Customs and Traditions: What do we believe?
Unit: Five / Semester 2
Duration: 5 weeks (17 days)
Textual Materials:
1. Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima (novel)
2. Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” (play)
3. Native American creation stories
Rationale:
America has always been a so-called “melting pot,” and each person to make America his home has brought with him customs and traditions whether they be connected to his religion, or perhaps they have developed over time in a specific region. It is important for students to understand that while these customs and traditions help define an individual, all of the individual’s beliefs help define American culture. Studying texts that expose students to customs and traditions held in America has cultural significance and holds relevance to students. While some of the beliefs held by the characters in the texts may not be the same ones students in my classroom hold, they can still find relevance when looking at the differences in what they believe and do not believe. America is built on many traditions that originated in other parts of the world. This mix of customs makes American culture unique, and these traditions are found in our literature, making American literature unique as well. It is also important for students to be exposed to the creation stories believed by the Native Americans because those were the first beliefs held on American soil. The “material within [this unit] is worth engaging with because their [the texts] themes are central to an understanding of a particular culture, whether national, local, or distant” (Smagorinsky 141).
The two main texts I will be using in this unit are the novel Bless Me, Ultima, and the play “The Crucible.” Bless Me, Ultima takes place in New Mexico and brings in a lot of Mexican traditions. Religion and spirituality play a large role in this story. “The Crucible” introduces a completely different setting and gives a good insight into the customs and beliefs held by the Americans of Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. These two texts will provide two very different ways to think about beliefs and traditions which will be good for keeping students open-minded to beliefs they may never had been exposed to, and also help them find some connection to their own beliefs. One might argue that more texts about the many other religions practiced in America be taught as well, but with the limited amount of class time, I chose to focus on two sets of beliefs that remain unique to the U.S. The New Mexico culture is a unique one as well as the history regarding the Salem witch trials and America’s experience with Communisim. Many other religions that have made their way into U.S. culture have the possibility to find their place in World Literature, whereas the two texts I have chosen could not.
Works Cited
Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English By Design. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.
Goals:
By the end of the unit, my students will...
-Have insight into the Hispanic American culture
-Have an understanding of the Salem witch trials
-Have a knowledge of some of the Native American creation stories and how they are similar and different to creation stories students have previously heard.
-Examine their own beliefs (whether religious or not) and express these feelings through photography.
By the end of the unit, I as an educator will...
-Examine my own beliefs and create a photography project alongside my students.
-Continue to learn about my students on a deeper level by seeing what is important to them through their photography.
Standards:
· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Activities:
1. KWL chart: Before reading “The Crucible,” I would have students fill out a KWL chart to see what their level of knowledge about the Salem witch trials is. This activity would not only have them accessing prior knowledge to introduce us to the play, but it would also give me an idea of historical information I should provide to make our reading of this work most beneficial. I think it is important for students to understand the setting and history around the literature we study. Students will fill in the last column of “what I learned” as we read the play and turn it in when we’re done. (See attached document of a KWL chart.)
2. Say Something: This is a during-reading activity I would like my students to do whilst reading sections of Bless Me, Ultima in class. Students will pair up and decide who will say something first. Then, as they read, they will switch off on pausing to “say something” by making a prediction, asking a question, clarifying something they had misunderstood, make a comment, or make a connection. Students will jot down these comments to turn in for their participation grade for the day. (More on this activity in Kylene Beers’ When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do pages 105-110.)
3. Compare and Contrast chart: Students will divide into groups, read the Native American creation stories, and then compare and contrast them noting what is different and what is similar in the stories. Students will be provided with butcher paper and markers and will create some way of presenting their findings. Students may make their posters as systematic or creative as they please. The activity will end with a ticket out the door in which students will need to explain some specific contributions they made to their group’s poster and some things they learned from their peers.
Culminating texts:
Photography portfolio project: For this project, I would like students to produce a collection of photographs that they take themselves. (I will need to work out logistics of having access of cameras, tablets, or other picture-taking devices. Maybe I will talk with the art department. Students will also be encouraged to use their camera phones.) The photographs should depict images that students find relevant to the works we read in class (at least one photo per work.) The rest of the photographs (roughly half) should be images that students take because the image relates to something they believe in. These photos could be religious, moral truths students believe in, or virtues students honor. (Examples: pictures of their place of worship, a cross, nature because they believe in respecting the earth, pictures with the family because they believe that family is important, food because they believe that food has the power to bring people together, etc.) While there is heavy religious connections in Bless Me, Ultima, the main work of this unit, I want this unit to be more about beliefs in general. Not everyone is religious and not everyone has the same religious beliefs. I want this project to be about students expressing what they believe in and recognizing how many things there are to believe in and how everyone’s beliefs and values are different and should be respected. Students should feel free to use Instagram, Photoshop, and any other editing software they choose. This editing software may come in handy if students want to integrate some magical realism qualities to their photographs (seeing as magical realism is an element in Bless Me, Ultima.) Students may also physically cut up multiple photos and paste them together to create new images to get the same kind of effects. This portfolio will be pulled together in a small book (much like a photo album) that will be accompanied by blurbs for each photo explaining what the image represents, what it means to the author, and why they made the artistic choices they did. Students will read example blurbs from artwork that has been displayed in museums to get an idea of how these should be written.
Assessments:
1. Photography Portfolio: See the “culminating text” description for elements that will be graded.
2. Students will take a test consisting of short answer and multiple choice questions to check for comprehension on the texts read in this unit. A short answer question might look like this: “Define magical realism and its origins. What is an example of magical realism from Bless Me, Ultima. What makes it magical realism?” Multiple choice questions will be more about checking for comprehension.
