DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

Overview
Unit Name: Discovering Perspective

Teacher: Maddie Luebbert

Subject: English

Grade:

9th

Briefly give a narrative overview of the learning unit:

Through a mix of ice breaker activities, creative/writing activities, and reading and discussing a poem, students will consider their own identities
as learners, will become acclimated with reading and using context to think about literature, and get used to their new learning environment.

Desired Results
Established Goals:
Better understand self as learner
Practice writing in multiple formats
Engage with literary text using context and biographical information
Get to know classmates and understand classroom norms as they relate to classroom community
Understandings:
Essential Questions:

Students will be able to write about/express self in

different formats.
Students will be able to work in pairs and small groups.
Students will be able to recognize point of view.
Students will understand that historical and biographical
information can be helpful tools for understanding
literature.
Students will understand classroom norms.

Who am I as a learner?
How does my understanding of others identity affect my perspective?
How can understanding context help us better understand literature?
How can writing be used to communicate self?

DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

Performance Tasks:

Assessment Evidence
Other Evidence:

At the end of the unit, students will write a poem or create a selfportrait that is inspired by Langston Hughess Theme from English
B. The students will be tasked with deciding how much of their
own identity to use in the poem. There wont be time for multiple
revisions, so the poems or portraits will be graded as drafts.

Dialog journals (to be read and responded to by teacher)

6-word memoirs
Informal sharing with pairs and whole group
Research task

DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

Day Essential
Question(s)
1
- Who am I as a
learner?
- How does my
understanding of
others identity
affect my
perspective?

- Who am I as a
learner?
- How does my
understanding of
others identity
affect my
perspective?
- How can
writing be used

Standard(s) Content

Learning Plan
Resources/ Materials

- Students will participate in an

ice breaker game
- Teacher will offer an
introduction of self as well as
the establishment of classroom
norms and other useful
business
- Students will break into small
groups to discuss factors they
need for success and share out
with the whole group

- Brief check-in
- Class will read, discuss, and
write 6-word memoirs
- Students will be introduced to
weekly dialog journal and write
their first entry

- Powerpoint for
icebreaker game
- Pencils, paper

Learning Activities
1. Ice Breaker: Students will mingle
with each other, stopping and pairing up
when instructed. In those pairs they will
answer silly Would you rather?
questions. For each question they will
pair with a different student.
2. Introduction/Norms/Business: Teacher
will introduce herself, the classroom
norms (Respect, Empathy, and Effort),
and cover any necessary school or class
business.

- Pencils, paper
- Journals
- Powerpoint with
examples of 6-word
memoirs of varying
tone

3. Students ideals for learning: Students

will break into groups of 2-3 and discuss
what things will help them succeed in
this class. Each student should try to
think of one word to sum it up for
themselves. In the end, the full group will
come back and each student will share.
Each response will be recorded and later
made into a visual for the classroom wall.
1. Students will have a brief check-in,
either with pairs or as a whole group, to
share about first two days of school and
any highs, lows, or weirdos that resulted.
2. 6-word Memoirs: As a whole class,
students will learn about 6-word memoirs
and read several examples that cover
different tones (funny, sad, aspirational,
3

DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

to communicate
self?

- How does my
understanding of
others identity
affect my
perspective?
- How can
understanding
context help us
better understand
literature?
- How can
writing be used
to communicate

etc.). They will also define and

understand memoir. In pairs, students
will discuss the medium: Is it a relief or a
huge challenge to only have six words?
Why? After, students will each write their
own 6-word memoir and share out.

- Read and React: Theme for

English B by Langston
Hughes
- Review Poem Glossary:
define and discuss terms as
whole class
- Read and React Pt. 2: How
did the information change or
enhance the poem?

3. Dialog journals: Teacher will introduce

the concept of a weekly dialog journal.
Each student gets their own notebook.
About once a week students will write on
a given prompt for about 15 minutes. It
wont be graded for quality, rather for
effort. For example, if there is a blank
entry, you wont receive points. The main
focus is for writing, but students can
supplement their entries with drawings or
other styles if they think it fits with their
personal expression and the prompt. The
journals will be collected at the end of
each writing session and the teacher will
read and respond. Prompt: What is the
most important object you own and why?
- Pencils, paper
1. After settling in, students will receive a
- Printed copies of
copy of Langston Hughess Theme for
Theme for English
English B. As a large group, the class
B
will read the poem aloud. Then, students
-On opposite of
will share their first impressions of the
printed poems, include poem or anything they noticed about the
glossary defining these speaker.
terms: point of view;
first person; speaker;
2. Students will flip to the glossary for
poet; theme; Winston- the poem. As a large group, the class will
Salem; Durham;
define and discuss each term, connecting
Harlem
them with the text.
4

DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

self?

- How does my
understanding of
others identity
affect my
perspective?
- How can
understanding
context help us
better understand
literature?

- Research task: students will

conduct guided research on
Langston Hughes, Theme for
English B, or the Harlem
Renaissance
- Illustrate: Using what theyve
found, students will create a
graphic organizer depicting
difference between speaker and
poet in the poem
- Discuss: How does what
theyve learned make a
difference?

- Pencils, paper
- Venn Diagram
printout
- Laptops
- 3-6 vetted websites
about Langston
Hughes, the poem, or
the Harlem
Renaissance
- Printout of
descriptors for website
each group should use

3. Students will reread the poems

individually, keeping in mind the new
information from the glossary and any
other contextual questions. Then, they
will reflect and discuss as a whole class
how the new information may have
changed their perception of the poem or
their understanding of the theme.
1. After recapping information about the
poem discussed the previous day,
students split into groups of 4-5. Each
group will use a computer to research a
specific topic. They will be provided
with information about the article they
are meant to use and should practice
using search engines to find the specific
article or source. They will either be
learning about Langston Hughes,
Theme for English B, or the Harlem
Renaissance.
2. Each student should fill out a Venn
diagram or other graphic organizer to
illustrate what theyve learned about the
context of the poem. For example, groups
researching Langston Hughes will make
a Venn diagram comparing the speaker of
the poem with the poet.
3. After synthesizing the information they
found as a group, the groups will come
back together to share out what theyve
learned. After sharing the information,
students will discuss how the information
may have changed their perspective of
Theme for English B.
5

DISCOVERING PERSPECTIVE UNIT PLAN

5

- Who am I as a
learner?
- How does my
understanding of
others identity
affect my
perspective?
- How can
understanding
context help us
better understand
literature?
- How can
writing be used
to communicate
self?

- Brief check-in
- Review: Briefly, the whole
class will revisit the
information from the previous
class about the poem and its
context.
- Performance task: Students
will elect to write a poem create
a visual self-portrait related to
Theme from English B.

- Pencils, paper
- Colored paper, old
magazines, markers,
crayons, colored
pencils, scissors

1. Students will have a brief check-in,

either with pairs or as a whole group, to
share about first week of school and any
highs, lows, or weirdos that resulted.
2. The class will review some of the
important information from the previous
class, including information about the
historical context, authors biography, or
themes of the poem.
3. Each student will choose to either
write a poem or create a self-portrait that
is related to Theme from English B and
the topics covered in relation to the
poem. Each student should incorporate a
general theme, a point of view, and a
setting. The students are encouraged to
consider the relationship of speaker and
poet/artist. Is the person represented in
the work exactly the same as the artist?
Why or why not? How are they
connected, and how are they different?