Midnight's Children Day 1: Introduction Time 50 minutes Setting This course is a Senior elective entitled "Literature from Around

the World." It consists of 25 students, 10 male and 15 female. 10 students are white while 8 are African America. 6 are Latino/a, and one student is Asian. Five of the Latino students are bilingual Spanish speakers, but they are not classified as ELL. One student has ADHD. All students are of varied ability. Theory into Practice/Background As an introductory lesson, the primary focus of this activity is to provide students with an understanding of what the mission of the unit will be. In this case, the mission is that students develop an understanding and appreciation of not only the intersection between history and literature but also the personal impact of historical events, how we are a part of history, and how large-scale political and cultural events shape the people that we are in unexpected ways. Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is a perfect text for approaching this topic as its narrator is both literally and metaphorically bound to India's history and development. In order to access the text effectively, students need to have a way of tying what they read to the actual historical circumstances of India, and the teacher needs to work with students in order to construct a space in which they can be experts, albeit in a very limited scope, of the material. That is why the first week of our unit is devoted to having students construct their own resources that will summarize the historical contexts that inform the reading of the text. This falls under Burke's discussion of how a class room should feel more like a workshop where students "are building understanding and making meaning" (9) This lesson seeks to make that process as cogent as possible by actually having students produce the resources to which they will refer for the remainder of the unit. By utilizing a modified version of the Jigsaw process outlined by Fisher and Frey in

Improving Adolescent Literacy: Content Strategies at Work, we have devised a system whereby students become "experts" in a particular ear of India history and then present their findings to the rest of the class. (20-21) We chose to modify the Jigsaw process by eliminating the small home groups and instead having the expert groups refer back to the whole class. We did this primarily because we wanted to ensure that all students were receiving the same resources, a task that is easier to mitigate when students are presenting a structured presentation to the whole class. It also seemed better suited to the promotion of a class-wide collaborative mission where all students are accountable to all others. By recording student presentations and uploading them to the course website and amalgamating their timelines into a master sheet to be distributed to all students, each individual student can clearly see how their contributions to the class influence and enhance the overall instruction and climate of the learning environment. Judith Walsh's A Brief History of India was selected as our second anchor text for a number of reasons. First of all, it was an easy to read and concise text that covered the span of history that we felt was most relevant to Rushdie's work. Second of all, it is a very dry summation of events that speaks in large geo-political terms without really delving into the human experience of life in India through these historical periods. More often than not, whole cultures or groups of people are referred to as cohesive units who all share the same beliefs and political values. This provides a compelling foil to Rushdie's text which complicates that conception. As Rushdie purposefully overcrowds his narrative with extraneous characters and events, he is representing the plurality of India, an India that defies the easy categorization that Walsh attempts to present. One of the overarching threads of this unit is the way that literature works to tell history in a way that is different than any other form of media. We want students to see the advantages and disadvantages of each form. We also want them to view history outside of the utilitarian construction of a sequence of dates and names. The first portion of this unit is

designed to intentionally conjure those utilitarian practices before introducing students to the richness and depth that literature can add to the social studies. Our intent is not to diminish the obvious importance of a factual account of historical events but rather to assert the place as literature as a valuable component of the process. Objectives Students will begin working on their Historical Jigsaw Projects in groups. Students will begin to address the question of "What does it mean to be a part of history?" Students will be familiar with the scope and rationale of the unit of study and understand how the required texts fit within that system. Students will produce informative speeches and timelines that will become important resources to support the shared and collaborative learning process. Materials The Historical Jigsaw Project rubric and assignment sheet. The Final Project rubric and Assignment sheet. Copies of both A Brief History of India and Midnight's Children Preparation The teacher should write the question on the board, "What does it mean to be a part of history?" It would also be beneficial to arrange the materials for distribution in the order that they will be needed: 1. Copies of both A Brief History of India and Midnight's Children. 2. The Historical Jigsaw Project rubric and assignment sheet. 3. The Final Project rubric and Assignment sheet. Procedure Students enter the class and respond to a question on the board, "What does it mean to be a part of history?" Once students have answered the question individually, they will discuss the answer in groups of 2-3 with the people around them. 5 minutes

