and Indian War), had far-reaching implications. As the first of the world wars, it
was perhaps more important than the Revolutionary War. Contrary to depictions across academia and the media, the
Indians were certainly not menacing savages, nor helpless victims cowering anxiously on the sidelines. The Seven
Years' War, fought in the mid-eighteenth century on virtually every continent, started and ended in the interior of
North America. From the first battle at Fort Duquesne to the final shots of Pontiac’s War near Detroit,
Indians were central to the story, politically and militarily. Early contact, characterized by energetic diplomatic
and trade relations described pre-war relations and attitudes. The war and its aftermath then set the stage as
England’s victory brought tremendous change, not just to European geopolitics, but also in the form of
tremendous debt and violent outbreaks of Indian resistance. Britain responded by bringing an end to salutary neglect
to exert greater control over the colonists in terms of taxes and a standing army in the colonies. Since either of
these were requested by the colonists, the seeds of revolution were sown. And in a revenge-minded France, America
will find a very willing ally.
(Developed for U. S. History, grade 8; recommended for U. S. History, grade 11)
16.01.08 - The Menominee Journey to Self Determination
by Ashley Pate
The strategies employed during this unit will lead students to research and analyze the Menominee tribe, who are
considered the oldest continuous residents of Wisconsin, in an effort to answer the Essential Question: How did the
Menominee tribe achieve tribal sovereignty? In order to accomplish this, students will read and engage with a number
of text and multimedia sources to uncover how major government agencies and legislation impacted the tribe
throughout its history, especially the Termination Act of 1954. The Menominee's rich history and legacy of
self-sufficiency caused the US government to see them as ideal candidates for this policy. Though termination caused
devastating effects, the Menominee tribe was able to collectively exercise their rights to end termination, achieve
restoration and reestablish themselves as a sovereign nation.
(Developed for U. S History, grade 7; recommended for U. S. History, grades 6-11)
16.01.09 - Indian Boarding Schools: A Case Study of Assimilation, Resistance, and Resilience
by Barbara Ann Prillaman
In this unit, high school students will delve into the sociological concept of assimilation through the case study
of Indian boarding schools. Students will understand that assimilation occurs through a variety of means
– voluntary and/or forced and that social and cultural differences between racial and ethnic groups
“disappear” when one group is absorbed into another group’s culture and social networks or when
two groups merge to form a new, blended culture. Through the use of primary and secondary sources text
sets, students will be able to answer the following questions categorized into three themes – assimilation,
resistance, and resilience: What is assimilation and its variety of terms and how are these sociological concepts
related to Native American people? How was assimilation used as a discrimination tool against Native American
people? How have Native American people resisted these assimilation attempts? and How have Native American people
demonstrated their resilience to these assimilation policies over time? Common Core Standards are addressed, as
students will need to evaluate and synthesize these multiple sources to answer the above questions
individually. Collaboratively, they will create dramatic readings to share with the school community.
(Developed for Dual Enrollment [DTCC] Sociology, grades 11-12; recommended for Sociology/U.S. History, grades
10-12)
16.01.10 - Code-Switching: From Indian Boarding Schools to Urban Classrooms
by Stephanie Zavacky
In this unit, I question the practice of requiring students to culturally and linguistically code-switch in urban
classrooms as a form of assimilation. Students will examine the detrimental effects and legacy of American Indian
boarding schools, particularly at the Carlisle Indian School run by Richard Henry Pratt. Students will analyze the
recent efforts of tribal schools to infuse and encourage culture in their students’ educational experience at
the Rough Rock Community School and the Oneida Nation High School. Students will also examine the need for American
Indians to code-switch when attending a non-reservation school using the novel, The Absolutely True Story of a
Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Students will make observations about when and where they must
code-switch to “fit in.” To conclude, students will participate in the current debate surrounding
student use of slang and African American English (formerly known as Ebonics) in the urban classroom.
(Developed for Civics, grade 9; recommended for U. S. History, U. S. Government, Sociology, and English/Literature,
grades 9-12)
Introduction by
Janice Carlisle, Professor of English
Does literature matter? Instead of framing the question that the fellows and I were addressing this summer
in such a blunt way, one that almost seems to invite a negative answer, we began with the assumption that
literature does matter.1 If that is the case, the only questions remaining – and they are
enormously complex and challenging questions – are those of why, and how, and to whom.
All our discussions focused on these three queries – to whom, why, and how? We began our reading with
a collection of twentieth-century children’s stories, then went on to classic texts by such nineteenth-
and twentieth-century British and American writers as Brontë and Faulkner, along with the work of a variety
of literary theorists; and we ended by reading a selection of multicultural texts.2 To give
some structure to our inquiries, we adopted a version of the device that M. H. Abrams used in The Mirror and
the Lamp to illustrate the various ways in which a work of literature can be approached, each of the
coordinates indicating a traditional school of literary criticism.3
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Because the fellows and I were primarily concerned with meeting the demands of teaching, the effect of a text on
its readers was the relation that we considered in all our discussions. Next in terms of its role during
our meetings was the relation between text and world, both the world of our students and the historical world in
which a work of literature was originally created. The curved line pays tribute to the continuingly
important New Critical conception, now identified with close reading, that the relations that matter most are
the connections of the parts of the text to each other and to its whole. Many of the units produced in
this seminar treat the work of a single author, but when we looked at that coordinate, we tended to pay
attention to an author’s surrogate, the persona of the Dickens or Whitman or Dickinson that seemed to be
addressing us from a text, even when, as in the case of Ishmael of Moby-Dick, the voice of the story
was that of one of its characters. What this triangular device leaves out – and fortuitously so, I think
– is the relation between teacher and text: it goes without saying, though we said it often, that
another of the guiding assumptions of the seminar was that what students can come to know is more important than
what the teacher already knows.
Although Abrams’s mnemonic device might seem both reductive and mechanical, it actually encouraged probing
and profound discussions of literature and all the issues that it raises: race, status, family, identity,
inequality, even life and death. The practical value of this model was also made clear in the curriculum
units that emerged from this seminar, each of which asserts the value of literature by giving priority to one of
the coordinates in our device and by exploring its implications for the other possible relations to a text.
Prioritizing the author of a text, as Debra Titus and Kathleen Radebaugh do, turns out to emphasize the status of
that text as literary art and the student as a writer of potentially significant and complex texts. Deb
plans to focus on the craft involved in three novels by Sharon Flake, an African-American local author, with her
fifth graders in the historic Hill District of Pittsburgh. Once students surmount the challenge of reading
for craft, they will be able to “translate” what they learn “to their own writing.”
Moreover, in Deb’s words, they will be able to use “what they have learned to face any other
challenge” in their educations and beyond. Kathleen boldly and even courageously decided to teach
the poetry and prose of William Butler Yeats to eighth-grade students. By focusing on Yeats the man and
the pain of unrequited love and the impulse toward rebellion in both his life and his art, she hopes to make
connections between a twentieth-century author and school-aged children in Philadelphia. Like Deb’s,
Kathleen’s students will learn not only how to appreciate the craft of Yeats’s poetry but also how
to use his literary techniques in the poems that they write for their portfolios: if “Yeats used
metaphor and symbolism and varied the length and stanza structure of his poems,” then students will show
their understanding of those features by incorporating them into their own verse. In her unit Kathleen
writes feelingly of the “lack of expression” and the “lack of poetry” in the texts that
her students have previously produced in her classes, even when the subject that they were studying, such as
“the engineering process,” was full of “beauty and chaos.” By reading
Yeats’s poetry, her students, Kathleen predicts, will learn how to express what they feel in poetic
form.
Similarly, Carla Jones and Amandeep Khosa are using works by a single author to respond to their students’
needs. Carla hopes that literature will help her students imagine a future for themselves. For her,
this has been a particularly urgent aim ever since, in response to a challenge that she had set her students,
one of them, “an 8-year-old boy,” said that “he didn’t know how to set goals for his
life because he was going to be dead at 18.” To address such pessimism, pessimism perhaps more than
justified, Carla is turning, like Deb and Kathleen, to the work of one author, in this case Booker T.
Washington’s Up from Slavery. Even those in primary school, Carla believes, can find
inspiration and encouragement by reading excerpts from a difficult text that introduces them to a
“positive role model,” a man who was capable of rising above his “dismal
circumstances.” Carla, like Deb and Kathleen, then turns her students into authors by asking them to
“write and publish a family story of perseverance.” By having her students locate in their own
genealogies analogues to Booker T. Washington, she hopes to extend the lessons she teaches beyond the classroom
to the parents of her students: “In this unit I want to provide a space in which families can share
their family stories and therefore empower themselves and others by hearing about the resilience of their
families.” Aman finds in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh a text as demanding as Up
from Slavery, but it is one that will be used to encourage even third-grade students to appreciate the
virtues of empathy and to discover different modes of problem solving. Drawn to Winnie-the-Pooh
by its delightful humor and enduring charm, Aman also sees in this book a repository of skills crucial to both
her students’ social and intellectual growth. As Aman concludes, “through an imaginative text
like Winnie-the-Pooh, students develop a higher level of thinking that in turn helps them go from
factual to metacognitive knowledge and apply the examples from the book to their daily lives.” In all four
of the units that I have so far described, the focus on an author begins and ends in understandings of what
students most need to learn.
