Organizing Units with Literature

Herz, S. & Gallo, D. From Hinton to Hamlet: building bridges between young adult literature and the classics.
Assorted Authors, Blackboard Readings and Handouts.
Probst, Response and Analysis.


Say:

Well I though the building bridges article was perhaps one of the most useful resources for creating unit lesson plans I've seen. I feel like this whole semester can be culminated into using synergistic texts for a more authentic/transactional relationship with literature. It was concise and gave a great variety with comparing texts. As the teacher, it is important to know the larger goal for the unit and answering the 'so what' question; it is important for students to know and understand that as well. Obviously organizing units around not only a canonical text, but a variety of texts allows for book clubs and literature circles to happen. More importantly, I think it allows for students to see literature within a larger scope and hopefully they are able to see the connections across all genres. The biggest thing I've come to realize when it comes to using YA and classics is that it opens up so many doors into doing things that make my students critical thinkers as well as hitting the standards and going beyond them. The Herz and Gallo article highlights that thematic approaches allow students to talk about archetypes. I feel like students usually compartmentalize information, which doesn't allow them to make connections across different texts and using YA can do it. I do think it is our responsibility to weed through the YA genre and make specific choices for YA texts that are rich and can create those conversations. When looking at these thematic text sets, probst points out that a teacher can create too broad or too narrow of a selection, which can lead to a certain type of inquiry. This was interesting to me because I didn't really think about how my choices in these selections will kind of guide and designate a course of inquiry for my students. I'm realizing how tricky it is to find that perfect balance in selecting a broad enough topic that will allow them to have independent inquiry, yet not all over the place and no connections to the canonical text. Analyzing archetypes can also be shown through film. The Author Paper described in the article reminded me of my English 101 professor, who for the final wrote 3 titles on the white board. He instructed us that we had to write an analytical essay comparing the texts. Throughout the year we had worked on units such as plays, short stories and I remember he made us think about each work in tangent with the others. It really was awesome to see the connections between works and the same could be applied for using the same author. 

I've heard a lot of secondary teachers express frustration about the level of their student's reading abilities and it hard when you realize the wide variety of levels your students can be on. You have to tackle motivation and purpose. Many students lack the motivation to read in general so it doesn't make sense to hand them Shakespeare without getting them to see the purpose or motivation in reading Shakespeare. Getting them to look through the a feminist lens could and other books could motivate them. Scaffolding students with children's books and YA novels give students a new interaction with literature and boost their confidence so they can see themselves as readers. If a teacher centers themselves around a theme, then literature circles and book clubs are clear ways to best utilize and maximize time. If I sift through all the different theme sets that the chapter present as well as include the other resources, they seem to all be very similar; looking at themes of war, utopian/dystopian, loss of innocence, the hero/journey. All of these patterns are super important for fostering critical thinkers. Noticing the patterns in literature and possibly having conversation about the larger human experience is really the great part about reading. Even more importantly, we are trying to establish a group of readers who can talk about literature and the world around them. 



Do:   

Looking through all of these resources definitely helped me think about my resource collection. I love having all this material; however, it is a little daunting because I found that there were so many different possibilities I could do depending on my thematic focus. 

Night by Elie Wiesel

Themes: Identity, Memory, Dehumanization, Loss, Survival

Essential questions:

1.     How do we as a society come to terms with our past and present patterns of Genocide?

2.     How does the genre of Memoir help society understand the struggle between memory, loss, and survival?

3. Can Genocide or the act of ‘otherness’ be a part of our human nature?  

Young Adult Novels:

Lois, L. (1989). Number the Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Frank, A. (1958). Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books.

Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. London: David Fickling Books.

Yousafzai, M. (2013) I Am Malala. London: Orion Publishing Group.  

Mankell, H (2003). Secrets in the Fire. Toronto: Annick Press.

Mikaelsen, B. (2004). Tree Girl. New York: Harper Tempest.

Music:

R.E.M (1986). “The Flowers of Gautemala” Lifes Rich Pageant. I.R.S.

Bob Marley(1977) “Exodus.” Exodus. Island Records.

Indigo Girls (1994) “The Train Revised.” Swamp Ophelia. Hollywood Records.

System of a Down (1998) “P.L.U.C.K.” System of a Down. Sony Music Entertainment.

Sinead O’Connor (1994).“Famine”. Universal Mother. Ensign Records.

Informational / Explanatory and Argument Text:

Documentary: Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular       https://www.schooltube.com/video/7d5afe2a261101d87e45/.

Wiesel, E. (1986). “Hope, Despair, Memory”. Nobel Lecture. Retrieved from

www.nobelprize.org.  

Ruth, J. “The Sense of Guilt within Holocaust Survivors”(1970). The Sense of Guilt

within Holocaust Survivors. Jewish Social Studies, 32(4), 307–314. Retrieved from            http://www.jstor.org/stable/4466613.

Möller, F.. (2010). Rwanda Revisualized: Genocide, Photography, and the Era of the

Witness. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 35(2), 113–136. Retrieved from      http://www.jstor.org/stable/40645290.

Timeline of Genocide 20^th-21^st century. Retrieved from

 http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/98018/Genocides-within-The-20th-21st

Century/#vars!date=2017-02-16_18:52:57!

Mamdani, M. (2007). “The Politics of Naming.” Retrieved from

            http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n05/mahmood-mamdani/the-politics-of-naming-genocide-civil-war-insurgency.

Movies:

Herman, M. (Director). (2009). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Miramax Home Entertainment.  

Spielberg, S. (Director). (2004). Schindler’s List. Universal.  

Jewison, N. (Director). (1971). Fiddler on the Roof. MGM.

Streep, M. (Director). (1999). Sophie’s Choice. Live Entertainment.  

Art:

Komski, J. “Ecce Homo.” Retrieved from remember.org/komski/komski-paintings1-004

Nath V. (1980) “Classroom Turned Prison.” Retrieved from

www.museumsyndicate.comitem.php?item=24744.

Pablo, P. (1937). “Echoes of Guernica.” Retrieved from

www.legacy-project.org/index.php?exhibID=4&page=exhib_intro. 

Poetry:

Martin Niemoller, (1950)“First They Came For the Jews”. Retrieved from

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/lesson_plans/poems_paintings.asp

Primo Levi,(1976) “Shema”. Retrieved from  http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/lesson_plans/poems_paintings.asp

Paul Celan, (N.D) “Psalm” Retrieved from

            http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/lesson_plans/poems_paintings.asp

Short Stories:

Mansfield, K. (1922) “The Fly”. The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield.  

O’Connor, F. (1955). “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. New York: Harcourt.

O’Brien, T. (N.D). “Where Have You Gone Charming Billy.” Retrieved from:

http://www.campbellhs.org/attachments/article/735/American%20Bag%203.pdf

Play or Graphic Novel:

Emmanuel, G. Lefevre, D. Frederic, L. (2003). The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders. New York: First Second.

Satrapi, M. (2000). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books.

Speigelman, A. (1980). MAUS: A Survivors Tale. New York: Pantheon Books.

Picture Book:  

Bunting, E (1990). The Wall. New York: Clarion Books.