engl611-mueller.wikispaces.umb.eduengl611-mueller.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/What is... · Web viewMiddle school kids are desperate to fit in and to be accepted by their peers

Nancy KunENGL 611Professor A. Mueller

What is Beauty?

Rationale

This unit, “What is Beauty?” will be the second unit for my 7th grade students

in an urban k-8 public school just outside of Boston. The student body at my school

is ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse. Our first unit of the year will focus on

Sharon Flake’s novel, The Skin I’m In. In the first unit, I will use the novel to teach

story elements and comprehension strategies. In the “What is Beauty?” unit, I will

continue to rely heavily on Flake’s novel, but we will be delving more deeply into the

social-emotional issues (racism, bullying, self-esteem, judgment of peers based on

appearance) addressed in the novel. We will move beyond mere technical

analysis/study of the text and its plot and into broader, deeper, more personal study

of the novel and its main ideas (Blau 101).

Sharon Flake’s The Skin I’m In is an ideal jumping off point from which to

start this unit. Students identify with the characters, the school setting is familiar,

and the relationship crises that develop between friends/teachers/family are all too

familiar to students. As Rosenblatt points out, students must be “emotionally ready”

for any given text (25). She also urges teachers to select literature that “focuses on

problems of importance to the group” (68). Every student will have varied

interests, but this particular novel brings all middle school students together

because they all identify with the social struggles and identity woes of the

characters in the novel.

Many middle school students are in the throes of an identity crisis. They are

experimenting with the way they dress, talk, behave, and interact with the world.

They are quick to render harsh judgments on others, but they are also quite gifted at

being their own worst critics. Middle school kids are desperate to fit in and to be

accepted by their peers. Unfortunately, at this age, children tend to use rather

shallow criteria to determine whether a person should be accepted or rejected. In

short, a kid who “looks the part” (i.e. has the right clothes, the perfect body mass

index, and the cutest hair style) will fit in, while the poorly dressed, overweight,

frumpy kid is immediately placed in the “reject” pile.

This unit is designed to help students make the social transition into 7th

grade. Through a study of various works of literature that ask us to construct,

deconstruct, and reconstruct our definition of beauty, I hope to help students gain

an appreciation of themselves, each other, and the 7th grade community at large. My

ultimate goal is to get students to broaden their definition of the term “beauty” so

that they are able to appreciate everybody and see that everybody brings something

“beautiful” to the 7th grade community. We are all complex, interesting and talented,

and we all have something beautiful to contribute to the group. We all belong, and

there is beauty in our diverse appearances, cultures, ideas, and interests.

Does this unit sound a bit “fluffy”? Is it too “touchy-feely?” I grappled with

those questions myself, but I have decided that this unit has the potential to be a

powerful tool in constructing a firm foundation for a positive 7th grade community.

Why take on this topic through literary study? According to Rosenblatt, “prolonged

contact with literature may result in increased social sensitivity” (176) and our

exposure to a variety of literary characters can help us “enter vicariously into the

experiences of others” (178), thus leading to an “increased understanding of the

needs of others” (175). Why not take full advantage of the power of literature to

make us better readers and better human beings?

In my years of teaching middle school, I have seen the pain and suffering that

a child can endure when he or she is excluded, cast out, or bullied. In most cases,

this mistreatment is the direct result of the student not “looking right”. In my adult

mind, I wonder why kids can’t look beyond the surface and appreciate the beauty in

each other. Why are the only kids having a good time in 7th grade the ones with the

pretty hair and the cute outfits? Why are the “different” kids destined to be lonely

throughout their middle school careers?

Sure, I can lecture kids about being nice to each other. I can pull kids aside

and discipline them for being mean to their classmates. But is that really

accomplishing anything? Are the kids really getting anything out of my simply

telling them to be decent to each other? As much as it pains me to admit it, I think

my words are falling on deaf ears. I cannot simply impose my value system on my

students. Through this unit of study, I hope to use literature to help students, “work

out their own principles and hierarchy of values” (Rosenblatt 125) and come to

their own understanding that everybody in the classroom deserves to be respected

and valued. I cannot presume to be able to singlehandedly establish a positive

environment in the classroom. I need for the students to “buy in” to this important

work, and I think this unit will help us get there together.

I will use literature to introduce this sensitive but important discussion to

the students. In a classroom readers can most conveniently engage in such activities

as discussion and reflection through writing, and collaboration in the process of

interpretation (Blau 24). This type of communal classroom is the ideal place for this

conversation to happen.

Before we start the unit, I will ask students to make a collage that shows ten

things/people/places/ideas they find beautiful. They should label the collage and

write a brief description of each item, and a few sentences about why they find each

thing beautiful.

We will begin the unit with some anticipation guide work. This will give

students an opportunity to respond to the essential questions of the unit. The

essential questions will be:

What is beauty? Who gets to decide what is beautiful? Can beauty only be confirmed visually, or can intangible things be

beautiful? Does everybody agree on what is beautiful? Is it difficult to explain to others how you can find beauty in

something unconventional (something that most/many people do not find beautiful?

What is the price of beauty? Has anything or anybody helped you shape your definition of the

word beautiful? What message can you send to the world about beauty?

As Rosenblatt points out, students can use literature to “gain knowledge of

the world, to fathom the resources of the human spirit, to gain insights that will

make his own life more comprehensible” (9). Through a close examination of

literary characters’ trials and tribulations, students will be able to see the damaging

affects of judging people solely on their looks, and ultimately challenge their own

definitions of beauty and standards by which they judge themselves and others.

We will also take a look at several poems that ask us to broaden or question

our definitions of beauty. We will look at “Harlem Sweeties” by Langston Hughes.

The poem is very similar to a poem written by one of the characters in The Skin I’m

In. We will also read “Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Shahib Nye, to raise the

question of who gets to decide what is beautiful and/or how to define beauty.

Finally, we will do some current events/media literacy readings and image

studies so that students can see what is going on among their contemporaries, and

how the quest for beauty, perfection, and acceptance can lead to devastating

consequences. I will leave this portion of the unit for last because I will really want

students to respond personally to these real stories. It is safer for students to

respond to fictional literature because they can couch their responses in

commentary on the characters. Making personal connections is riskier, and

hopefully we will have built up enough of a comfort/trust level to speak personally

by this point. Smith states that our goal should be “to build a bridge between what

students do as a matter of course in their day to day lives and their literary reading”

(165). I think the novel and the poems will establish the groundwork for students

to discuss the real world more openly and with more confidence.

In this unit, I hope to generate lots of discussion. We will work in whole

group, small group, and in pairs to give everybody a chance to be heard, and to hear

and consider what others are saying. I will also ask students to do quite a lot of

journaling, and we will use reader’s response journals so that students and I can

communicate in writing about their reactions to the readings and to the issues that

arise in our discussions. Some students are much more forthcoming in writing than

they are in discussion, so the writing assignments will help them share their

thoughts and build confidence in their ideas. This will be a bridge between a

student thinking privately and sharing publicly with the class.

As Smith points out, “literature can transform us and help us outgrow our

current selves” (153). If this unit is a success, students will have grown, challenged

previously held notions, and altered their definitions of beauty. In other words, I

want for this to be meaningful and to go beyond reading and discussing in class. I

want our unit to positively impact decisions my students make in regards to how

they view themselves and others. Smith reminds us that literature is “uniquely

poised to provide a powerful and transformative experience” (158). To end the unit

students will produce and perform a Public Service Announcement, targeting one of

the many people or groups of people who students feel affect the way they see

themselves and judge others. The PSA will require students to focus on current

problems and possible solutions.

Unit Goals: (Students will be able to) Define beauty in their own terms Justify their positions on what constitutes beauty Gain an appreciation for the many layers of beauty and acknowledge the fact

that in spite of our differences, we are all beautiful and there is room for all of us to fit in.

Contemplate the essential questions of the unit through discussion, reading, classwork, and projects.

Track changes in their own opinions, taking note of what prompted the changes.

Participate respectfully in class discussions, voice opinions, and value their classmates’ contributions to the class environment

Discuss, read, and write about literature (non-fiction, fiction, and poetry) Write creative and expository pieces surrounding the question of “What is

Beauty?” Find works or literature (songs/poems) that address the issue of beauty Make text-to-text, test-to-self, and test-to-world connections Synthesize many elements of discussion and study and compile final

opinions, projects Devise practical suggestions for people who might be in a position to change

the way we judge others, define beauty, and see ourselves.

Works Cited (Entire Unit Citations Here)Atwell, Nancie. In The Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and

Learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. Print.Blau, Sheridan. The Litearture Workshop: Teaching Texts and Their Readers.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. Print. Cloud, John. “When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can It Be Stopped?” Time.com.