In the same way that Carla is bringing the past into relation with her students’ present, Tim Smith and
Maureen Becker and Sara Stillman have created units that will bring the past alive. Tim, who teaches
eighth-grade United States history, makes primary in his unit the connection between text and world so that his
students will develop “a greater understanding of the complexities of the issue of slavery” by
reading excerpts from a slave narrative, specifically Frederick Douglass’s Autobiography, and the
novel that, to a great extent, was written in response to it, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin. Literary works like these, Tim believes, will help students move beyond simply
saying that enslavement was “socially and morally abhorrent” so that they can have frank discussions
in which “they argue and validate [that] claim in a more substantial way” than they would if they
were reading “a textbook alone.” Maureen counters conventional feminist readings of Tennessee
Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire by also giving priority to the world in which Williams
wrote. Nominating Blanche, instead of Stella or Stanley, as the main character of the play, Maureen
proposes that if her IB students pay attention to “post-war American values,” they will recognize
that Blanche represents an “empowered woman” who is so unsuited to that culture that her fate
involves being raped and going insane. Blanche also serves as a counterpoint to Williams’s practice
as a playwright: as Maureen explains, “While we read a play about a main character who is immersed
in an ever-disintegrating fantasy world and who even rejects realism in favor of magic, the work itself is
upsetting when one considers its all-too-real social and cultural commentary . . . . The observations that
Williams makes about the domestic life of a post-war working-class couple are astutely realistic and brutally,
unapologetically honest.” Finally, Maureen also explains that what her unit can give her students is
the opportunity to reach their own judgments about A Streetcar Named Desire by opening out subtle and
sophisticated possibilities of interpretation that earlier readings have ignored. Sara offers her students
the same opportunities, but she does so in a teaching situation unlike Maureen’s IB class and with a work
of literature that is even more canonical than Williams’s play: Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet. Because every student in Sara’s ninth- and tenth-grade Visual Arts class is an
English Language Learner, she will work with an adaptation of the play written by her fellow teachers, along
with “the No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novel Romeo and Juliet, Dire Straits’ song Romeo
and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet, as well as the paper cut
artwork by Elsa Mora.” This diverse material will allow Sara to explore with her students the
intricacies of metaphoric expression in both word and image – a subject often deemed too demanding for
ELLs. Like Kathleen and Deb, Sara puts the creative talents of her students at the center of her
pedagogy: “As an Arts educator, I do not want my students to simply be consumers of culture; I want
them to be contributors as well. Therefore my challenge is greater than teaching my students to understand the
metaphors they read, hear, and see; I must help them to think metaphorically.”
Last but certainly not least, Robert Schwartz and Mark Holston make their priority the needs and interests of
their students as readers. Both have chosen to introduce them to what are now known as culturally relevant
texts: in Robert’s case, a variety of works from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights
Movement, to be followed by James McBride’s The Color of Water; in Mark’s case, a memoir by
a Vietnamese-American, Andrew Pham’s Catfish and Mandala. These pieces of literature are
culturally relevant because they speak to the experience of those whom Mark calls “hyphenated
Americans” – African-Americans and Vietnamese- Americans. Yet, as Robert points out, “A
story about race is a human story, as are stories about struggle, oppression, triumph, identity, family, and
survival”; and that point, he believes, can be made with “any literature that is accessible,
concise, appealing, relevant, and visceral.” Not surprisingly, then, both these fellows find
particularly significant how these texts represent the difficulties of defining one’s identity.
Robert’s goal is to have his students discover the joy of reading literature while they also discover
themselves in what they read. Mark has a comparable goal: he wants his students to become “excited
by what they read . . . and possibly even develop an understanding of the value of literature and become
passionate, life-long readers.” As he says, “Pham’s prose is challenging and full of
rich examples of literary writing that make it ideal for practicing analysis,” although “it is still
accessible to students at most reading levels.” Like Deb, Mark has chosen to have his students read
the work of a local author, his school being close to the town in which Pham was raised; and like Robert, Mark
has chosen literature that helps students find their places in relation to a dauntingly powerful dominant
culture. For Mark and Robert, as for all their colleagues in this seminar, the lessons taught by works of
literature are lessons that begin in the classroom and extend out into the world in which their students live.
These curriculum units emerged from seminar discussions that had many remarkable moments: among them were
Mark’s demonstration of what he calls the “circle of empathy”; Robert’s identification
of a physical “stir” that one feels when reading great literature; Sara’s proof that we
all could come up with a drawing that represented a metaphor; the exercise that Tim used to show us the deeply
personal ways in which we read literature by asking us to identify our equivalent to Ishmael’s recourse to
the sea; and our communal response to the news that one of the fellows, Victoria Parrish, would not be able to
complete the seminar. The most remarkable event, however, may have occurred during the hour when Jessica
Zelenski, a teacher of English at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, visited our seminar.
Jessica’s approach to teaching has been given quite a bit of publicity because David Denby featured it in
his 2016 book, Lit Up; and we were eager to share with her our reactions to his characterization of her
teaching and her students. Yet we were all so taken by her extraordinary commitment to those students, her
willingness to use any method that she could think of to engage them in what they read, and her ability to honor
the individuality of each of the tenth-graders in her classroom that Denby’s account quickly faded into
the background. Told that the topic of our seminar was “Why Literature Matters,” Jessica
– without any preparation and without any hesitation – listed many answers to the implied question
in that title, ending with the goal of giving her students a sense that they are part of a bigger world than the
relatively narrow one that they already know. At the end of Jessica’s visit, Deb offered an eloquent
tribute to the kind of model that she provides for every teacher – a tribute with which we could all
agree.
Charles Dickens hoped that his fiction would bring his readers together – as if they were all gathered
around the warmth of a sitting-room fireplace – so that they could unite in a common undertaking, one that
would allow them to share vicariously the same feelings, desires, expectations, and satisfactions. For
Dickens, this was an important ethical matter, a way of defining his work as a social good. When I think
back on the seminar that the fellows and I participated in and the literature that we read and the conversations
that we had, I am moved to suggest that in a classroom at Yale in the summer of 2016 we embodied Dickens’s
ideal. We had the advantage of being in each other’s presence – not something that
Dickens’s widely spread and diverse audience could manage, except when he was giving public recitations of
his work. Like his readers, however, we came together from afar, from Tulsa and Berkeley and Richmond and
New Haven, as people facing different challenges in the classroom, having had different previous experiences of
reading, and having come from very different backgrounds; and our discussions led to remarkable revelations that
we shared many of the same concerns and hopes and values. In sitting in that room together, we proved, day
after day, how moved we could be as we recognized the connections that reading a work of literature had created
among us. So I can now answer the more skeptical form of the question that we could have pursued:
Does literature matter? Yes, it does. And for the gift of that certainty, I will remain deeply
grateful to the fellows with whom I had the honor of working in this seminar.
Janice Carlisle
Endnotes
- There are so many books with the titles that are various combinations of the two words Literature and
Matters, that I was able to photograph a pile of them as an illustration to the talk I gave for all the
fellows in the 2016 Yale National Initiative:
 }})
- When in our last meeting I raised the issue of my discomfort with the way in which the readings of
our seminar could be construed as a marginalization of the works by African-American, Latina, and
Asian-American writers, the fellows explained how they solved that problem by arranging their syllabi
according to theme rather than according to chronology.
- The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1953), 6.
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.02.01 - Reading for Craft through an Author Study
by Debra Titus
Why did the author choose to write this way? How can I use what the author wrote to sharpen my skills in writing?
These are some of the questions that a student in elementary school may not ask. Students need to be shown how to
transform their thinking into that of a writer. Students should be able to identify the craft of an author and know
how to use methods to shape their own thinking and writing.
The unit focuses on reading for craft through an author study of a local author, in particular, Sharon Flake, of
Pittsburgh, PA. Students review three novels from the author in an effort to indicate occurrences of particular uses
of style, such as: language, voice, and description. Students analyze the craft of the author by noting comparisons
across the novels to get a better grasp of the methods consistently used by the author. The unit is intended for
fourth-grade students in an English Language Arts classroom. The unit can be adapted for varying grade levels with
differing contents. When students are thinking like an author, they will develop a system for finding out why an
author writes in a particular fashion, and then can students truly read for craft.
(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 4; recommended for English, grade 10)
16.02.02 - William Butler Yeats Meets an Eighth Grader from West Philadelphia
by Kathleen Radebaugh
Poets are a dying breed; poets are becoming extinct in our society, especially in the classroom. Students do
not often pause and express their internal conflicts or responses to beauty in the form of stanza and meter.
Often our students develop informational or analytical essays to achieve understanding and meet the needs of the
writing portfolios. Our students need to process and express their interpretations into poetic form. Our
students need poetry just as much as poetry needs an audience of young, ambitious thinkers and advocates for change.
The purpose of this unit is for students to write two to three poems about unrequited love or rebellion.
Students will close read five to six poems by William Butler Yeats, a 20th-century Irish poet, with the
New Critical approach followed by historical and biographical contextualization. Yeats was conflicted about
the Irish nationalist movement for independence and wrote about his broken heart for his country and first love,
Maud Gonne. This unit uses selected poems and prose pieces by Yeats to develop a connection with students
living in Philadelphia that many of Yeats’ struggles during his adolescence and young adulthood mirror
conflicts experienced today by them today.
(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 8; recommended for English Language Arts, grade 7)
16.02.03 - Connecting it All: How Connecting Students to a Text Increases Motivation to Read
by Carla Jones
Students want to feel connected to a text. They want to read books that reflect them and their cultures. So many
times classroom libraries are filled with books of mainstream culture. What effect does that have on the children?
It is important for students to see themselves in the text. Students can begin to develop their identity as they
read books that reflect them.
In this unit, students will participate in activities that will help them connect to the text. After reading
about the life of Booker T. Washington, a comparison organizer may be used by students to visibly show the
similarities and differences. Students will examine how his determination to accomplish his goals allowed him to go
from being a slave to the Founder of a University. Since Washington is an example of how to set goals, students will
use his model to set and accomplish their own goals.
The complex text, Up From Slavery, in this unit can be used at any grade; however, the activities were
written with primary students in mind. Students of any culture can benefit from the lessons taught by
Washington’s life. The lessons in this unit transcend ELA and connect multiple discipline areas.
