Organizing Units with Literature

Herz, S. & Gallo, D. From Hinton to Hamlet: building bridges between young adult literature and the classics.

Assorted Authors, Blackboard Readings and Handouts.

Probst, Response and Analysis.

Say:

One of the most important things that I feel I should be paying much more attention to prior to teaching is how to compile a text set that is equally challenging, yet accessible to my students. When I think about this course and all that it aims at teaching us, I am reminded that on the first week we discussed the importance of creating an environment in which students are able to have an authentic transaction with literature--Rosenblatt's theory shows that this is how we engage our students and keep them interested in the text. Although I completely agree with her, I do feel that I fall short as a pre-service teacher because I am not aware of the types of books that students who I will teach should be reading. In my internship, I primarily worked with books from the canon, and it was so easy to sit back and see how little students cared for those works. Someone like me however, I love (most of) them! One problem that I wanted  to address was how do I take those works that we are required to teach and make them not only interesting to my students, but allow them to genuinely transact wit the literature on a personal level? I believe that this week we are definitely able to answer that question.

Herz talks about how we are able to create this relationship between canonical text and contemporary works for students. Exactly the same thing we have been doing in this class! Having students work with a mentor text, for example Death of a Salesman, and pairing it with one maybe two other books is ideally the best way to get that type of engagement that we hope to see from our students. Students are without a doubt going to want to read books that they can relate to personally, and accordion to Herz, this is what will ideally spark an interest in students to continue to read. I believe that the purpose of this reading is to show us just how important it is to focus on the thematic unit as a whole. While definitely very true, I also enjoyed the Building Bridges article as this was the piece I think we should have been introduced to earlier. This article talks about the importance in being able to connect the two text but also asks you to consider what the bigger picture is for your unit plan. I couldn't help but think of the backwards planning approach when reading because I feel this is so ME! I have always been a bigger picture kind of teacher--I have grand ideas of where I want my students to be, and slowly start to work my way backwards with the text in mind to create a cohesive unit plan.

What I enjoyed about this week was thinking about how my resource collection fits into these thoughts. I'm pretty sure I have found that connection--first off, I love Death of a Salesman, it was one of my favorite plays that I read in high school...besides Othello of course. I can remember how my AP Lit teacher would always relate the play to the time that we were living in--connecting the canonical text to different YA lit, news articles, and discussions. This is what Probst wants us to think about--using the text as a guide to create an intertextual relationship which will spark discussion and creative thinking. I enjoyed doing my resource collection for the fact that I took an angle that I thought would captivate my students into wanting to have these fantastic conversations that we yearn for in our classroom. See below.

Do:

Resource Collection

Death of a Salesman

The Struggle to Achieve the Ultimate Goal:

The American Dream

Questions:

Is the American dream dead? Who's to blame?

Should the government help Americans in obtaining the American dream?

How has the American dream shifted from the early 1900's to today?

Who's dream is it anyways?

 



Core Text: 

Miller, A., & Weales, G. (1996). Death of a salesman. New York: Penguin Books.

Young Adult Novels:

Crutcher, C.  (1983).  Running loose.  New York, NY:  Laurel Leaf.

Creech, S. (1994). Walk two moons. New York: HarperCollins.

Franzen, J. (2010). Freedom. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Hosseini, K. (2003). The kite runner. New York: Riverhead Books.

Obama, B. (2006). The audacity of hope: Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. New York: Crown.

Walls, J. (2005). The glass castle. London: Virago.

 

Song Lyrics:

Cox, J., & Smith, B. (1929).  Nobody knows you when you’re down and out.  [Recorded by Bessie Smith]  On Take it Right Back.  [CD] Columbia.  (1929).

Pink Floyd.  (1973).  Money.  [Recorded by Abbey Road Studios.]  On Money.  [CD] Harvest.  (1973).

Adele.  (2008).  Chasing pavements.  [Recorded by Adele] On 19.  [CD]  Eg White. (2007). 

Informational Texts (Articles):

Hoover Pittsburgh, B. (2013, May 10). 'The Great Gatsby' still challenges myth of American    Dream. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from

            <http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2013/05/10/The-Great-Gatsby-still-challenges-l          myth-of-American-Dream/stories/201305100196>

Kraus, M., Davidai, S., & Nussbaum, A. (2015, May 2). American Dream? Or Mirage?            Retrieved November 28, 2015, from             <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/american-dream-or-mirage.html>

Samuelson, R. (2012, September 23). The American Dream's empty promise. Retrieved           November 29, 2015, from

            <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-the-american-dreams-     empty-promise/2012/09/23/e630946c-0428-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html>

Movies:

Korine, H. (Director). (2013). Spring breakers [Film]. Lionsgate.

Ross, G. (Director). (1998). Pleasantville [Film]. United States: New Line Home           Entertainment.

Winter, T. (Director). (2013). The Wolf of Wall Street [Film]. Blitz Film & Video Distribution.

Art:

Bosch, H. Death and the Miser. 1492. Oil on canvas. National Museum of Art, Washington, DC.

Gast, John. American Progress. 1872. Oil on canvas. Museum of the American West, Los       Angeles.

Wood, Grant. American Gothic. 1930. Oil on canvas. Art Institute       of Chicago, USA.

Informational Texts (Essays):

Bewley, M.  (1986).  Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America.  In H. Bloom (Ed.), Modern critical interpretations:  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s the great Gatsby (p. 11-28).  New York, NY:  Chelsea House Publishers. 

Poems: 

Coffin, T..  The Secret Heart.  In All Poetry.com.  Retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from

            < http://allpoetry.com/The-Secret-Heart>  

McGiney, P.  First Lesson.  In Poem Hunter.com. retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from

            < http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-lesson-3>

Hughes, L.  (1938).  Let America Be America Again.  In Information Clearing House.  Retrieved Nov 21, 2009, from <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4004.htm>

Hughes, L.  (1922).  Mother to Son.  In Family Friend Poems.com.  Retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from < http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/mother-to-son-by-langston-hughes>

Short Stories:

O’Brian, T.  (1998). Ambush.  In The Things They Carried. Retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from

            <http://www.gilbertschools.net/cms/lib3/AZ01001722/Centricity/Domain/874/Ambush%20by%20Tim%20O.pdf>

O’Conner, F.  (1955).  The Life You Save Maybe Your Own.  In BetterLessons.com. Retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from

            < http://betterlesson.com/community/document/390310/the-life-you-save-may-be-your-own-full-text-doc>

Poe, E. A.  (1843).  The Black Cat.  In Poe Stories.  Retrieved Nov 29, 2015, from

            < http://poestories.com/read/blackcat>

Picture Books:

Senzai, N.H..  (2010).  Shooting Kabul.  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books.

Play: 

Hansberry, L.  (1959).  A raisin in the sun.  New York, NY:  Random House.