1

T. Hilliard
5/9/14
Reading the Reflection
Unit Plan Preface
Part A
School Profile:

Jack Jouett Middle School serves students in Albemarle Country in grades 6-8. It is in close proximity to Albemarle
High School, Greer Elementary School, and Ivy Creek Prep School. Additionally, it is within about five miles of the
main campus of the University of Virginia. It hosts quite a diverse student population, including refugees from East
Asia and central Africa. According to the schools website, the main demographic statistics are: White 53.9%, Black
19.1%, and Hispanic 13.8%. Low income and poverty is a reality here, free and reduced lunches offered to 30-35%
of the student body. The current total enrollment is 618 students with 65 faculty and staff members, 45 of whom are
teachers.

Jouett, a school of almost limitless opportunities for students to entertain their passions, has clubs and activities like
Jazz Band, Young Womens Leadership Program, Writers Caf, and many more! The school has its own chapter of
the Boys and Girls Club as well. It features an AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination) for
students who would be the first in their families to go to college. Furthermore, the Jaguars are also community-
minded, using the daily homeroom period (GROWL) to discuss ways to give back to the local community as well as
to focus on skills such as sportsmanship and personal integrity.

Class Profile:

This unit is designed for a Standard-Collaborative 8
th
grade English class, with a Special Ed Collaborative teacher
who is required to offer support to about six students according to their Individualized Education Program. There are
22 students: 10 African-American, 5 White, 4 Asian-American, and 3 Hispanic-American. The six students who are
required to have the Special Ed assistant primarily have trouble paying attention and some are below reading level.
The assistant is used to taking a couple of these students out into the hall when they become disruptive or when they
find it hard to pay attention. It seems there is a mix of students who would be the first in their families to go to college
as well as those whose parents are college-educated. As a whole they are often prone to distraction, and they complain
frequently about being in school or doing work

Student Profiles:

1. Martin:

Martin is an ELL student from China who does not speak English at home. He has begun to participate in the Science
club, but is otherwise seldom active within the school community. His family moved to the United States four years
ago, and he has a younger sister in preschool. He is not disruptive in class. On the contrary, it is sometimes difficult
for teachers and peers to communicate with him, because he speaks so softly. Especially when Martin sits in the
corner, eyes sticking to the top of his desk, he appears disengaged with the lesson. He reads at about a 7
th
grade level
but has more trouble with writing. Because he does not participate much in school activities, it appears that he has no
close friends in his class.

2. Stacey:

This is Staceys second try at 8
th
grade, primarily because she missed so many days of school from the year before.
She is African-American and is the daughter of a single mother. Sometimes circumstances were such that she was
sick or needed to stay home to help her mother take care of her two younger brothers. Stacey, sharp and quick-witted,
is rarely without comment. She swaggers into the room each day with a grin as bright as her high-top sneakers.
Despite repeating the grade, she is an active student when she is present. She likes to take on an administrative role in
class, so the teacher lets her pass out papers and often write things on the board. He keeps her engaged by giving her a
table to herself next to his desk. In school she is involved in the Writers Caf and plays basketball for the Jaguars
team. However, because of her familiarity with her teacher and the freedom she often receives from him, she is quick
to disengage with other adults in the classroom. Since she is set apart at her own desk, her role in the class seems
unclear. Being on her own gives her proximity to the teacher, but it also leads to an undefined relationship with her
Unit Plan Preface
Hilliard

peers. She could have some anxiety about being short for her age and repeating the grade, which could explain why
she likes to put down others and feel a sense of dominance.

3. Paul:

Paul, short and stocky, is an African-American boy, one of the students assigned to the Special- Education teacher. He
has ADHD and reads two grades below reading level. One of his closest friends, Frank, who also had problems
paying attention in class was moved out of the class this semester because he was too much of a distraction to others.
For that reason, Paul feels lonely and deprived of a close friend in the class. His main attempts to engage with other
students come through humor or by making jokes about his peers. It is never ill-willed, however, and despite his
loneliness he tends to smile a lot in his interactions with his classmates. He has a knack for swallowing up tutors time
by asking off-topic questions and trying to do everything possible to avoid engaging with the task at hand. He often
wears the same clothes multiple days in a row, but it is unclear what his family background is like.

