Guide Entry to 05.01.01:

In designing this unit on teaching responsibility to children I pursue two separate major goals: I want this unit to teach some important moral principles such as to be responsible for one's deeds and relationships with others, and I want the unit to be academically rich in developing pertinent content knowledge and skills applicable to understanding a story. I find that along with the lack of moral training, students need academic understanding of the tools necessary for their success: language, rhetoric, imaginative storytelling. Before they can portray their own situations as stories, they need to understand the elements involved: characters, themes, motives, settings, conflicts, solutions, etc.

Although this unit may be taught with some modifications in any classroom, I developed it for the fourth grade bilingual students. It offers two written stories as well as two films, which can be presented and taught as traditional stories: when we look at a film with students we will identify all characteristic elements of a story, describe main characters, and analyze the central theme or important message the film carries.

(Developed for English as a Second Language, grade 4; recommended for Elementary School ESL, grade 4)

Guide Entry to 05.01.02:

This unit is designed for the urban youth who needs a multiple skill and intelligence approach to the teaching of Shakespeare. It can, of course, be used in any classroom, including ESL, if modifications are made.

Using an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the "drama" of warring families and love, the students are asked to consider their own culturally diverse backgrounds as a backdrop to this play. Review of basic elements of literature in tandem with film language sets the foundation of the unit. Students are asked to hone computer skills in a creative and cooperative way so as to learn about the "real" Shakespeare. Building the Globe Theatre will conclude this section of the unit. They are asked to read scenes of the play both in "the language of Shakespeare" as well as a side-by-side version with a modern translation so that they will learn to enjoy Shakespeare for all that it is. Different film versions of the play are viewed to provide the visual representation that my students so desperately need. Using graphic organizers will help students to actively isolate, process, and reorganize key information at the same time allowing them to approach the themes cognitively. They will be able to see relationships as well contrasts as they apply to various activities. Finally, students are asked to write an original scene complete with stage direction and costumes, to help develop cooperation, communication, and perseverance.

(Developed for English, grades 10-12; recommended for High School English, grades 10-12, and Middle School English, grade 8)

Guide Entry to 05.01.03:

This unit uses film to help students connect with the Civil War. I have written it with the idea that urban students may find it interesting to learn three important areas of the Civil War. In addition to the films I have included a film viewing strategy. Asking students to watch a film and retain what they see is not always an easy task for all students. The viewing strategy is a modification of the KWL pre-reading strategy and the use of film note sheets. The concept engages students' interest by asking them what they already know about African Americans and the Civil War. It follows by allowing students to share what they would like to learn regarding the role of African Americans and the war. Then after viewing the sections of the films, students identify what they have learned.

Three films are used in this unit. Peter Batty's The Divided Union provides a broad but solid background for the development, engagement, and conclusion of the war. Harriet Beecher Stowe's story Uncle Tom's Cabin as directed in film by Stan Latham provides students with several examples of slavery in the Antebellum South. Edward Zwick's Glory is an excellent film about the Massachusetts 54th regiment. Students will learn about African American heroes who fought in the American Civil War. This unit is an effort to create an understanding of the role of African Americans in the Civil War and motivations of others involved as well.

(Developed for U. S. History and Social Studies, grade 10; recommended for U. S. History and Social Studies, grade 10)

Guide Entry to 05.01.04:

As teachers we strive daily to push young minds to their fullest academic potential. This is indeed a challenge in today's classroom that is an eclectic mix of diverse learners. Our job is that much more challenging as we seek ways to get students to think critically so that they are not just prepared to meet state standards, but so they are prepared for the life that awaits them beyond their school days. In English curriculum for middle and high school students, a major goal is improving student writing by developing their awareness of voice and its power to impact their writing. I believe that we can use the engaging power of film to authentically awaken students' awareness of voice and its function. Since we cannot deny the connection of reading and writing, this unit trains students to listen to the voice of film (visual text), but it will also prepare them for dealing with written text. We will strengthen their ability to apply strategies that will aid in comprehension and critical thinking skills. As students progress through this unit, they will reinforce their knowledge of the elements of fiction; this vocabulary is a foundation for what they will use throughout their academic careers. They will analyze two films paying particular attention to the voice of each film with opportunities for guided and independent practice. Ultimately, students will be able to demonstrate an awareness of voice in written text through a culminating assessment. We can use the creative power of film to captivate students' attention while helping them develop this crucial trait.

(Developed for English, grade 7; recommended for English, grades 7-9)

Guide Entry to 05.01.05:

This unit uses film to teach students the basic elements of story including plot, character development, and causal logic. Students will have the opportunity to produce a wide range of process writing including: quick-writes, film journal entries, and reflections on them. Students will also have the opportunity to write a fully realized product piece, the formal film essay, using their own film journal entries as research.

This unit comes complete with an author's note that explains how to break the unit into smaller segments in case the teacher does not have time for the full unit. This unit also comes complete with three self-assessment rubrics that can be used by the student-writer, a peer editor, and the teacher.

The four films used in this unit are: Wallace and Gromit, The Wrong Trousers, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Smoke Signals, and Finding Nemo .

