Tom+Kimble


 * Overview: **

The premise of this unit is to allow for the students to partake in a journey through multiple identities that they may or may not have understood before. The students should understand that everyone identifies as/with something whether it be **gender**, **race**, **culture**, **orientation**, **religion/spirituality**, **education**, **work**, etc. This lesson is to break down the barrier and allow for students to interpret new ways of living that is different or similar than their own,to accept the many differences are accepted in this world, and to not hold any prejudices towards people’s beliefs and life choices that go with their identity through different forms of literature reflecting on different identity aspects that were stated above.

As a teacher, it is important to let students know they should be happy with who they are, and should not feel ashamed for what they identify as. This is to help so that hopefully, the students can be more open-minded and understanding towards people who they might believe are "**different**".


 * Personal Goal:** My goal for this unit is to have the students realize that they should appreciate who they are, and also be able to appreciate other people for who they are. Being able to introduce this effectively through literature will help the students reach this aesthetic level of reading where they are reading literature and seeing it as a relationship and connection to their own life and how they can relate (Mack 2002).

-This is the grade range because during these years, many students will be engaged in a new school with new people and many different personalities and identities surrounding them. -Many students will be curious of what is surrounding them during this Mid-Adolescent stage, and will allow for societal influences to take hold to form their own pre-conceived notions and will help shape their minds based on these notions (Kroger, 2007). -Personally, I believe this is a good age to break down the barrier of prejudices and discrimination.
 * Grade Appropriateness**: Grades 9th-10th


 * Length:** //5 Week Unit//

**Objectives:**
-Students will be more knowledgeable about some of these identity traits -Students will be able to hold a pro-active discussion on diverse identity based on the literature -Students will be able to analyze the characters in the literature they read in their literature circles -Students will be able to use different forms of technology to learn more about the literature (e.g Tumblr, Wikispaces, Weebly, Nicenet) -Students will demonstrate knowledge of different genres of literature (poetry, novels, plays) -Students will be able to identify discrimination and prejudices in order to help dissolve them for a more productive school, work, and personal environment.

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Suggested Literature:
//The Realm of Possibility// by David Levithan (Novel in Verse) //The Perks of Being a Wallflower// by Stephen Chbosky //Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead// by Bert V. Royal (Play Script)

Suggested Films:
//[|American Teen (2008)]// Directed By Nanette Burstein (Documentary)

Writing Assignments:
__Pre-Conceived Notion Introduction Activity__: - As an introduction to this unit, I will be giving the students an activity where I will be saying a wide range of words, and in return, I want the students to write down what first comes to mind as they hear it. The words in the beginning will be simplistic and get general answers (orange, dog, sun), and then I will lead to the main purpose of this assignment into words that are shrouded in different associations of the text to see what the students really think when they hear these words (e.g Gay, Black, Christian, Poor, Goth, Muslim). This introduction will allow for me to see what the students feel when they see these words whether it is feeling uneasy, comfortable/uncomfortable, or open to these kinds of topics. __"I Had No Idea" Assignments:__ - The purpose for this assignment is to write about something you had no idea about relating to an issue in multiple pieces of literature the student will read during this unit. After every piece of literature a student reads, they will write up on a blog created by the teacher that they all will share. They will write about something they had no idea that they felt was important in the literature. It will in turn, help them realize some new discoveries on potential hardships someone might have because of how they identify, some challenges they overcame because of the issues they face with that identity, or even some of the personal gains they got out of the literature because of the identity it is discussing. The other students will be able to comment on what the student has to say, and discuss it into further detail, allowing for an open discussion that pushes past the classroom. __Diversity Research/I-Search Assignment:__ - This is an important assignment because it is going to allow for the students to learn about a specific topic that regards to diversity to a new level. Each student will be given several topics to choose from, and in turn, will have to do some deep researching on this topic. The topics will be based on diversity in the high school. I want them to show me whatever they feel is important about this topic, whether it is blogs, statistics, newspaper articles, books, film, or family interviews, they will be looking for information that pertains what they choose out of the topics. When the assignment is due, they will come to class and discuss with the class what they found and how it affects high school students as a whole, and how it affects them personally as a student. __New Genre Project:__ - The purpose of this assignment is to get the students out of their comfort zone, but in a way, allowing them to find new ways of creating meaningful work in the classroom that is not just academic based. I want the students to look through the list of new genres they may not have discovered and create a project that is based on the book they just finished. This project should only take two to three days to create, and the students will be allowed to ask me about genres they want to use that are not in my list because the more, the merrier. __Journal Entries:__ - I want the students to be able to have their thoughts be with them when it comes to class discussion, and what better way than to have journal entries. The purpose of this entry is that every night after my student does some reading from their literature, I want them to write a paragraph to a page (or however long they want to make it because thoughts shouldn't have a limit) describing how they feel about a character, a certain plot point, the setting, or whatever they want based around what they are reading. The students are allowed to write however and whatever they want to about the literature. It is important to have these thoughts because everyone will be thinking differently about what they are reading, and during class discussion, it will be interesting to see what people had to say right after just reading the literature. __Multi-Genre Solutions Final Project__: - This assignment will allow for students to delve into their love of reading in a new way by creating a multi-genre project. The purpose of this activity is to allow for the students to create something that will have different genres that discuss their favorite book or reading they read during this unit, but more importantly, it is to have them create a project that can help with anti-discrimination and anti-bullying towards someone based on their identity. I want the students to have at least 5 genres to pick from, and hope that their imagination can soar to new levels of imagination and knowledge. Although there is a purpose to this assignment, it still can be extremely fun for the students.

Different Multi-Genre Project Ideas
=__**Lesson Plan**__=

=__**Common Core Standards:**__=

Additional Resources: Good Reads - To Help with a possible book selection for a unit @http://www.collegesuccess1.com/DiversityM.htm

To Contact Me: Thomas Kimble thomas.l.kimble@wmich.edu thomk09@hotmail.com