24 October 2010. Web. Searched 11 August 2012. Daniels, Harvey and Zemelman, Steven. Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to

Content Area Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004. Print.Dubreuil, Jim and McNiff, Eamon. “Bullied To Death in America’s Schools.”

ABC.com. 8 April 2102. Web. Searched 11 August 2012.Flake, Sharon. The Skin I’m In. New York: Jump at the Sun Books for Children,

1998. Print. Hughes, Langston. “Harlem Sweeties”. Poetry Foundation.org. Searched

7/30/2012. Web.Karimi, Faith. “Middle Schoolers Bully Bus Monitor, 68, With Stream of Profanity,

Jeers.” Cnn.com. 21 June 2012. Web. Searched 11 August 2012.Nye, Naomi Shihab. “Valentine For Ernest Mann.” Prentice Hall Literature Penguin

Edition Grade 7. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PearsonPrentice Hall. 2007. 521. Print.

Robb, Laura. Teaching Reading in Middle School: A Strategic Approach to TeachingReading That Improves Comprehension and Teaching. New York: Prentice Hall. 2000. Print.

Rosenblatt, Louise. Literature as Exploration. 5th Edition. New York: MLA, 1995. Print.

Simon, Mallory. “My Bullied Son’s Last Day on Earth.” Cnn.com. 23 April 2009. Web. Searched 11 August 2012.

Smith, Michael and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Fresh Takes on Teaching Literary Elements:How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View,and Theme. New York: Scholastic, 2010. Print.

www.clasroomlaw.org . web. Searched 15 August 2012. www.rubistar.com. Web. Searched 17 August 2012.

What is Beauty?

http://www.rubistar.com/

http://www.clasroomlaw.org/

Lesson Plan #1

Course: Grade 7 English Language ArtsDuration: 55 minutesPlacement in Unit: This is the first official lesson of the unit. Students will have been assigned the homework task of completing a “10 beautiful things collage” (described in greater detail later in the lesson plan) and writing a definition of beauty. But these assignments will have been given without any context. Today’s lesson marks the first time we’ll discuss the idea of beauty together in class. (See Artifact #1 for the assignment detailing the instructions for the collage/definition assignment).

Rationale: We are launching into our “What is Beauty” unit today. My rationale behind this unit is that middle school students are so quick to leap to judgment of others based on superficial criteria like appearance, weight, and clothing. If we want to have a positive social and learning environment in school, students need to be able to see the beauty in each other and accept each other. This unit will expose us to various genres of literature (novel, poetry, current events, media) as we explore this important issue. In this particular lesson, we will simply lay the groundwork, get exposed to the essential questions, and start to formulate our own responses to the question, “What is Beauty?” The main purpose of today’s lesson is to just get the conversation flowing, to open up the discussion about how we define beauty. The “beauty” of today’s lesson is that there are no right or wrong answers; students simply need to be able to discuss, justify, and explain their thinking. Students will likely “bring personality traits, memories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a particular mood of the moment, and a particular physical condition” (Rosenblatt 30) to this broad discussion of how to define beauty. This close personal connection to the question is what I want students to examine and challenge throughout the course of the unit.

Massachusetts Common Core Standards:

Writing Standard:1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.c. use words and phrases to create cohesion and clarify relationships among claims, reasons, and evidence.Speaking and Listening1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express own ideas clearly. c. Pose questions that elicit discussion and respond to others’ questions. Mastery Objectives: (I Will Be Able To)

Offer justification as to why I find things beautiful or ugly/unpleasant Participate meaningfully and respectfully in class discussion/activities

Try to persuade others to challenge their own standards/definitions of beauty

Remain open to discussions in which classmates might try to challenge their standards/definitions of beauty.

Make predictions as to what the goals of our unit will be Offer feedback as to how I felt about the lesson/class discussion

Procedure: (How Will I Get There?)

Students will come to class having completed their “10 beautiful things collage.” Each student will have a made a collage of images (hand drawn, computer generated, or actual photographs) of things, places, people, or general ideas that they find beautiful. They will have numbered the images and then written 2-4 sentences about each one, identifying the image and explaining why they find it beautiful. Students will also have composed their own definitions of what beauty is. (See Artifact #1 for instructions for the collage and definition assignment.)

Students will turn and talk to a classmate about their collages. They will pay particular attention to ideas they had in common and to question their peer about images they specifically do NOT find beautiful. This will hopefully pave the way to students understanding the fact that we do not all define beauty in the same way, that we all have different standards of beauty and define different things as beautiful. (5-10 minutes)

Each student will share with the class one image from his or her collage, explaining why he or she included this in a short list of beautiful things. As each student names an image from their collage, the rest of the class will, by show of hands, reveal whether they had the same or a similar image on their collages. (5-10 minutes)

We will play a game of “The Wind Blows”. This game will be played as follows:

1. Each student will be given an index card with a word on it. Some cards will contain words that I anticipate students will largely consider beautiful and/or that I jot onto cards as students share their collages (e.g. poetry, family, flowers, nature, chocolate, artwork). Other cards will contain words that a majority of students might be likely to consider ugly/unpleasant (war, blood, tarantulas, fire, hospital). Then I will have a series of words that students may not have ever considered to be either beautiful or ugly (baseball cap, Wednesday, chair, airport). Note: I will make the index cards up myself rather than have the kids do them because it is early on the year and I want everybody to participate comfortably. This is a big “look at me” exercise, and if kids can at least reason that they are simply reading a word the teacher wrote, then it might be a bit easier. If, however, a student really wants to do one of his/her own words, he/she need just ask me I’ll hand over an index card. I also do the words myself because I want kids to

remain focused and not engage in a contest for who can come up with the most ridiculous and over-the-top words. (This is 7th grade after all!)

2. Students will stand in a circle. One student will volunteer to go in the middle. If that student has the card reading, “flowers” he will say, “The wind blows for anybody who thinks flowers are beautiful.”

3. Students who agree (who do think flowers are beautiful) will be required to find a new place in the circle, but they will have to cross through the center to do so. This gives an opportunity for students to see how many people agree with the statement, and to identify students whose responses are the same as or different from their own.

4. The last student to make it through the center gets “caught” and must restart the game, reading his/her index card.

5. The game continues until all students have stood in the middle with their index cards. (10 minutes)

Once we’ve sat down, students will quietly write three things that they observed about the “As the Wind Blows” activity. They should try to observe general trends. (Ex. Most girls thought flowers were beautiful. Only one person thought tarantulas were beautiful. Everybody thought family was beautiful). (5 minutes).

I will also project a list of all the words we saw during the game and ask students to make a beautiful/not beautiful/neutral chart in their notebooks. They will list each of the words in the column to which they personally would relegate them. (2-3 minutes)

“Shop Around”. Students will all be given a worksheet with the following chart. (See Artifact #2 for the full worksheet)

Beautiful Not Beautiful Neutral

Students will go around the room, looking for a classmate who has any given object in a different column from theirs. They will have an informal discussion in which they explain to each other why they’ve placed the word where they have and see if they can convince the other to change positions on the chart. I will walk around and listen to students’ conversations. During share out I’ll ask a few groups to summarize their conversations, explaining why they were or were not convinced to change the placement of words on their charts. (10 minutes)

Distribution and Explanation of Homework: I will ask students to consider the title of our unit, “What is Beauty” and think about what we did today. I will ask them to try to predict what the main point of our unit will be and what they think they will be learning/exploring/studying. (5 minutes) (See Artifact #3 for the Homework assignment worksheet) This homework is largely asking students to rehash what they did in class, and particularly to record the content of their discussions with classmates. Sometimes, even if students are very engaged and attentive during class discussion, they don’t take time to think about or process the discussion after class. This homework will require them to do so. This is important because it is the groundwork for the unit. I am also asking students to think ahead to what the unit might be about. Now that they have been introduced to some of the main ideas of the unit, I want them to think about where we are going, and why we might be going there.

Assessment (How Will I Show What I Know?)

This lesson is largely exploratory. Since it will take place very early on in the school year, it will provide me with an opportunity to get a feel for the class dynamics, paying particular attention to noticing which students might have a tendency to dominate discussion, and which students might need to be drawn out a little bit more. There will not be a formal grade delivered for the classwork. Credit will be given for completed homework for the previous evening’s collage and for this evening’s reflection worksheet.

Artifact #1/Lesson #1

Directions for Beauty Collage and Definition of Beauty

On a sheet of 8.5X11 paper, make a collage showing ten different images of what you think is beautiful.

You can show places, people, objects, ideas, words, animals, emotions, etc. Your pictures can be hand drawn, computer generated, cut from magazines, or a combination of any/all of these. Don’t worry about being 100% accurate. If, for example, you want to say that you think Hampton Beach in NH is beautiful, and you can’t find a picture of Hampton Beach, a picture of the ocean or any beach will do. If your baby cousin Jeffrey is adorable but you can only find a picture of a random baby or Jeffrey’s mother doesn’t want you to use his picture for the assignment, that’s OK, too. You can use the random baby picture to represent Baby Jeffrey. You will have the opportunity to write about the picture and tell us specifically that you mean Hampton Beach or Baby Jeffrey.