(Developed for Creative Writing, grades 9 and 11, and Screenwriting, grade 12; recommended for Language arts and Creative Writing, grades 9-12)

Guide Entry to 05.01.06:

This curriculum unit was developed to assist students who are blind or visually impaired in their efforts to improve oral and listening skills. It will attempt to help them understand the importance of words and how words are used to convey information and to influence society. Students will learn to appreciate stories, understand how the stories are constructed, and understand the role storytelling and storytellers played in African and African American culture.The curriculum unit will provide students with opportunities to learn about oral traditions by studying storytelling in West African countries whose cultures are primarily oral. They also will study the role oral traditions played in aiding African Americans during their long history of enslavement.

This curriculum will be taught to students who are visually impaired or blind but also should be of interest to their sighted peers. This curriculum will allow students to practice listening, memorizing, organization, researching and oral speaking skills. All of these areas present problems for visually impaired students.

(Developed for Resource for Visually Impaired, Literature, and Speech, grades 9-12; recommended for Reading and Writing for Blind and Visually Impaired, Writing, Reading, Speaking, grades 9-12)

Guide Entry to 05.01.07:

During the first few weeks of school, many kindergartners experience anxiety when leaving their families for the first time. Family Finding: Exploring Multicultural Families Using Film is designed to help ease the transition between home and school, while instilling an understanding for multiculturalism within the classroom and beyond. The children will view foreign films featuring families and compare those traditions to their own. This unit is designed for a kindergarten classroom, but can easily be adapted to older grades, especially English as a Second Language classrooms. This unit is designed to be taught during the first six weeks of school.

(Recommended for Kindergarten)

Guide Entry to 05.01.08:

This unit focuses on what I call the essential questions that are not only found on the Language Arts CAPT but are some of the best questions to challenge students who need to sharpen their skills in learning about and responding to short stories in both literature and film. Once students have practiced responding to these questions and learned to identify what makes stories effective, as a final project, they will explore writing and actually putting together their own stories based on the theme of this unit. Through viewing stories in film and reading stories that produce, use , and resolve anxiety in children in diverse cultures around the world, students will discover that children all over the world grow up as they experience anxiety, sometimes layers of it, simultaneously. They will be encouraged to make connections between anxiety that they experience or that their friends experience and the anxieties that the children in the stories experience.

The stories selected to exemplify anxiety begin with the autobiography of Geoffrey Canada, Fist Stick Knife Gun , in which he recalls his childhood where, at the age of five, he experienced the anxiety of learning that he had to fight his best friend to establish himself in the pecking order on the street in the Bronx. The final story takes place in a distant continent with three half-caste, (as they were labeled) aboriginal girls in the film Rabbit-Proof Fence , escaping from a racist internment camp and walking 1,200 miles along a fence to their home, anxious all the while that the police and a tracker pursuing them will catch them and return them to the camp/prison. All the stories selected, which also include children in Iran and in China, stretch the students' empathy beyond themselves and test the universality of emotion.

(Developed for Short Stories in Literature and Film, English, grades 9-12; recommended for Short Stories in Literature and Film, English, grades 9-12)

Guide Entry to 05.01.09:

Japan is cool. Students love its animated cartoons, are intrigued by its stark differences from American culture, are curious about its history, zealously seek Japanese electronics, and have even fallen in love with their card games (Yu-Gi-Oh). However, students know very little else about this island country that has been, at different times, the victim of our gunboat diplomacy, our most enthusiastic fan, our enemy, our outpost, number two trading partner, our ally, and our competitor. Now, Japanese popular culture has more entrée with American audiences than at any time in its history. In fact, this author believes that Japan may be the one nation with which American youth culture has a pop culture trade deficit: Japan seems to have little need for our television and children's literature, while we are voraciously consuming theirs. All of these elements provide a "teachable moment" for prospective teachers of world literature.

This unit explores three Japanese films and six texts that incorporate the supernatural. Students will be guided through an exploration of Japanese cultural beliefs about the supernatural and the ways in which Japanese authors and filmmakers convey the supernatural world to their audience, resulting in a critical analysis of the artists' craft.

Guide Entry to 05.01.10:

I teach French at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, a New Haven middle school. It is a wonderful, creative environment in which students truly learn, grow, and thrive, utilizing and expanding on their strengths as they stretch and strengthen all their capabilities. I find that at times this enriching environment can be unwittingly compromised by the necessity to fulfill all of the city- and state- mandated testing requirements, which now include pre-testing, pilot-testing, practice-testing, and post-testing. As a French teacher I act as a support to the test preparation process; in that role I am afforded the opportunity to choose alternate sources for analysis that illustrate places where French is spoken and bring to life sounds of the Francophone world.

In this unit, I hope to demonstrate how a foreign language teacher can expose students to authentic representations of the studied culture while supporting necessary standardized test preparation. Students will view two films by François Truffaut, Small Change and The Wild Child , and will respond to these films just as they would to written texts. In particular, they will practice two Reading Comprehension skills assessed by the Connecticut Mastery Test, Forming an Initial Understanding and Developing a Critical Stance . Film is a familiar mechanism for reflecting and disseminating culture, imparting and exploring cultural values and norms in an aesthetically rich way. With it, students will come to understand the concept of film as visual text, which will open up new learning possibilities for them.

