Visibility & Invisibility in Short Texts

Lesson 10
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ELA

Unit 13

9th Grade

Lesson 10 of 15

Objective


Formulate and share unique arguments about meaning in and across Frank Ocean’s Open Letter on Tumblr, and “Thank You, Frank Ocean.” Support arguments with strong and thorough textual evidence in a Socratic Seminar.

Readings and Materials


  • Letter: “Thank You, Frank Ocean” by Dream Hampton 

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

In a well-developed paragraph, that synthesizes both texts for support, explain how people or groups are made to feel “invisible” or marginalized by society, social institutions, and the “majority."

Key Thinking


Discourse Questions

Consider “Frank Ocean’s Open Letter on Tumblr” and “Thank you, Frank Ocean.” The subject of both texts is similar, but one narrator is male and queer, and one is female and heterosexual. What are these two texts illustrating about sexuality in our society, specifically when it comes to hip hop? According to these two texts what is the relationship between sexuality and visibility? Use evidence from both texts to support your ideas. 

Marc Lamont Hill says, “To be Nobody is to be vulnerable. In the most basic sense, all of us are vulnerable; to be human is to be susceptible to misfortune, violence, illness, and death [...] Unfortunately, for many citizens—particularly those marked as poor, Black, Brown, immigrant, queer, or trans—State power has only increased their vulnerability, making their lives more rather than less unsafe.” How do “Frank Ocean’s Open Letter on Tumblr” and “Thank you, Frank Ocean” enhance our understanding of what it means to be a nobody? Which speakers and moments from those texts help to create a more nuanced understanding for you? How? Why?

Homework


Prepare for tomorrow’s Free Response Question by unpacking the prompt in your anthology and preplanning the text and character/speaker/narrator you are choosing.

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Standards


  • LO 1.4B — Synthesize ideas from multiple texts and explain how the texts may convey different perspectives on a common theme or idea.
  • RI.9-10.2 — Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.9-10.2 — Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Supporting Standards

LO 5.1A
LO 5.1B
RI.9-10.1
RI.9-10.2
SL.9-10.1
W.9-10.2

Next

Analyze how a character or speaker struggles with visibility and how this struggle contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole in a multi-paragraph response.

Lesson 11
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