Objectives
Reading is Powerful and Important
This curricular unit is designed to utilize accessible, engaging, culturally relevant literature in order to promote effective, close reading in students in the latter half of their high school career. Students should come away with an understanding that writing and reading and literature are important modes of human communication and record, that they can help us to understand what it means to be human, and foster and reinforce enjoyment of the journey of life through incorporating the experiences, thoughts, and philosophies of those who have come before us.
I am Powerful and Important, and Literature Can Help Me Discover or Reinforce That Fact
With this in-depth study of identity, students should be able to take what they glean from the themes and messages and lessons of this curricular unit and apply them to the writing of their college essay, and indeed to the college process. There is much self-exploration in deciding on a post-secondary path. Writing a college essay is a requirement at my school and at many schools these days. Even for students who do not plan to attend college immediately after high school, it can be a powerful exercise in self-discovery and actualization, and it is therefore an important essay to write. Through reading about the struggles and triumphs and journeys of others, students, I hope, will be to be able to find healthy and effective discovery in this process.
There are Other Humans on This Planet and They, Like Me, Are Important
Hopefully through study of identity, we can find empathy. The lessons of this unit are meant also to foster in students the regard for their impact on the world – from everyday interactions with people to their eventual place in society. It is tough for teenagers to strike a balance between what they are learning about themselves and others. Too many do not realize how reading and learning can actually help them find that balance! Through these engaging texts and much coinciding discussion on how we fit into the world, students will hopefully come to realizations and conclusions about their existences with regard to the existences of others.
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