8th Grade Diversity Lesson Plan

Book Title:Ghost
Author: Jason Reynolds
Date Published: August 30, 2016
Grade Level: 8th Grade

Social Justice Topic Issues

● Identity Anchor Standards #1: Students will develop positive social identities
based on their membership in multiple groups in society.
● Diversity Anchor Standards #10: Students will examine diversity in social,
cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or
oversimplified.
● Diversity Anchor Standards #8: Students will respectfully express curiosity
about the history and lived experiences of others and exchange ideas and beliefs
in an open-minded way.

Nevada Academic Standards

● English:
○ [RL] 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.
○ [RL] 3: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a
decision.

Objectives
● The student will be able to identify the inequalities and struggles of the individual
who comes from an underprivileged family via a think-pair-share activity, with at
least 95% accuracy.

● Students will be able to illustrate the main elements of the novel, such as
characters, plot, morals, etc… via a concept map with 90% accuracy/detail.

● Students will be able to discuss/define perseverance, and relate the concept to a

past experience involving inequality with 90% accuracy via a free-writing
assignment.
Materials
● Ghost by Jason Reynolds.
● Paper/pencil for free-write.
Procedure
 ● Introduction: Start off with this lead in: “Sometimes in life, we may think that
things just are not going our way. We may feel sad, angry, or maybe like we don’t
have any control. A boy named Castle feels exactly that way. Many kids bully him
at school, his father is in prison, and he has to resort to stealing, as his mother is
poor. What does he do in response to all of these hardships? Do you think he
gives up, or does he push through his problems to become more mature? We will
have to read Ghost by Jason Richards to find out.”
● Read: Read the book individually.
● Discussion: Lead seven class discussions at various points in the reading,
basing them off of these questions:
○ What is economic inequality?
○ How does economic status affect you? Have you ever been treated
differently?
○ How can economic inequality affect someone at school? How about at
home? Do these two influence each other?
○ In what ways is Castle’s coach like a father figure?
○ Was Castle justified in stealing the shoes from the store?
○ Have you ever judged someone based on something external, or
something that they cannot control? How does this relate to the story?
○ How can you prevent economic discrimination?

Activities
● Think-Pair-Share:
○ After every discussion question is read, students will have several minutes
to think about and write down their ideas. They will then be randomly
paired into groups of two, and will discuss their individual thoughts on the
question(s). The teacher will then lead a whole-class discussion, where
students will share their ideas and discussion points.
● Concept Map:
○ Students will create a concept map of the story, with branches for plot,
characters, themes and morals. Students will then share their map with
another student, and finally the teacher. By sharing it with others, students
will discover new points of view about the story.
● Free Write:
○ Students will construct a short response of 100-200 words based on the
following prompt: What does perseverance mean to you? When was a
time in your life when you faced difficult odds due to a(n) economic/social
issue? If you can’t think of any, what is an example of one that could
happen to someone? How does it affect their life at school and at home?
What did you or your example character do in response? Do you think, in
 hindsight, that you or your character would have handled things
differently?

Assessment
● Discussions: Teachers will note the development of students'
discussions with one another during the think-pair-share. The main
objective of the discussions is to relate the concept of inequality to the
novel, and to identify literary elements. Students will need to identify at
least three major ways in which inequality can affect the individual over
the course of the discussions. Progression of ideas will be noted, as well
as original thoughts, and communicating actively with the story in mind.
Discussions will be graded mainly on participation and ability to answer
the questions thoughtfully.
● Concept Map: Students will be graded on their “Concept Map” based on
the details that they can include. For describing the plot, a student must
include elements like rising action, falling action, conclusion, etc…
Additionally, students must show complete understanding of the themes,
morals, and characters of the story.
● Free-Write: Students will be graded on their understanding of the concept
of perseverance. They will additionally be graded based on their ability to
identify inequalities in society, while relating them to the text, and their
personal experience or an example experience. Students must also
answer every question on the prompt.