You must number each object 1-10. On a separate sheet of paper, write 2-3 sentences about each object (number on paper corresponds to number on collage). Explain what the object is, and explain specifically why you think the person/place/thing in the picture is beautiful.

Somewhere on the collage, you must write your own definition of the word beauty. Please don’t look up the word in the dictionary. Start with, “Beauty is______________” and then write down what you think it is. You can’t be wrong because I’m asking you for your thoughts.

Artifact #2/Lesson #1

“Shop Around” Worksheet

We’ve played “The Wind Blows For” and you probably noticed that not everybody agreed on what is beautiful.

A list of the words we used for the game is on the Smart board. Take a moment to write each word in one of the three columns.

Beautiful Not Beautiful Neutral (I don’t find this object beautiful, but I wouldn’t say it’s not beautiful either)

Now, take a walk around the room and find a classmate who has one of the words in a different column to the one in which you placed it. Talk to the classmate. Ask why he/she has the word in that column. Explain why you placed the word where you did. See if you can convince your classmate to see things the way you do. In return, remain open to what your classmate is saying, and see if he/she is successful in swaying your opinion.

Sample Conversation:

Melissa: Nathan, I see that you have flowers in “not beautiful.” I can’t even imagine not loving flowers. They’re so colorful and fragrant.Nathan: Yeah, that’s just the problem. I’m allergic to flowers. As soon as I smell a flower, I know it’ll trigger an avalanche of sneezing and runny eyes.Melissa: Yeah, I guess that would be tough. But OK, what if flowers didn’t cause allergies. You have to admit that they at least look pretty.Nathan: Yeah, I can give you that. They do look pretty, but I just can’t get into them. Beauty is more than just looking pretty. I just can’t call anything that makes me sick pretty.

Melissa and Nathan are speaking respectfully, explaining themselves, and listening to each other. You and your classmate should try to emulate this model and have a productive conversation. During share out, be prepared to tell the class about your discussion. Pay particular attention to whether anybody changed his/her opinion.Nancy KunENGL 611

Name: Date:

Artifact 3/Lesson #1Homework

1. Write down the three general observations you made about the class responses to the “The Wind Blows For” game. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Answer these questions about “The Wind Blows For” post-game discussion. Focus on one item that you each had in a different place. What object did you discuss? _____________________________________. In which column did you place it? ____________________________________Why?______________________________________________________________________________________ Who was your discussion partner? ___________________________________________. Where did he/she place the object? ______________________________________________. Why?_______________________________________________________________________________________. Did either of you manage to change the other’s mind? Explain. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. We’ve just started a unit called, “What is beauty?” Considering the activities we did today, where do you think this unit is going? What important ideas do you think we might be exploring within this unit? Why do you think we are going to do this work?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What did you like about today’s lesson?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What did you dislike about today’s lesson?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Do you have any questions?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is Beauty?Lesson #2

Internal v. External BeautyIs Each Character Beautiful? You Be the Judge Part One.

Course: Grade 7 ELAPlacement in Unit: Second Lesson of “What is Beauty” UnitDuration: 55 minutes

Rationale: Because we are still early in our “What is Beauty” unit, students will still largely be thinking about beauty in visual terms. In Sharon Flake’s novel, The Skin I’m In, many of the characters have physical imperfections (real or perceived). In this lesson, we will discuss these characters’ appearances (what people see on the outside) and their personality traits. We will ask ourselves whether a person with physical imperfections can still be beautiful. Ultimately we will work toward determining whether internal or external characteristics are more important in determining whether a person is beautiful. Because today’s lesson will require students to collaborate and discuss their opinions of characters in small groups, they will have the opportunity to “confirm or challenge each others understanding” (Blau 44). Students will have broad interpretations of the characters in the novel, and this lesson will give them an opportunity o discuss and challenge classmates’ findings. Also, it is more valuable for them to discuss their opinions of these characters with each other instead of just having me lead the discussion in front of the room. The characters in the novel are 7th graders and they speak to 7th graders as “situational readers” (Blau 139). It is a lot more valuable for me to let students engage in their generational and cultural interpretations (Blau 76) within their peer group, because if I run the entire conversation, I run the risk of having them say what they think I want them to say about the characters. (Obviously Charlese is “bad”, but if they talk among themselves, students might find justifications for her behavior that they do not think I want to hear and therefore would leave out of general discussion. If they work together in groups and find these alternative interpretations/understandings of characters, they will feel safer fostering and further developing those and bringing them up in class.)


Reading Standards for Literature1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis or what text says

explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text 6. Analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of view of different

characters or narrators in a text.

Writing Standards1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. B. Support claims with logical reasoning4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task., purpose and audience.

Speaking and Listening

1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express own ideas clearly. A. Come prepared, having read or researched assigned text.C. Pose questions that elicit discussion and respond to others’ questions.

Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To) Participate respectfully and productively in class discussion Discuss literature Distinguish between internal and external characteristics Identify Physical Features and personality traits of each character. Provide

textual Evidence (page numbers and quotes) Determine whether you would call each character ugly or beautiful and

provide evidence to support your argument.

Procedure (How Will I Get There?)

Do Now: (5 minute Journal) Who is the most beautiful person you know? Write about why you think this person is beautiful. Provide a thorough description.

Share out from the Do Now: (3 or 4 minutes) We will discuss the terms “internal characteristics” and “external

characteristics”. (2-3 minutes) I will have a T-chart on the Smart board with the terms “Internal

Characteristic” and “External Characteristic” populating the top of the columns. I will have a work bank of terms such as: Kind, Selfish, tall, blonde, forgetful, muscular, etc. I will ask a student to come to the board and, with coaching from his/her classmates, manipulate the words by pushing them into the correct column (internal or external). (Total of about 10 minutes)

Students will work in groups of 3 to fill in the internal/external characteristic charts for each of the characters of the skin I’m in. They will go through the novel to find examples to populate the chart, providing textual evidence (pages/quotes) for each piece of evidence. (20 minutes) (See Lesson Plan 2 Appendix 1)

I will have a Smart board projection of the worksheet on the Smart board and we will come back together for a whole class discussion, with me filling student responses. This will give a chance for students to hear and “borrow” evidence identified by their classmates. Students will be encouraged to add to their own respective character trait charts. (10 mins)

I will tell students that we will have a court proceeding tomorrow and ask volunteers to play the roles of the characters in the novel from the worksheet. (3-5 minutes)

I will go over homework, a court preparation worksheet for tomorrow’s proceedings. (5 minutes)


Participation in discussion Worksheet with factual textual evidence provided Homework with pointed, evidence based questions for the characters.

Lesson Plan #2Artifact #1

Character Trait Sheet

Character Internal Characteristics

External Characteristics

Behaviors/Actions

Charlese

Maleeka

Caleb

John-John

Mama

Ms. Saunders

Tai

Lesson Plan #2Artifact #2

Beautiful or Not Beautiful?You Be the Judge Part 1

For those of you who have volunteered to play characters from the novel in tomorrow’s lesson, you must be prepared to “take the stand” and answer questions about your internal/external characteristics as well as your behavior/actions. Be prepared to justify your actions, defend yourself, and try to position yourself in such a way as to make the jury see you as a “beautiful” person. Make sure you really know your character.

Your classmates will be asking you questions and determining whether you (your character) is beautiful or not beautiful.

Take this role seriously. Remember that you are really getting into the head of your character. You’ll have to talk and act like them and form your answers in such a way that seems reasonable to the novel. Are you guilty of some bad behavior? Do you have some pretty dubious internal character traits? Even if you the answer is yes, you might still be able to convince the jury that you are beautiful.

For those of you who will play lawyers/questioners in tomorrow’s trial, be prepared to ask questions of the characters. You have likely already formed an opinion as to whether your character is beautiful or not beautiful. Try to frame your questions in such a way as to make the person appear the way that you want them to appear. Your questions should focus on the things that the characters have done in the novel. You should really know the novel well to push your characters to justify their actions.

For those of you who will play the Jury tomorrow, be prepared to come to class with an open mind tomorrow. Listen to all the questions, testimony, and evidence and render a fair verdict. You probably feel like you have a pretty solid judgment of whether this person is beautiful or not, but wait until you hear the testimony tomorrow to cast your final judgment.

I will select a Judge tomorrow!

Everybody:

Write a few sentences about each character in your “writing seed” notebook. For each character, provide one argument in favor or calling your character beautiful, and one argument against it. (You can discuss internal or external traits) Provide textual evidence and your own justification for each of your statements.