Part B: The Primary Focus Big Idea, Secondary Focus Targeted Skill, and Rationale

Primary focus: What reading and writing help us learn about ourselves
Secondary Focus: Making connections between texts, texts and ourselves, and texts and our worlds
Developing self-awareness through reading and writing.

My goal is to show that texts, which students may assume are unrelatable or incomprehensible, provide knowledge for
them to look at their own lives closely as well as learn from and apply to their choices and actions. I hope to teach this
unit at the beginning of a school year, because only after students take a close look at their identity and check in with
the ways they learn and understand may they confidently and critically think about the content of the rest of the
course. When they understand the idea that literature and other forms of media they study in school matter, they will
be more prepared for a study of English. Furthermore, they are more likely to ask the question, What can I learn from
this? when they study the content of other classes and grow into learners and thinkers beyond the traditional school
environment.

The 8
th
grade SOLs emphasize purpose and theme in reading, writing, and discussion skills. In reading and writing, in
particular, the themes we explore will hinge on their lives and what they each bring to the class as individuals. Rather
than attempt to teach central ideas that are beyond their understanding or frames of reference, the SOLs and content
will be intertwined in the way they celebrate the students interests and questions and their relevance in their studies.
They will use the objectives and standard learning skills as a means to learn more about themselves. This applies to
the students speaking and discourse as well, since we will value learning about one another, recognizing our
strengths and limitations in how we think about and view the world, and supporting each other as a community of
peers and world-changers.

Lastly, in addition to the annual reading test, SOL writing is administered to 8
th
grade students. One of the goals of
this unit, then, is to prepare students for the writing SOL by encouraging them to approach writing with a fresh
perspective through the creation of regular writing opportunities and the development of more effective writing skills.


Part C
OVERARCHING (UNIT) UNIVERSAL CONCEPT
These are the overarching big ideas targeted for deeper understanding







1. Self-Awareness
(The BIG Idea at the heart of your unit, i.e., a concept or theme)


2. Making Connections with Reflective Writing
(The targeted essential skill; your secondary focus, e.g., persuasive writing, literary
analysis, plot structure, etc.)
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ENDURING UNIVERSAL UNDERSTANDINGS
(Generalizations about the overarching concept/objective)
*
Consider: Are the targeted understandings enduring, based on transferable, big ideas at the heart
of the discipline and in need of un-coverage?
*
Four is a reasonable number for a 3-week unit, though you may have fewer or more.
*
Students will understand that...

1. Life is full of moral dilemmas and difficult choices.
2. Literature and other forms of media provide the means for self-reflection.
3. Self-reflection supports the resolution of dilemmas and navigation of life choices.
4. Conflicts experienced by adolescents in the United States in the 21
st
century resonate with voices based
in other cultures and time periods.
CRITICAL CONCEPTS
(This is the conceptual vocabulary necessary for arriving at the enduring understandings)
Identify the number of concepts you feel you can reasonably teach in the length of your unit.

1. identity
2. self-concept
3. reflection
4. past
5. value
6. role model
7. choice
8. goal
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ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
(These are the overarching questions that drive teaching and learning within a course/unit; they
represent the questions for which you want students to formulate answers over the course of the
unit.)
*

1. What kind of person do I want to be and why?
2. How do I connect (or not connect) with the characters, circumstances, challenges, and
victories in the literature I encounter?
3. In what ways can I stop and reflect on who I am and what influences my choices and
actions?
4. Who do I look up to as a role model or mentor?
5. What does my choice of friends say about me?
6. How do I live with my choices?
7. Where do I want to go in life?


Unit Plan Preface
Hilliard

CRITICAL STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES
These reflect the big (i.e., general) student learnings (and what you will eventually assess):

cognitive (to know and understand) affective (to feel/value) & non-cognitive
performative (to do)

*With the exception of the affective goals, these correspond to the KUD model for developing
objectives you practiced in EDIS 5401.

Select up to 3 cognitive, 3 affective, and 4 performative critical learning objectives, i.e., what I
want my students to learn. This is the most you would want to tackle in a 3-week unit.