The class will come together to discuss their ideas as whole group. At this point, the teacher will introduce a new question, "Do you consider yourself to be a part of history? Why or why not?" Students will respond and the teacher will explain that the purpose of the new unit is to study

history as more than just a series of facts and dates. We will be studying the personal side of history, the side of which we are all a part. "One day many of you will have grandchildren and they may ask you what life was like when you were young. How are you going to answer them?" 5 minutes At this point, the teacher introduces the two texts that will used throughout the course of this unit, Judith Walsh's A Brief History of India and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. Once the copies of the text are passed out, the teacher asks the students to evaluate the books and talk about what they can tell about each text just by looking at them. "Can you tell what each book will be about?" "What is the genre of each text?" "How are they alike and how are they different?" The purpose of this activity is to get students to utilize their prior knowledge of the format of both fictional texts and historical textbooks to see how these two texts will work in conjunction with one another and also how they will use different strategies to achieve different or similar aims. Once the students have generated good responses, the teacher asks, "Now, which of these books do you think you will enjoy reading more?" Based on the expectation that the majority of students will answer that they would rather read the fictional text, the teacher can guide the students to interrogate why they would rather read a fictional account instead of a purely factual one. "What does literature achieve that historical textbooks cannot?" Conversely, "Why are historical texts more appealing to others? What ends do they succeed in achieving that others texts do not?" 10 minutes

"Over the course of this unit, we are going to answer those questions while also addressing the question that opened this class "What does it mean to be a part of history?" At this point, the teacher passes out the assignment sheets and the rubrics for both the Historical Jigsaw Activity and the Final Project. The teacher then goes over each sheet with the students, checking to make

sure that students understand what is expected of them and answering any student questions. 15 minutes The teacher will now divide students into their work groups for the Historical Jigsaw Project with five students in each group as follows: Group 1: "The Jewel in the Crown (1757-1885)" (pp. 89-124) Group 2: "Becoming Modern--the Colonial Way (1800-1900)" (pp. 125-152) Group 3: "Toward Freedom (1885-1920)" (pp.153-177) Group 4: "Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement (1920-1948) (pp.178-206) Group 5: "Constructing the Nation (1950-1991) (pp. 207-238) The teacher will then spend the remainder of the class period to work on beginning the reading and coordinating with their groups how to break up the work for the assignment. Meanwhile, the teacher will conference individually with each group to tell them how to approach the project and what information to pull out as important. Since Rushdie's text does not start in earnest until 1915 with the protagonist not entering into the narrative until 1947, so many of the groups will be working from information that predates the setting in the book. As a result, they will need a way to narrow their focus as they read to ensure that the information they present to their classmates is accurate and relevant. For groups 1 and 2, this will be the birth and life of British colonialism. For group 3, this will be the growing opposition to colonial rule. Group 4 will focus on the life and achievements of Gandhi and how the Nationalist Movement transformed the face of India. Group 5 will look at how India has transformed since its independence into a modern nation state. 25 minutes The students should complete the reading either in class or for homework , and they will be given the next three days in class to complete their presentations. Discussion Ideas What does it mean to be a part of history? Are you a part of history? Why or why not? What can literature achieve that textbooks cannot? What can textbooks achieve that literature cannot?

Accommodations ESL: The five ESL students will be divided up so that they are working in groups with other English speaking students who can help to support their learning. According to Fisher and Frey, Jigsaw activities have inherent benefit to ESL students in that "the interaction of peer learning practices in content area classrooms has been shown to be an effective tool for increasing learning and achievement among English language learners" (19) ADHD: During the conferences with the individual groups, I will work with the student with ADHD one on one to make sure that he/she has clear direction of what his/her role in the group will be and may even provide a more detailed and individualized assignment sheet based on that discussion to help this student keep track of all of the tasks they are accountable for. The student is allowed to wear headphones to block out the noise of other students during individual work time. Assessment The rubrics for both the Final Project and Historical Jigsaw activities is attached. Extension Ideas Once all of the presentations and timelines have been completed, I will compile all of the information into a Historical Reference Packet that I will distribute. It will contain a chronological list of all of the events featured in your timelines and presentations along with the summaries and page numbers where these items can be found in the text. I will also upload all of the PowerPoint presentations up to the course website with an accompanying audio recording that will be made while students are actually presenting in class. These items will be important resources that students may refer back to over the course of their further readings and will be necessary when they work on their weekly journal sheets.

Source of Activity I would like to thank Liana Cabrera, Jason Peterson, and Caitlin Stevenson for helping to devise this lesson.

Resources and References Burke, J. The English Teacher's Companion: A complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession, (3rd ed). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2007 Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. Improving Adolescent Literacy: Content Area Strategies at Work. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2008. Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. New York: Penguin, 1991. Walsh, Judith E. A Brief History of India. New York: Facts on File, 2006. Illinois State English Language Arts Goals 4.B.5a Deliver planned and impromptu oral presentations, as individuals and members of a group, conveying results of research, projects or literature studies to a variety of audiences (e.g., peers, community, business/industry, local organizations) using appropriate visual aids and available technology. This standard will assessed based on how effectively compose and deliver their presentations. 5.B.5a Evaluate the usefulness of information, synthesize information to support a thesis, and present information in a logical manner in oral and written forms. The performance of this standard will be evident in how well students are able to target their timelines and presentations to the specific topics assigned to them in our small group conferences. 2.A.5d Evaluate the influence of historical context on form, style and point of view for a variety of literary works.