Also, think about the work you have done today, and write a few sentences about whether you think internal or external characteristics, in general, are more important in determining whether somebody is beautiful. In other words, can a person be physically unattractive, but still be a beautiful person? Can a person be physically attractive and still be and ugly person?


You Be the Judge Part 2

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 Minutes

Place in Unit: This is the third lesson

Rationale: As we continue to ponder the question of whether a person’s beauty is defined by what’s inside or outside, we will put the characters of The Skin I’m In on trial. Students will have a chance to bring the characters to life and “interact” with them through questioning them and submitting them to their own real-world scrutiny. This lesson will give students the chance to capitalize on their innate tendency to bring themselves and their own judgments to their reading. If students give voice to these characters and engage them in conversation/dialogue in the classroom, they will have a chance to push the limits of the story as it is written on the page, and consider alternative explanations of characters’ behaviors. This exercise will help students understand that there is more than one interpretation of a literary work or character (Rosenblatt 74).

Note: I would have to assign the roles described in the lesson ahead of time, so that students had time to prepare and play their roles effectively. I imagine this lesson itself would take three days. The first day would be my going over the courtroom roles and assignments. For homework, students would begin to prepare their parts. On the second day, the trials would begin. On the third day, they would finish, and I would give students the formal writing assignment. This is at least 3-4 class days worth or work, but I am presenting it here as one lesson.

Common Core Standards:

Reading Standards

1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis or what text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text6. Analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.

Writing Standards

1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. A. Introduce claims, acknowledge opposing claims, organize logically.B. Support claims with logical reasoning and relevant evidence E. Concluding statement that supports argument presented4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task.


1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express your own clearly.A. come prepared having read and researched

B. Keep on track and adhere to roles as assignedC. Pose questions that elicit discussion and respond to others’ questions3. Evaluate speaker’s reliabilityAdjust speaking to task and audience.

Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To) Role-play, adopting the perspective and voice of a literary character or

courtroom participant. Use textual evidence to frame a conversation (trial) in class. Root

questions/answers/discussion in the frame of the novel. Make reasonable inferences about characters based upon evidence directly

stated in the novel Discuss literature with classmates Determine whether each character is beautiful, and whether external or

internal beauty is more important. Provide justification for opinions/positions.

Adopt the tone, voice, mood, and demeanor of assigned role.

Procedure (How Will I Get There?) I will begin by going over the courtroom roles and responsibilities. (See

Lesson #3 Artifact #1) (10 minutes) We will have each character “take the stand” and face the lawyers for

questioning. The lawyers will ask the characters questions to try to get them to “reveal their true personality”. Student actors will have to answer from the point of view of the character.

Characters will be cross-examined (have both “sides” pose questions to try to depict characters in their desired light.

Trial lawyers should refer to events from the novel and try to get characters to provide thoughts/insights from a first person point of view.

Characters’ responses should be “reasonable” in terms of being related back to the novel.

Upon conclusion of each character’s trial, the jury will be given time to talk about the proceedings and render a verdict. They will have to fill out and read a verdict sheet to the class. (See Lesson #3 Artifact #2)

The character and lawyers will have to leave the room and the jury will be given time to discuss the trial before rendering a verdict. A jury foreman will read the verdict to the class.

The judge will record the final verdict of each character on the White Board The trials will likely take two class periods (On day 1, the trials and

deliberations would take about 35 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes of class time to prepare, conduct trials, deliberate, and render verdicts. I realize that leaves ten minutes of class unaccounted for, but we will likely have questions and need clarification or redirection)


Students will select one of the characters from the trial and write an essay about whether they would consider this character to be a beautiful person or not. Assignment sheet (Lesson #3 Artifact #3) and Rubric (Lesson #3 Artifact #4)

Courtroom RolesLesson #3 Artifact #1

Characters from the Novel: You will answer all questions posed by the lawyers. If asked a question about something directly stated in the novel, you will need to stay faithful to the text and answer “correctly”. If you are asked a question that requires you to make inferences, have fun, but keep your answer “reasonable”.

Lawyers: You will collaborate with other students to come up with some good questions to make the character reveal his/her true personality or character traits. You can ask questions about the character’s external traits/physical appearance, but don’t neglect to ask questions that lead the character to reveal his/her inner characteristics. Here’s the Twist: Every character is entitled to a fair trial. If you are a lawyer, I will tell you whether you should try to make your character look beautiful or not beautiful.

Jury: You will listen to the questions and answers. Once each character’s trial is concluded, you will render a verdict, beautiful or not beautiful. You will have to fill in the verdict sheet and read it aloud to the classroom/court.

Judge: You will maintain order in the court. (I’ll give you a little help with that!)

Character Verdict Sheet

Lesson #3 Artifact #2

Character: __________________________________________________________

We, the jury, find the character, __________________________________, to be ____beautiful, __________not beautiful.

We base our decision on the following evidence. (Here, cite at least three points of evidence that came up in trial that brought you to your ultimate decision)

Writing Assignment


Character: Beautiful or Not Beautiful

After our character trials, we have had to really think about what criteria we use to determine whether somebody is beautiful or not.

Please select one of the characters that we put on trial and complete the following writing assignment:

Paragraph 1: Identify the character. Talk a little bit about how the character fits into the novel, and what role he/she plays. Identify whether you found beauty or not within this character. Think about our introduction format in giving a sneak peek into the paragraphs to come. Hint at the justifications you will provide in each of your upcoming paragraphs.

Paragraph 2: One of the justifications you can provide for your decision to call your character beautiful or not.

Paragraph 3: A second justification for your decision to call your character beautiful or not.

Paragraph 4: A third justification for your decision to call your character beautiful or not.

Paragraph 5: Conclusion. What weighed more heavily in your decision as to whether this person was beautiful or not? Was it their internal or external characteristics? Conclude with a statement about what can be learned from this study of your character in terms of how we determine whether a person is beautiful or not.

Note: Intro and conclusion should be between 4 and 6 sentences in length. Paragraphs 2-4 should have a topic sentence and be 5-8 sentences in length.

Use very specific evidence from the trial and from the novel to justify your position.

Rubric for Character Verdict Essay


Criteria 4-Outstanding 3-Good 2-Fair 1-PoorYour provide three

Each of your arguments is strong and

Each of your arguments is separate, but

Two of your three justifications

All three of your justifications

separate justifications as to why you took this position

substantially separate. Your justifications are not repetitive.

you repeat one or two small details repeat.

are repetitive and/or you only attempt to provide 2 justifications.

are repetitive and/or you only attempt to provide one justification.

Your justifications are firmly rooted in the novel (either directly stated information, or reasonably inferred)

You have a solid understanding of the directly stated information, and your inferences are reasonably based in the fabric of the novel.

You have a solid understanding of the directly stated information, but your inferences are a bit shaky and/or you only rely on the directly stated information (you do not “dig deeper” into the text with some meaningful inferences.

Your justifications are only loosely based upon what happened in the novel.

Your justifications are not at all based upon what happened in the novel.

Introduction Your introduction is clear, interesting, and you provide an adequate “sneak peek” at where the three body paragraphs will take the reader. Your reader is very clear on your position.

Your introduction is clear and interesting, but you don’t really provide an adequate “sneak peek” at the three body paragraphs.

You introduce the topic, but you do not announce your stance and your reader does not know where you are going in your essay

You have not done an introduction.

Awareness of audience

You are aware of the fact that

You are aware of the fact tat

You treated this as a more casual

You did not take care to

this is an academic piece of writing. Your tone is formal, your word choice is appropriate, and your work is neatly composed.

this is an academic piece of writing, but the word choice is not up to YOUR ability.

writing assignment. It was not formal enough and/or the vocabulary is too casual/informal.

treat this as a school assignment at all. It is messy, not formal, and the vocabulary is not academic.

Topic Sentences

Each paragraph had a clear topic sentence that introduced the main point of the paragraph. The supporting details all held up the topic sentence.

Each paragraph had a clear topic sentence, but the supporting details may have strayed a bit from that topic sentence, interrupting the cohesiveness of the paragraph.

In each paragraph you may have attempted a topic sentence, but the supporting details had little or nothing to do with the topic sentence.

No attempt made at topic sentences.

Conclusion You adhered fully to the conclusion directions described in your “Essay Tip Card”

You mostly adhered to the “Essay Tip Card” but you need to polish your conclusion skills a bit.

You largely ignored the “Essay Tip Card”

You made no attempt at a conclusion.


Seeing The Same Thing Through Various Sets of EyesWho Gets to Define Beauty?