(Developed for ELA/Social Studies, grade 3; recommended for ELA/Social Studies, grades 3-5)
16.02.04 - Learning Social Skills and Problem Solving with Winnie-the-Pooh
by Amandeep Khosa
The goal of this unit is to develop social skills such as communicating respectfully, thinking logically, rather
than emotionally, and developing values like respect and empathy, through classic imaginative literature. Students
will explore these themes through the characters’ point of view and their choices. For this unit I will use a
popular children’s classic, Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne.
This unit was written with primary students in mind, but it can be modified and adapted across grade levels.
Teachers can modify the strategies and activities according to their class situation. This unit can also be adapted
across the curriculum to connect to the requirements of the other subject areas, such as science and history.
Through the humorous tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, the students not only learn problem solving through the
actions and decisions of the characters, but also get a glimpse of a different culture, time period, and usage of
language.
(Developed for English Language Arts and Science, grade 3; recommended for English Language Arts and Science,
grades 1-5)
16.02.05 - Frederick Douglass and Harriett Beecher Stowe: Two Sides to the Abolitionist Narrative
by Tim Smith
For most of the students in my U.S. History class, the present is trouble enough. Why they have to study the
past makes no sense to them. Teaching about the people, places, and significant events of America’s
past, therefore, is a difficult task. Many of my students also read well below grade level, so you have a toxic mix
of disinterest and limited comprehension.
This unit combines literature with historical content in a way that is a compelling motivator for students.
The unit focuses on the unique character of the slave narrative as literature. So doing will also help
students gain a greater understanding of the complexities of the issue of slavery. They will experience the emotions
first hand through selections from both autobiography and fiction: Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of a
Slave and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, respectively.
Written to help bridge the comprehension gap of struggling students and offer Language Arts and U.S. History
teachers the opportunity to combine their subjects to increase exposure to both, the unit synthesizes literature
with history to enhance the study of the disciplines significantly.
(Developed for U. S. History, grade 8; recommended for Language Arts, grade 8)
16.02.06 - Creating Connections to Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire
by Maureen Becker
Many students come into my English classes afraid to participate for fear saying something wrong; there is also
consistently a group of students who will either parrot my connections and assertions or those found on a
study-helper website such as SparkNotes or Shmoop. Students need to develop the skill of original thought based upon
critical analysis of text, and literature classes offer access to developing that skill. Students enter their
classes with a wide variety of experiences that influence their reading of texts, and these connections can be used
to make connections when they are grounded by textual evidence.
In order to help students develop their ability to form and express their own original analysis of text, this unit
uses Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and two of the more common critical analyses
of this play to invite students to challenge such analyses of the work and assert commentaries that are authentic.
This unit was written with an audience of twelfth-grade IB literature students in mind; however, it can be modified
to work for students as young as ninth grade as long as the teacher is comfortable with discussing the mature,
sexual content of the play. The suggested activities are flexible enough to be easily modified to fit the needs of
student group in the secondary setting.
(Developed for IB Language A: Literature Year 2, grade 12; recommended for English, grades 9-12)
16.02.07 - Using Art-Based Research to Explore Metaphors in Romeo and Juliet with English Language Learners
by Sara Stillman
Bringing literature into the classroom for adolescent English Language Learners poses challenges for both teachers
and students. For teachers, knowing how to adapt language to make learning accessible for students can often result
in limiting learning experiences. For students, barriers to understanding language can lead to frustration and
withdrawal from interacting with challenging texts. This unit uses the Visual Arts to empower students to analyze
adaptations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with a focus on visual and verbal metaphors. Using
Art-Based Research teachers of both English and Art can imbed artmaking and English language concepts to reach a
broad range of learners.
(Developed for Visual Arts, grade 10; recommended for Visual Arts, English Language Arts, English Language
Learners/English as a Second Language, and Special Education, grades 7-12)
16.02.08 - Reading One Another: Fostering Passion and Identity Growth through African-American Literature
by Robert McKinnon Schwartz
Finding ways to encourage reading is an obstacle in education, as is utilizing pedagogy to build character. There
is stiff competition for young learners’ attention in the forms of modern media, and many distracted students
in the classroom. To meet these challenges, we will explore engaging texts that are simple but not simplistic, both
accessible and challenging. We focus on African-American literature of the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil
Rights Movement, and finally James McBride’s The Color of Water, a consistently enjoyable, compelling
work that students often love. At the same time, we look at evidence proving how important it is to read literature,
and different strategies to encourage students to read.
The essential idea is that the words speak for themselves. Non-readers cannot become readers unless they are
provided with something they will enjoy as freely as their mobile apps. These stories of personal journeys and
identity aim to do just that. It is intended for 11th or 12th graders in an urban school
district. However, while the grade level is recommended, the literature contained herein is relatable, erudite,
accessible, and relevant for students of any background.
(Developed for English 4/Senior Level English, grade 12; recommended for English 3/Junior Level English, grade 11)
16.02.09 - Who Am I?: Culturally Relevant Text and American Identity
by Mark Holston
Students’ aversion to reading often stems from not seeing themselves or their experiences represented in the
curriculum; they feel disconnected or disengaged from what is being taught, and this disconnect is profound for
students of color. When students can see themselves in the literature they are reading, the literature can be an
opportunity to explore their own identity, and explore and understand who they are.
Centering on the culturally relevant text Catfish and Mandala, by Andrew Pham, this unit hopes to
address the universal theme of selfhood, more specifically, self-identity in the context of American identity. The
unit gives students an opportunity to discover their own views of where they fit in as Americans and how these
relate to the ethnic and racial cultures that they come from. At the same time, this unit will use
Pham’s rich prose to develop the skills of analytical reading and writing.
The text Catfish and Mandala would be appropriate for students in ninth to twelfth grade. Although
designed for 11th grade students, this curriculum unit can be adapted for teaching an appropriate grade level text,
and the activities can be modified to match student’s grade levels and academic abilities.
(Developed for English 3, grade 11; recommended for English courses, grades 9-12)
Introduction by
Joseph R. Roach, Sterling Professor of English and Professor of African American Studies, of American Studies, and of Theater Studies
Literature, film, and popular culture abound with utopias and otherwise wonderful but impossible places.
Based on imaginative journeys to three of them—Oz, Never Land, and a Wood near Athens—“Over
the Rainbow” explored some of the greatest geographies of wishful thinking ever fancied. In a
context created by related critical essays, three popular works and their spinoffs were central to the
seminar: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and its cinematic and stage versions,
including The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939) and The Wiz (1978); J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan;
or, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up and its variants, including Peter Pan (Disney, 1953);
and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Branching out in different
directions from these fantastic realms, participating Fellows created Curriculum Units that feature their own
dream worlds based on original works and adaptations drawn from different media and genres. Along the way, they
develop various strategies for inspiring magical thinking in their students. As is the case with almost
every invocation of a utopia, however, each of their dream worlds casts the shadow of a dystopia as well.
The Fellows allow that dreams and nightmares, like fantasy and reality, can stand opposed and still change
places.
One recurring and troubling theme of our unit-preparations and seminar discussions was our collective sense of
the overall flattening of the imaginative lives of school children today. Fellows reported variants of
this systemic phenomenon across the country, across the grades, and across the subjects. The hyper-availability
of formulaic and repetitive amusements through mediated communication came up repeatedly as a manifestation of
the problem, and it was also identified generally as a probable cause of it. But we concluded that
media-saturation is but one symptom among others of the intensifying pressures of the real world on
childhood. Reality today includes the increasingly urgent summons of the here and now on the attention of
students, especially those enrolled in high-need public schools. Krista Waldron, from the Phoenix Rising
Alternative Day School, Tulsa, framed the issue clearly in her unit, meditating on a quotation from the late
Mohammed Ali:
For several days after Mohammed Ali’s recent death, I found and heard Ali maxims everywhere.
Because one fraction of my mind is always percolating something for my seminar or unit, this one stayed with
me: ‘The man who has no imagination has no wings.’ I thought about how rich his
imagination must have been. Then I thought about how grounded in reality my students are.
Burdened with it, really. Their lives are so survival-oriented and rooted in immediacy and basic needs that
the imaginative realms are lost to them. Units that have come from previous seminars have ambitiously
addressed issues of social justice or the effects of trauma on literacy and writing skill—the
realities of my classroom. But what if Ali is right? If not cultivating one’s imagination is
equal to sentencing him or her to a life of predictability—which in the case of many of my students is
one of recidivism and prison or blue collar jobs that make ends meet at best. Can the ability to
suspend one’s belief in fiction transfer to one’s life, goals, dreams?
Citing Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous phrase—“that willing suspension of disbelief for the
moment which constitutes poetic faith”—Waldron builds her unit, “Magical Multi-Culti Yellow
Brick Realism,” around L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Gabriel García
Márquez’s short story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Octavia Butler’s short
story Bloodchild, and The Subtlety, an art installation piece by Kara Walker. The
Walker piece, a colossal bandana-topped sphinx made of sugar, is titled in full “The Subtlety; or, the
Marvelous Sugar Baby.” Walker installed it in the old Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn. It is
the most provocative work by one of America’s most thought-provoking artists, and it creates an
environment of richly imaginative meanings—a dream world—for interpretation and discussion. Topics
include but are not limited to the very real histories that “The Subtlety” embodies and symbolizes,
but also the constructed-ness of those realities. Waldon’s students will then be challenged to create
their own installation, drawing on their imaginations under the inspiringly open-ended guidance of
“magical realism.”
In a similar vein, “Afirmando Nuestra Identidad (Affirming Our Identity): Exploring Dream Worlds and
Storytelling through Alebrijes” by Mary Carmen Moreno of the Tarkington School of Excellence, Chicago,
takes up the popular art of Mexico, in particular the vibrantly colored sculptures known as
“alebrijes,” to explore the intersection of visual art and literary narrative. Her objective
is to “welcome my bilingual students into a world that they construct from both ideological and
mythological spaces informed by language, culture, and art.” In this world, her students “will
engage with tales that span geographical spaces, and in particular visit their ancestral lands of Mexico through
the written and oral word, through the visual landscape of el arte popular Mexicano, and the dreamworlds of
alebrijes.” In the end, the Mexico Moreno seeks to bring into her classroom is no less real because it has
been made more magical in the minds of her students, many of whom still call it “home” even though
they have never been there. But this reality is aspirational, expansive rather than reductive; it is tangible
and verifiable; but, at the same time, it is not inevitable. It is a reality that must be imagined, disbelief
suspended, in order to be perceived and properly understood.
