Understanding by Design American Poetry mini unit

Understanding By Design Lesson Template

Title of Lesson	Poetry and the American Voice (silenced or not)		Grade Level	8
Curriculum Area	Language Arts		Time Frame	3 days
Developed By	Gina Grosso
Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)
Content Standards
*Compare and contrast the points of view and purposes of two authors writing about the same topic. *Produce writing in which the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in Standards 1–3 above.)
Understandings			Essential Question(s)
Overarching Understanding			Overarching		Topical
Students will understand that: The American voice is complex and the definition of the “unified” voice is often misconstrued. Marginalization has occurred throughout America’s history and plays a huge part in the Harlem Renaissance. Poetry can be used as a vehicle for self expression for many different reasons ranging from political view points to personal pain Haiku poetry, while short and controlled, can be used to express intense images and emotions			* Why do we want to believe in a “unified” American voice? What does it mean to be truly American? How is silence powerful and evil? How does poetry shape our understanding of our American identity? How has marginalization shaped the American fabric of yesterday and today? What is the American fabric made of? How are you engrained in the American fabric?		*How are Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes fathers of American poetry? * Why is haiku just as powerful as longer poetic forms? * How did the Harlem Renaissance shape poets of today and yesterday? *Why is the African American voice so powerful? Why did America want to silence it? *How does American continue to silence people? * What would we say, if we had the chance, to the silenced and the silencers?
Related Misconceptions
* America is one, big, happy, unified family. Racism no longer exists . Silence is golden. Poetry is boring and is primarily about love and for girls.
Knowledge Students will know…			Skills Students will be able to…
*key ideas about poetic terminology including tone, form, figurative language, etc. * important components of the ideas of marginalization, the ever changing “American voice”, and haiku poetry *basic ideas about the Harlem Renaissance and its poetic contributions *Who Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes are *how to use the written and oral medium to express changing view points on complex topics.			*compare and contrast “I Hear America Singing” and “I, Too, Sing America” using a Venn Diagram. *identify what the American “voice” is made of through the use of free writing and poetic analysis. *express their ideas about marginalization through the use of Haiku poetry * debate and dialogue through mediums like fishbowl, Socratic seminars, blogs, and wikispaces
Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
Performance Task Description
Goal	Express the ideas of marginalization throughout American history using the haiku form, blogging, and a Socratic seminar
Role	First person perspective of Native American, Japanese American, Afghani American, Mexican American, or African American who has experienced racism in this country.
Audience	America
Situation	responding to feeling of oppression and silencing
Product/Performance	haiku poetry, silence letters, Socratic seminar
Standards	see above
Other Evidence
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Where are your students headed? Where have they been? How will you make sure the students know where they are going?		*Use a KWL chart to assess prior knowledge of the ideas of poetry, Harlem Renaissance history, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, marginilazation, etc. *Use a Do Now to generate student ideas about what the American “voice” is comprised of.
How will you hook students at the beginning of the unit?		*music such as The National Anthem, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Siahamba Kukinani Quanko(African tribal music), Latin rhythm music, rap, classical: How is this music “American” or “UnAmerican”
What events will help students experience and explore the big idea and questions in the unit? How will you equip them with needed skills and knowledge?		*analysis of Whitman and Hughes poetry, critically looking at poetic devices, but really focusing on their similarities and differences, especially concentrating on the concept of the American voice. This activity will be done utilizing share pair groups, as well as large group discussion and sharing *fishbowl discussion focused on questions pertaining to cultural groups that have been marginalized throughout American history. *cultural exclusion haiku (group brainstorm and written together) *type one writing focusing on what makes up the American fabric. How are we part of it? How do we exclude others? How do we make it cohesive? Should it be cohesive? What is the risk of it being broken? *Letter to the silenced/silencer (students will address those who have silenced others voices and those who have been silenced to show a true level of empathy or empowerment to right was wrong.
How will you cause students to reflect and rethink? How will you guide them in rehearsing, revising, and refining their work?		*students will use their Do Now journals as initial reflective pieces. *They will also use graphic organizers such as Venn Diagrams to analyze poetry, as well as a “Questions to ask of any Poem” guide. *The fishbowl experience with help students generate ideas for reflection about their haiku poems. *Haiku will be written in a group but will undergo the editing process including peer editing, revisionary work, and rehearsal for the delivery of the final product. *The type 1 writing and “silence” letters will be the final vehicle for reflection and rethinking *Socratic Seminar for final ideas about the American concept
How will you help students to exhibit and self-evaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and understanding throughout the unit?		Rubrics will be provided for several of the ideas talked about above that will help students with self reflection. Discussions will also be used to share ideas of growth and development, as well as do now journals, and reflection components to the final written pieces and Socratic seminar.
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize the learning plan to optimize the engagement and effectiveness of ALL students, without compromising the goals of the unit?		Allowing students choice when it comes to cultural groups for the haiku experience, as well as options in the letter writing and type 1 writing exercises will help to give students personal freedom and opportunity while still focusing on the essential goals of the unit.
How will you organize and sequence the learning activities to optimize the engagement and achievement of ALL students?		1.KWL chart 2.Do Now: American Voice 3. Music Interrogation 4. Whitman/Hughes poetic analysis/Venn diagram 5. marginalization fishbowl 6. Group Haiku write, peer edit, revision, rehearsal 7. Type 1 Writing (Blog) 8. Silence Letters (Wikispace) 9. Final reflection (Socratic seminar)
Reflection		It was definitely challenging to create this unit. I've actually done a lesson similar to this before, but when I started approaching planning with the UbD methodology, it became abundantly apparent to me that it was missing many reflective opportunities for my students. In fact, I'm still not a 100% sure that I was doing this correctly. I know that I have pretty vague understanding of the concept and know that really mastering this would take a lot more time and practice. At first, I found this approach to be a little bit confusing, maybe even frustrating; it almost reminded me of a puzzle. At first, it looks impossible, and then you have a moment of clarity where it all starts to make sense. You get one section and then the others start to come together. The overarching understanding kind of stumped me at first, and then really figuring out the difference between knowing and skills proved to be a challenge. The part I think I'm definitely still struggling with is the standards part of the equation. I'm not sure if the two I picked are really what I'm aiming for. They don't really match my enduring understanding parts. Thinking of it, there are not many standards that really match enduring understandings. That proves to be a bit of a conundrum. I'm also not completely sure of my timing. Do you think I could accomplish all of this in three days? I also noticed that my assessments were really formatively driven rather than summative. I tried to approach this unit with ideas that lent themselves to growth in ideology, rather than right or wrong answers. When it comes to a topic like oppression and the American voice, it's hard to give a test that would measure what you are really looking for. Does UbD lend itself to summative assessments or is it really looking for you to create formative assessments that are similar to some of the ideas in the articles we read last week? I also found it interesting to try to insert some of the skills that I cited were important for 21st century learners earlier in the semester. It kind of makes me think of the "knowing-doing gap" that Schmoker refers to. The very skills I know are so important were not all that easy to just insert. I really had to think about them. They definitely make my lessons so much stronger, and the absence of them seems unimaginable now, but non the less, they were challenging to find a place for when I first started planning the unit. How many times do we fall victim to that "knowing-doing" gap because it gets difficult? Definitely made me think. Overall, I found the challenge to be rewarding and so much more beneficial to student development than the traditional method of unit planning. Some things are definitely worth "unlearning". That being said, my unit is a work in progress, and I'm pretty sure it's not finished yet.