Overview of Unit
Just after Hurricane Katrina, our school began collecting canned foods to send to New Orleans. As I discussed the project with the class, one of my students, Alayna, jumped out of her seat and shouted, "I ain't bringing no cans for them people!" Immediately, I questioned her refusal to help and she replied, "I don't know those people. They ain't gonna help me none." My encounter with Alayna is just one of the many examples of student apathy I have experienced. Although I am not much older than my freshmen students, our ideas regarding human compassion are vastly different. For this reason, I intend to introduce them to the atrocities faced by children during war. My hope is that as we study the experiences of children trapped in adult wars, my students will connect with the characters in the readings and in turn develop empathy for humans outside of their immediate realm. A secondary motive for teaching this unit is to improve reading comprehension and critical thinking skills through the analysis of fiction and nonfiction texts, artwork, and film.
It is important to note that Ed White High School is located on the Westside of Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is the largest city (land mass) in the United States. In spite of this, it is not divided into separate townships, with the result that students from various socio-economic classes attend the same school. However, the diversity of the Westside is a fairly new development. At one time, the Westside consisted mostly of middle-class residents. Due to such factors as the closure of a major naval base, Cecil Field, and the construction of two income-restricted housing developments, the Westside has evolved into a mixture of rural middle-class homeowners and lower middle-class families who do not see the importance of an education. Typically, students who come from lower income families lack opportunity and inducement to learn about the world around them. They are overwrought with worry regarding issues such as making it to school, taking care of younger siblings, and meeting financial needs. The last thing on their mind is the struggles that other children endure. My unit motivates students with these backgrounds to learn about how wars outside of the United States impact them. After all, it is important to be aware of the struggles in the world regardless of one's socio-economic status.
This unit is designed to meet the needs of a ninth grade standard Language Arts class. However, it can be modified to be used in all high school Language Arts classes by increasing the difficulty of classroom texts, focusing the class discussions on more abstract ideas, and increasing the difficulty of the assignments. It can even be adapted to a Social Studies curriculum by focusing more on the historical context surrounding the unit.
To understand the make-up of the unit, one must first know the logistics of my class. The workshop model is a current trend in education and though it may be just another educational fad, I find that it works with my students. The 90-minute block is broken up into four segments:
- Independent Reading
- Read Aloud/Think Aloud & Class Discussion
- Work Period
- Closing
Each segment of class is devoted to a continuous unit of study for a period of nine weeks. During Independent Reading, students read a piece of young adult literature of their choice that focuses on the theme of war. Throughout these initial twenty minutes, I circulate around the room and make informal observations about their progress comprehending the text. Sections of the two books chosen for this unit are then read aloud and discussed during the read aloud portion of class. The majority of the time in class is dedicated to the work period during which the students complete assignments that assess their understanding of the strategies taught or of comprehension of the text. Some of the activities from this unit include literary letters, journals, artwork, essay writing, compare/contrast charts, etc. In the last five minutes of class, we review the concepts that we have learned and I give the students a glimpse of the next day's lesson.
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