Our seminar discussed possible techniques whereby this kind of creative imagination might be stimulated into
fullness of being, and the curriculum units reflect the variety of these discussions. In “Stick to
Your Story: Fleshing Out Existing Narrative Structures,” Tharish R. Harris of Boushall Middle
School, Richmond, sets out her plan for empowering her students by teaching them the techniques of storytelling
derived from theories of narrative such as Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale
(1968) and Peter Brooks’s Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative (1984) .
She writes: “Technology and social media have dulled my students’ imaginations. They are so
hyper-engaged with immediacy—the ‘here and now’ of shared experiences—that they do not
have time to reflect on the past, much less look forward or elsewhere into the realm of
imagination.” Narrative, Harris argues, imparts the importance of before and after
by disclosing the meaning of passing through the present from a beginning to an end.
“Narratology” is a fancy way of saying that we know that stories are told in certain ways wherever
they are told, using and re-using certain techniques, leaving room for idiosyncrasy and innovation but
disclosing clear patterns of meaning-making. Corrina Christmas, of Andrew Jackson Elementary School, Tulsa, in
“Getting Graphic about Writing” thus proposes to use the word-and-image techniques divulged by Scott
McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art to teach her student to read—and also
write—comic books and graphic novels.
Another recurring discussion in seminar was the mixed blessing of the emphasis on non-fiction reading and writing
in Common Core Standards. In “Easing on Down the Road: Teaching Students to Critically Read
and Write Fantasy Lands,” Brandon Barr of Mark Twain Elementary School, Chicago, addresses this issue
head-on: “While the standards represent a major effort to bring rigor to language arts instruction,
I believe the narrow focus on one approach to understanding and engaging with text is short-sighted and harms
literacy instruction. Reflecting on the experience of the Over the Rainbow seminar, a key element that
propelled conversation was not only reading The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, but also reflecting on what critics had to say about each text and its derivative
texts.” Using accessible excerpts from critical analyses of the dream-world texts he assigns, Barr will
help English teachers willingly suspend their disbelief in Common Core while empowering his students’
imaginations for the truths that only fiction can relate. Easing on down another stretch of the same road,
Jennifer Giarrusso, of Taylor Allderdice High School, Pittsburgh, in “Seeking a Home: The
Wiz and the Black Arts Movement,” began her critical and historical inquiry with a non-fiction
Twitter feed from “Feminista Jones,” responding to the NBC TV revival of The Wiz in
December, 2015, and quoting the lyrics:
What would I do
If I could reach inside of me
And to know how it feels
To say I like what I see.
The Tweet explicitly linked The Wiz to the Black Arts and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
Giarrusso well understands the problematic nature of such a linkage (the creative team for the production of
both the musical and the film was all white), but she develops it nevertheless to explore the idea of
‘home” on the cusp of the separatist-integrationist debate in American racial politics, which remain
as rich a source for fantasy and non-fiction texts, sometimes confused for one another, as can be
imagined. Bringing related issues up to the moment in popular culture, Sydney Hunt Coffin, of
Edison/Fareira High School, Philadelphia, addresses the problematic portrayal of black and Puerto Rican
identities through the hip-hop swagger of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton in “Dreaming on
Imaginary Stages and Writing Imaginative Scripts: The Magical ‘If’’ Fulfilled, in
Hamilton.”
As the enormous impact of Hamilton shows, notions of fantasy land and home land remain creatively
interrelated in the American imagination, but not in the American imagination alone. Priya Talreja, from Pioneer
High School, San José School District, in “Unraveling the Dream World Stereotype of the Arab
People,” unravels the Orientalist fantasy at the heart of T.E. Lawrence’s role in the Arab Revolt
during World War I, focusing on the dream-world vision of Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of
Wisdom. “The unit’s essential question ,” she writes, “is the following:
How are stereotypes used to diminish the contributions of colonized people?” Here the
dialectic of dream world and historical fact reaches back into the past to illuminate how the reality of the
present carries the burden of fantasy from long ago. But dream worlds empower more dreamers than they
disempower. Tiffany Tracy, of the Ganado Elementary School, Diné Nation, in “Journey to the
Sun: Reclaiming Self-Esteem through Culture and History,” claims the historical truth of Navajo
creation stories embodied in the adventures of the Warrior Twins, Monster Slayer and Child-born-for-Water.
Her students will learn that monsters still need slaying, in their dreams and for real.
Joseph Roach
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.03.01 - Magical Multi-Culti Yellow Brick Road Realism: Using Imagination to Find Reality
by Krista Baxter Waldron
My alternative high school students’ lives are so survival-oriented and rooted in immediacy and basic needs
that the imaginative realms seem lost to them. This unit includes research into this problem and some
practices specific to at-risk students that address it. We will read works that will de-familiarize students,
creating a space where stories and writing are fresh and approachable. The texts are L. Frank Baum’s
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Gabriel García Márquez’s short story A Very Old Man
with Enormous Wings, Octavia Butler’s short story Bloodchild, and The Subtlety or the
Marvelous Sugar Baby, an art installation piece by Kara Walker. Butler’s and
Walker’s works will be more appropriate for older or mature high school students, but for younger students
they could be substituted. My students tend to be struggling readers, so work throughout the unit will include
appropriate reading strategies with an emphasis on visualizing the fiction texts. Other activities will
encourage creative thinking about text. The two final products are a creative writing piece, which asks
students to use many of the literacy skills acquired in the unit, and an art installation piece.
(Developed for English II, grade 10, English III, grade 11, and English IV, grade 12; recommended for Art, grades
11-12)
16.03.02 - Afirmando Nuestra Identidad (Affirming Our Identity): Exploring Dream Worlds and Storytelling through Alebrijes
by Mary Carmen Moreno
Art and stories are two powerful vehicles for transmitting culture and traditions in ways that affirm
students’ identity and inspire them to dream.
Using a biliteracy framework, this unit leads students on a journey to explore stories across multiple genres and
visual artwork that introduce or develop their understanding of Mexican cultural traditions, family history,
geographical landscapes, and the art of imagination to inspire individual stories featuring
alebrijes—brightly-colored, fantastical, animal-like sculptures that emerged from the dreams of an artist and
evolved into one of the most unique examples of arte popular Mexicano.
This unit is designed for 2nd grade emergent bilingual students of Mexican origin who are learning to
read and write in both Spanish and English. Activities and strategies integrate the visual arts to facilitate
a deeper critical lens that extends their level of analysis of traditional literature as critical thinkers and
storytellers.
(Developed for Language Arts/Bilingual Education, grade 2; recommended for Language Arts/General Education,grades
1-3, and Arts Education, grades K-3)
16.03.03 - Stick to Your Story: Fleshing out Existing Narrative Structures
by Tharish Harris
My students struggle with writing every year, most start with little or no pre-reading skills and are reluctant to
write at all. When they do enjoy writing they only want to write about crime and violence.
In an effort to get my students excited about writing we will be incorporating graphic novels into our read-aloud
time and learn to use some techniques that I have read about in Scott McCloud's Understanding Comic Books: The
Invisible Art. This will make writing more exciting for my students.
This is a unit written for 1st grade but could be modified for second or third grade. It addresses reading and
writing standards by teaching students to make comic books. Students will be learning everything they need to know
about how to make a great visual character, an inviting setting, and a plot in their story done in a graphic novel
or comic book fashion. They will learn about how to make their characters run and jump on pages, how to make them
scream or whisper, and even how to show them how to make their character jump off the page in the comic book.
(Developed for English/Language Arts, grade 7; recommended for English/Language Arts, grades 5-11)
16.03.04 - Getting Graphic about Writing
by Corrina Christmas
My students struggle with writing every year, most start with little or no pre-reading skills and are reluctant to
write at all. When they do enjoy writing they only want to write about crime and violence.
In an effort to get my students excited about writing we will be incorporating graphic novels into our read-aloud
time and learn to use some techniques that I have read about in Scott McCloud's Understanding Comic Books: The
Invisible Art. This will make writing more exciting for my students.
This is a unit written for 1st grade but could be modified for second or third grade. It addresses reading and
writing standards by teaching students to make comic books. Students will be learning everything they need to know
about how to make a great visual character, an inviting setting, and a plot in their story done in a graphic novel
or comic book fashion. They will learn about how to make their characters run and jump on pages, how to make them
scream or whisper, and even how to show them how to make their character jump off the page in the comic book.
(Developed for Language Arts, grade 1; recommended for Writing, grades 2-3)
16.03.05 - Easing on Down the Road: Reading Critically, Writing Fantastically
by Brandon Barr
Critically reading and discussing literature from multiple angles is something that many middle school students do
not do in English Language Arts classes. The Common Core State Standards call for students to engage in close
reading of text, but narrowly focusing on close reading limits student capacity to think abstractly and critically
about what they read. Students need to learn that there are more than one narrow lens for unpacking meaning from a
text.
In order to deepen student understanding so that they approach a piece of fiction more critically, students will be
introduced to five critical literary lenses that can be used to explore fiction: history/author’s biography,
New Critical (close reading), Feminist, Reader-Response mythological/archetypal/symbolic. These different angles
will be explored by reading modified critical readings that apply to The Wizard of Oz and Anthem,
two works that contain fantasyland settings that will be studied in the unit. As students learn the conventions of
fantasylands and the structure of a narrative, they will learn and play some insider secrets to do some creative
writing of their own.