Miscellaneous:
1. Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima (novel)
2. Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” (play)
3. Native American creation stories
Rationale:
America has always been a so-called “melting pot,” and each person to make America his home has brought with him customs and traditions whether they be connected to his religion, or perhaps they have developed over time in a specific region. It is important for students to understand that while these customs and traditions help define an individual, all of the individual’s beliefs help define American culture. Studying texts that expose students to customs and traditions held in America has cultural significance and holds relevance to students. While some of the beliefs held by the characters in the texts may not be the same ones students in my classroom hold, they can still find relevance when looking at the differences in what they believe and do not believe. America is built on many traditions that originated in other parts of the world. This mix of customs makes American culture unique, and these traditions are found in our literature, making American literature unique as well. It is also important for students to be exposed to the creation stories believed by the Native Americans because those were the first beliefs held on American soil. The “material within [this unit] is worth engaging with because their [the texts] themes are central to an understanding of a particular culture, whether national, local, or distant” (Smagorinsky 141).
The two main texts I will be using in this unit are the novel Bless Me, Ultima, and the play “The Crucible.” Bless Me, Ultima takes place in New Mexico and brings in a lot of Mexican traditions. Religion and spirituality play a large role in this story. “The Crucible” introduces a completely different setting and gives a good insight into the customs and beliefs held by the Americans of Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. These two texts will provide two very different ways to think about beliefs and traditions which will be good for keeping students open-minded to beliefs they may never had been exposed to, and also help them find some connection to their own beliefs. One might argue that more texts about the many other religions practiced in America be taught as well, but with the limited amount of class time, I chose to focus on two sets of beliefs that remain unique to the U.S. The New Mexico culture is a unique one as well as the history regarding the Salem witch trials and America’s experience with Communisim. Many other religions that have made their way into U.S. culture have the possibility to find their place in World Literature, whereas the two texts I have chosen could not.
Works Cited
Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English By Design. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.
Goals:
By the end of the unit, my students will...
-Have insight into the Hispanic American culture
-Have an understanding of the Salem witch trials
-Have a knowledge of some of the Native American creation stories and how they are similar and different to creation stories students have previously heard.
-Examine their own beliefs (whether religious or not) and express these feelings through photography.
By the end of the unit, I as an educator will...
-Examine my own beliefs and create a photography project alongside my students.
-Continue to learn about my students on a deeper level by seeing what is important to them through their photography.
Standards:
· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Activities:
1. KWL chart: Before reading “The Crucible,” I would have students fill out a KWL chart to see what their level of knowledge about the Salem witch trials is. This activity would not only have them accessing prior knowledge to introduce us to the play, but it would also give me an idea of historical information I should provide to make our reading of this work most beneficial. I think it is important for students to understand the setting and history around the literature we study. Students will fill in the last column of “what I learned” as we read the play and turn it in when we’re done. (See attached document of a KWL chart.)
2. Say Something: This is a during-reading activity I would like my students to do whilst reading sections of Bless Me, Ultima in class. Students will pair up and decide who will say something first. Then, as they read, they will switch off on pausing to “say something” by making a prediction, asking a question, clarifying something they had misunderstood, make a comment, or make a connection. Students will jot down these comments to turn in for their participation grade for the day. (More on this activity in Kylene Beers’ When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do pages 105-110.)
3. Compare and Contrast chart: Students will divide into groups, read the Native American creation stories, and then compare and contrast them noting what is different and what is similar in the stories. Students will be provided with butcher paper and markers and will create some way of presenting their findings. Students may make their posters as systematic or creative as they please. The activity will end with a ticket out the door in which students will need to explain some specific contributions they made to their group’s poster and some things they learned from their peers.
Culminating texts:
Photography portfolio project: For this project, I would like students to produce a collection of photographs that they take themselves. (I will need to work out logistics of having access of cameras, tablets, or other picture-taking devices. Maybe I will talk with the art department. Students will also be encouraged to use their camera phones.) The photographs should depict images that students find relevant to the works we read in class (at least one photo per work.) The rest of the photographs (roughly half) should be images that students take because the image relates to something they believe in. These photos could be religious, moral truths students believe in, or virtues students honor. (Examples: pictures of their place of worship, a cross, nature because they believe in respecting the earth, pictures with the family because they believe that family is important, food because they believe that food has the power to bring people together, etc.) While there is heavy religious connections in Bless Me, Ultima, the main work of this unit, I want this unit to be more about beliefs in general. Not everyone is religious and not everyone has the same religious beliefs. I want this project to be about students expressing what they believe in and recognizing how many things there are to believe in and how everyone’s beliefs and values are different and should be respected. Students should feel free to use Instagram, Photoshop, and any other editing software they choose. This editing software may come in handy if students want to integrate some magical realism qualities to their photographs (seeing as magical realism is an element in Bless Me, Ultima.) Students may also physically cut up multiple photos and paste them together to create new images to get the same kind of effects. This portfolio will be pulled together in a small book (much like a photo album) that will be accompanied by blurbs for each photo explaining what the image represents, what it means to the author, and why they made the artistic choices they did. Students will read example blurbs from artwork that has been displayed in museums to get an idea of how these should be written.
Assessments:
1. Photography Portfolio: See the “culminating text” description for elements that will be graded.
2. Students will take a test consisting of short answer and multiple choice questions to check for comprehension on the texts read in this unit. A short answer question might look like this: “Define magical realism and its origins. What is an example of magical realism from Bless Me, Ultima. What makes it magical realism?” Multiple choice questions will be more about checking for comprehension.
Miscellaneous: