Lesson 12 | Me, Myself, and I: Examining Personal Identity in Short Texts | 9th Grade English

Objective

Analyze how an author's choice of narrative perspective, structure, and tone contribute to overall meaning in a story.

Readings and Materials

Excerpt: How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity pp. 7 – 21 — Short Story: “A Word from the Nearly Distant Past” by David Levithan

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A Note for Teachers

This reading lesson depicts sexual assault and harrassment. Be mindful of how your students may respond.

The reading today references suicide.

Target Task

Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved

Discussion & Writing Prompt

How does the story's structure contribute to its meaning? Provide specific evidence from the text and carefully explain your thinking.

Criteria for Success

Identifies that the story is told as a series of fragments.
Identifies that the structure highlights the contrast between the past and present generation of gay men:
- Explains that in the past fragments, the narrators share some of the obstacles and painful experiences they had for being gay.
- Explains that in the present fragments, the narrators show gay characters embracing who they are and having the freedom to be themselves.
Could also connect the structure to the image of the quilt from the story.

Sample Response

An example response to the Target Task at the level of detail expected of the students.

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Key Questions

Questions about the text that will help guide the students understanding

Close Read Questions

Who is the narrator of the story? What do we learn about their collective and individual identities?
What does the gay prom symbolize in the story?
What is the tone of the story, and how what words, phrases, or moments in the story contribute to that tone?

Vocabulary

Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text

Text-based

abstraction

(p. 10)

the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events

gravitas

(p. 11)

dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner

freight

(p. 14)

to be ladened or burdened with

inherent

adj.

(p. 17)

existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute

mundane

adj.

(p. 18)

lacking interest or excitement; dull

inalienable

adj.

(p. 19)

unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor

Homework

Reading and/or task to be completed at home in preparation for the next lesson.

Excerpt: One Good Story, That One by Thomas King

While reading, answer the following questions.

How old was the narrator when his sister Laetitia moved to Salt Lake City? How old is he when his mother says they are going to visit?
Why does the mother want to wear a dress for their trip?
What does the mother respond each time the border guards ask her for her citizenship?
How does Inspector Pratt try to reason with the narrator's mother?
Who introduced the idea of Salt Lake City to Laetitia?
How do the mother and her son spend their time stuck at the border?
Who is Mel, and how does he feel about their experience at the border?
What stories does the mother share with her son the second night they sleep in the car?
Who arrives on the scene, and how does that change the outcome of their border crossing?
What does Laetitia tell her mother at the end of their visit?

Enhanced Lesson Plan

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Standards

RL.9-10.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Reading Standards for Literature

RL.9-10.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.9-10.5 — Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Reading Standards for Literature

RL.9-10.5 — Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Supporting Standards

Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit

L.9-10.1

L.9-10.6

RL.9-10.1

RL.9-10.2

RL.9-10.10

SL.9-10.1

SL.9-10.6

Lesson 11

Lesson 13

Lesson Map

Identity Charts

Understand the definition of personal identity and social identity, and use that understanding to create an Identity Chart.

RI.9-10.1 RI.9-10.2 SL.9-10.1 W.9-10.10

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking pp. 1 – 15 — "Introduction"

Analyze how Susan Cain's structure and tone relate to her argument and purpose.

RI.9-10.4 RI.9-10.5 RI.9-10.6

“I'm Nobody! Who are you?”
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking pp. 1 – 15 — "Introduction"

Analyze how the speaker's word choice reveals her perspective on being a "nobody."

RI.9-10.2 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.4

“My Honest Poem”

Analyze how Rudy Francisco uses specific details and figurative language to develop his central idea.

L.9-10.5 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.4

Narrative Writing

“My Honest Poem”
Narrative Writing: My Honest Poem Rubric (G9)

Plan and write a free verse poem that explores your personal identity.

W.9-10.3 W.9-10.4 W.9-10.5

Counting Descent p. 13 — Poem: "Soles"
Counting Descent p. 25 — Poem: "Counterfactual"

Analyze how diction establishes and shifts the mood in a poem to convey meaning.

RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.4

Fresh Ink: An Anthology pp. 194 – 209 — Short Story: "Super Human" by Nicola Yoon

Analyze how narrative perspective, structure, and characterization shape the reader's understanding of a story's ending.

RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.5 W.9-10.10 W.9-10.3 W.9-10.9

“(citizen)(illegal)”

Analyze how the author uses literary devices to convey the boy's complex experience as a child of immigrant parents.

L.9-10.5 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.4 RL.9-10.5

How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity pp. 63 – 72 — Short Story: “Trev” by Jacqueline Woodson

Analyze how the motif of dreams communicates an important theme from the story.

RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.4

“I'm Nobody! Who are you?”
“(citizen)(illegal)”
“My Honest Poem”
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking — "Introduction"
Counting Descent p. 13 — Poem: "Soles"
Counting Descent p. 25 — Poem: "Counterfactual"
Fresh Ink: An Anthology pp. 194 – 209 — Short Story: "Super Human" by Nicola Yoon
How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity pp. 63 – 72 — Short Story: “Trev” by Jacqueline Woodson

Engage in a small-group hexagonal discussion to make connections between texts read so far in the unit.

RI.9-10.1 RL.9-10.1 SL.9-10.1.a SL.9-10.1.b SL.9-10.1.c SL.9-10.1.d SL.9-10.6 W.9-10.1 W.9-10.10 W.9-10.9

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories pp. 26 – 43 — Short Story: “The Paper Menagerie”

Analyze how the author uses symbolism and structure to reveal the story's meaning.

RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.4 RL.9-10.5

How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity pp. 7 – 21 — Short Story: “A Word from the Nearly Distant Past” by David Levithan

Analyze how an author's choice of narrative perspective, structure, and tone contribute to overall meaning in a story.

RL.9-10.4 RL.9-10.5

One Good Story, That One pp. 133 – 147 — Short Story: "Borders"

Analyze how the mother's character reveals an important message from the story.

RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.5 RL.9-10.6

“Hair”
“Hair”

Analyze how the author uses diction and figurative language to show contrasting perspectives on the speaker's hair.

L.9-10.5 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.9-10.4

“Our Fight for Disability Rights and Why We're Not Done Yet”
“Judy Heumann Reads an Excerpt from Her Memoir Being Heumann”

Identify a speaker's purpose in two digital texts, analyzing the rhetorical choices the speaker makes to achieve that purpose.

RI.9-10.6 RI.9-10.7 SL.9-10.3

Socratic Seminar

All unit texts

Prepare for a Socratic Seminar on overarching questions about Unit 1.

RI.9-10.1 RI.9-10.2 RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 W.9-10.1 W.9-10.10 W.9-10.9

Assessment: Socratic Seminar

All unit texts

Formulate and share unique arguments about meaning in and across all texts from Unit 1. Support arguments with strong and thorough textual evidence in a summative Socratic Seminar.

RI.9-10.1 RI.9-10.2 RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 SL.9-10.1.a SL.9-10.1.b SL.9-10.1.c SL.9-10.1.d SL.9-10.6

Performance Task: Narrative Writing

All unit texts
“In 'Turning Red' I Finally Saw Myself Reflected in a Main Character”

Brainstorm and outline a personal reflection essay in which students consider how the texts in Unit 1 have been a window into another's identity and/or mirror of their own identity.

RI.9-10.4 RI.9-10.5 W.9-10.2 W.9-10.4

Performance Task

All unit texts
Unit 1: Personal Reflection Essay Rubric (G9)

Outline and begin to write a personal reflection essay in which students consider how the texts in Unit 1 have been a window into another's identity and/or mirror of their own identity.

W.9-10.2 W.9-10.4

Performance Task: Narrative Writing

All unit texts
Unit 1: Personal Reflection Essay Rubric (G9)

Write a personal reflection essay in which students consider how the texts in Unit 1 have been a window into another's identity and/or mirror of their own identity.

L.9-10.1 L.9-10.2 W.9-10.2 W.9-10.2.d W.9-10.4

Me, Myself, and I: Examining Personal Identity in Short Texts

Objective

Readings and Materials

A Note for Teachers

Target Task

Discussion & Writing Prompt

Criteria for Success

Sample Response

Key Questions

Close Read Questions

Vocabulary

Text-based

Homework

Enhanced Lesson Plan

Standards

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Supporting Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Lesson Map

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