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 minutesPlace in Unit: Lesson #4

Rationale: The main character in The Skin I’m In, Maleeka, has a very difficult time seeing her true self because she is so burdened by viewing herself through the eyes of the people around her. In this lesson, we will explore the fact that different people can view the same thing very differently, and how we often are so concerned with how others view us that we have a hard time figuring out what we really look like. We will look at how John-John, Sweets, Mama, Daddy, Ms. Saunders, Char, the twins, Caleb, and Desda view Maleeka. Then we will look at how she views herself and whose view of her seems to hold the most influence over her. Then we will look at how other people see Ms. Saunders as opposed to how she sees herself. Rosenblatt encourages teachers to “anticipate major needs and concerns of adolescents in society” (74) and it is impossible to imagine a 7th grader who is not angst-ridden about how others view/perceive him/her. Rosenblatt goes on to discuss the typical adolescent’s “concern with normalcy” (74) and the powerful role literature can play in helping students “see behind the façade of appearance” (81). This lesson will help students understand that how others see us often defines how we see ourselves. We need to exercise caution in determining to what extent we let the ways others view us determine the way we view ourselves.

Standards:

Reading Standards for Literature2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text; including figurative and connotative meanings

Speaking and Listening1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express you own clearly.

Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To) Analyze how the characters in the novel “see” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders and

how they “see” themselves Take on the roles (find the voice) of several characters from the novel. Provide advice to the characters in the novel Make text-to-self connections Discover how one’s self-image is shaped through how others see that person

Procedure (How Will I Get There?) Students will work in small groups (4 students per group). Each person on

the group will have to “become” one of the characters. Each group will have to feature a Maleeka and a Ms. Saunders. I will assign other characters to the remaining two group members.

Each person in the group will perform a “confessional” similar to what we see on a reality show, in which participants go to a private room to reveal

how they feel about another participant. The students playing Maleeka and Ms. Saunders will go in and confess how they “see” themselves. The other two people in the group will discuss how they “see” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders.

Each group will find textual evidence to back up their interpretation of how their appointed character “sees” Maleeka/Ms. Saunders/herself. (Students will have a worksheet to record this evidence) (Steps 2 and 3 will take 10-15 minutes)

Each group member will deliver a “confessional” revealing how they “see” the characters.. The student actors will have to adopt the voice and viewpoint of their character in the confessional.

Students will complete a confessional preparation worksheet to get ready for the presentation (Lesson #4 Artifact #1)

Although each member will present his own confessional, groups should support each other in writing up and preparing their confessionals. (20 minutes to prepare and rehearse. Students will be given rehearsal time tomorrow as well. The actual confessionals will be put on tomorrow so that students have ample time to prepare) For homework, students should go home and practice delivery of their confessional.

After the delivery of the “confessionals” students in the whole class will discuss which voices are strongest in the character’s head (in other words, whose “lens” most influences the character’s view of herself?) (10 minutes on day two, confessionals)

Each student will write an individual letter to Maleeka and Ms. Saunders, giving them advice as to how to find their own beauty.

Assessment

I will assess students’ “confessionals” based upon a rubric (Lesson #4 Artifact #2).

Student letters to Maleeka and/or Ms. Saunders (Lesson #4 Artifact #3). Individual assignment.

What is BeautyLesson #4 Artifact #1

Confessional Preparation Worksheet.

Directions: Work with your group to determine how your assigned character “sees” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders, or how Maleeka and Ms. Saunders see themselves. Find evidence from the book to justify your findings.

Find at least three examples from the book to indicate how your character “sees” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders.

Example: I have done John-John for you as an example. You can refer to this when you are completing your character’s “view” of Maleeka and Ms. Saunders.

How does John-John see Maleeka?

John-John sees Maleeka as being unimportant. On page 2 he tells Ms. Saunders, “She ain’t nobody worth knowing.”

He thinks Maleeka is “too black” and ugly. On page 3 he says, “I don’t see no pretty, jus a whole lotta black.” Then he sings the song he made up about Maleeka: “Maleeka Maleeka baboom boom boom. We sure wanna keep her, baboom boom boom. But she’s so black, baboom boom boom, we just can’t see her.”

On page 45, John-John tells Maleeka that she is “uppity” because she gets good grades in school. He accuses Maleeka of thinking she is better than other people.

Presentation/Confessional:

In reality shows, participants often go to a secret room and reveal how they truly feel about other people on the show. In this exercise, you will become your character and you will reveal how you really “see” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders. If you have decided to play Maleeka or Ms. Saunders, you will discuss how you “see” yourself.

Work with your group to prepare. What tone of voice would your character use? What kind of vocabulary do they use? Try to really become your character. Remember that even though you are performing your own confessional, you are working as a group and the more you support each other (in finding textual evidence and finding the “voice” of your character, the stronger your entire performance will be).

Your confessional should include the three pieces of evidence you found in the novel. Your confessional should be rooted in the text and be a reasonable interpretation of how your character “views” Maleeka and Ms. Saunders. You wouldn’t make reference to page numbers as if you were talking about a novel, but rather you would talk about events as thought you had lived through them.

What is Beauty?Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes Of Others


Confessional Rubric/Character “Sees” Maleeka

Criteria 4-Outstanding

3-Good 2-Fair 1-Poor

Uses textual evidence to determine how well your assigned character “sees” others. Your descriptions of events are detailed and really “pull the audience in”

You are very faithful to the text in representing how your character “sees” others.

You loosely use some textual references to ground your “confessional”

You seem to know a bit about how your character woud “see” others but you don’t use specific textual evidence.

Your judgment does not rely on textual evidence and/or is not factual.

Adopts your character’s voice/tone in addressing the class.You clearly put a lot of thought into adopting your character’s voice, tone, vocabulary, gestures, and attitude. You clearly had some fun with the assignment and tried to breathe life into your character.

Accurate. You bring the character to life through gestures, vocabulary, and attitude. There are a couple of minor lapses out of character, but it does not cause major rupture to the presentation and you largely stay in character.

Good. You understand your character and how he/she feels about Maleeka and Ms. Saunders, but you didn’t really “capture” the personality and bring it to life. You mostly seemed to “be yourself” up there, although your interpretation of the character was largely reasonable.

Fair. You answered the question, but your details were not very specific and/or you didn’t really try to bring your character to life. You basically wrote/presented as yourself.

Poor. Your information was not accurate or reasonably based on the novel. You did not try to adopt the personality of your character at all.

Written Confessional. (Voice and detail criteria from above)

Engagement with Audience

You projected your voice clearly throughout the entire confessional. We could hear everything you said. You maintained eye contact with your audience throughout.

You tried to project clearly. We could hear almost everything, but there were a couple of minor things we couldn’t catch. You maintained eye contact throughout.

You were somewhat difficult to hear. You needed some reminders to speak up and maintain eye contact.

You were extremely difficult to hear. You were not looking at the audience.


Beauty Through the Eyes of Others

Letter to Ms. Saunders or Maleeka

Write a letter to Ms. Saunders or Maleeka. As you can see in the reading, the other characters are rather harsh in their judgments of Maleeka and Ms. Saunders. Select one of these two characters and write a letter. In your letter, describe to your

character why you think she is beautiful and why she should consider herself a beautiful and valuable person. You are writing the letter as yourself, not as a character in the novel.

If you wish to write to another character, come and talk with me about your plan. I can help you “tweak” the assignment.

Your letter should be at least ten sentences in length and in it, you should make specific references to strengths that the character exhibits within the novel. It should, however, not just be a list of references to the novel. It should really contain a personal message from you to this character.


Further Thinking About How People View the Same Things DifferentlyThis lesson will take two class periods

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 minutesPlacement in Unit: Lesson #5

Reasoning: I want students to further consider how different sets of eyes can see the same object very differently, that no one person can declare with uncontested authority that something is or is not beautiful. This lesson will help students further understand that we need to find ways to identify what is beautiful in others, and to respect the perspectives and opinions that others bring to a discussion. We will be building off of the previous lesson in which students identified the way characters viewed each other and how they internalized these attitudes and opinions in forming their views of themselves. In this lesson, we will further explore the idea of how people see each other differently.


Reading Standards for Literature1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly as well as what inferences are drawn.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text; including figurative and connotative meanings6. Analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of view of different characters or narrators in a text7. Interpret by analyzing how an author uses symbolism and point of view8. Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium’s portrayal of the subject (How the new delivery impacts the meaning of the words.)


1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express your own.2. Analyze and explain ideas

Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To)

Discuss the differences between how Papa, John-John, and Caleb view Maleeka. (Determine what each one “sees” when looking at Maleeka.

Find textual evidence to support claims and opinions expressed in class. Read the Langston Hughes poem, “Harlem Sweeties” and try to establish a

connection between this poem and the novel The Skin I’m In. (Make a text-to-text connection) Text-to-Text connection.

Analyze and discuss the power of words to influence the way people see and feel about themselves.

