Where I am From...A Journey of Self Discovery - A Unit Plan

Creating a writing keepsake, while discovering our heritage...
With a focus on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and the effect of the Depression on Clay County, NC.

Clay Ccunty Courthouse photo

This unit is a semester long unit appropriate for 8th and 9th grade communications skills, language arts, social studies, and English classes.  It will be implemented this semester in a 9th grade communications skills class.  It integrates communications skills, character education, literature, writing, social studies, and technology skills.

This unit will provide students with the opportunity for self discovery and reflection, while reading Harper Lee's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, and will also provide students with hands-on instruction in technology.  Students will create a writing portfolio which focuses on their history and family heritage, create a class magazine using digital images, and create a PowerPoint presentation which focuses on similarities and differences of the Alabama setting during the Depression in To Kill A Mockingbird and Clay County during the 1930's.  The primary purpose of this unit is to enable students to make connections with their past and the past of their parents and grandparents, while preparing them for their future in the 21st century.

Unit Objectives

Students in English I explore the ways that audience, purpose, and context shape oral communication, written communication, and media and technology. While emphasis is placed on communicating for purposes of personal expression, students also engage in meaningful communication for expressive, expository, argumentative, and literary purposes.

In English I, students will:

  • Express reflections and reactions to literature and to personal experience.
  • Explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions.
  • Evaluate communication and critique texts.
  • Make and support an informed opinion.
  • Participate in conversations about and written analysis of literary genres, elements, and traditions.
  • Use knowledge of language and standard grammatical conventions.

Objectives

Refer to DPI Standard Course of Study http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/

Unit Objective - Social Studies Competency Goal #8 - The learner will appraise the economic, social and political changes of the decade of the 1930's.

  • 8.1 Elaborate on the cycle of economic boom and bust in the 'twenties and thirties' and analyze the extent of prosperity for different segments of society.
  • 8.2 Make inferences about social, intellectual, and technological change based on an analysis of lifestyles of the period.
  • 8.3 Describe challenges to tradition in religion, race, gender during the period.
  • 8.4 Assess the impact of New Deal reforms in enlarging the role of the federal government in American life.

Unit Objective for Computer Literacy Competency Goal #2-The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer technologies.

  • 2.1 Practice and refine knowledge and skills in keyboarding/word processing/desktop publishing, spreadsheets, databases, multimedia, and telecommunication in preparing classroom assignments and projects.
  • 2.2 Select and use appropriate technology tools to efficiently collect, analyze, and display data.

Unit Objective for Computer Literacy Competency Goal #3 - The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.

  • 3.1 Select and use appropriate technology tools to efficiently collect, analyze, and display data.
  • 3.2 Use databases to collect, analyze, and display data.
  • 3.3 Use electronic resources for research
  • 3.4 Select and use technological tools for class assignments, projects and presentations.
  • 3.5 Adhere to Fair Use and Multimedia, Copyright Guidelines, citing sources of copyrighted materials, papers, projects, and multimedia presentation.

Unit Objective - English Competency Goal #1 - The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non print text and personal experiences.

  • 1.01 Narrate personal experiences that offer an audience.
  • 1.02 Respond reflectively (individually and in groups) a variety of expressive texts (e.g., memoirs, vignettes, narratives, diaries, monologues, personal responses).

Unit Objective - English Competency Goal #2 - The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.

  • 2.01 Demonstrate the ability to read and listen to explanatory texts.

Unit Objective - English Competency Goal #5 - The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.

  • 5.01 Read and analyze various literary works
  • 5.02 Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres.

Unit Objective - English Competency Goal #6 - The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

  • 6.01 Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression
  •  6.02 Discern and correct errors in spoken and written English

Lessons

Lesson 1 - Lesson 1 Introduction to Where I am From...A Semester of Self Discovery

Lesson 2 - Where I am From...poem and portfolio requirements  [word-processing and editing].

Lesson 3 - Reflections class published magazine [using a digital camera and power point].

Lesson 4 - Self study lesson (using the Internet, including LOC and The History Channel web sites)

Lesson 5 - Interviews with two oldest living relatives [mining the Library of Congress and other web sites to make historical connections]

Lesson 6 - Brochure about you

Lesson 7 - PowerPoint presentation - putting history into perspective To Kill A Mockingbird, the Depression, Clay County, NC - then and now.

Lesson 8 - When I Was a Child...poem

Lesson 9 - Focused group discussion on To Kill a Mockingbird

Lesson 10 - Creating a character's memory box

Lesson 11 - Walk a mile in my shoes...A day in my life journal

Rubric for writing effective journals

Rubric for writing effective essays

Lesson 12 - The Museum of Living Literature - displaying what you have learned

Materials and Resources

My Sources:

  • To Kill  a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  • Language Network - McDougal Littell
  • "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier
  • The Pearl by John Steinbeck
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
I use the following picture books to stimulate writing assignments for student portfolios or to make historical connections:
      • Momma, Where Are You From? by Marie Bradby (children's picture book)
      • The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (children's picture book)
      • The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor (children's picture book)
      • The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (children's picture book)
      • The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein (children's picture book)
      • Angels in the Dust by Roger Essley
      • The Seventeenth Child by Dorothy Rice
      • The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
      • Appalachia by Cynthia Rylant

    Web sites: These links provide additional lesson plans, relevant links, and local, national and global historical information.

    Equipment and Facilities Needed

    • Hayesville High School media center computer lab
    • Lecture Hall equipment and for power point presentations
    • In class computers
    • Digital Camera
    • Internet access both in classroom and media center
    • Class set of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
    • display boards, art supplies, ink for printers, paper, laminating film, binding machine

Evaluation

Write commentary on the following tasks:

  • First and foremost, I will determine the value of this unit based on student completion and student enthusiasm.
  • Student mastery will be measured by student completion of “Where I am from” writing portfolio, the Museum of Living Literature group project on To Kill a Mockingbird, an objective test on To Kill a Mockingbird, student completion and publication of page in Reflections, our class magazine, and mastery of basic computer skills.

Time Period

This unit will involve the entire semester.  While the unit on To Kill a Mockingbird will only take approximately 3 weeks, the student writing portfolios will take the entire semester to complete.  I wanted my 9th grade communications class to be centered on a theme. Thus, I decided to create a class that provides students with the opportunity to make connections with their past, reach their potential in the present, and develop a positive outlook for their future.  I think this unit does just that.  The portfolio provides students with a road map of where they are going over the course of the semester.  Everything they write and create serves a purpose and will be used for the bigger project, their keepsake portfolio.  While it would be cumbersome at this point to provide detailed lessons for every day of the semester, I think this unit plan provides several worthwhile activities that integrate technology, English, social studies, character education, art, and music.

 

Marianne Leek  Home Page