Expressing War
Goals & Objectives
- Students will be able to align the knowledge on War from other content areas and write reflective and original pieces of writing to demonstrate their ideas.
- Students will construct several pieces of writing that will cohesively comprise a multi-genre portfolio.
- Students will take an active part in the revising process of their peers through an online forum.
Unit Resources and Additional Material
Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.7: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.3a: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Literacy Strategies
Technology
Website #1
Website#2
Informational Text #1
Informational Text #2
Online Video
Children's Book
Trade Book #1
Trade Book #2
Final Project
- Students will submit a multi-genre portfolio demonstrating their ability to connect WWII concepts to personal reflections through various original pieces of creative writing. Of the 5 pieces of writing to be completed, three will be assigned and worked on in-class and at home. The students are then responsible to constructing two of their own pieces of creative writing to cohesively juxtapose with the other assignments. The rubric is as follows:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.7: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.3a: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W 9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Literacy Strategies
- KWL - Know/Want to know/Learned - students will complete this chart as they progress through WWII unit
- Exit Slip - these will be conducted to formally assess student learning after several lessons
- Admit Slip - these act as "bell work" or "journal prompts" to kickstart active engagement and warm up students' thinking and writing on WWII.
- Say Something - this will be used when analyzing song lyrics, propaganda posters and "The Diary of a Young Girl" as students will interject short discussions between their reading of particular texts.
Technology
- I will construct a classroom blog using the blogging forum, WordPress. The blog will function as both a platform for students to share their work with their classmates, as well as classroom website encompassing assignment descriptions, additional resources and a discussion forum for students to communicate with each other and myself outside of the classroom. The link for this private, classroom website will be shared with students and their families in effort to bridge the educational process from the classroom into the home. The students will be set up in groups of four and be responsible for commenting on and editing the drafts of their other three group mates. For example, students will submit their first drafts of their letter to their blog page and subsequently read and thoughtfully comment on their peers' work. Then, students will consider the criticism and use it to revise for their final submission. Using a website allows students to have an authentic audience to read their work, as opposed to the traditional teacher review. Thus, students are more likely to put in effort into their writing knowing their classmates will read their work. This component encourages collaboration and involves students in a communal effort toward learning.
Website #1
- poems.com
- Published by: Lannan Foundation
- Lexile Level: (varies) new poetry published daily. Average Lexile level: 1080L
- This will be used for at-home or in-class journaling. Students will read the poem of the day and either write a reflective response or reaction poem. This material will be posted on WordPress.
- This is a valid source and has been affirmed to be school-appropriate through extensive observation. It is refreshed daily and logs prior poems for over a year. The company running this site has been operating since 1997.
Website#2
- WordPress.com
- Lexile Level: level of student writing should be between 750-1000L
- Published by Automattic Inc, a company that started in 2005 and has created multiple online websites to enhance global communication.
- This is the online component of the classroom, and will also function as the classroom website, wherein I will put announcements, assignment descriptions, useful resources and extra content for students to use outside the classroom. It will organize student products and act as forum for which students can read and respond to each others' work.
- WordPress is a safe, user-friendly and popular blog site that allows for a variety of settings. I will arrange the settings to be available for only those with the particular link, so it can stay private and confidential.
Informational Text #1
- Song lyrics to "Holland 1945" by Neutral Milk Hotel (Jeff Mangum)
- Written and performed in the musical compilation "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" in 1998 by rock band, Neutral Milk Hotel.
- Associated cover art, and related artwork: students will compare/contrast lyrics to the content they have learned about WWII.
- Lexile Level: undetermined (I approximate 1000L)
- I will hand students copies of the song and read aloud lyrics, without describing it's actual use as a song. A brief whole-class discussion will follow on the content and use of figurative language (I will lecture on the authorial intent and historical implications of the song). Then, students will listen to the song and write a reflective piece on how this alters their perception. This will introduce the students mirror poems and foster understanding on how historical happenings affect modern day life.
Informational Text #2
- Propaganda Posters on WWII and associated article on their purpose/use and implementation in both Nazi Germany AND the United States.
- Lexile Level: 850L
- These are especially useful as they are implemented in cross-curricular activities in both History and Art. I will capitalize on the students knowledge of propaganda posters and use this as a platform for which students can write analytically and creatively.
- The posters come from google searches online, which is simple, effective and easily accessible.
Online Video
- http://ed.ted.com/lessons/jane-hirshfield-the-art-of-the-metaphor
- Ted Talks: Jane Hirshfield "The Art of the Metaphor"
- Lexile Level: Approximately 700L
- Published by Ted Talks, an online database of educational, informational videos on varying subjects. This particular video was found on the Ted-Ed section, focusing in student-friendly videos to incorporate into instructional planning.
- Students will watch this video as in anticipatory set for a lesson on figurative language. Once watching the video, students will practice writing metaphors to explain various photographs of different Wars, focusing on World War 2. For example, an image of a boy in a concentration camp would be projected on the board, and students will construct 2-3 metaphors "captioning" the photograph (The camp is a playground of ash and despair).
Children's Book
- "The Diary of a Young Girl" - by Anne Frank (1944)
- Lexile Level: 540L
- Published by Doubleday & Company in 1947 (English)
- This short book will be assigned as at-home reading for the students, and several lectures and assignments will be addressing the content and historical implications of the book. Students will, for example, write a response letter to their favorite entry. There will be journal prompts based on the readings, as well.
- This resource is applicable, appropriate and crucial for students learning about World War 2. It uses the authentic, first hand perspective of a girl of a similar age to students, so relatability is high.
Trade Book #1
- "Essential Poems: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud" edited by Robert Pinsky
- This trade book is an anthology of world poetry from a variety of time periods, thus the Lexile level varies and cannot be determined.
- Students will use this resource to create a "mirror poem", wherein students choose a poem that represents their ideas and construct a responsive poem that either mimics the original poems content, structure, or both. Students will accompany their response poem with a two-page reflection justifying their decisions using the original poem as supportive evidence to a larger concept. Finally, students will read aloud their original poem and recite their response poem before the class.
- Robert Pinsky is a celebrated modern American poet who has taken part in the arranging of several anthology books of poetry.
Trade Book #2
- "Night" by Elie Weisel
- Published byHill & Wang in the United States in September 1960
- Lexile Level: 570L
- Students will be reading this book in their Literature class with Ms. Croghan, and I will encourage students to use this resource as one of their alternative multi-genre pieces. Students can write a letter/poem/alternate ending/prologue/different perspective. This alternative resource will be casually addressed in this class, but the focus will be on how they can use it for their project instead of discussing the content (as that will be handled in their Literature class).
Final Project
- Students will submit a multi-genre portfolio demonstrating their ability to connect WWII concepts to personal reflections through various original pieces of creative writing. Of the 5 pieces of writing to be completed, three will be assigned and worked on in-class and at home. The students are then responsible to constructing two of their own pieces of creative writing to cohesively juxtapose with the other assignments. The rubric is as follows:
References
- "Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud" by Robert Pinsky
- "The Diary of a Young Girl" - Anne Frank
- TedTalks - "The Art of the Metaphor" Jane Hirshfield
- "Night" Elie Wiesel
- WordPress - online blogging site