(Developed for French, grade 8; recommended for Middle School French, grades 6-8)

Guide Entry to 05.02.01:

This unit explores the cross-cultural connections between two occurrences of discriminatory government policies implemented during times of war: the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and anti-gay policy throughout American society in the Post September 11th years. This unit fulfills several of the requirements for the World History course taught in the freshman year. The unit was written for honors-level students, but can be modified for various levels. The essential question that students will be called upon to consider is: How does identity contribute to instances of conflict? Within the context of this question students will analyze factors that go into creating conflict in order to spark awareness to current issues facing our society. Among these factors are: nationalism, propaganda and fear tactics, an ongoing history of discrimination in our society and world, the impact of the media, and the resulting violence that targets marginalized people in society.

A variety of resources are used during the unit, such as: readings, film, art, and music. Films include Prelude to War, The Music Man , and Before Stonewall . Reading materials include: a selected excerpt from Leslie Feinberg's, Stone Butch Blues ; an article from Teaching Tolerance magazine titled, "American Gothic;" and the political writings of President George W. Bush (2001) and Martin Luther (1543). Additionally, this unit uses a variety of visuals to demonstrate Nazi use of propaganda. The name of the unit, Anatomy of Your Enemy is based on the title of a song by Anti-Flag. Students will use song lyrics to make analogies to topics discussed during the unit.

(Recommended for U.S. History, Government, and World History, grades 9-12)

Guide Entry to 05.02.02:

The purpose of this unit is to utilize the literature in order to model voice, inspire the reader through perseverance, and encourage the student to make a connection outside himself, in other words to view the larger picture as an attempt to gain perspective. This unit will explore the "coming of age" process experienced by adolescent girls on their journey from children to adulthood. It will focus on the middle years or limbo period in which girls decide who they want to become as women or rather, society decides who they have to become because they are women. I will present the idea that during adolescence when girls mature into women they experience an identity crisis which inevitably alters their sense of self; that is it empowers or diminishes the way they view themselves and the world around them. I chose a topic concerning gender because as a woman I am affected by gender in my daily interactions, as an English teacher there are many themes related to gender present in the literature, and as an educator there are numerous lessons that the students can learn from the female experience that are in turn applicable to the human experience.

(Developed for English 4, grade 12; recommended for Language Arts, grades 7-12)

Guide Entry to 05.02.03:

This curriculum unit is designed for high school students to read, write and discuss voice by reading Latina and female African American literature. Voice is a literary device used by authors to convey a particular mood or tone in his/her writing. The tone and mood are created by word choice and fluency; elements that make writing such a deliberate and precise act.

This unit uses the writing of Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, Nikki Giovanni and Ntozake Shange and asks students to identify elements of voice in each of the writer's work. Students will also write personal vignettes, poems and responses using the selected pieces as models. The goal of the unit is to have students recognize voice and the techniques writers use to create their voice and message. Students will produce a portfolio of their best work based on their understanding of voice and the writers.

(Developed for Junior English III, grade 11; recommended for Junior and Senior English and Language Arts, grades 11-12)

Guide Entry to 05.02.04:

Through deconstructing stereotypes and exploration of identity I would like students to gain a greater sense of self and what makes them unique. I would like them to be able to express a piece of themselves in every piece of artwork they do. Art is the perfect catalyst for this because, "Art has no race or gender. Art…was for me a realm where every imposed boundary could be transgressed" (Hooks). I would like to start inspiring students to create artwork which has meaning for them personally. It is easy to give students an assignment like a still life where they are simply recreating objects from observation; however, how are they invested in the outcome of a still life? The challenge is to find lessons where students can make personal choices about their artwork while also learning the fundamentals of drawing, painting and sculpture. When speaking about Lois Mailou Jones and Romare Bearden, Hooks says, "when they no longer focused exclusively on European traditions and drew upon the cultural legacy of the African-American diasporic experience - that they fully discovered their artistic identity." Once Bearden and Jones had learned aesthetics and traditional art they made their artwork their own. They infused it with their own culture, race and personal history. This is what I would like my students to learn. I propose to do this by teaching through a series of lessons, each with a different focus on an aspect of life that influences identity. These aspects will include but are not limited to, each student's ethnicity, culture, traditions, family, experiences, physical appearance, fear, dreams and aspirations.

(Developed for Introduction to Art, grades 9-10; recommended for Art, grades 8-12)

Guide Entry to 05.02.05:

The objective of the unit is to enable students to understand and recognize the importance of cultural identity in order to identify who they are. The unit focuses on study of the Hispanic/Latino umbrella group, and its roots: culture, traditions, history, art, and politics. Students will learn the influence of different ethnicities and backgrounds on the development of the Americas. The unit contains direct references to, for example, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The unit is recommended for Spanish students with at least an intermediate level of fluency (Spanish 3 and 4) since most of it is going to be conducted in Spanish.

(Developed for Spanish 4, grades 11-12; recommended for Spanish 4, grades 11-12)

Guide Entry to 05.02.06:

This unit is designed to that will explore identity and culture through the context of National Hispanic Heritage Month. This unit is not only a means to investigate Hispanic Heritage Month, but also a means to introduce students to the vast world of Spanish while developing a sense of what 'identity' is.

