Rationale
Common Core Standards require the children to analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text as a part of demonstrating reading comprehension. As I designed this unit I thought about ways that I could have the children move beyond identifying characters as good or bad, nice or mean, sad or funny and into a deeper analysis. I knew I wanted my children to delve below the surface of the text and illustrations and try to experience a look through the eyes of the characters to figure out motivations. I wondered if what we needed to do was empathize to understand a character deeply. It seemed to me that what I should be aspiring to do is develop the children's empathy. Can six and seven year old children empathize? Will empathy lead to better comprehension of a character in text? Was empathizing with a duck too broad a reach for children in the concrete-operational stage? When do children learn to empathize? How do children learn to empathize? Is empathy the missing piece that will complete the textual puzzle that reveals a character? Surely empathy is a necessary life skill; is it also a necessary reading skill?
As I reflected on the character analysis lesson described above I thought about my book choice and wondered if I made the right choice for the children to exercise their character analysis capabilities. Duck on a Bike is a fictional picture book. The main character is a duck that uses words to communicate with other farm animals and handles a bike without training wheels. This is not your typical duck! Perhaps the children were caught up in the fantasy or the humor of the story and therefore were discounting Duck's words and actions as meaningful because real ducks do not speak to us and convey their feelings with words. If fictional stories with animal characters such as Duck presented a challenge for my children to understand I would have to look to a different kind of literary genre for help.
The questions that guided my thinking were: Who are you? Who am I? I looked for an answer to the questions I had raised to ensure that I could prepare a unit of instruction that would enable my students to analyze a character with depth while keeping their engagement level high. Through my participation in the Yale National Initiative seminars I was afforded the opportunity to advance my mission. In the seminar "The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation," we have explored the ways in which we perceive characters in literature and the connection to the ways we see ourselves and others. Our readings and discussions led us to compile a "toolbox" of the tools we use to make inferences about characters in narrative fiction. I wanted to devise a way to apply those tools to reading about real people who were significant forces of positive social behavior in our world. These people would then be the role models and mentors for empathizing to understand each other in the classroom.
First I looked toward finding a particular genre of literature in which to anchor a unit of study. Even though we marinate our small children in fairy tales and fantasy in the early grades, concrete examples often work best with first-grade students. My students gobble up the informational books in our library, eager to learn more about the animals and activities that interest them. Since informational books are high interest for many first-grade children and the genre of biography conveys information about people who are or were real living beings, I decided to use biography to help my children identify character traits, analyze, and empathize with a person.
Why use the genre of biography for character analysis? Biography:
- is focused on a person;
- tells the story of a real person who has helped change the world;
- is informational to read;
- includes opportunities for making inferences;
- has a definite historical setting or time period that has helped to shape the biographical figure;
- describes events that have shaped the biographical figure;
- describes a biographical figure's change over time.
Other resources can be brought into the unit of instruction through photographs, film clips, and various audio/visual materials that will help to connect the student to the biographical figure. Hearing a voice or seeing the physical actions of a person can add a dimension to the children's understandings that text alone cannot. Using biography, the children can learn about a person in an historical context and find a wealth of information beyond the text to identify the character traits and construct an analysis of character beyond the realm of "good" or "bad."
In seminar we discussed ways we make inferences about characters in fictional texts and added them to the character "toolbox." The inference tools from the toolbox that the children will explore as a means to analyze a historical figure in my unit are:
- setting and environment – how the time period and physical place affect the individual
- names – the significance of a nickname as a clue to how an individual is perceived
- behavior – the manner in which an individual reacts in different situations
- physical actions – how an action can express an individual's thinking or feeling
- physical features – how the physical traits of an individual such as gender affect our perception of an individual
- facial expressions – the perceived emotions conveyed by the facial muscles
- point of view – the possibility that the perspective of the narrator shapes our perception of the subject of a biography
Many of these tools are the same as those we use to see ourselves and each other. Through the lens of our own experiences we also observe body language, postures, gestures, and vocal inflections to make judgments about ourselves and others in the context of our environment. These are tools that can be used to build empathy.
In our seminars we discussed empathy and its connection to understanding characters in novels. The narrative in a novel is told from a certain perspective having a narrative voice. This voice or perspective becomes a type of lens we use to understand a character. Biography is written from a perspective or told through the lens of the biographer. Will the lens help or hinder our ability to emphasize with the subject of the biography? Is empathy simply perspective-taking?
Empathy
What is empathy and when does it develop? There are many different definitions of empathy used in various contexts. For the purpose of developing this unit I have chosen a definition that separates empathy into two components. One of the two components is role taking: understanding another's feelings and thoughts, thereby perceiving the world through their eyes. The second component of empathy is the sharing of emotions: being able to feel the emotion another is experiencing. 1 Therefore to become empathic a child must first be able to recognize and identify an emotion that he or she is seeing through the visual and verbal cues of an individual. Visual cues might include facial expressions, gestures, and physical actions. Then the child must interpret these cues in an attempt to understand the thinking behind the development of the emotion, and be able to experience that emotion. Empathy development begins in infancy as infants see empathic behavior modeled by their caregivers and is most effectively developed during childhood rather than later in adulthood. 2 Therefore first grade is an optimal time period for children to learn how to empathize.
Link Between Empathy and Readership
Can developing a child's empathy help him or her to become a better reader? Studies link empathy to academic achievement. Empathy has been shown to increase reading and spelling performance for girls in the primary grades and to improve grade point averages with high school students. Whole schools that focus on creating caring-communities have outperformed schools without a caring-communities focus in the area of reading comprehension. 3 By placing an emphasis on developing empathy as an important reading strategy we link reading instruction with the development of necessary social skills not included in our state standards.
