Anticipatory Set
To launch the theme of the sophomore year, students will be asked to define individuality and society and then evaluate the importance of each one singly and as they coexist. This can be done on the board, on an overhead transparency, or on chart paper. A visual record of the opening discussion will serve as a reminder of the direction the class is heading.
It is likely that students will extol the value of individuality; it may be more difficult to get them to own up to their own conformity to one another when it comes to clothing, hair, and music styles. From the recognition of these elements, the discussion should shift to the meanings of them; how important it is to attain a degree of individuality, how crucial it is to have a sense of community.
To begin, post "The Individual and Society" on the board. The first step is to get the students to define these terms. They may offer many suggestions for defining the terms and the teacher can add the following: the individual is the single person; one who has awareness of his/her unique separateness from others. This is the person's identity. Babies develop through processes that slowly allow them to realize that their arms and legs belong to them and that they can control them. They learn about object permanence and that things and people outside their field of vision or hearing still exist. Forging an identity is crucial to the growth of each human being.
But very few people live in a vacuum. Stop here to ask if people always live in a society with others. Then add any of the following information to what your students bring up. There are stories of hermits and the occasional "wild child" but nearly everyone on earth lives within a society with others and learning how to fit comfortably within that society is key. Refer back to the topic of The Individual and Society and list the three key elements: Identity, Fidelity, and Conformity under the heading. Tell the students that they will be reading three stories in this unit and that each one will address one of those elements. Then entice them with the promise of three films that will echo the themes of each of the stories.
A segue from the theme of the year to the study of the first three stories that make up Unit 1 in the Pittsburgh Public Schools tenth grade English curriculum can be accomplished through further questioning. Choices might include: "How is your life different from that of a teenager in Iceland or Switzerland?" or "How is your life different from teenagers who lived fifty years ago, or from those who might live in the future?" Many of my students have traveled but many have not. In the past year I have had students from China, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in my classes. In contrast, many of my students have not traveled beyond Pittsburgh. Comparing their teen years to those of their grandparents will also provide a contrast to the customs, styles, and trends between then and now. Probing into the future, speculation about how teenagers' lives might differ in decades to come will be glimpsed in the first of the stories and will be echoed in a selection of the films.
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