This lesson will provide the foundation for which this standard will be achieved over the course of the unit of study through exercises that ask students to look back at information gathered during this process and relate it to the text.

Historical Jigsaw Project

As we begin to look at the history of India through the lens of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, we must first have an understanding of what actually happened in the history of India. In order to do this, we are going to be working with Judith E. Walsh's A Brief History of India to give us a general outline of the important historical and cultural aspects of India that will be at play in the fictional text. However, since this is a long text and we are all anxious to get into the literature, we are going to jigsaw this text for speed and convenience. That means that in small groups, you will read only a portion of the text which you will then present to the rest of the class. The purpose of this assignment is to acquaint everyone with as much of the history of India as possible so that you may refer back to it in your writings and discussions about Midnight's Children. In order to achieve this every group will have to complete the following three components: 1. Each group member will read their assigned section of the texts as follows: Group 1: "The Jewel in the Crown (1757-1885)" (pp. 89-124) Group 2: "Becoming Modern--the Colonial Way (1800-1900)" (pp. 125-152) Group 3: "Toward Freedom (1885-1920)" (pp.153-177) Group 4: "Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement (1920-1948) (pp.178-206) Group 5: "Constructing the Nation (1950-1991) (pp. 207-238) 2. You will construct a timeline of important historical events that were covered during your section of the book. Each timeline must feature at least 10 key events in chronological order. Each event should have a short summary that describes the event: who was involved, why did it happen, what were the consequences of this event. Also, include the page number and section heading where this information can be found in the text. This will make it easier for everyone to look up this information later on. I will be meeting with each group individually to discuss what parts of the text you should draw your events from. 3. Finally, you will create a 5-7 minute presentation using PowerPoint in which you briefly explain the historical events of your section. This is also an opportunity for you to include additional items of interest. Tell us what life was like for the people of India living at this time. Include visual aids, pictures, and colors to enhance your presentation and make it memorable. You do not need to use any outside sources for the content of this assignment. However, you may need to use additional sources to find pictures and visual aids. If this is the case, please make sure that you cite appropriately. Once all of the presentations and timelines have been completed, I will compile all of the information into a Historical Reference Packet that I will distribute. It will contain a

chronological list of all of the events featured in your timelines and presentations along with the summaries and page numbers where these items can be found in the text. I will also upload all of the PowerPoint presentations up to the course website with an accompanying audio recording that will be made while you are actually presenting in class. These items will be important resources for you to use throughout the unit, so make sure that you take care in preparing them.

Senior Literature from Around the World Final Project For the next 9 weeks we will be reading Salman Rushdies novel Midnights Children and a multitude of other stories, poems and videos that have one thing in common. They carry all a call for social change. Some of these messages will be obvious but others must be teased out and interpreted through the analysis of the text and the choices that the author made in creating the text. Midnights Children is a complex novel that twines the life of its main character around the history of another, India. Through this relationship, as you will discover, Rushdie creates a commentary about India. We will be sending a few weeks delving into the history of India in order to better understand Midnights Children and the world it is about. You will do the same with your own life. Just as Saleems life is connected to the history of India so is yours to the country(s) that you live in. You will create a narrative exploring the social, political, religious, etc. issues of the country or countries that you live in and through doing create a clear message calling for change. It seems daunting but we will be working on this project in steps all building up to the final product. *Due March 16, 2012* Timeline (40 points) The first step in this project is to create a parallel timeline. This is a list of important historical events that you have lived through and important personal events that run parallel. Include dates in your list. I want you to see yourself as a historical figure. You lived through this history so make it your own. While history was being made what were you doing? How did it affect you and you it?

Timeline: 10-15 historical events and 10-15 personal events on a timeline. Try to keep these accurate. You can bend the truth just like Saleem does when you begin your story. (10points) Connections: You will be responsible for making a connection between your life and the historical event in you reading journal. See the reading journal prompt for a more detailed description. (30 points)

Final Project (60 points) The final project requires you to take the timeline and the connections to your life and turn this into a creative narrative much like Midnights Children. You must create a short story or poem 3-8 pages in length that uses the story of your life to explore history and the social issues that prevail throughout it. In addition to your story you must write a 1 page rationale explaining how your story calls for social change. Pictures, videos and music can be incorporated into your story or poem. Your writing must reflect the techniques and elements that we will discuss in class. Writing is a process and so you will be working with your classmates to develop you stories

Draft 1: Due March 7 Peer Workshop: March 9

Draft 2: March 12 Peer Workshop 2: March 13

Final Project Due: March 16