Thematic Paper

Thematic Unit Description Paper

Name Abbey Coleman Course-Section TEAC 259

I. Unit Context 1. Write a description of the unit theme detailing what the students will be learning. In this unit, students will interpret and think critically about essays and poems, improve their research skills, write creatively about important historical figures, and discuss current events and race relations. They also should learn a great deal about the history of civil rights in the United States and the literature and art of that time period. 2. What is the target subject area/class? This thematic unit is designed for a ninth grade English class, but could be used just as effectively for an American history class. 3. How does this unit fit into the whole learning experience of the students? These lessons should help students to improve their research strategies, writing skills, and ability to analyze difficult texts. 4. What is the setting or situation? Describe the classroom as you see it. Include information on what computers and other equipment are available to the students. Based on my vision for this unit, the class will take place in the media center for the first day, where each student has access to a computer for most of the period and be given a list of good databases and search engines to use in their research. On the second day, we will be in the classroom, using a cart of books (mostly biographies) pulled from the school library, and individual students will be allowed to visit the computer lab if they need a little more information. The third day will require a projector, a computer, and Internet access in the classroom. Students will all need to access Internet later in the evening to participate in the discussion on the class website. II. Audience 1. General characteristics: Describe the learners, including the size of the group, their age, interests, experiences, and aptitudes. There are 27 students total, and all are 14 or 15 years old. Their ethnic make-up of our classroom is as follows: 11 European-American students; 7 African-American students; 2 Asian-American students; 3 Navajo Indian students; and 4 Latino students. 1 student is currently in the ESL program. 1 student suffers from dyslexia. 8 students are in the school’s academically gifted program.

Thematic Unit Description Paper

Name Abbey Coleman Course-Section TEAC 259

2. Entry competencies: What specific knowledge and assumptions can you make about them? Remember to describe their computer competence. These student have had much experience writing essays but have done little creative, descriptive fiction. All of my students have a good basic knowledge of computers, word-processing, and the Internet. They have gathered information online for assignments, but, for the most part, have not developed efficient researching skills. For our diverse community, race is a difficult and uncomfortable subject. I’m guessing these students have had limited experience discussing discrimination and race relations. III. State Objectives 1. State Goal: The goal of this set of lesson plans is to educate students about their history through literature from the Civil Rights Movement and to give them opportunities to express their reactions to the things we read. Hopefully their researching and writing skills will improve. 2. State Objective 1: (C) Researching online and in the school library, (A) students will (B) find pieces of writing published during the American Civil Rights Movement and put them into a scrapbook/ journal that should be (D) 100% accurate and turned in at the end of a week. 3. State Objective 2: (C) Using books and online resources, (A) the students (B) will create a piece of original writing (a poem, short story, or essay) about a famous author from the Civil Rights Movement from a list I provide and (D) submit their work in class with an explanation of the degree of historical accuracy. 4. State Objective 3: (A) Students will watch a (C) YouTube video on a classroom projector, (B) participate in a discussion of the state of racism/human rights in America today, and contribute (D) at least three thoughtful statements to the dialogue on our class blog. IV. State Methods 1. Instructional Strategy: Identify the instructional strategies you might use to deliver this unit with. Explain how the methods and media will be used to create the learning environment. a. Method(s) for objective 1 will include presentation, demonstration, and discovery. The class will begin with a presentation of music from the Civil Rights Era. Then we will look at several poems, which will demonstrate different literary tools and writing styles. Finally, at the library, the students will individually discover and collect more writing for their scrapbooks.

Thematic Unit Description Paper

Name Abbey Coleman Course-Section TEAC 259

b. Method(s) for objective 2 are presentation and discovery. First, I will read an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and then we will read passages from the autobiographies of a few Freedom Riders as a class. Finally, the students will get to peruse biographies of influential authors to discover anything that grabs their attention or sparks their imagination – anything they can use in their own writing. c. Method(s) for objective 3 will be presentation, discussion, and problem-solving. There will be a opening presentation (using YouTube) about the state of human rights in America today followed by a class discussion about whether racism is still a problem, what issues still exist for minorities in America, and what should be done about them (the problem-solving bit).

Thematic Unit Description Paper

Name Abbey Coleman Course-Section TEAC 259