This unit is intended for sixth grade students that are at or above grade level. Students are not generally
introduced to literary criticism in middle school, so it could easily be scaffolded higher to introduce the concept
to older students. Teachers looking for ideas or resources for how to get students thinking about and writing their
own fantasylands may also benefit from this unit. The assessment is also flexible enough that it could be easily
used in many different English Language Arts classes.
(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 6; recommended for English and Language Arts, grades 6+)
16.03.06 - Seeking a Home: The Wiz and the Black Arts Movement
by Jennifer L. Mazzocco
High school students are often asked to discuss race, but these conversations only superficially deal with the way
that the American black artistic community has used art, literature and music not only to explore and create a
cultural identity, but also find a cultural home in one that is majority white. The Black Arts Movement, an artistic
parallel to the political Black Power Movement, is well-suited to allowing students to think critically about black
identity, black pride and how a cultural minority navigates its situation in a white, mainstream culture.
The centerpiece of this unit is the 1978 film The Wiz. Students will question what influence, if any, the
Black Arts Movement had on the creation and interpretation of the film. Alongside Black Arts Movement poetry,
nonfiction essays by black writers from the late 20th century and a Radiolab podcast called “Debatable,”
students will examine the ways that Black Arts Movement writers used their politics and art to search for a home and
the influence of that movement on later black work. This unit is intended for English Language Arts, grades 9-12.
(Developed for English I CAS and English I PSP, grade 9; recommended for English, grades 9-12)
16.03.07 - Dreaming on Imaginary Stages and Writing Imaginative Scripts: The Magical "If" Fulfilled, in "Hamilton"
by Sydney Hunt Coffin
Just as Constantin Stanislavski, founder of “The Method”, claimed that “Not a step should be
taken on a stage without the cooperation of the imagination”, we should encourage our own students to locate
their imaginations at the center of the work to create historical as well as creative writing. In this unit, high
school English and Poetry students are led in an exploration of the play Hamilton and its creative possibilities by
teaching deconstructive analysis through close readings, the challenges of American social and political
perspectives today, as well as creative writing exercises leading to a stage performance.
(Developed for Poetry, grades 10-12; recommended for English and Social Studies, grades 7-12)
16.03.08 - Unraveling the Dream World Stereotype of the Arab People
by Priya Talreja
There is no such thing as an unbiased history. Because of this we need to teach historical thinking in the
classroom to help students recognize bias that influence the way historical information is recorded and remembered.
This unit is situated in the tenth grade World History classroom.
At the heart of this lesson is the book by T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This unit gives
students the opportunity to see the challenges with an unreliable primary source such as this book. Students also
study parts of the film Lawrence of Arabia, which solidifies the dream world stereotype of the Arab people
that Lawrence developed. Students analyze Lawrence and his views about the Middle East by studying his personal life
and the events of World War I and imperialism. Using this information students connected Lawrence’s views to
the theory of Edward Said’s Orientalist. Students use both primary and secondary sources to help evaluate the
following essential question: How are stereotypes used to diminish the contributions of colonized people?
(Developed for World History/Imperialism and WWI, grade 10; recommended for World History/Imperialism and WWI,
grade 10, and Geography and World Cultures/Middle East, grade 9)
16.03.09 - Journey to the Sun: Reclaiming Imagination and Self-Esteem through Culture and History
by Tiffany Tracy
“Journey to the Sun: Reclaiming Imagination and Self-esteem through Culture and History” is a unit that
is meant to bring a sense of cultural pride through the introduction the Warrior Twins, or Hero Twins, known as
Monster Slayer and Child Born-for-Water. Many students living on the Din4 Nation face many obstacles in life, and
they are so set in reality that they lack imagination. The quickest escape for most children today is a pre-imagined
world that doesn’t challenge them to create something new. Everything is already visualized for them. My goal
is to bring into the classroom the oral narratives that define our people. Din4 teachers, and teachers across the
United States, can stimulate the imagination with tales of man-eating monsters, talking animals, arrows made of
lightning. These tales teach us to practice to be better, listen to others, receive advice from elders, and remain
cautious and brave when faced with challenges. For our Native children, and children of color across America, it is
important to provide alternative narratives that show integrity and resilience. It is time to let them see
themselves as warriors, suspend their disbelief, and be the storytellers themselves.
(Developed for Reading and Writing, grades K-8; recommended for Reading and Writing, grade 9)
Introduction by
Gary W. Brudvig, Professor of Chemistry and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
With concerns about the impact on the environment of our current use of fossil fuels and our national energy
security, energy is in the news on a daily basis. Many students have seen Al Gore’s movie “An
Inconvenient Truth” and are familiar with some of the issues relating to energy use, but they may not know
much about the science related to energy. The aim for this seminar was to discuss the science related to
current sources of energy and potential future sources of energy. We can learn much about sustainable
energy use by studying natural processes. Nature has solved the renewable energy problem through the
process of photosynthesis that is carried out by green plants. Plants are amazing chemical factories and
provide a working example of renewable solar energy conversion, but this is often not appreciated. By
understanding how plants carry out the processes of solar energy utilization, we can obtain some answers to the
question of how we can harvest solar energy by using processes of artificial photosynthesis.
My own interest in science stems from my hands-on experiences as a child. Therefore, many demonstrations
were included in this seminar – at least one demonstration, and frequently 2-3, in each seminar
meeting. These demonstrations were chosen so that they could actively involve the students and at the same
time illustrate the scientific principles related to energy.
The books by David Walker entitled “Energy, Plants and Man” and by David J. C. MacKay entitled
“Sustainable Energy – without the hot air” were used as the primary technical books for the
seminar. We also read Daniel Yergin's “The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern
World”, a fascinating but not highly technical analysis of our current energy use. The beginning of
the seminar focused on energy, light and photosynthesis. The seminar began with a discussion of how plants
use light to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen gas. This included discussions on the
nature of light and the fundamental steps by which light is absorbed by plants and converted into chemical
energy. Demonstrations of the colors in light using diffractions glasses aided these discussions. A
connection was made between natural photosynthesis and the excess production of biomass that has been buried to
form the “fossil fuels” that provide most of our current energy. Next, we delved into various
forms of energy, including hydroelectric, biofuels, wind, geothermal, solar and nuclear. A highlight of
the seminar was the production of biodiesel fuel from cooking oil that culminated in the combustion of biodiesel
fuel in an oil furnace burner. The seminar also included a discussion of energy use in the future that
included progress in development of systems for artificial photosynthesis and fuel cells.
The curriculum units developed from this seminar are suitable for elementary to middle school to high school
students. In all of the units, the science content is integrated with language arts, mathematics and
social studies to provide a balanced program that meets the literacy requirements of the school system.
The Fellows have prepared extensive lists of materials that can be used in the classroom or as resources.
These materials include books that the students can read, textbooks that the teachers can use, demonstration
sourcebooks, suppliers of equipment and many addresses of sites on the world wide web. Several of the
Fellows developed units around a theme or activity related to energy, including units on growing plants,
biodiesel production, building an electrical motor, making dye-sensitized solar cells, and an innovative unit on
building a contraption to cook food and make potable water in the event of a power outage. Other units are
related to comparisons of current sources of energy based on fossil fuels with the renewable energy sources,
analyses of carbon footprints, and air pollution. Information on the responsible use of current sources of
energy to lower our carbon footprint, as well as the impact of our energy use on the planet Earth, is also
provided in many of the curriculum units. The units include a number of excellent activities that will
engage the students’ interest and teach them about energy sciences.
I would encourage all teachers of elementary through high school students to review these curriculum units.
These materials provide a valuable resource for incorporating topics of science and society related to
“Energy Sciences” into the classroom.
Gary Brudvig
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.04.01 - What Is our Energy Past, Present, and Future?
by Josh Bearman
Contrary to the commonly repeated idea that the fossil fuel economy is dead, there are ample fossil fuel resources
remaining on Earth, and extraction technology is keeping pace with demand. In this curriculum unit, my goal is to
provide my students with the means to research the origins of the fossil fuel and renewable resources present in
Virginia, how they are extracted and used, and what could be the future of energy generation for the state.
This unit surveys the state of available energy in Virginia, looking at the formation, extraction, use and impacts
of coal and natural gas, uranium mining, how energy is made in coal-fired and nuclear plants, and how the state is
set up for offshore wind. Over the course of 3-4 weeks, students will research organisms of the Carboniferous
period, test the energy potential of different grades of coal, visit a coal mine, visit coal-burning and nuclear
power plants, and engage in a resource “Crash Debate.” This unit is designed for advanced 8th
grade students, but could be easily modified up or down.
(Developed for Earth Science, grade 8; recommended for Physical Science, grades 7-8)
16.04.02 - The Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
by Cristobal Rene Carambo
This unit is designed to engage 11th grade students in the evaluation of the environmental impact of
society’s overdependence on fossil fuels. The unit will center on solar energy as an alternative fuel
resource, and focus on the transformation of radiant energy into electrical energy that occurs within photovoltaic
cells. An important aspect of the learning will be on the chemistry of these cells, how electrical energy is stored
within them, and the many applications of this technology in our everyday life. The unit will unfold during the
study of the periodic table and center on the physical / chemical properties of the semiconducting elements used in
solar cells. Students will engage in a series of laboratory activities exploring the composition and electrical
properties of various solar cells. The unit will culminate in an evaluation of select products that rely on this
technology and the environmental benefits of photovoltaic cells.
(Developed for Chemistry, grade 10; recommended for Environmental Science, grades 10-11)
16.04.03 - Plant, Watch, and Grow
by Jessica Ralene Anderson
This is a kindergarten unit that addresses Next Generation Science Standards on life sciences. This unit also
touches on math and writing for kindergarten. My purpose in writing this unit is to help my students better
understand the growth and development of plants. Students will come to understand photosynthesis in its most basic
form. Student will be engaged in hands-on activities modeling the plant structure, photosynthesis, and
the sun. My students will be making connections from the energy provided by the sun to the growth of plants. I will
be making several connections for the students on the foods they eat coming from vegetation. Activities included in
this unit are growing bean pods, a community garden, and a fruit and vegetable sampling. I will use several teaching
strategies including but not limited to: journaling, listening comprehension, and class discussions. This unit will
be tied back to several nonfiction texts on photosynthesis and the growth of plants. My unit on photosynthesis can
easily be adapted for the early elementary grades.