In this unit, I aim to use the concept of identity to explore the diverse world of Spanish-speaking peoples. Helping students develop ideas about their own identities will encourage self-confidence, inside and outside the classroom. This confidence will promote learning and acceptance of other people, cultures, and languages. It is important that all students' cultures and heritages be recognized, appreciated, and celebrated.

(Developed for Spanish I, grades 7-8; recommended for Spanish, Middle School grades)

Guide Entry to 05.02.07:

This unit focuses on ethnicity. I will explore the cultural values of the majority of the populations I teach. This will include African American and Latino students, who will consider the similarities and differences between the two groups. Students in grade five must study the History of New Haven. They will learn how immigration began in America, connecting the two ethnic groups as to when they migrated to New Haven. The students will make connections to their own families.

This unit can be taught to students from grades four through six. For the fourth and fifth grade students, the novels I have chosen can be read by both grade levels. The sixth grade students will need their reading materials adjusted to fit their reading levels. Some students could possibly be on an fourth or fifth grade reading level.

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 5; recommended for Middle and Elementary Curriculum, grades 4-6)

Guide Entry to 05.02.08:

This unit is designed for Social Studies. In Social Studies we teach about the arrival of America's immigrant population, whose members passed through Ellis Island on the east coast and Angel Island on the west coast, with and without documents, by land from Canada and Mexico, at various times throughout history. Society's way of categorizing or identifying us creates isolation of one group from another-in turn, creating the need for tolerance. I will venture to ask the question: "Why can't we be individuals with many qualities?"

I will be teaching this unit in an eighth grade Social Studies class that consist of students on grade level, special education students who are academically below grade level, Hearing Impaired students as well as English as Second Language (ESL) students. The unit will be taught over the period of one marking period. Because of the diversity of the class this unit could be applicable for fifth through eighth grade.

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 8; recommended for Social Studies, grades 5-8)

Guide Entry to 05.02.09:

The purpose of this first grade curriculum unit is to enable young students to identify themselves and others with regard to many complex factors, including race, ethnicity, physical appearance and ability, gender, and family structure. The students will understand themselves better, become better prepared to accept people who are different from them, and learn to refrain from making assumptions about people by way of external examination. The secondary goal is to create a tone of harmony among classmates and multicultural appreciation.

I will provide opportunities for children to observe people with families and identities different from their own, as well as positive role models from within their racial groups, by utilizing engaging multicultural literature. Though many cultures will be studied within this unit, the most emphasis will be on African American people, with some emphasis on Latino, White, and Biracial people, in order to reflect the racial backgrounds of my students. In addition to teaching about people from other places and ethnicities, I will encourage open communication in class and assign individual and group projects, in order to allow the students to discover similarities and differences among themselves, such as family structures, traditions, and hobbies. By discussing many types of identities and comparing themselves characters in books and to one another, they will learn new ways of identifying themselves and develop a sense of self-pride.

This year-long curriculum unit consists of four ten-week mini-units: one for each marking period. It is to be implemented at least two to three times a week, for approximately 30-60 minutes per lesson. Due to great emphasis placed on reading and writing in first grade, I have integrated the social studies themes with the required literacy activities. Each section of the unit corresponds to one of four social studies themes. The four themes are: Family and Me, Community and Traditions, African American History, and Celebrating Diversity. Although the unit is designed for first grade students, the content could easily be adapted for students from second through fifth grade by supplementing the reading with longer, more challenging texts.

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 1; recommended for Elementary School Social Studies, grade 1)

Guide Entry to 05.02.10:

This integrated unit focuses on two groups of African American women, one group living during and immediately after the period of enslavement, and the other representing women who influenced or could have influenced the Civil Rights Movement. Some lived in the years leading up to the movement and one was an actual participant. Some of these women are creations of fiction, while others are actual people. They include Harriet Tubman, Faith Ringgold, and characters from the writings of Mildred Taylor, Connie Porter and others.

With each group, students examine the various identities assumed by each individual, learn of the conflicting and/or supporting pressures that these identities had upon each other, and speculate regarding how students would have reacted to some of these influences. Activities are integrated, with emphasis on Social Studies, Social Development, and Language Arts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Several detailed art activities are included. The unit is aimed at third graders, but could easily be adapted to a fourth or fifth grade class and some middle school groups.

(Developed for Essentials of Literacy, grade 3; recommended for Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies, Social Development, and Art, grades 3-6)

Guide Entry to 05.03.01:

The front porch is one of the most powerful symbols of American cultural values. Our reverence for community and country, for home and harmony, are idealized and realized in the architecture and art created for the front porch. From ostentatious plantations to humble cabins, this unit details the origins, stylistic evolution, technological influences, and cultural pressures that shaped the porch.

Industrialization in the 1840's gave Americans a leisure class, while simultaneously creating a fear that mechanization would overwhelm nature. The front porch was the link-the perfect liminal space-between civilization and raw nature, between public and private space. With the mass publication of architectural plans in pattern books, the front porch became one of the first "keeping up with the Joneses" necessities.

