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Final Project - What it Means to be an American?

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Final Project - What it Means to be an American?

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For the Final Project, students must provide a written project on the topic: What it Means to Be an American? Students must include examples from the text used in this unit. The teacher will return students' prior work and hand out to help students produce the final product of their project. Students must write a 2-3 page paper to answer the question.
For this project, students must present their answer to the question in front of the classroom. Students will have creative options (PowerPoint, poster board, song, poem, artwork, etc.) to present their answer to the question in a 2-3 minute presentation.

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Similar to the theme of empathy that students will notice in the cartoon in Lesson 6, students will notice the theme of empathy in Langston Hughes' short story "Thank You Ma'am". Students will complete Character Charts based upon on the two main characters of the story, their identities, their actions, and important quotations from the reading that exhibit the characters' sense of empathy towards each other.

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Students will watch an episode of the cartoon television show,  "Hey Arnold" entitled "Ms. Perfect" which focuses on the theme of empathy. Students will watch the cartoon,  taking note of how empathy is exhibited through the characters and the progression of the story line. After students watch the cartoon, students will engage in the after reading strategy of Wraparound. In the form of a circle around the classroom, students will individually give their input about the cartoon and its correlation to the theme of empathy. Students will be asked to present questions about the cartoon at the end of the Wraparound to begin a further discussion about empathizing with others and how can students relate empathy with the idea of being an American.

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Students will engage in the During Reading Strategy, 3-2-1 Reading Comprehension Strategy to analyze the main
idea(s) of Anzia Yezierska's nonfiction short story, “America and I". The short story focuses on themes of American immigration, identity, and empathy. Students will work on this activity with a partner then present their information to the classroom for further connections, discussions, and questions about the short story.

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Students will analyze electronic and nonfictional text: YouTube's Kids React to Kids Separated from their Parents (Illegal Immigration) and Agence France-Presse's Trump taps into minority anxieties about immigration. With the Newsela article, the teacher can set the reading level to one that best fit the students' reading level. This lesson must be a two part lesson, taking over a span of two days to complete.  Students will watch the video and read the article on the first day within a small group of students at similar reading levels. (Students will also reread the article for homework to prepare for the discussion).
Students will be given a question to answer in this student led discussion. The question will be general: "Do you feel that America's current position on immigration is right or wrong?"

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Mini Lesson 3 - Two Column Note Taking and Level 1 Vocabulary Lesson

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Mini Lesson 3 - Two Column Note Taking and Level 1 Vocabulary Lesson

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Within this lesson, students will utilize the poem, Langston Hughes' Let America Be America Again. Students will engage in a Note Taking Activity within small groups to:
1. Gain an understanding about the poem, the poem's main idea, and its themes of American immigration and identity
2. Relate the poem to the prior first mini lesson
3. Practice the skill of note taking to further develop analysis of the text and to promote discussion among students in their small groups.
For the Bell Ringer/Introduction component of this lesson, the teacher will ask students to think of the meaning behind the word "America". Students will be asked to write their definitions on a Post-It note so that the teacher can read students responses. The teacher will form connections to the students' meanings in order to further develop their personal connects of the idea of America.

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Mini Lesson 2  - Level 2 Vocabulary Extension

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Mini Lesson 2  - Level 2 Vocabulary Extension

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Emma Lazarus' The New Colossus contains vocabulary that may be difficult for all (or most) students to understand. Students will engage in a Word Association activity in which students will take the unfamiliar words of the poem and relate the unfamiliar words to more so familiar words to better understand the unfamiliar word. With this activity, students will work with a partner or within small groups to make vocabulary connects.

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For the first mini lesson, students will read and analyze Emma Lazarus' The New Colossus poem  with the Visual Imagery reading strategy. Before using this strategy,  the teacher must preface the lesson with background information about America and its history with immigration by engaging in a KWL activity on the board. This poem includes several examples of descriptive language about the topic. Students, within a whole class learning setting,  will engage in a the Visual imagery learning strategy to visually create images that will help students in their overall understanding of the poem's purpose and tone.

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The topic of this Unit Plan is focusing on the question: "What does it mean to be American?" Specifically, through this text, we will look at themes such as immigration, empathy, and identity. This Unit Plan encompasses cross disciplinary texts including poetry, short stories, a news article, and videos.

The following Common Core Standards were used in this Unit Plan:
Reading
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1  Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. (See Mini Lessons: 4)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2  Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. (See Mini Lessons: 1, 5)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3  Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  (See Mini Lessons: 6, 7)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4  Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. (See Mini Lessons: 2, 3)

Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2  Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. (See Final Project)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.9  Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (See Mini Lessons: 3, 6, 7)

Speaking and Listening
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1  Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
(See Mini Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4  Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Final Project

Language
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4   Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. (See Mini Lessons: 2, 3)

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Poetry: Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus
Editorial: Agence France-Presse’s Trump taps into minority anxieties about immigration
https://newsela.com/read/Trump-fuels-anti-immigration/id/39611/
Video: Kids React to Kids Separated from their Parents (Illegal Immigration)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTMRXnxGbyI
Poetry: Langston Hughes’ Let America Be American Again
https://www.aresearchguide.com/let-america-be-america-again.html
Video: PBS American Creed - Deidre Prevett: “We Need to Know Each Other’s History”
http://www.pbs.org/program/american-creed/
Cartoon: Hey Arnold’s Ms. Perfect
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hc9zw
Short Story: Langston Hughes’ Thank You Ma’am
https://www.hinds.k12.ms.us/cms/lib07/MS01001020/Centricity/Domain/131/story%20thank%20you%20maam.pdf
Short Story: Anzia Yezierska’s America and I https://natickenglish.wikispaces.com/file/view/America+and+I.pdf