Strategies
The purpose of this unit is to move my students beyond the lower level types of questioning that they might encounter in their grade level anthologies. Rather than relying on literal and shallow responses, I want them to analyze characters and behavior from a variety of texts, consider cause and effect, hypothesize, and make predictions. Activities will be intentionally open ended, requiring reflection and clear communication of their ideas.
One way that I plan to do this is by assigning a project that will be introduced at the beginning of the unit. After an introduction and discussion about the nonverbal ways that we communicate, students will keep a record of their observations about the nonverbal communication that they may encounter in their everyday lives. They may choose to create this log in written or artistic form, using photographs, drawings, or video. Entries will be accompanied with a reflection that includes the character, situation and the student's perceptions about the event.
Character Journals will be used in the novel study. Students will assume the role of a main character and write entries from the first person perspective after each chapter, focusing on at least one event. This allows for students to think more deeply about the literature, reflect on the events in the story and make personal connections to the character. This will provide the opportunity to integrate technology as well, as students will create their entries on the computer. Using the technology will encourage personal expression (available software includes Inspiration and clipart) and will facilitate sharing amongst the group.
A Socratic Seminar is included for students to respond to the assigned poem "Mother to Son". I like to use this strategy because it helps students gain a deeper understanding of complex ideas in a text through dialogue with each other. It fosters clear communication, requires mutual respect of all participants, and encourages flexible thinking. It really encourages students to use metacognition as they respond to, visualize, relate the text to personal experiences, and hopefully identify with the speaker. In addition, given the smaller class size, it gives everyone the opportunity to share their viewpoints, in an accepting, nonjudgmental atmosphere. Several performance versions of this poem are available on YouTube. Showing a dramatization allows students the opportunity to hear the difference that a reader's voice can make in the interpretation of a given text. This activity can lead to further activities that incorporate voice and drama, as students may choose this or other poetry to perform. These could be videotaped and shared with other groups of students, either within or outside their own school. A "coffee house" activity would be a wonderful way for students to share this learning experience, since the performance is a demonstration of their connection with the character in the literature.
The culminating activity will be called "Walk in These Shoes". This activity will require students to pull together all the prior learning from this unit and to demonstrate the development of a multi-dimensional capacity, both for identity formulation and for empathy. It incorporates imagination, writing, and making a strong connection with a fictional character, based on a concrete object: shoes. Students will choose a pair of shoes from a large collection: flip flops, work boots, children's shoes, high heels, sneakers, athletic shoes, etc. Their challenge will be to write "A Day in the Life" in the voice of the person who belongs to the shoes. Several opportunities to share and discuss their work with partners will be provided during the writing process. Further extensions of this activity might include allowing students to illustrate or dress up as their character, thereby demonstrating their vision of him/her. Photos will be taken of the student in the shoes (if possible) to go with their writing for display.
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