This unit is designed to make the history of the American porch a living history. The porch-then and now-reflects all the political, social, and economic needs of "We the people." The unit includes a neighborhood field trip to map porches, films, songs, theater productions, a novel, and poems that highlight American voices that sound like bells-sometimes lovely, sometimes lonely-gently swinging from the loose ropes that bind home to community.

(Developed for Ethno-Literature Honors, grade 10; recommended for College and Honors English, Creative Writing, Drama, Sociology, History, Psychology, Design, and Art, High School grades 10-12)

Guide Entry to 05.03.02:

The unit focuses on the study of historic landscapes to learn about the American past, paying attention to material culture, social history and 'sense of place' as revealed in primary sources. The unit will urge students to become careful observers of their own environment, to reflect on the meaning of the space they occupy, and to translate that understanding to their research on topics in American history.

Students will begin the unit by considering the meaning that a personal space and place holds and creates for each of them. Students will then examine some of the landscapes that have shaped the memory and the history of Americans in the past. Through research in primary documents and images, students will discover that 'sense of place' grows from memory as well as function. Students will explore the landscapes of Puritans and colonists, homesteaders or gold miners, factory workers or mill girls as they explore the growth of America through themes of exploration, conflict, governance and invention.

Paralleling the historical research, students will investigate the meaning of place through the lens of poetry. Students will explore the language used by poets to capture 'sense of place' and will create poems that express an understanding of 'sense of place' in their own lives.

(Developed for History, grade 8; recommended for American History, grade 8)

Guide Entry to 05.03.03:

For most of my students Kindergarten is the first time their community is broadened beyond their families. They come to school having experienced a very insular world, sometimes one that consists only of family and home. School is often their first exposure to people of different cultures and family dynamics. It is also where they have the opportunity to learn about a new place and claim that place as somewhere important to their lives. Through this unit I hope to give my students a variety of experiences that help them express how they feel about the places they care about. I also hope to broaden their view of what their neighborhood is and give them a sense of belonging and responsibility within that community.

This unit is meant to help early childhood students develop a sense of place. Through poetry and mapping the unit will teach the students about their community. They will learn to express how they feel about it through writing, and navigate their way through it by exploring and creating maps. They will also share what they create during the unit with other members of their community. The unit will allow them to help others in their community see how they view it, and give them a chance to have their voices heard in the neighborhood they live in.

(Developed for Literacy and Social Studies, grades K-1; recommended for Literacy and Social Studies, grades K-2)

Guide Entry to 05.03.04:

This unit will utilize New Haven's most historic site to provide students with an interdisciplinary and experiential learning experience. As Fellows in Dolores Hayden's seminar, my colleagues and I broadened our understanding of the importance of place memory, public history, and public art in the built urban environment. The New Haven Green is an excellent subject of focus because it has more or less retained its status as a center of spiritual, economic, and social activity in New Haven over a considerable period of time. In 1638, the founders of the New Haven Colony planned a community based on a grid of nine squares. The planners set aside the central square of nine squares as common lands. Unlike most other colonial and federal period greens, which have disappeared or have been significantly altered, the Green has developed over time as New Haven has evolved. Yet, while the architecture around the Green reflects the eras of change that have washed over New Haven in the last three centuries, the function and character of the Green has changed little since the early 19th century. Today, the Green serves as a place for public gatherings, for entertainment, worship, and recreation. In the past, it has also served as the town market place, burial ground, and the location for the town's first government. The Green survived urban development, including a plan to build a parking garage beneath it. Today it remains the central landmark in downtown New Haven. The Green's survival has something to say about the communal sense of place in New Haven. Everyone who has visited downtown has a memory of the Green.

(Developed for United States History I, grade 10; recommended for Honors, College, and Basic United States History I, grade 10)

Guide Entry to 05.03.05:

This unit is designed as a way to help students make a bridge from literature to real life through the examination of architecture and place in the development of fictional characters and plot. I will ask students to look at several short stories, which I have paired up with poems. This is literature that my eighth graders would be reading normally, but the difference is that I am trying to emphasize techniques authors use to create a sense of place. Journal writing will be emphasized as we look closely at how fictional characters are influenced by the architecture and setting in which they live. In a final project students create their own "life maps" in order to see how different settings or places have influenced their own lives.

(Developed for English, grade 8; recommended for Middle School English, grades 7-8)

Guide Entry to 05.03.06:

This unit is designed as an introduction to a World Civilizations course. It deals with the concept of place, home, culture, and human origins in East Africa. The unit explores the concept of place by asking students to take a critical look at their home, and how it influences their own culture. The unit then measures this understanding by asking students to apply it to the foreign environment of ancient East Africa.

The unit is also largely diagnostic, in that I work in a magnet school where, when dealing with freshmen, it is not always easy to tell what they understand and what they do not. The unit deals heavily with writing, and seeks to give me a greater understanding of what it is the students understand, and what they are capable of doing in terms of writing.

(Developed for Honors World Civilizations, grade 9; recommended for World Civilizations, English, and History, High School grades)

Guide Entry to 05.03.07:

In this unit children will be learning some basic knowledge of the Native American tribes, ranging from the Seminole of Florida to the Chilkat of Alaska, learning about their period of life and studying different kinds of uses of Indian shelters. Students will learn to understand architecture as an artistic mode that deals with forms of interior and exterior space. They will also begin to recognize its relationship to the environment, cultural influences and needs of different tribes. The unit is part of a four-week program (with extension if needed) to introduce students to the history and culture of the first Americans.