Empathy is a conduit to connecting to text. Connecting oneself to text is part of one of seven reading comprehension strategies used by proficient readers. 4 Empathy can play an important part in reading comprehension because it allows a child to experience a character on an emotional level as well as an intellectual level. 5 When a child reads about a character set in a time of great turmoil, the child can reach into her emotional experiences to a time of turmoil within her own life and apply her thoughts and feelings to the character. This leads to a deeper understanding of the character's emotions. A reader can place him or herself into the context of the story through that emotional link. Reading about a historical figure gives the child an opportunity to learn information about a person and the events of the period of time in which that individual was living. Through reading biography the children are exposed to history and are making connections to themselves and the world.
Four Historical Figures
People throughout history have demonstrated instances of being empathic through their actions and affiliations. I have chosen to focus the unit on four historical figures who have demonstrated empathic behavior and made significant contributions to the world. An analysis of the characters of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Amelia Earhart, John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), and Pocahontas will reveal several common traits. Each person in his or her own way advocated for peace, worked to help others, and was courageous. Each of the four people lived in a time period of historical significance to our nation. These four historical figures represent a variety of gender and race. I also chose these four people for their accessibility. There are many resources available to learn about their lives. Each person has a number of biographies written about him or her in various readabilities for children. There are visual representations available to supplement the texts in the forms of film, audio, drawings, photographs, statues, and other artifacts. After reading selections of the biographies and viewing the materials listed in the student resources appendix, the children will be able to gather the following information to make inferences about the character of the people listed below.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in 1929 and died in 1968. The time period of his life is historically significant because of the changes brought about by the civil rights movement. It was a time of great turmoil and violence in which Martin Luther King Jr. was a model for peace. He advocated for peaceful demonstrations to change the injustices in society. Dr. King organized the successful bus boycott in Alabama after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus for a white man. He led the March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech in which he stated that people should be judged by the "content of their character." He was a man who demonstrated peace through his actions and was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1964. 6
Through his affiliations and actions Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., demonstrated his empathy for others. He was a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama, ministering to the needs of his congregation. 7 He was a leader in the civil rights movement who gave generously of his time to bring about a change in society to end segregation. He recognized the need for peace and equality and devoted much of his life to working to bring them to fruition.
Courageousness was demonstrated through Dr. King's organization and leadership of boycotts, marches, and demonstrations. When threatened with physical violence he showed his courageousness by not responding with violence and not giving up his quest for change. He courageously and skillfully delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to a large crowd of people when he led the March on Washington in 1963. 8 The effects of Dr. King's words and actions have played an integral part in shaping our country.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 and disappeared in 1937. This time period is historically significant because of some of the changes that mark this time. World War I was ending when Amelia was young. Women gained the right to vote during her lifetime with the passage of the 19 th amendment to the constitution. Amelia Earhart personifies this idea of change because of the role she played in changing the limits of plane travel and the perception of a woman's abilities.
As the children read biographies about Amelia Earhart they will read about Amelia's young life caring for wounded soldiers as a nurse's aide and how she worked as a social worker in Boston. She spoke out against war publicly. Amelia was an advocate for peace and women's rights.
Amelia demonstrated courage throughout her life. She flew planes on long journeys when plane travel was rare and considered unsafe. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone in 1932. She was the first person to fly from Hawaii to California three years later. Through her courageous actions Amelia Earhart made a valuable contribution to the way society views the role of women.
John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)
John Chapman was born in 1774 and died in the 1840s. This time period is significant because the nation was forming and expanding. John Chapman embodies this idea of expansion because of his movement west. He was born in Massachusetts and later traveled west to Indiana, spending much of his life traveling back and forth through this route.
John Chapman lived a peaceful life. He traveled by foot planting seeds, reading the bible, and telling stories to the settlers he would encounter. He cared little about money and was described as friendly to both people and animals. He ate only vegetables because he did not want to harm any living thing. He shared his stories of his travels and his good nature willingly with strangers. 9
When settlers' animals became ill John Chapman would help tend them. He was considered a medicine man. John knew how to make medicines from plants and shared them with the settlers. He also helped the settlers by planting apple trees so that they would have food. He taught the settlers how to care for their plants so that they would bear fruit and provide nourishment.
John Chapman was courageous. He traveled long distances alone, on foot through wooded areas. He slept outside on the ground as he traveled without fearing animal attacks. John wore old clothes, a pot on his head as a hat, and carried around a bag of apple seeds, unconcerned with what others thought about his appearance. He changed the world and the effects of that change can still be seen because the apple trees he planted have propagated and still exist.
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was born in 1595 and died in 1617. Her lifetime is historically significant because during this time the British successfully established a settlement in our country. Pocahontas embodies this time period through her acceptance of the unfamiliar. The natives of America were unfamiliar with the British colonists, the colonists were unfamiliar with the ways of the natives, and Pocahontas brought them together.
Pocahontas promoted peace between her people and the British. She warned the colonists when her father's tribe planned to attack them. She made a plea to spare the life of Captain John Smith when it was thought that the Powhatans would harm him. When she was taken to England at age eighteen, she lived peacefully among the British, adopting their customs. 1 0
Pocahontas demonstrated her courage through her choices. She befriended the British when they appeared near her home despite their different appearances and customs. She traveled to England and participated in English society. She married an Englishman and adopted his way of life. She took risks and demonstrated how to accept the differences in others.
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