Ordway 1

Thomas Ordway
Dr. Woods
ENGL 440
12 December 2018
Year-Long Plan
Rationale:
Students are more susceptible to the flow of society than anyone and it’s during our
middle and high school age that we begin to set the foundations of who we see ourselves as in
relationship to ourselves, our peers, and to the rest of society. It’s is these images that direct us to
who we desire to become and later actually become. After these years, our self-image can be
hard for us to change and wrestle free from. It is my goal for this year-long lesson plan to direct
students to this very fact rather than allow them to float without concern toward where society
may take us and what it may make us. If I can get students to think critically about the
mechanisms of identity and society, I can begin to give them the tools they need to better control
their future despite societal influences pulling and tugging on them. If students can learn to help
themselves become what they desire to become, it becomes possible for them to also begin to
help society become something better too. If we are blind to how much influence society has on
us, though, both become almost impossible.
Outline:
Overarching Theme: The Individual Versus Society
Grade: 10
Unit 1: Who Am I? (A Look at Personal Identity)
● Introductory Project:
○ Introduce myself with example Powerpoint project
○ Assign “Who Am I?” Powerpoint project
● Short Story: Harrison Bergeron or Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut
● Music: Who Am I? From Les Miserables (context must be supplied)
● Poems: I am! By John Clare
● Movies: A Beautiful Mind
● Art: Inkblot art
Unit 2: Who Are You? (A Look at Other Identity)
● Interview a classmate project and presentation
○ Not a broad overview but an in-depth look at a specific point in their life.
○ Students will interview another student about a significant event in that student’s
life.
○ Provide example project
● Consider how The Great Gatsby might have been different in the eyes of another
character
● Book: The Great Gatsby
● Short Story: Bread by Margaret Atwood
 Ordway 2

● Poems: Two-Voice Poetry?

● Movies: The Great Gatsby
Unit 3: Who Are We? (A Look at Social Identity)
● What sorts of things define our society? Social characteristics?
● What kinds of things can we all agree on?
○ Example: Is bullying bad?
● Book: Persepolis
● Short Story: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
● Non-fiction: Letter from Birmingham Jail by MLK Jr. and The Ballot or the Bullet by
Malcolm X
○ What are the commonalities between these two voices?
● Music: Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer
● Poems: Slam Poem Video- This mouth, this body, this being, is an act of rebellion
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4U2pkRjFng)
Unit 4: Who Was I? (A Look at How Society Influences Our Identities)
● Have students bring in a kindergarten picture of themselves and a recent picture. Extra
credit for those who are willing to display both, side-by-side in front of the class.
● Paper Assignment: Compare and contrast. Discuss the similarities and differences
between child and adult Jeannette Walls. How might have Walls’s society influenced
these changes or a lack thereof?
● Book: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
● Poems: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost; A Naked Girl and Mirror by Judith Wright
○ Where I’m From poetry writing project
● Movies: The Glass Castle
● Art: Girl at the Mirror by Norman Rockwell
● YouTube Videos: What Makes You, You?
https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you?language=en#t-2539
Unit 5: Who Will I Become?
● Creative writing project (Pick one)
○ Narrate a day in the life of you at least 10 years in the future
○ Write a letter from the perspective of yourself at least 10 years in the future to
your current self
○ Write a poem describing your ideal-self
○ Write you’re own fictional coming of age story
● Book: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
● Short Story: I Want to Know Why by Sherwin Anderson
Unit 6: What Will Society Become?
● Persuasive essay assignment
○ Pick an issue that you see with the world/society
○ Convince your audience this issue is worth worrying about
 Ordway 3

○ Consider a possible solution to this issue and why you think it would work
● Book: Feed By Matthew Anderson and The Road by McCarthy
● Short Story: By The Waters of Babylon by Stephen Benet
● Poems: Back to the Future by Yusof
● Movies: The Road
● Current Events: How Western Civilization Could Collapse
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170418-how-western-civilisation-could-collapse,
What will society look like what AI is everywhere?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/artificial-intelligence-future-scenarios-
180968403/