I prepared three different lesson plans for grades five and six. The first is designed as a thinking process. The second and third are developed with the District Content Standards included. All the lessons plans can also be modified for the need of each child having a Differentiated Instruction Method in mind.

(Developed for Language Arts, Social Studies, History, and Math, grades 5-6; recommended for Elementary Curriculum Areas, grades 5-6, and Middle High School)

Guide Entry to 05.03.08:

This unit aims to challenge the concept of environmental study and emphasize its relationship with the sense of place. Rather than start with a field of study that preempts the psychology, self-education and purpose of childhood, in this case, I prefer to start with those features as we find them in the world. David Sobel is among the people who are giving some attention to this. If relationships are all important in our work, more attention could be paid to the quality, number and duration of relationships we develop in the course of our studies. The feeling of safety, comfort and defining one's own space-place, almost a "secret" hideaway can be placed in this study for example. The point is that students and their teachers could bring things in to define their space.

The rules are that the 'grammar' ("a systematic treatment of the elementary principles of a subject and their interrelationships") of the place are influenced by the students and their teachers much more so than is typically a reflection of the school system these days. The environment of one place, for example the village in which I live, may be feature rich, with lots of access to nature and environmental community; whereas it is less so the product of school and some other places, with some exceptions such as the communication with the content of children's lives they bring to school. These actions are natural and psycho-pedagogically important to our students. Yards are important places for kids. We could give them more attention at schools in their education.

(Developed for Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and Literacy, grades 2-4; recommended for grades K-4)

Guide Entry to 05.04.01:

Life on Earth would not have been possible if it were not for the process of star formation that has been continuously occurring since the Universe began to expand some 13-15 billion years ago. Each star evolves in a slightly different way depending on the initial mass of the star. Stars begin their life as a vast cloud of dust and gas (mostly hydrogen gas). Gravitational forces bring these particles and gases together until the conversion of gravitational potential energy to heat causes the temperature to raise enough to allow hydrogen fusion. Once hydrogen starts fusing into helium, a star is born. While all stars form in similar ways, the path a star takes to its eventual death is dependent on its initial mass. Low mass stars (about five times the mass of the Sun or less) will evolve and end their life as a white dwarf. Intermediate mass stars (five to ten times the mass of the Sun) will evolve and end their life as a neutron star while the most massive stars become black holes. Life on Earth is related to this process of star formation, and it is this process that will some day be the demise of the Earth and all life on it. Current measurements suggest that the Sun is halfway through its ten billion year life cycle.

In addition to addressing the concerns and questions that my eighth-grade students have about stars, how they form, how they die, and what that means for life here on Earth, this curriculum unit reflects the New Haven Public School scientific inquiry performance standards and New Haven's Earth Science performance standards. Using those standards as a guide, I will focus on, and develop the following topics related to stellar evolution for the classroom: 1) The sequence of events as stars form, "burn" their fuel, and then end their life, and 2) The fate of our Earth as our own sun progresses through its evolution.

(Developed for Earth Science, grade 8; recommended for Earth Science, grade 8)

Guide Entry to 05.04.02:

What do scientists and children have in common? They both feel excitement when new discoveries are made. For children, this excitement can capture their imagination and introduce them to the fundamentals of math and science. My goal in this unit is to help this generation of students grow up feeling more at home in this vast, awesome, and exciting universe.

This unit is designed for students in grades two through four. I find that at the beginning of third grade many of my students do not even know their addresses and telephone numbers. How can I help these students understand that they are not only part of their family, neighborhood, and city but also part of the Universe? My job as a teacher is to make them feel at home with the information. To begin at home, our Earth is a member of the family of planets and moons known as the solar system. Orbiting our star, the Sun, are nine planets, and assorted satellites with their own special characteristics. Our solar system is also shared with assorted debris in the form of asteroids and meteoroids.

Many teachers would love to include astronomy in their classroom but they are often held back because their own background and training in the subject is weak or outdated. This unit is designed to build background knowledge of the Solar System as well as provide resources to obtain current information to teach this content area. It is also designed to instill in students a curiosity and concern for their natural world and create critical thinkers and problem-solvers. Students need to see connections among the various disciplines of science, mathematics, and the humanities, as well as between what they learn at school and beyond.

(Developed for Science, grade 3; recommended for Elementary Science, grades 2-4)

Guide Entry to 05.04.03:

If we were to travel far beyond our solar system's boundaries and look back, we would see billions of scintillating points of light that comprise our Milky Way galaxy-among them our star, the Sun. Our star has a story all its own, one that reveals it is much more than a simple source of heat and light. What then is this celestial sphere? My curriculum unit explores these concepts and more.

Developed for grade two space explorers (and modifiable for grades two through five), this unit is presented in an easy-to-use question and answer format. It zeroes in on the fascinating characteristics of the Sun and its overall impact on planet Earth. Through interactive activities, related films, select readings and corresponding writing exercises aligned with Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) response-to-text writing strands, students grasp that the Sun impacts our planet in many ways-several often taken for granted. The unit, to be implemented within an eight to ten week period, is interdisciplinary, incorporating Scientific Inquiry, Earth Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts from a whole language/multicultural perspective.