(Developed for Science, grade K; recommended for Science, grades K-3)
16.04.04 - Energetics of Biofuel - Investigating Alternative Energy Sources by Manufacturing Biodiesel
by Zachary J. Meyers
(Developed for Physics, grades 10-12; recommended for Physics and Chemistry, grades 10-12)
16.04.05 - It Ain't Easy Being Green
by Patricia Moncrief
“It Ain’t Easy Being Green” is a unit focused on Carbon Footprints. This unit is designed for
8th Grade Physical Science Students. Teaching Physical Science concepts can be challenging. If you
are asked to teach environmental concepts, and at the same time want to stay frustration free, then this unit should
put you at ease.
“Carbon Footprints” highlights the need for students to be socially responsible and reside successfully
in a global community. Students will be given background information on greenhouse gases- tracing their dramatic
increase since the Industrial Revolution, and will learn about fossil fuels- as to why renewable energies need to be
developed and consumed.
Students will be participating in web-based interactive programs creating and measuring their respective carbon
footprints. Throughout this unit students will be responsible for finding, and generating ongoing methods to reduce
their “footprints”. It also allows the students to see how extremely important it is for them to
be cognizant about diminishing their fossil fuel consumption, and replacing them with renewable energy resources.
The objective is to have them establish a new awareness that “footprints” need to be reduced.
Controlling carbon footprints will last a lifetime…
(Developed for Physical Science, grade 8; recommended for Earth Sciences, grade 7)
16.04.06 - Solar and Wind and Batteries, Oh My!
by Joseph Earl Parrett
This is a kindergarten unit that could be adapted to other primary grades. It is an introduction to the energy
sciences meant to enrich the force and motions kindergarten unit. Students will be actively engaged in STEM learning
activities while learning about renewable and non-renewable sources of power. Specifically, students will be work
with the sustainable energy sources of wind and solar energy. Representing non-renewable energy will be the battery,
though comparisons to fossil fuels will be made. Students will work in collaborative groups in a series of hands-on
experiments. They will be constructing cars out of Legos though any sort of building materials could be substituted
for the Lego blocks. Once groups have studied cars powered by battery, wind, and solar they will compare and
contrast their different vehicles and choose their “ultimate car”. They will also justify their
reasoning for the choice using facts from their observations. This activity is designed to be rigorous, relevant and
highly engaging.
(Developed for Science, grade K; recommended for Science, grades 1-2)
16.04.07 - Náhasdzáán Nílchi Binaadohígíí - Carbon Dioxide
by Shirley Paulson
Air, like water, is essential for life. Unfortunately, in today’s world, that fresh air we so desperately
rely on daily is contaminated; therefore, it is not exactly fresh. Regrettably, the power of air pollution has
reshaped our lives. We need an increased awareness of the air we breathe, how it affects our health and everything
within the universe and how we can change our behavior to ensure that clean air is available to everyone.
Air pollution has been with us for a long time. As cities expand and population increases at an alarming rate, we
realize that air pollution stems out of human activities. Burning fossil fuels (natural gases, coal and oil),
factories and motor vehicles all emit harmful substances. In recent years, air pollution has reached such a critical
stage where it affects the earth's atmosphere as it traps more harmful radiation from the sun. This has put stress
on our planet.
The purpose of this unit is to empower students to get involved with the real problems of air pollution. We need to
ensure that what we are breathing will not harm us or future generations. For this reason, students should look for
“green” solutions for energy such as solar, wind power, and thermal energy. Despite the costs and
challenges of renewable energy, we need to continue to look into other abundant sources of energy such as natural
photosynthesis and sunlight energy.
This is a fifth grade unit. The unit plan is divided into 4 weeks commencing with building key background concepts,
learning the causes and effects of air pollution, and caring about the environment. The lessons consist of
extensive background information to engage students through multiple modes: reading and discussion of content topic
books and articles, video viewing, group work, hands-on activities, inquiry-based learning, on-site educational
experiences, participation in community events, and opinion writing.
Students will use cause and effect as they brainstorm key background concepts to build vocabulary, and design and
conduct surveys. Reading of non-fiction books on air and carbon dioxide, and simple hands-on experiments, will be
used to understand the basic concepts of air and carbon dioxide. Reading of informational texts about air pollution
and a kinetic activity will demonstrate the importance of the respiratory system. Storytelling of Diné
culture and history and a folktale story with timelines will be used to connect students to their environment. The
scientific process will be used to perform inquiry-based learning; students will write an opinion composition and
participate in Earth Week events for character development. Direct instruction, audio-visuals, work with a
Discussion Group or a partner, Field Trips, Guided Discovery and Discussion, Inductive Inquiry, Journaling, Keyword
Strategies, Note-Taking, and Scaffolding are instructional strategies incorporated into the lessons.
Differentiated instruction will drive the unit to meet the needs of all learners.
(Developed for Integrated Science and Diné Culture, grade 5; recommended for Science and Diné
Culture, grade 5)
16.04.08 - The Future of Energy
by Jacqueline Alvarado
Energy is the number one problem that faces humanity in the next 50 years. In the event of a natural disaster and
long-term energy loss, what will you do? This project-based unit, “The Future of Energy”, is about world
energy production, consumption, and its environmental impact. The unit begins with energy history, starting with the
carbon cycle and the formation of fossil fuels and seeks to explore the human environmental impact of current usage
and dependence on conventional energy. This unit will also teach students how to research alternative energies,
including nuclear, geothermal, wind, and solar in order to apply this deeper knowledge gained to engage in a
Socratic Seminar about the topic. The unit concludes with the students innovating a contraption to cook food and
make potable water in the event of a power outage. The unit will take place over five weeks in a sixth grade math
and science classroom. It can be adapted for upper elementary through high school aged students.
Key words: fossil fuels human impact, carbon cycle, renewable energy, clean energy, science and engineering
(Developed for Science, grade 6; recommended for Science, grades 5-12)
16.04.09 - Get Charged Up: The Past, Present and Future of Electricity
by Valerie J. Schwarz
This highly engaging curriculum unit is sure to electrify learning! The unit will begin by developing a deeper
understanding of the roles Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday, and Thomas Edison played in modernizing the world in
which we live.
Students will explore electricity through hands-on activities such as making lemon batteries, moving a ping-pong
ball with static electricity, and building a motor. They will learn about circuits, current, electromagnets, motors,
generators, and fuel cells. As the students work through the content, they will use their new knowledge to create a
Thinglink page incorporating multi-media material designed on Glogster. The culminating activity will be an Electric
Extravaganza where parents and special guests will visit the class. The students will unveil their finished product
on Thinglink and make oral presentations explaining their learning. Students will also model making motors,
circuits, and batteries. This curriculum unit is designed for Grade 4 but could easily be adapted to grades 5-8
physical science classes.
(Developed for Science/Technology, grade 4; recommended for Science, grades 4-6)
16.04.10 - The Backwards and Forwards of Photosynthesis
by Larissa A. Spreng
The curriculum unit I plan to write will allow my middle school students to discover where the energy in fossil
fuels actually comes from. Students will engage in a series of problem-based learning experiences in order to
connect several large concepts including: the chemistry of photosynthesis, the role photosynthesis played in the
evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, fossil fuel combustion, and atmospheric chemistry. By focusing on the
chemistry behind photosynthesis, middle school students will use the chemical equation for photosynthesis to learn
about reactants and products in a chemical equation, balancing chemical equations, and subscripts and coefficients.
Students will also able to discover where the energy in fossil fuels actually comes from by examining the
photosynthesis and its reverse reaction, combustion. This chemical equation will also be used to analyze the
role photosynthesis played in the evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere. Several hands-on activities will
provide middle school students the opportunity to interact with photosynthesis firsthand by modeling molecular
equations using toothpicks and gumdrops, watching photosynthesis occurring in spinach leaves, and testing how the
color of light affects plant growth using a 5E lesson. This unit could be adapted to meet the needs of upper
elementary, middle school, or even high school students.
(Developed for General Science, grade 7; recommended for General Science, grades 6-8)
Introduction by
Roger E. Howe, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
The number line is a central object in mathematics. It is seen in many primary classrooms, and at the other end
of the spectrum of mathematical activity, forms the backdrop to many advanced mathematical constructions. It is
the key link between geometry and algebra. Yet in comparison to its fundamental and central nature, it plays a
remarkably small part in the mathematics curriculum. The goal of this seminar was to consider the ideas inherent
to the number line and to think about ways in which it might play a larger role in mathematics instruction. I am
delighted that all the Fellows, who teach in grade levels 2nd grade through high school, found creative and
productive ways of using the number line in their units.
Carol Boynton plans to make a very long number line that goes to 1000, which her class will share with the whole
school. They will place three-digit numbers on it, to bring out the hierarchical nature of decimal expansions
– for example, in the number 642 = 600 + 40 + 2, the 600 tells you which of ten equal subintervals (of
length 100) between 0 and 1000 you should look, then the 40 tells you of which of ten equal subintervals (or
length 10) of the first subinterval you should look, and finally the 2 tells you at end of which of the ten unit
intervals in the length 10 interval you land. Creating the full number line to 1000 will also allow her students
to see how much larger 100 is than 10, and how very much larger again is 1000. This sense of the rapidity with
which numbers grow with the length of their base 10 representation is important, but not easy to acquire, since
the notation itself is so compact.