Procedure:

We will take a look at the three different poems/songs that characters in the novel have written about Maleeka. We will discuss how each poem differs and what it says about how the character in question views Maleeka. I will offer students a worksheet with all three poems and a place for them to respond silently before opening up discussion to the entire class. (See Lesson #5 Artifact #1) (10 minutes)

We will discuss the worksheet poems and questions. (10 minutes) I will distribute a very brief biography on Langston Hughes, identifying him

as a poet whose goal was to impart a sense of pride in his fellow African-Americans. We will read it out loud together and then I will give students a printed copy of Hughes’ poem, “Harlem Sweeties.” (Lesson #5 Artifact #2) (10 minutes)

Students will have a difficult time with “Harlem Sweeties” because it contains a lot of words with which they are unfamiliar. I will ask them to circle or underline words they do not know as they read. (5 minutes)

I will ask students to identify the words they do know and we will come to the conclusion pretty quickly that the poem is “about food.” (10 minutes)

I will then let students call out words or phrases that they found unfamiliar. (3-4 minutes)

I will show a smart board presentation of the poem that I have created to help with challenging vocabulary. I have turned each line into a slide with an accompanying visual. Students will catch on that they are seeing pictures of the words they do not know. They will realize that indeed the entire poem is about food. (10 minutes)

We will do one read through where I let the students ooh and amah over the pictures of chocolate, cake, sugar, etc. I will ask students how the poem made them feel, and how he wanted us to feel about African-American women? How did Hughes want African-American women to see themselves? Why did he choose to compare the color of their skin to the food items we’ve just looked at? (10-15 minutes of brainstorm and discussion)

Then I will ask the students to redirect their focus. I will ask them to think about the poems from the novel, the handout on Hughes, and the Hughes poem. I will give them a moment to briefly jot down on the worksheet what they think the Hughes poem has to do with The Skin I’m In and with this lesson in particular.


Students will participate in class discussion and I will collect their homework with their analysis of the novel poems as well as their explanation of how the Hughes poem is connected

Students will complete a homework sheet analyzing what Langston Hughes would say to each of the characters discussed in today’s work. (See Lesson #5 Artifact #3)

Students will be able to make the text-to-text connection between the messages in Hughes poem (that all black women are beautiful, no matter

what skin tone they are) and The Skin I’m In (where Maleeka is put down specifically because of her skin color and internalizes that view of herself).

Students will be able to reasonable guess what Langston Hughes would say to each of the characters of The Skin I’m In if he came face to face with them.

Lesson #5 Artifact #1 (Poems from Novel)

Reread each of the things that characters have written or said about other characters’ skin color . After each one, write your thoughts about what you think this reveals about the speaker’s feelings and attitudes and what his thoughts mean.

On page 13, Caleb writes a note to Maleeka saying, “I like your eyes and your sweet cocoa brown skin.”

Your reflection:

On page 3, we see John-John’s “Boom Boom” song for the first time. “Maleeka Maleeka baboom boom boom. We sure wanna keep her baboom boom boom. But she’s so black baboom boom boom. We just can’t see her.

Your reflection:

On page 17 Maleeka says her classmate Malcolm Moore is “half and half- got a white dad and a black momma. He’s lucky. He looks more like his dad than his mom.”

On page 39, Maleeka talks about the girls at the fancy school across town. She says, “And them fancy girls…they looked like they come out of a magazine. Long, straight hair. Skin the color of potato chips and cashews and Mary Jane candies. No Almond Joy-colored girls like me.”

On page 94, when Maleeka defends herself against the boys who try to sexually assault her, one of them yells angrily, “You black thing!”

On page 124 Maleeka finds the poem that her late dad wrote to her. It says:

BrownBeautiful BrilliantMy my MaleekaIs Brown Beautiful BrilliantMine


Harlem SweetiesLangston Hughes

Have you dug the spill Of Sugar Hill?Cast your gimsOn this sepia thrill: Brown sugar lassie, Caramel treat, Honey-gold baby

Sweet enough to eat. Peach-skinned girlie, Coffee and cream, Chocolate darling Out of a dream. Walnut tintedOr cocoa brown, Pomegranate-lipped Pride of the town. Rich cream-colored To plum-tinted black, Feminine sweetness In Harlem’s no lack. Glow of the quince To blush of the rose. Persimmon bronze To cinnamon toes. Blackberry cordial, Virginia Dare wine—All those sweet colors Flavor Harlem of mine! Walnut or cocoa, Let me repeat:Caramel, brown sugar, A chocolate treat. Molasses taffy,Coffee and cream, Licorice, clove, cinnamon To a honey-brown dream. Ginger, wine-gold, Persimmon, blackberry,All through the spectrumHarlem girls vary—So if you want to know beauty’s Rainbow-sweet thrill,Stroll down luscious,

Delicious, fine Sugar Hill.

Questions to consider following our first reading:

Do you think you “got” this poem?What do you think it’s about?Do you think you see how it is connected to the novel?

Questions to consider after reading our Langston Hughes biographical handout:

Do you think you “got” this poem?What do you think it’s about?Do you think you see how it is connected to the novel?

Questions to consider after viewing the Smart board visual presentation of the poem:

Do you think you “got” this poem?What do you think it’s about?Do you think you see how it is connected to the novel?Does the visual presentation help you understand any tricky words?What/whom is Langston Hughes talking about?What is his message?How does he create a pleasant/beautiful picture of his intended subject? How do his words help him make his subject look beautiful? In other words, why did he choose these specific images/symbols?


(Homework)

Based upon our discussion of Langston Hughes and his poem “Harlem Sweeties”, what do you think he would say to each of the following characters from The Skin I’m In?

Maleeka:

Caleb:

John-John:

Daddy:

The two boys who attacked Maleeka:

Lesson #6Beauty in Setting

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 minutesPlace in Unit: Lesson #6

Rationale:

So far we have devoted much of our time to discussing beauty as it pertains to people. In this lesson, we will shift our focus to discuss the beauty of various settings/places seen throughout the novel, The Skin I’m In. We will have a chance to discuss setting in terms of location, time, and the people in the character’s social circle. Students will be able to determine whether they would

prefer one setting over another when asked to compare various settings throughout the novel. We will explore the idea that setting is more than just where the story takes place. The setting is also made up of the timeframe/span, the people, and the psychological context (Blau 2003). We will try to consider the fact that beauty in setting is not limited to the physical place in which the story takes place. Characters can be in an unattractive place, but if they are surrounded by good people and the place is safe, then it could be considered a more beautiful setting than a physically beautiful but lonely place.


Reading Literature:1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from text.2. Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact 6. Analzye how an author develops and contrasts point of view of different characters or narrators in a text

Writing Standards1. Writes arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence

Speaking and Listening Standards

1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions4. Present claims and findings emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples. Use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks

Mastery Objective (I Will Be Able To) Participate in a debate, citing specific pieces of evidence from a novel and

add personal opinions to strengthen arguments Follow debate format Work collaboratively with partners to anticipate opposing arguments and

prepare responses Be impartial in determining which team had the stronger argument Prepare a debate by formulating arguments, anticipating opposing

arguments, and preparing responses to those opposing arguments. Listen to my opponents and stay on track within a given topic. (Respond

directly to a point raised as opposed to just throwing out your own random, unrelated idea)

Procedure:

Do Now: Students will do a quick journal write. “What is the most beautiful place you can think of? It can be real or imagined. What does it

look/sound/smell/feel/taste like. Who is there? What do you/can you do there? (5 minutes)

We will discuss the free-writes and remind ourselves of the fact that settings are not just about a place. Rather they are about the people, events, and sensory triggers we associate with that place. (5 minutes)

I will project a concentric circle sheet showing Smith’s layers of setting, describing micro-people with whom we are in constant interaction, mezzo, and macro. Students will also have a worksheet for their own binders. We will also discuss the psychological elements of setting, that the way a place makes us feel is important in determining whether that place is beautiful. (10 minutes)

Students will be broken up into debate teams. We will have separate debates: Maleeka’s house v. Char’s house. McClenton Middle School v. Sweets’s private school. Present Time (of story) v. Maleeka’s Slave Diary Time.

For each debate, students will be given a side that they must defend. They will be given time to think of the strengths of their setting, and the weaknesses of the opposing setting. They will also try to anticipate what the opposing team will say against their setting and have responses at the ready. Students will be given a debate flow sheet to take notes and keep track of ideas during the debate. They can start filling in their initial arguments and anticipations during group prep. (20 minutes).

Students will be given a debate instruction sheet and we will go over the rules and protocols for debate. (5 minutes)

We will hold each debate. The first team will argue, the second will respond, and the first team will have the final say. This “volley” will be allowed 4 times, so that each team can start twice. (7-10 minutes per debate)

For each debate, the students not involved in that particular session will be the judges of who wins the debate and ultimately, which of the two settings is more beautiful. They will have to award a point winner after each of the four points is made. If a fifth point is needed for a tie breaker, the debate will continue.