(Developed for Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies, grade 2; recommended for Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies, grades 2-5)

Guide Entry to 05.04.04:

The focus of this unit is on activities for Sun/Earth Science Fair Projects. A teacher wishing to help guide students to complete a meaningful project can use the basic information found in this unit to provide direction for the student.

The unit tries to use ideas that have already proven successful. The topics with related activities are:

• - How big is the Sun?
• - How Far Away is the Sun?
• - What is the Structure of the Sun?
• - Sunlight and Earth
• - Sun-Earth Movements
• - Solar Energy and Weather
• - Solar Energy Past and Present

By doing these activities, the student must research information and gather data to write a research paper about the Sun. Various Web sites are mentioned throughout the unit where a person can locate relevant information. If one wishes to use an interdisciplinary approach, the unit can satisfy Performance Standards for Science, Math, Social Studies and Language Arts.

(Developed for Science Fair, grades 6-8; recommended for Earth Science and Astronomy, grades 6-8)

Guide Entry to 05.04.05:

The goal of this unit is for students to use scientific inquiry methods to identify and explain the positive and negative effects the sun has on the Earth. While many curriculums have Earth Science as a required topic, most textbooks focus on the nine planets and the night sky. This unit includes background information, scientific experiments, technology links, and mathematical connections for both students and teachers about the sun and its effects on Earth. This unit meets multiple science and mathematical standards for fifth grade, but can easily be modified for other levels.

The unit is divided into two complete sections. The first describes the sun's formation, properties, and structure. The second section focuses on the relationship between the Earth and the sun. Topics such as the Earth's rotation, seasons, tides, life cycles, heat, weather, and the solar effects on human health are discussed.

(Developed for Science, grade 5; recommended for Science, grade 5)

Guide Entry to 05.04.06:

This unit was written to be used in a third grade classroom, but can easily be adapted for use in a second, fourth, or fifth grade. The unit deals with the sun and how it affects life on earth. The unit does not include any serious discussion of the individual nine planets. Its focus is the sun and the development of our solar system and the universe. It is organized around a set of questions, from: where did the sun and planets come from? , and what is the anatomy of the sun? , to: how does the sun affect our weather?, and how do we have night and day and the seasons?

The unit offers a set of hands-on experiments and demonstrations. There is also an experiment on the absorption of light, and how it is affected by color, and a demonstration of the colors contained in sunlight. There is also a demonstration of how the universe is expanding, and the effect it has on the galaxies using a balloon and beads, as well as raisin cake. The unit also provides an annotated bibliography of teacher and children's books, as well as a list of some of the many astronomy sites available on the Web. There is also an appendix listing the specific science standards covered by the unit.

(Developed for Elementary Science, grade 3; recommended for Elementary Science, grades 2-5)

Guide Entry to 05.04.07:

This unit is designed for third and fourth grade students. The purpose of this unit is to show students the relationship between the Sun and Earth. The unit will touch upon many key concepts such as rotation and revolution. Students will learn about the solar system, more importantly the Sun and Earth and how it relates to our lives. Students will understand how important the Sun is and be able to relate this knowledge to the science unit on plant growth and development. Students will also learn about weather, climate, and seasons. They will have the opportunity to do hands-on projects that relate to district-wide goals.

(Developed for Science and Mathematics, grade 3; recommended for Science and Mathematics, grades 3-4)

Guide Entry to 05.04.08:

This unit will be used to introduce children to the Sun and its effects on global warming. The intent of this unit is to ignite their interest so that they will study this subject further on their own. The unit is designed for children in grades 5-8 and will be taught for approximately ten days. Because students are limited in their knowledge about the Sun, greenhouse effect, climate and global warming, this topic can be explored only to a somewhat limited extent. What I have tried to do is to incorporate four main ideas: 1) to study the Sun; 2) to examine the greenhouse effect to see if it is affecting Earth's climate; 3) to examine temperatures over time to see if global temperatures have any effects on weather patterns and 4) to examine whether a brighter Sun is also responsible for rising temperatures.

Several strategies are used in this unit. Learning packages are used with specific goals and objectives with guided instructions from the teacher. Whole group and small group discussions and individual activities are used with each lesson. Each lesson has a specific stated goal and is guided by one of the main ideas of this unit. The lessons have been constructed to have students 1) Discuss prior knowledge; 2) Explore by doing an activity; 3) Reflect by looking back at activity, analyze and discuss and 4) to come to some conclusions, communicate to others, identify next steps that lead to the next topic.

The design of this unit has been guided by New Haven Public School Curriculum Science Standards grades 5-8. Specifically, Content Standard 4.0 Earth Science will be addressed. This standard states that students will develop an understanding of the structures, properties and dynamic processes of the earth, the solar system, the universe and the galaxy; they will be familiar with the origins, evolution, movements and interactions of these systems.