Kathleen Gormley and Jolene Smith will use the number line to teach fractions. It provides a valuable way to
visualize all the whole number multiples of a unit fraction 1/d, as evenly spaced points, very much like the
whole numbers themselves, except with closer spacing. It also provides a uniform way to think about addition, as
putting bars end-to-end, that puts addition of fractions and addition of whole numbers on the same geometric
footing, despite the difference in the symbolic manipulations they require. Jolene Smith’s unit also
connects the number line and fractions to Din´e culture, via the theme of blanket design.
The standard curriculum presents several methods for representing numbers. There is the standard base 10 place
value notation for whole numbers. This is later extended to represent decimal fractions by introducing the
notorious “decimal point”. In between, there is the n/d notation which uses two whole numbers to
represent a rational number as a fraction. In addition, the whole numbers are extended to integers by
introduction of the – sign. All four of the middle grades teachers had found that these disparate symbolic
representation schemes led to balkanization of their students’ thinking: each class of number as is
conceived of as unrelated to the others. In addition, they sometimes do not think of fractions as numbers, but
rather as a pair of numbers that are somehow associated. These Fellows had the insight that the number line
offered a means for showing that all the types of numbers, despite their disparate symbolic representations, are
in fact part of a common system, and all live together on the number line. Jade Lee’s unit focuses on
decimal expansions, and uses the number line to make visible the uniformity of the relationship between adjacent
places in a base 10 number, regardless of the position of the decimal point. Jeffrey Rossiter and Aaron Bingea
have created coordinated units. The first deals with placing the several types of numbers on the number line,
showing how they coordinate with each other. The second uses the length model of addition and subtraction to
develop a unified viewpoint toward the various symbolic procedures used to compute sums and differences. Coretta
Martin’s unit is conceivedin a similar spirit, with the goal of helping her algebra students achieve a
stronger and more unified conception of number.
Finally, Klint Kanopka’s unit focuses on the process of coordinatization: the preliminary choices, of
origin and unit interval, that must be made in order to turn a line into a number line. The goal here is to give
his physics students an appreciation of the coordinatization process in physics more broadly, and in particular,
to help them deal with 2 and 3 dimensional spaces, and the geometry and algebra of vectors. Taken as a whole,
the units demonstrate that there is potential for much greater use of the number line than is currently common,
and that it can serve as a unifying feature of mathematics instruction throughout the K-12 curriculum.
Roger E. Howe
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.05.01 - Adding and Subtracting Rational Numbers on the Number Line
by Aaron Robert Bingea
When students are asked to operate with unfamiliar rational numbers they cling to previously learned algorithms
without a conceptual understanding of what is actually happening with the numbers. Their insufficient grasp of
foundational number and operation concepts are major contributors to an overall intolerance and avoidance of working
on any task that contains these unfamiliar numbers. Although this issue is glaring, it is increasingly difficult to
address when the middle school curriculum assumes and requires a fundamental and flexible understanding of numbers.
This unit will boldly aim to formally and methodically address the fundamental issue of my students’ limited
number and operation sense via the use and study of the number line.
This unit is an extension and will be used in succession with Jeff Rossiter’s unit, Placing Rational
Numbers on the Number Line, which focuses on the realization and placement of rational numbers on the number
line. From this prerequisite unit, students will gain a unified understanding of what rational numbers are and how
they can be represented on the number line and then move on to adding and subtracting of rational numbers, the focus
of this unit.
(Developed for Mathematics, grades 7-8; recommended for Mathematics, grades 7-8)
16.05.02 - Using the Number Line in Second Grade
by Carol P. Boynton
For many second graders, the beginning of the year is a time for revisiting knowledge and skills learned in first
grade. The summer months away from mathematics instruction along with little opportunity for practice and
guidance sometimes means a loss of strong understanding of concepts. Addition and subtraction of numbers to
100 is a Common Core Standard for first-grade students, although many struggle with this fundamental concept even
throughout second grade. This curriculum unit is designed to increase students' understanding of the number
line as a tool to help them master two-digit addition and subtraction, improve their base-ten number sense and
increase their fluency in mathematical operations.
(Developed for Mathematics, grade 2; recommended for Mathematics, grade 3)
16.05.03 - Moving from Rods to Number Lines to Understand Fractions
by Kathleen Geri Gormley
The Common Core standard states students should be able to understand a fraction as a number on the number line;
represent fractions on a number line diagram. My intent for this unit is to shepherd fractions from an area model to
the number line as I begin to explain and represent fractions as a distance or measurement. Student over generalize
and pigeon hole their understanding of a fraction as a piece of something or a combination of two whole numbers
instead of understanding that a fraction is a number in and of itself.
In order to gain a thorough understanding of mathematical ideas, students need to be able to make connections and
integrate their learning of concepts in a variety of ways. Through the use of manipulatives, students can connect
ideas to gain a deeper understanding. Student’s achievement grows when they have access to manipulatives and
are explicitly taught how these manipulatives can assist their learning. This unit will be infused developing number
sense through the use of base ten blocks. These tools are an excellent way to bring students from whole number
understanding to the understanding of fractions.
(Developed for Mathematics, grade 3; recommended for Mathematics, grades 2-5)
16.05.04 - Beyond the Number Line: Coordinate Systems and Vector Arithmetic
by Klint Kanopka
Physics takes place in three-dimensional space where many fundamental quantities are represented by vectors, but
instead of teaching “new math,” how can the treatment of vectors be best linked to concepts already
present in a student’s math background? One connection for students lives in the revitalization of the long
abandoned number line. Students have not dealt with them in years, but the tidy row of numbers that was pasted high
on the wall in every elementary classroom forms the very foundation of a one-dimensional coordinate system.
Constructing coordinate systems from nothing and then making measurements within them are the processes that allow
the quantification of observations, an essential tool for any student of physics. I want my students to realize that
arithmetic operations change things and understanding physics is understanding of stretches, sides and
spins applied to objects in our world. Because of this, we will use transformations to interpret vector
mathematics and, by extension, introductory physics. This is designed to be the second unit for my 11th grade
General Physics and AP Physics 1 classes in a school where physics is the required science course for all juniors.
(Developed for AP Physics I and Physics, grade 11)
16.05.05 - Decimal Expansion: An Address System for All Numbers
by Jung Min Lee
The goal of this unit is for middle school students to acknowledge the number line as a measuring device rather
than a counting tool. As the number line shows the relationship of number placements in different base-ten
scales, students can demonstrate that every rational number has its place on the number lines by doing decimal
expansions. During the course of studying decimal expansions, students will see that the set of real numbers
with terminating or repeating decimal expansions precisely finds their address on the number line. Decimals
should not be treated as an isolated mathematical concept, but identified as a precise system to locate a number on
the number line with its unique address. The metric system will be implemented as an extension of base-ten
scales and students will be able to use the number lines with millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, and meter markings
to measure line segments to the nearest tenth of a centimeter, a tenth of a decimeter, and a tenth of a meter.
Presenting the metric system in scientific notations and relating it to the number line in a multiplication of tens;
1000, 100, 10, and 1 or 1, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 will be used as a form of formative assessment of the unit study.
(Developed for General Math, grade 8; recommended for General Math, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra, grades 7-9)
16.05.06 - The Starting Line-Up: Analyzing the Number Line to Conceptualize Foundational Skills for Algebra
by Coretta Martin
This unit uses the number line to re-teach basic mathematics skills to deepen students’ conceptual
understanding of number conceptualization, fractions, and the addition and subtraction operations. The unit is
intended to be a pre-cursor to Algebra I. Many concepts in Algebra I are connected to linear equations and
models. Using a linear model to re-teach foundational skills will allow students to answer higher-level
questions and explain their thinking.
The skills reinforced are all related to Common Core State Standards across all grade levels. These
foundational skills are reoccurring throughout the “Creating Equations” and “Reasoning with
Equations and Inequalities” standards. As teachers plan individual lessons and classroom activities, it
will be important to ensure that students are being exposed to all of the Mathematical Practice Standards as well.
In this unit, a variety of teaching strategies will be employed such as the use of manipulatives and technology to
gain a comprehension of the operations on the number line. The unit will also require a focus on active
learning through intentional math discussions in the classroom, employing the use of Socratic Seminars. I
believe that if this unit is used as an introductory unit, student will be able to connect their prior knowledge of
these skills through the study of the number line and will build a solid conceptual foundation for their continued
success throughout the school year.
(Developed for Pre-Honors Algebra, grade 8; recommended for Mathematics Intervention, grades 6-8)
16.05.07 - Rational Number Placement on the Number Line
by Jeffrey Rossiter
The students whom I’ve been teaching have always seen the various ways of writing numbers symbolically
– fractions, decimals, and integers - as siloed representations of quantities with no relation between them.
My unit uses Number Talks and other discussion based techniques to remedy this problem. The number line is the
primary focus and is used to show that the various symbolic schemes are just ways of naming numbers. This unit is
remedial in nature and can be taught as intervention as well. But because of its position at the
7th/8th grade level where students are deepening their fluency of number sense topics, this
unit will set up students to be successful mathematical problems solvers in the future. This unit is intended to be
taught first, with Aaron Bingea’s unit titled: Adding and Subtracting Rational Numbers on the Number
Line taught second. While my unit focuses on the foundational skill of placing various classes of
numbers on the number line, Aaron’s unit will deal with the operations of addition and subtraction.
(Developed for Mathematics, grade 7-8; recommended for Mathematics, 6-8)
16.05.08 - Diyogi (Navajo Rug) and the Number Line
by Jolene Rose Smith
The fraction and number concept are common difficulties students’ have to learn and understand when solving
fraction problems. Using hands on manipulative to help in learning the fraction concept will benefit students
learning the fraction model. The manipulative; the Navajo loom and rug concept are ideal examples I will use when
teaching fractions components and the number line. When analyzing a loom, measurements of fraction are used as the
loom is in the process of designing. As the weaving begins, I model and inform my students of the type of patterns
we will use to create the patterns while using fraction. My students begin to see they are using measurement of
fractions.
