Rationale


 * Michigan Merit Curriculum Standards: ** CE 1.1.3, CE 1.1.4, CE 1.1.8, CE 1.3.1, CE 1.3.5, CE 1.3.7, CE 1.3.9, CE 1.4.1, CE 1.4.2, CE 1.4.4, CE 1.4.5, CE 1.4.6, CE 1.4.7, CE 1.5.1, CE 1.5.2  **,** CE 1.5.3, CE 1.5.4  **,** CE 2.1.11, CE 3.2.1, CE 3.2.4.

** Rationale: ** As this unit attempts to bring different genres in text consumption as well as student’s repertoire of production, the pedagogical strategies used to plan this unit are also a combination of different genres of teaching. The main focuses within this unit are as follows: collaboration and fostering a community of learners, dialogic discussion, research strategies, the use of technology, and social, political, and civic awareness. These different strategies weave together to create a safe, collaborative, and productive environment in which each member of the class, myself included, can learn from one another’s perspectives and research pursuits. The first step was to create a community of learners that would foster the group work necessary to complete the final assessment and meet the objectives of this unit. Before we could begin discussions about intolerance, genocide, discrimination, prejudices, we had to collaborate on the ways we would respect these topics and our peers. Thus, on the first day I decided to use a technique I learned in reading Richard Curwin’s //Disciplining with Dignity,// and alter it to suit the needs of this unit. This book suggests the idea of a ‘Social Contract’ to allow students agency in constructing rules and expectations for how students participate in the classroom. This is used mostly as a classroom management tool. However, I had to approach this unit in a similar way that I would approach the first day of class by establishing the environment that is appropriate for our classroom. This idea is also supported by Robert Marzano’s //Classroom Management that Works,// which used research to determine that classroom ‘codes’ should be established by all parties involved: student, teacher, parents, and staff as well as reviewed regularly for necessary alterations.

At this point in the semester, I would hope that classroom expectations would already be established and a community of learners would be well in the works. However, it does not hurt to look at the purpose and topic of each unit to discuss how that influences student-teacher and student-student relationships differently than other units have. In this way, I looked at my audience as well as my purpose and decided that new expectations for this unit should be established. Once this is established, we can continue with the unit and work on the collaboration that should occur between group members. I wanted these groups to be comfortable with one another and rely on each member’s individual strengths, interests, and experiences that can and will inform their work together. This unit is based around student-centered pedagogy and thus, I wanted groups to be support systems for one another. This concept of ‘cooperative learning’ is discussed in Marzano’s //Classroom Instruction that Works// which focuses on ‘positive interdependence,’ ‘promotive interaction,’ and ‘individual and group accountability.’ This ensures that groups support one another, act as a cohesive unit, applaud one another’s successes, and contribute equally to the research project. This component is crucial to commencing with this unit and reaching the goals of the final assessment.

