Unit Rationale
This unit plan will be implemented in a 10th or 11th general English course. The rationale for this integrative unit plan is for students to learn about a historical issue, conflict or event through the literary structure of memoirs filtered through the lens of technology and oral histories. The teacher will establish literature circles to encourage students to pursue a topic of their choice and to learn different perspectives from other students. Any English teacher may decide to work with an interested Social Studies teacher to truly integrate skills and concepts similar to Social Studies and English. The example provided in this unit plan follows a unit centered on the memoir Rocket Boys, written by Homer Hickam Jr. Students are not only learning about important trends and relationships through one historical event, but they are humanizing iconic topics through the power of the memoir.
Students will use the technology and interview skills they learn during this unit to create oral histories from people who experienced the historic event. Students will exercise their own analytical skills by comparing the the emerging trends from their interviewees with the facts and dates found in their independent research. Students will be able to take an active role in the planning and teaching of this unit by informing their peers of different perspectives learned from their collected oral histories. It is important for students to see what is hidden or excluded from the current curriculum and teach each other about these new ideas. The other suggested texts are newer and will give students a chance to think about these important issues.
Students will use the technology and interview skills they learn during this unit to create oral histories from people who experienced the historic event. Students will exercise their own analytical skills by comparing the the emerging trends from their interviewees with the facts and dates found in their independent research. Students will be able to take an active role in the planning and teaching of this unit by informing their peers of different perspectives learned from their collected oral histories. It is important for students to see what is hidden or excluded from the current curriculum and teach each other about these new ideas. The other suggested texts are newer and will give students a chance to think about these important issues.
English National and State Standards
- NCTE Standard 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
- NCTE Standard 8: Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- CCF Standard 2.4- Students recognize that readers and
authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural and historical contexts.