By the end of class, a winner of each “heat” will have emerged. For homework, students should select one of the issues they did NOT

personally debate, and write a review of the debate, including whether or not they agreed with the outcome. An instruction sheet will be provided to help students with homework. They should summarize points made and add any details they feel could strengthen their position.


Students will participate in and listen attentively to debates Students will complete a written assignment weighing in on the ultimate

decision of one of the debates, citing evidence from the novel and offering personal justification/opinions.

Lesson 7How Do People See Beauty? Where Do People Find Beauty? How Do People

Express Thoughts on Beauty?

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 MinutesPlace in Unit: Lesson #7

Rationale: After exploring this question by using The Skin I’m In as a backdrop, it is time for us to look at other pieces of art to explore the issue. I will refer back to one of our essential questions, “Who gets to decide what is beautiful?” for this lesson. In this exercise, students will have the opportunity to work with popular culture if they so choose by bringing in song lyrics from popular songs.

Standards:

Reading Standards for Literature

1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text8. Interpret by analyzing how author uses literary elements9. Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape the presentation of ideas

Writing Standards:

3. Writes short narratives or poems that demonstrate understanding of literary concepts of mood, tone, point of view, symbolism

Speaking and Listening:

1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express your own ideas clearly.2. Analyze and explain main ideas in literature

Objectives (I Will Be Able To) Analyze a piece of art to determine what the producer of the artwork is

saying about beauty, and how he/she defines it. Engage in discussion with classmates about the various works of art that are

presented Appreciate and agree or disagree with a person’s take on what constitutes

beauty. Annotate a poem or song lyrics with thoughts, ideas, or questions. Respond to the thoughts, ideas, and questions of classmates. Answer and ask “fat questions” that require deeper thought and analysis

about a piece of literature, rather than straight comprehension or fact-finding.

Analyze how an author feels about a topic and/or how the author seems to want to make the reader feel

Identify symbols or metaphors and discuss why authors sometimes convey ideas symbolically rather than “directly”

Procedures: Students will come to school having chosen song lyrics or a poem that

addresses issue of beauty or that describes something/someone in a beautiful manner.

They will write out the song lyrics or poem on a piece of large chart paper, leaving space in the margins for people to write notes, thoughts, and questions. (5 minutes)

I will do a think-aloud with the poem “A Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Shahib Nye. I will have copied the poem onto chart paper ahead of

time. I will pretend I am a student seeing this poem for the first time. In the margins, I can write comments that fall into these 4 categories: ? for question, * for something I like, # for what I think is the author’s big message about beauty, or x to indicate something I disagree with/don’t like. (10 minutes)

Students will answer the questions about the poem linked here: http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/magazines/scope/pdfs/SCOPE-REPRO-051412-09.pdf

Students will carousel around the room, reading their classmates’ songs and poems, and writing on posters around the room. Students will have to write on at least 5 posters. They do not have to use all of the symbols on each of the five, but they must show that they have given thought to 5 different posters. (15-20 minutes)

I will ask several students to present their poems or lyrics and share with the class what message about beauty they felt was conveyed in the work. They will also comment upon some of the notes that have been written in the margins and address questions or ideas left by classmates. (10 minutes)

Students will write a review of the activity, noting whether most of the works they read emphasized internal or external beauty, whether they thought beauty was presented using predictable or unusual comparisons, etc.

Students will write a poem of their own about beauty itself, or about the beauty found within a certain person/place/object.


Students will participate meaningfully in the carousel activity and in class discussion

Students will analyze works of poetry or song lyrics brought in by other students, asking themselves and their classmates what messages are contained within these works.

Students will answer the “fat question” of whether Ernest Mann was selfish in giving his wife a skunk for Valentine’s Day. Students will have to justify their opinions.

Students will ask a “fat question” about one of the poems or songs displayed in the classroom today. The “fat questions” will be attached to the work in question and each student will have to pick a classmate’s “fat question” to answer in the next class period.

Students will write a poem of their own about beauty or about the beauty found within a certain person/place/object. If students choose to, they can go back to the “Harlem Sweeties” poem by Langston Hughes and use that as a mode in writing about the beauty in a specific color.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/magazines/scope/pdfs/SCOPE-REPRO-051412-09.pdf

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/magazines/scope/pdfs/SCOPE-REPRO-051412-09.pdf

Lesson 7Artifact 1

Valentine for Ernest Mann

You can't order a poem like you order a taco.Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"

and expect it to be handed back to youon a shiny plate.Still, I like your spirit.

Anyone who says, "Here's my address,write me a poem," deserves something in reply.

So I'll tell you a secret instead:poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,

they are sleeping. They are the shadows

drifting across our ceilings the momentbefore we wake up. What we have to do

is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wifetwo skunks for a valentine.

He couldn't understand why she was crying."I thought they had such beautiful eyes."

And he was serious. He was a serious manwho lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly

just because the world said so. He reallyliked those skunks.

So, he reinvented themas valentines and they became beautiful.

At least, to him. And the poems that had been hidingin the eyes of the skunks for centuriescrawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we reinvent whatever our lives give uswe find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock

in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.And let me know.

- Naomi Shihab Nye


What is the price of beauty? Current events piece

Course: Grade 7 ELAPlacement in Unit: Lesson #7Duration: 55 Minutes

Rationale: We have discussed the complicated issue of defining beauty through close examination of literary works. At this point, we are ready to take a closer look at this question as it plays out in the real world. In this lesson, we will take a look at the price of beauty and the difficulties teens can face when their peers determine that they do not meet their exacting standards of beauty. These real life articles of teens that have navigated the troubled waters of being judged based solely on their physical appearances.


Reading Standards for Informational Text

1. Cite several pieces of evidence to support analysis of hat text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn2. Determine two or more central ideas and analyze their development over the course of the article. Provide an objective summary of the article.3. Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g. how ideas influence people and how people influence ideas)4. Analyze the impact of specific word choice on meaning and tone5. Analyze structure author uses to organize a text, including how major sections/images contribute to whole and development of ideas6. Determine author’s point of view and purpose8. Trace and evaluate arguments and specific claims in a text

Writing Standards:

7. Conduct short research projects to answer a question, draw on several sources and generate additional, related, focused questions for further research/discussion.8. Gather research from multiple print and media sources9. Draw evidence from literary or informative texts to support analysis, reflection, and research

Speaking and Listening Standards:

1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Build on others’ ideas and express your own ideas clearly.b. Keep on track, follow roles as needed/assignedc. Pose questions that elicit discussion and respond to others’ questions

Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To) Read and discuss current events articles Participate in “save the last word for me” activity, which requires students to

identify and talk what they think is most important part of an article Listen to and ask questions of classmates, piggybacking comments directly

upon the lead speaker for a round of “last word”. In other words, students will need to stay on-topic and not randomly introduce their own topics/ideas.

Identify pressures placed on teens featured in the article, teens reactions to those pressures, and repercussions faced by the teen (impact on teen’s life)

Make text-to-self connections in discussing similar person experiences, or text-to-text connections in relating these articles to The Skin I’m In, other articles, or other written works they’ve read independently.

Discuss the tone/mood of the article. Read non-fiction articles, paying particular attention to how articles are

organized (pictures/subheadings, etc.) Determine purpose of a text (why is the author telling us about this?)

Procedure (How Will I Get There?) We will play a round of “yes”/”no”. I will ask students a series of questions

about bullying, discrimination based upon physical appearance, etc. I will ask questions such as: I feel that sometimes people judge me based upon the way I look. Sometimes I judge people based solely on the way they look. I think you can tell a lot about a person just by looking at them. If I don’t like the way I person looks, I will not hang out with them. If I had a friend whose appearance other people disliked, I would stop hanging out with that friend. I have teased people based upon their appearance. I have been teased because of my appearance. I have tried to change my appearance to fit in with other kids. The game functions as follows: For each question, students write “y” for yes or “n” for no on a small piece of paper. The papers are then all thrown into a cup and randomly distributed to students. Students go to one side of the room if they have a “Y” and to the other side of the room if they have “N.” This gives us a chance to see the breakdown in responses to each question, and to see what experiences people have had. Why the secrecy and redistribution of papers? These questions can be tough for kids to own up to publicly, so if each student randomly gets a Y or N sheet, he or she is simply a physical representation of the answer. Students understand that people standing on a side of the room did not necessarily provide the answer they are physically representing. (10 minutes)

I will divide students into groups of 3. Each group will be given a current events article about a young person who

has faced harassment, bullying, or isolation based solely on their physical appearance.

Articles are linked here: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/TheLaw/school-bullying-epidemic-turning-

deadly/story?id=11880841#.UDOj344lZFI http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/us/new-york-bullied-bus-monitor/

index.html http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-23/us/bullying.suicide_1_bullies-gay-tired?

