Lesson 8 | Me, Myself, and I: Examining Personal Identity in Short Texts | 9th Grade English

Objective

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

Readings and Materials

Poem: “(citizen)(illegal)” by José Olivarez

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Target Task

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

Discussion & Writing Prompt

In "(citizen) (illegal)" by José Olivarez, the poet explores the complex experience of being a child whose parents are undocumented immigrants. Analyze how the poet uses structure, word choice, and/or imagery to illustrate the boy's feelings about his complex identity.

Criteria for Success

Identifies the central conflict of the poem as the boy's confusion over his identity and whether or not he is a citizen or illegal based on his parents.
Analyzes at least two elements of the poem's structure, word choice, and/or imagery.
- Could explain how the repetition of questions reflects his uncertainty about how to identify himself.
- Could explain that the use of parentheses conveys his desire to categorize parts of himself as either citizen or illegal.
- Could explain how specific word choice and imagery reveals his anger and frustration with his complex identity.

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

What experiences or characteristics make the baby/boy a citizen or illegal, and what meaning is conveyed through that categorization?
How does the speaker's attitude towards his identity shift from when he's a boy to when he's grown up?
How do the poem's structure, diction, and imagery contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Vocabulary

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

Literary Terms

imagery

the language used to convey a visual picture or to represent any sensory experience (smell, sight, touch, taste, sound)

Homework

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

Excerpt: How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity

While reading, answer the following questions.

What does the "pink girl" say and do to Trev in Kindergarten?
What do Trev and his mother get into a fight about?
What happens in Trev's dreams?
Who is Dr. K, and what is her role in Trev's life?
What does Trev bring to first grade with him? What does this indicate about his feelings in school?
How does Trev's father feel about his gender identity?
How does Trev's brother feel about his gender identity?
Who is Dane, and what do her picture and Trev's mother's story reveal about her?
What happens on the second day of school in first grade?

Enhanced Lesson Plan

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Standards

L.9-10.5 — Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Language Standards

L.9-10.5 — Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

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.

Reading Standards for Literature

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.
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.9-10.10

SL.9-10.1

SL.9-10.6

W.9-10.9

Lesson 7

Lesson 9

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

Target Task

Discussion & Writing Prompt

Criteria for Success

Sample Response

Key Questions

Close Read Questions

Vocabulary

Literary Terms

Homework

Enhanced Lesson Plan

Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Supporting Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Writing Standards

Lesson Map

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