COGNITIVE (to know and understand)
1. Students will know that literature both imitates and opposes reality.
2. Students will understand how experiencing things at a distance through literature can help
them navigate their own conflicts and experiences in life.
3. Students will understand a wider purpose for reading and education as a way to learn how
to live more fully and consciously.
AFFECTIVE (to feel/value) & NON-COGNITIVE
4. Students will develop a more complete awareness of themselves, including their
strengths, weaknesses, tolerances, and prejudices.
5. Students will value the ways their peers contribute to a safe classroom space where they
feel supported in their growth and development as readers, writers, and thinkers.
6. Students will value the print and non-print texts they study as sources of life lessons
beyond the classroom.
PERFORMATIVE (to do)
7. Students will be able to respond to literature through reflective writing practices.
8. Students will be able to respectfully use group discussion to support and challenge the
way they think about real-life issues and ideas.
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9. Students will be able to use creative means to illustrate their understanding of a text.
10. Students will be able to synthesize the ways their texts have caused them to reflect on
their own lives and how any perspectives have changed as a result.
Standards: Select at least 2 related SOLs and CCSs (at your units grade level) that fit into
your learning framework. Give them the numbers that they carry in the State Department SOL
document/CCS Website.

SOL# SOL Objective

1. 8.2 - Communication
The student will develop and deliver oral presentations in groups and
individually.
a) Choose topic and purpose appropriate to the audience.
b) Choose vocabulary and tone appropriate to the audience, topic, and
purpose.
2. 8.5 - Reading
The student will read and analyze a variety of narrative and poetic forms.
b) Describe inferred main ideas or themes, using evidence from the text as
support.
c) Describe how authors use characters, conflict, point of view, and tone to
create meaning.
3. 8.7 - Writing
The student will write in a variety of forms, including narrative,
expository, persuasive, and informational.
b) Organize details to elaborate the central idea

CCS# CCS Objective
4. RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development
over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot;
provide an objective summary of the text.
5. W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas,
concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant
content

Part D: Texts (Primary and Supplementary)

o Primary:

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie, Chapter 3:
Revenge is My Middle Name pgs. 15-24

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o Supplementary:
1. SMores Scene (YouTube Video) The Sandlot
2. Bad Boy: A Memoir Walter Dean Myers, Chapter 2 (Harlem)
3. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (Poem)
4. We Real Cool Gwendolyn Brooks (Poem)
5. A Dream Deferred Langston Hughes (Poem)
6. Mother to Son Langston Hughes (Poem)
7. Letter to a person on their first day here (YouTube Video) Kid President

Part E: The importance of creativity & its role in this units learning

Creativity is essential in both the preparation of lessons as well as in the way students are
encouraged to think about these texts. Nearly all assessments will ask students to be hands-on
and active in how they work with the texts and communicate essential ideas with their teams and
classmates. You will notice that the texts span several genres as well as forms of media. I am
intent on using video, audio, and visual resources in order to activate multiple intelligences and
preferences for learning.

Using non-print sources and texts is indispensable in the ELA classroom, because it reinforces
the idea that traditional reading skills of printed texts are not the only way students will learn and
engage with the world around them. As a reflection of this, the curriculum encourages students
to analyze messages through images, video, and print, and it should also be the goal of the ELA
teacher to encourage students to express themselves and create in these mediums as well. In the
changing nature of society, due in many ways to the development of technology, it is valuable
for students to have these multi-modal skills.

Part F: Technology Tools/Resources and Rationale

Access to a projector will allow us to examine texts closely (through PowerPoints and Elmo-
projected images of texts) as well as study video and artistic material.

Computer-access in the classroom and even limited computer and internet access at home will
allow students to work on their projects, most of which require mixed media, together in class
and collaboratively when they are away from school. Google Drive allows me to post
assignments and resources to all students simultaneously as well as facilitates sharing of work
and ideas among students with real-time efficiency.

Engagement with modern technology reflects the need for students to be thinking about and
grappling with the ideas of a modern-day world. Whether the texts are poems, videos, or images,
technology allows them to get closer to the sources they will be studying, both in terms of initial
access to them as well as manipulation like editing and analyzing through Google Docs. In their
writing, I have instant access to their drafts and may better support them by monitoring their
progress prior to conferences. As I collect information from them for example, their Student
Interest Inventories, and they keep track of notes and daily work, the archives available through
the internet and our class computers helps to keep us organized.

Unit Plan Preface
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Part G: Units Working Title
Reading the Reflection