_s=PM:US http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024210,00.html Students will read the articles silently first, marking up the text with notes,

questions, thoughts, etc. Each student will find the sentence or paragraph that he/she thinks is the most important of the text and underline it for discussion. (10 minutes)

Once students have completed their silent reading of the article, they will engage in an activity called, “Save the last word for me”. The activity words as follows: The first student in the group reads the statement he/she chose as the most important in the article and reveals why they chose that particular article. (3 minutes) The other group members each take a minute to comment upon that part of the article. They can discuss why they also think it’s important or raise questions about it, etc. Finally, the original

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024210,00.html

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-23/us/bullying.suicide_1_bullies-gay-tired?_s=PM:US

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-23/us/bullying.suicide_1_bullies-gay-tired?_s=PM:US

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/us/new-york-bullied-bus-monitor/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/us/new-york-bullied-bus-monitor/index.html

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/TheLaw/school-bullying-epidemic-turning-deadly/story?id=11880841#.UDOj344lZFI

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/TheLaw/school-bullying-epidemic-turning-deadly/story?id=11880841#.UDOj344lZFI

student (the one who selected that part to read) takes a minute to tell the group why he/she chose that part of the article as the most important. The activity continues until all students have had a chance to share their selected passages and hear/give commentary. (18-20 minutes)

I will keep time, reminding students when to change speakers. It is important to observe the time constraints so each student has an opportunity to share equally.

After each group has discussed their respective article, they will share out to the rest of the group by briefly summarizing the article and some of their discussion points. We will open up the discussion to broader points about what we’ve learned about the effects of “not fitting in” or being excluded based upon appearance. We will discuss how these teens were affected, and what we can learn about how we should treat other people within our 7th grade community. (10 minutes)

For homework, students will take one of the articles they did not read in class and write a reflection upon it in their writing seed/reading response notebooks. It will take a friendly letter format to me. In the letter, they will reflect and I will respond, asking at least one question, to which the student will eventually reply.

Assessment (How Will I Show What I know):

Students will participate productively in their “Save the Last Word For Me” activity, and will complete their reflections on articles for homework.

Lesson 9: More Current Events Work/Magazine Covers Expectations Messages from

Media

Course: Grade 7 ELAPlacement in Unit: Lesson #9Duration: 55 Minutes

Rationale: Yesterday we looked at articles chronicling the struggles of teens who have endured harassment based solely on their physical appearance. We discussed the damaging and long lasting psychological effects. Where do these expectations for beauty come from? Who dictates what we’re “supposed” to look like? Where do we get these ideas? I would like students to understand the effects of media in pushing kids to strive for perfection. As Rosenblatt points out, “newspapers and mass media reflect stereotypes and social expectations” (87) and she proposes introducing activities that allow us to “fully counterbalance the great weight of influences met in surrounding society and in such institutions as media or television” (88). This lesson will allow us to look critically at the media and not just passively accept the messages put forth.


Objectives (I will be able to ):

Look critically at images in media and understand pressure that is placed upon teens to look and act “perfectly”

Discuss the obstacles that get in the way of our looking/living like the media tells us we should

Recognize the hurtful effects of trying to live up the expectations set forth by the media

Determine what the images presented by the media are trying to “tell us”. Put together a collage with a “This is what the media is really trying to tell us”

tagline.

Procedure (How Will I Get There)

I will project some magazine covers on the Smart board. I will show covers of publications such as “Seventeen, Cosmo, Vogue, GQ” and other magazines that idealize physical attractiveness.

I will ask students to look at the covers and keep a list of anything they notice. I will give them a worksheet guiding them to note what they notice about people, objects, and printed messages on the covers. I will project the images and ask students to refrain from discussion so that they can make independent observations. (10 minutes)

After we have viewed several covers, I will ask students what they saw and ask if the covers seemed to have any features in common. I expect students will note attractive people, celebrities, expensive clothing, etc. They will likely also note that messages are telling people to lose weight, wear more fashionable/expensive clothes, etc. We will look back at images to refresh our memories. (5-10 minutes)

We will discuss what these covers are “saying” to people and how they are trying to pull people in. What “message” is being delivered? (5 minutes)

I will have many publications in the classroom for students to leaf through. I will ask students to work in groups of 3 to find 10 images/messages that they feel typify the message the media is sending to young people. They should look for images that dictate appearance, trends, items that teens “must have”, etc.

Students will make a collage with these images, but their images will feature a tag line rejecting this impossible standard, or warning people not to fall for the hype. (30 minutes for last two steps)

Exit Slip. Reflect: Do you feel like you “fall for” the media “hype”? (5 minutes)

Students will start tomorrow’s class by sharing their collages, explaining their tag lines, and discussing their work/thinking.

An alternative assignment will be to construct a two-sided collage. One side can be about “What the Media Tells Me I Should Be” and the other side can be “What I Really Am”.


Students will be graded on their collage, their presentation and explanation of their tagline to the class, as well as on their participation in small group work.

Lesson 10: Public Service Announcements

What is Beauty?

Course: Grade 7 ELADuration: 55 MinutesPlacement in Unit: Culminating activity. This lesson will be instructional or preparational. Students will start thinking about the PSA, selecting groups, brainstorming. Students will have a week (including some classroom time) to work on their PSAs.

Rationale: We have explored this question of “What is Beauty” throughout the unit. Hopefully we have determined that a person’s beauty comes from within, and that we should not judge people solely on their physical appearances. We have also looked at the forces (media, peers, parents, culture) that influence the way we “see ourselves.” We have determined that the messages we get area not always positive, and in fact, can be quite hurtful and damaging. To that end, students will write public service announcements to specific audiences (bullies, media outlets, parents, targets of bullying, etc.) about what beauty is, and how to either stop negative messages, or continue positive messages directed at teens.) This will give students a chance to think about taking agency in this issue and speaking directly to the people who they feel are power-holders and can affect changes. The study of literature can have a “powerful influence on future behavior” (Rosenblatt 184). This activity will help students use their voices to raise awareness.


Writing Standards:1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

A. Introduce claims and organize logicallyB. Support claims with relevant evidenceC. Use words and phrases that create cohesion and clarify relationships among

claims, reasons, and evidence.D. Formal StyleE. Concluding statement that supports argument presented

2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant ideas/arguments/content. A. Introduce topic clearly, organize ideas/concepts/information B. Develop topic with relevant facts, concrete details, quotations or other Information and examples. C. Create clarity and cohesion among ideas D. Use precise language and domain specific vocabulary E. Conclusion statement3. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Speaking and Listening Standards:1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. 4. Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples. Use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.5. Include multi-media components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks. Mastery Objectives (I Will Be Able To):

Synthesize the issues we have discussed throughout the unit to deliver your own personal message about beauty

Target a message to a specific audience Use domain-specific vocabulary and messaging Make use of technology (Microsoft Movie Maker or Power Points or the

equivalent Apple programs) Write and narrate message Present message to class, with rationale for the audience chosen and the

content of the message Answer classmates’ questions Find an appropriate “real person” to whom you can send your presentation Listen respectfully to classmates’ presentations and ask questions. Offer cause and effect relationships (the quest for beauty gives rise to which

effects….the bullying gives rise to which outcomes, etc.)

Construct a persuasive argument that will get your audience to seriously consider your ideas and make any changes you are requesting/see the topic from your perspective

Procedure (How Will I Get There?)

We will brainstorm a list of the people who we have identified as influencing our definitions of beauty and how we see “ourselves” (Peers, friends, relatives, media, movies, younger students, etc.)

We will revisit our “I’m Onto the Media” collages as a reminder of how we identified how the media is trying to make us feel about ourselves.

I will ask students to do a quick write, “If you could tell any of the influential people/forces what they should really know about how they make you feel, who would you pick and what would you say?”

I will explain what public service announcements (PSA) are and show a few examples on the Smart Board. (I have a few anti-drug, stay-in-school, stop bullying PSAs in mind. I will track those down and play them for students).

We will identify what characteristics PSAs tend to have (recognizable speaker, facts/figures/statistics, emotional appeal, plea to the audience to think about the issue, description of impact of issue that speaker wants to change, potential good that can come about if change is affected)

Students will be given an opportunity to work in groups of three (although if students want to work alone or in groups of two, I could be persuaded.) They will be given time in class to brainstorm the following: Audience, content of message, tone of delivery (comical, serious, emotional, etc.) They will be given an instruction sheet, explaining the task and my expectations in full detail. All students in the group will have to perform (appear on screen, or participate in Power Point or movie voice over) in the presentation.


Grading rubric will be distributed describing the criteria of awareness of task/audience, strength and clarity of message, description of current problem and why a change is needed, suggestion as to how change can be made, appeal to the audience describing specifically why they are being addressed, quality of video, written script.

Documents

engl611-mueller.wikispaces.umb.eduengl611-mueller.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/What is... · Web viewMiddle school kids are desperate to fit in and to be accepted by their peers