Declaring Identity: Being Jazz (2020)

Students explore the topic of "coming of age" through the memoir of Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen whose story has led to significant social change and the growing acceptance of transgender youth.

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ELA

Unit 12

6th Grade

This unit has been archived. To view our updated curriculum, visit our 6th Grade English course.

Unit Summary


Jazz Jennings is a well-known transgender activist. Born biologically male, Jazz socially transitioned to female at the age of five with the support of her family. In 2006, when Jazz was just six years old, her family shared their story in an interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20, which opened up a national conversation around the existence and experiences of transgender youth. Since then, Jazz has remained in the public eye, sharing her life and promoting transgender rights through many forms of media, including a picture book for young children, numerous interviews, a reality TV show, and a memoir.

Jazz’s memoir, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, introduces students to this charismatic young woman whom Time Magazine has named as one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens” and Huffington Post one of the “14 Most Fearless Teens.” Students will be drawn in by Jazz’s conversational tone, her matter-of-fact descriptions of personal details of her life as a young transgender person, the challenges and discrimination she has faced, and her inspirational message about accepting yourself and standing up for others. This unit introduces students to the unique and universal challenges faced by one transgender girl. Additionally, students will read several nonfiction articles about issues facing transgender and other LGBTQ people, including participation in youth sports, bullying, and violence. They will also watch a number of videos. In addition to developing students’ understanding of complex contemporary issues, these articles provide students the opportunity to think critically about author’s purpose and point of view, as well as thinking about the way that two different texts/videos present the same information, supplementing and/or challenging one another.

Being Jazz is an essential part of the curriculum because it is the only English unit in our middle school curriculum to address contemporary questions about gender identity. Students will have a window into the experience of a person who was born into the wrong body and the controversies that surround the transgender movement. According to a recent Human Rights Campaign survey, LGBTQ students “report being harassed at school—both verbally and physically—at twice the rate of non-LGBT youth.” With more frequent bullying, LGBTQ students are also more likely to have lower educational outcomes (“Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate” by Teaching Tolerance). This Being Jazz unit is an effort to create a supportive and safe school environment by representing LGBTQ students in the curriculum to affirm their identities and foster awareness for all students.

In the first writing task of this unit, students will perform independent research for the first time this year, specifically on the topic of a trailblazing athlete. They will look for sources online, determine whether these sources seem trustworthy, and learn how to complete appropriate citations. (They will include specific facts about the athlete, including domain-specific vocabulary (related to the athlete’s specific sport, etc). The second task is a short one and builds directly on the previous day’s reading lesson. Public discourse around bullying has been growing in recent years, and students will certainly have opinions on the topic, either from their own experiences or exposure in the media. Although students have written “argumentative” essays in which they make an analytical claim related to a text, his is the first opportunity for students to practice their persuasive writing skills. They will use the skills they have developed in analyzing the way that Jazz Jennings illustrates ideas in her text and incorporate facts, statistics, and anecdotes into their writing. The final task in this unit introduces students to the genre of memoir. Through analysis of specific stories and incidents in Being Jazz, students will begin to think about the way authors use structure to create logical story structures (W.6.3.A), complete with details and dialogue (W.6.3.B; W.6.3.D), and create resolution for readers (W.6.3.E). This is an opportunity for students to think about their own lives and their own capacity to make change in the world through their stories. This task has a number of opportunities built in for peer-to-peer feedback (W.6.5) and to strengthen students’ skills with confident presentation (SL.6.4).

Texts and Materials


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Core Materials

Supporting Materials

Assessment


This assessment accompanies Unit 12 and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.

Unit Prep


Essential Questions

  • What are the risks and benefits of telling the truth about one’s identity?
  • How do gender identity and gender expectations shape our world and our experience of the world?
  • What role does family play in the process of a young person coming of age and declaring identity?

Reading Enduring Understandings

  • Many transgender and gender-nonconforming people today face many forms of discrimination—and even violence—based on their identity.
  • Statistics show that trans people are many times more likely than cisgender people to experience bullying, to attempt suicide, and be victims of murder.
  • It is possible to make change by being fearlessly oneself, standing up for one’s rights, and standing up for others.

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Content Knowledge and Connections

  • Transgender
  • Non-binary
  • Gender-neutral
  • Sex
  • Gender
  • Gender expression
  • LGBTQ
  • Cisgender
  • Ultrasound
  • Genitals
  • Pronoun
  • Social transition
  • Hormone therapy
  • Testes
  • Passing
  • Indigenous
  • Endocrinologist
  • Rite of passage
  • Pansexual
  • Heckle

Notes for Teachers

  • The subject matter of gender identity is complex and delicate. Teachers need to prepare the class by making sure students are feeling empowered and mature in order to use words related to gender (like genitalia and sex) that they are not accustomed to using in school. This may feel uncomfortable for students at first, so acknowledge the awkwardness aloud. (“This may feel uncomfortable for some of you to talk about in school and that’s okay. I trust that you’ll be as mature and open-minded as you have been when talking about other controversies this year, such as euthanasia in The Giver.) Significantly, this unit is taught in our schools in conjunction with a science unit about puberty and reproductive systems so that students can interact with anatomical and social terms related to gender and sex across the two disciplines of English and Science. Students should not be required to participate aloud if they need time to feel comfortable discussing questions about gender. This subject will spur a lot of healthy debate; students should feel free to respectfully express their beliefs and possible discomfort around transgender issues.
  • Additionally, middle school is a time of identity exploration. Students who are questioning their gender/sexual identity —or those with LGBTQ family members—may feel particularly vulnerable when talking about gender and sexual identity in class. Teachers should encourage students to be sensitive to one another and be prepared to offer private support to students who are struggling with personal issues.
  • Before starting the unit, consider informing parents, school leaders, and counselors so they can prepare to offer care if a student needs additional support. In the materials for this unit, we have included a Sample Parent Letter about the unit that teachers can customize based on their community’s needs.
  • Each lesson plan lists the homework for that evening; the vast majority of the time the assignment is for students to read and take notes on the pages of focus for the following day’s class.  Students should come to class prepared with a literal understanding of the reading in preparation for closely rereading shorter sections of text during that class period.  For homework accountability, it is recommended that teachers check students’ reading notes each day, to ensure that they read and understood the gist of the chapter. Additionally, teachers may wish to assign a short written response to the homework thinking task to bring to class the following day. Another option is to give a quick homework check quiz at the beginning of each class (3–6 questions assessing literal understanding). 

Lesson Map


Common Core Standards


Core Standards

L.6.4
L.6.4.c
L.6.5
L.6.5.a
L.6.6
RI.6.1
RI.6.2
RI.6.3
RI.6.4
RI.6.5
RI.6.6
RI.6.7
RI.6.9
RL.6.4
SL.6.1
SL.6.1.b
SL.6.1.d
SL.6.4
W.6.1
W.6.1.a
W.6.1.b
W.6.1.e
W.6.2
W.6.2.a
W.6.2.b
W.6.2.d
W.6.2.f
W.6.3
W.6.3.a
W.6.3.b
W.6.3.d
W.6.3.e
W.6.5
W.6.7
W.6.8
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Unit 5

Fleeing Conflict: Refugee & The Unwanted

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