In cohesion with the idea of a student-centered classroom where students are responsible for their learning and their social/peer interactions, dialogic discussion is a large component of this unit. There is a lot of time planned for discussion of the texts, the themes within the texts, research, genres, and audience. Though I have scripted questions for many of these discussions, I also want to work with students’ questions, perspectives, and their blossoming ideas and beliefs about intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination. Thus, I have planned discussions where students bring in their own questions and I can remove myself—only to return if necessary. Also, I have planned a discussion in which students work with very open-ended questions in pairs. This ‘Speed-dating’ activity is to allow students to speak intimately about their thoughts on the topic of this unit and also for them to get a few different perspectives by moving to different partnerships. My hopes are that students may be able to open up more to their peers in a smaller group setting. Furthermore, with small group first and then a culminating large group discussion, students may be more open to share with the class as they will have already talked through their ideas with peers. Another aspect of dialogic discussion in this unit is that each group will lead the ‘Intolerance Journal’ for a day by bringing in artifacts from their research and providing questions based on their topic. This will function to allow students to structure the discussion on the topics that they want to discuss and will be one more way to remove me, the teacher, from these discussions. Another important aspect of the dialogic discussion included in this unit is the ‘Intolerance Journal.’ This will function as a sort of reader-response. However, I would like to broaden it to reader, viewer, listener, analyzer, critical thinker-response as they will respond to texts, films, documentary clips, new articles, as well as their own observations of their world in the school and the community. The benefits of this are supported in Smagorinsky’s //Teaching English by Design,// which upholds the attributes of allowing students to ‘engage and be rewarded’ for the ‘informal, tentative, experimental processes’ that they will participate in through the use of this journal. It is important to me that this journal be a place where they can continue to evolve throughout this unit, as well as to look back to see where they started with examining ‘what intolerance is.’ Furthermore, this genre of pedagogy is valued as another ‘lens’ of critical thinking as according to Appleman in her text //Critical Encounters.// This ‘lens’ is valuable because it supports a student-centered approach to teaching by allowing students to be the determinate in their learning. The journal allows them to focus on what they are gaining from the reading, how they are digesting the material, and what learning and understanding has come from these readings. In this way, they are constructing their own learning and understandings which will allow for more growth and the opportunity for each member of the class, myself included, to learn from one another—this being the goal. The next big component to examine is research, which no doubt, includes technology as the internet has now become one of the easiest ways to get access to the information our students want to obtain, in school and in life. However, for that to be beneficial for students, they must understand that all sources are not valid and that certain precautions must be undertook to use the internet safely and appropriately. For most students, the technology we will use (the internet and Wikispaces) will not be foreign to them. It is understood and also supported in Wilhelm & Smith’s //Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys,// which for many students, technology, pop culture, and different forms of media are a part of their multi-literacy lives. Thus, if safe, practical, and pedagogical tools for these literacies can be scaffolded, as I feel it will be within this unit, students stand to gain great benefits in learning the process of researching and how that can aid them in college or in life.

This last part is important; it is a reality that some if not many of our students may not continue on to college. However, research has long-standing benefits for all individuals, regardless of their future vocation. Furthermore, in pairing this with a multi-genre project and a study of Form= Audience + Purpose, we prepare our students to operate in a vast variety of experiences where they need to obtain information, convey that information, and do so with a purpose that can only be met by presenting it appropriately to the audience in the context. In addition to those real-life benefits, students will also gain from working closely and collaboratively with their peers as it is also a reality that we will all likely have to work with others to reach goals in our future careers or education tracks. I will also begin by modeling its benefits to students by maintaining a Wikispace for this lesson with pre-made tabs for each of their projects. This will be the site where parents and students can come to see updates of the unit. I will also be able to view the progression of each group and aid when I can with the search of resources and organization for their projects.

Lastly, but certainly not least, this unit functions to increase students critical thinking skills as members of a classroom, a community, and a world. It is crucial that students start becoming socially, politically, and civically aware of events in the world. This unit includes many aspects that will aid students in becoming critical members of society as well as productive citizens. In //Teaching English by Design//, Peter Smagorinsky discusses the many reasons behind planning certain units. In this unit, many of those rationales apply. For instance, this unit can aid students in their human development. As freshman, they are beginning to think about their identity and their relationships with others. This seems like a perfect time to address the issue of tolerance/intolerance in their development towards adulthood. The reader-response journal will allow students to reflect on and explore these ideas within their lives which will hopefully translate into the ways they view themselves and their progression to adulthood. Furthermore, the themes of intolerance, genocide, human rights movements, and discrimination have great cultural, social, and civic relevance to our students becoming aware individuals in society. The critical thinking skills accrued from their research paired with the weighty topic that is still so relevant in our society today will allow them to begin thinking about the ways that they wish to react to others’ differences and furthermore, they way they hope to benefit society. I hope to start in my classroom by fostering a community of learners that then can be widened to the school community, the city’s community, and the world.

= Resources = = ·  Anne Heintz: 3 Blind Mice activity = = ·  Staci Carl: Speed-dating Activity = = ·  Haslett’s English 9 Curriculum = = ·  High School Content Expectations = = ·  // Teaching English by Design // by Peter Smagorinsky = = ·  // Critical Encounters // by Deborah Appleman = = ·  // Classroom Instruction that Works // by Robert Marzano = = ·  // Classroom Management that Works // by Robert Marzano = = ·  // Disciplining with Dignity // by Richard Curwin = = ·  // Reading //// Don’t Fix no Chevys // by Wilhelm & Smith =