The unit will cover math concepts of fraction and how to create and use fractions on a number line. I will
introduce my unit on chart papers explaining the all the components of fractions. This unit will help students in
enduring the understand fractions while weaving a Navajo rug. The math skills of number line and fraction will
incorporate the Dine culture and language (the loom and the Navajo rug). The activities of the loom and rug are
ideal learning tools for students, parents, and educators who want their students to be engage in learning the
number line and fractions while learning about the Diné’s culture of weaving Navajo rugs.
(Developed for Diyogi and the Number Line, grade 5; recommended for Mathematics, 4-5)
Introduction by
Paul E. Turner, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Earth is a dynamic planet, where change is perhaps the only constant in its roughly 4.5 billion-year history.
This constant flux is seen in natural climate and environmental changes, as well as human activities that
radically alter Earth’s ecosystems. Life on Earth is also in constant flux, and evolution is the process
by which organisms genetically change to keep pace with these ongoing challenges. The confusion (and
controversy) over evolution concerns the study of species relatedness in the deep past, particularly the shared
ancestry of humans and the rest of Earth’s teeming biodiversity. But it is vital to understand that
evolution is an active and continual process, which affects all current-day species including humans. Many
examples come from human medicine, such as the global problem of evolved drug-resistance in bacteria, and the
recognition that cancer spread in the body is essentially an evolutionary process. The mass production of food
has clear societal benefits, but modern agriculture uses genetically similar organisms that are vulnerable to
pathogens and pests that evolve to exploit them, causing huge economic losses. The understanding of evolution
has transformed a wide variety of fields, ranging from forensics to linguistics, and conservation biology to
software design. Also, technological innovation relies on evolution thinking, such as engineering design
principles of airplanes, submarines and other machinery that mimic evolved forms in nature. Evolution especially
impacts biotechnology, such as using directed evolution to manufacture algal biofuels and other alternative
energy sources, and informing synthetic biology approaches to construct novel biological parts, devices and
systems.
The seminar “Making Sense of Evolution” explored the fascinating importance of evolutionary biology
in our dynamic world, and was designed to appeal to biology/science teachers at all grade levels. The
overarching goal was to empower teachers in their knowledge of the often-confusing topic of evolutionary
biology, with the expectation that this understanding would enrich the classroom experiences of their students.
The resulting units were diverse, reflecting the varied interests and backgrounds of the Fellows. Jennifer
Claudio develops a unit for high school students concerning the evolution of species diversity in insects and
other arthropods, emphasizing how the differing feeding habits and other unique adaptations of these
“silent witnesses” help forensic scientists pinpoint details such as time of death in crime scene
investigations. The focus of Akemi Hamai’s unit for eighth graders is on the bioethics of genetic
engineering, and weighs the benefits of our ability to harness naturally evolved mechanisms such as CRISPRs to
genetically alter organisms, eradicate mosquitoes and design babies versus the costs of using such technology
that may accidentally alter biological systems in unexpected and uncontrollable ways. David Ostheimer’s
unit for first and second graders helps young learners understand how natural selection shapes animal traits
across generations over very long periods of time, using the transition from dinosaurs to birds as a prime
example and explaining why ‘evolution’ during the individual lifetimes of familiar Pokemon
characters cannot really occur. Amanda Snow’s unit combines instruction on geology and evolution to
help middle school students understand Earth’s geological history through an evolutionary lens,
emphasizing the fossil record and adaptations that allow organisms to thrive in the face of historical shifts in
the planet’s climate. Thomas Teague’s unit for middle school students concerns transitional forms
(‘missing links’) and the clear evidence for evolutionary change over time in familiar groups of
organisms, such as the well-documented fossil transition from land-dwelling to ocean-dwelling traits during the
evolution of whales. Vanessa Vitug’s unit is designed for high school students and concerns the ability
for evolution to inform our understanding of human physiology and disease (‘evolutionary medicine’),
particularly how the unique evolution of the human brain may cause its greater vulnerability to diseases such as
Alzheimer’s and illnesses caused by prions (infectious proteins).
Paul E. Turner
Synopsis of the Curriculum Units
16.06.01 - Silent Witnesses: Hexapod Helpers in Crime Scene Investigation
by Jennifer Claudio
Prime time television shows glamorize crime scene investigation, hence increasing the popularity of high school
forensic science course offerings. Forensic science offers exciting opportunities to practice applied sciences in
ways that contribute to meaningful learning. Moreover, the emphasis on the study of insects within this curricular
unit enhances the forensic science curriculum by filling in gaps in the learning and teaching of evolution.
Insects provide evidence regarding time of death, and they even sometimes are victims of poaching.
Whether students calculate the life cycle of a blowfly or compare the natural variation of other insect species, the
role of insects in forensic science depends entirely on their speciosity – the richness and broadness of their
species – which is attributed to the mechanisms of evolution that have driven their adaptations. Insects work
dutifully as silent witnesses, and forensic entomologists must provide a voice for them in the court of law.
Knowledge of insect species – originating from understanding concepts in evolution – is thus essential
to these specialists and for our students. This lesson was designed for a high school forensic science course,
however it is suitable for most high school biology courses. Its concepts can also be adapted for younger students.
(Developed for Forensic Science and Advanced Science Research, grades 10-12; recommended for Biology, grades 9-12)
16.06.02 - Genetic Engineering and the Potential Effects on Evolution
by Akemi Hamai
Imagine a world without disease; no cancer, no zika virus, no malaria parasite. Just a decade ago, there was not a
way to effectively eradicate these and other harmful diseases from the human population, until recently when some
new technologies were developed. These same advances can be applied to agriculture to help crops grow in drought
plagued areas and to enrich food to make it more nutritious. Now there are new technologies called CRISPR-Cas9 and
gene-drive that are so powerful that they can potentially force a species into extinction and may allow parents to
choose their children’s genes. There are many ethical questions about using this new technology and we as a
society must decide if the risks are worth the rewards and how it will affect evolution on this planet. Students in
this unit will explore the ethical considerations of GMOs, “designer babies” and genetically engineering
mosquitoes though readings, a Socratic Seminar and an argumentative paper. This unit is geared towards
8th grade students and can be adapted for high school. This unit aligns with the NGSS and Common Core
standards.
(Developed for Science, grade 8; recommended for Life Science/Biology, grades 9-12)
16.06.03 - Gotta Evolve ‘Em All! Evolutionary Ideas for 1st Graders
by David Ostheimer
This is a unit for 1st and 2nd grade classrooms and will address the Next Generation Science
Standards 1-LS3-1 Heredity, 2-LS4-1 Biological Evolution, and the Common Core State Standards for Speaking and
Listening and Writing. The goal is for students to be introduced to the idea that evolution does not happen within
an individual, but must happen across generations for a population or species to become better adapted to its
environment. Similarly, adaptations do not spring forth all at once unlike for popular characters such as Spiderman;
rather, it takes many generations of evolution for major changes in the traits of a species to occur. To do this we
will discuss natural selection and how this process contributes to evolution. We will discuss how Pokémon
“evolve”. We will then discuss how birds evolved from dinosaurs. We will revisit Pokémon and
discuss how they do not really evolve, in the true sense of a population evolving by natural selection. Our
activities will include adapting Mr. Potato Head to survive in new environments and piecing together the
transitional forms from dinosaur to bird. For our culminating activity, students will choose a Pokémon (or
other organism), design adaptations that their creatures will evolve, and will identify why those adaptations were
key to the survival of the species. Students will also provide transitional forms to show how their creature changed
over time.
(Developed for Science, grade 1; recommended for Science, grades 1-2)
16.06.04 - Understanding Earth's History and Geologic Time through Evolution
by Amanda Snow
Although we can imagine the Grand Canyon being carved by the Colorado River over millennia, it can be difficult for
adults and students to picture and understand the considerable changes not only in geology but in the life forms
that have existed. In schools it is not common to teach the concepts of geologic time and evolution in tandem. Prior
to this unit, students should have studied basic geologic processes and laws, such as sedimentation and the law of
superposition. This unit aims at helping middle school students better understand Earth’s history, events, and
environments through the lens of evolution. Topics in this unit include the geologic time scale, fossil formation,
fossils and evolution, mechanisms of evolution, evolution and the environment, and a glance at an example organism,
the woolly mammoth. Students will bring geology and evolution together through the construction of explanatory
models, hands-on activities, fossil analysis, argumentation with evidence, and scientific literacy.
(Developed for Earth and Space Science, grade 8; recommended for Earth Science, grades 6-8)
16.06.05 - Transitional Forms: The Evidence for Evolution by Natural Selection
by Thomas L. Teague
(Developed for Science, grades 7-8; recommended for Junior High Science, grades 7-8)
16.06.06 - The Ever Evolving Brain and Neurodegenerative Disease
by Vanessa Vitug
The human brain is perhaps the last unchartered frontier of the human body. Understanding the story of human brain
evolution provides a foundation for understanding human intelligence, and even the development of disease. Through
this curriculum designed for 11th and 12th grade Physiology, students are introduced to the
basics of neuroanatomy, functional areas of the brain, and evolution.
Evolution is traditionally taught in 9th grade Biology. This curriculum unit extends students’
understanding of Charles Darwin’s descent with modification by focusing just on the brain. When questioned
what makes the human brain so unique among all other species, students will be able to cite evidence from the
comparative anatomy of brain volumes, gyrification (brain folding), and genetics. A further extension of this unit
will explore the relationship between evolution and medicine by considering two protein-folding diseases.
As a culminating Next Generation Science Standard project, students will utilize readings, internet research, and
supplemental texts to model brain evolution, disease evolution, and brain disease. Students will showcase their
brain evolution understanding through the creation of models for their Health Forum Series showcasing current health
topics to their peers.
Keywords: brain evolution, disease evolution, Alzheimer’s disease, prion disease
(Developed for Anatomy and Physiology, grades 11-12; recommended for Health Science, grades 9-12, and Biology,
grade 9)