(Developed for Earth Science, grade 8; recommended for Earth Science, grades 5-8)

Guide Entry to 05.04.09:

I developed this unit to help students learn to understand the phenomenon of global warming and to think critically about their role in this environmental issue. The unit requires students to construct their own meaning about "the greenhouse effect" by building a body of empirical evidence from conducting modeling activities in the lab. The unit focuses on the human-caused factors that influence global warming and what if anything humans can do to slow this phenomenon. Students will review the meaning of energy, heat, and thermodynamics; they will have the opportunity to make their own greenhouses; students will think about how heat is transferred and what factors affect the heating of the environment; students will research, digest and react to their gathered information by choosing a debate topic and presenting evidence to support their standpoint. Students will also demonstrate their knowledge by writing essays to demonstrate what they are thinking and what they have learned.

In general, this curriculum unit is written to meet the expectations for a BEST science portfolio. It is written with the requirements for inquiry and Science Technology and Society (STS) activities in mind. Due to length restrictions, there is a significant resource packet available for interested teachers that is not included here. Activities of the unit are also planned to address New Haven Science Curriculum expectations, content strands, standards and science skills.

(Developed for Integrated Science, grade 9; recommended for Integrated Science and Earth Science, High School grades)

Guide Entry to 05.04.10:

This unit uses the popular topic of meteorology to include physical science and meteorology in the middle school science classroom. The unit explores the source of weather energy (the sun), energy transformations and distribution, temperature, pressure, the role of water in weather, and geographic location.

The curriculum unit contains activities for six days of classroom lessons in support of the physical science concepts addressed. Weather investigations present dynamic, locally based, easily observed phenomena which all students have experience with. The physical science activities are a fantastic starting point for students seeking a science fair project.

(Recommended for General Science, grade 8)

Guide Entry to 05.05.01:

This unit introduces such concepts as ecology, biodiversity, and fragmentation. As the population increases and the demand for goods increases, there may be a growing conflict between further economic development and the maintenance of unspoiled ecosystems large enough to sustain viable wildlife populations. I want my students to be aware of how human activity can impact their environment. Utilizing hands-on and center activities, observations, and demonstrations this unit explores the relationship among living things present in urban habitats. The use of journal writing establishes a medium through which the students can expand their language expression, specifically writing in the content area of science. As an assistant principal I will implement this curriculum as part of my modeling and coaching for teachers in the classroom. A final project will include a written collection of scientific and historical observations.

(Developed Science Issues and Science, grades 9-12; recommended for Biology, Science Issues, Science, and Environmental Science, grades 9-12)

Guide Entry to 05.05.02:

This unit is a curriculum is designed specifically for the fourth grade social studies curriculum Regions of the United States of America. The unit can be used in pieces or in more or less detail to fit nicely into the curriculum of younger or older children. It combines the social studies aspect with the science aspect, learning about the habitats and the food chains that exist within each region. The driving question of the unit: The world is made up of many interconnected habitats, and each habitat has its own food chain. How have these food chains affected the way humans live and how have humans affected the food chains of the habitats in which they live?

The unit gives background knowledge and lesson formats that can be used for each region studied over the year. The unit also addresses the need in fourth grade to introduce to the students expository writing by using the essential question as a writing prompt. The essential question leads children to synthesize their knowledge of science and social studies in written form to think about the world in which they live. The unit also encourages in children a connectedness to the world around them and a sense of responsibility to this world.

(Developed for Social Studies, Science, and Literacy, grade 4; recommended for Social Studies and Science, grades 3-5)

Guide Entry to 05.05.03:

Biodiversity is broadly defined as the "full array of life on Earth" and is considered to include genetic, species, ecological, and landscape components. Biodiversity thus includes concepts of species richness, ecosystem complexity, and genetic variation (Allaby 1994), and it addresses "both the variety of these things and the variability found within and among them" (The Nature Conservancy and Association for Biodiversity Information 2000). This curriculum unit addresses contemporary issues of biodiversity and conservation biology. It develops ecological concepts relating to the meaning and value of biodiversity, the extent of biodiversity (local, regional, national, and global), present and past threats to biodiversity, and efforts to maintain or restore biodiversity to habitats or communities at regional, national, or global scales. I refer to the vertebrate wildlife of Connecticut for the examples or case studies that are developed, including our herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles), avifauna (birds), and mammalian fauna. I do not discuss the freshwater and salt water fishes of the state, instead giving emphasis to the tetrapods or quadrupeds of Connecticut.

The unit is intended for students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) a course that I have been teaching for the past five years. This is an upper level science elective which is a part of the College Board/AP Program course offerings at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven. Future development of the unit will provide some applications for the Macy Honors Anatomy & Physiology course that I teach, as well as college and general physiology courses. While the target student population is advanced high school science students, there are a number of aspects of the unit, including subject matter and laboratory and field activities, which can be applied to middle school and elementary science education.

(Developed for Science, AP Environmental Science, and Honors Anatomy and Physiology, grades 11-12 and Biology, grades 10-12; recommended for AP and General Environmental Science, and Human Physiology, grades 11-12, and Biology, grades 10-12)

Guide Entry to 05.05.04:

This is a complete 10th grade biology or environmental science unit. It begins with food webs of a natural coastal marine environment. An initial trip to Outer Island (located in the Thimble Islands) introduces students to typical organisms in their community. Teachers will use this information to introduce the characteristics of living things, heterotrophs and autotrophs, photosynthesis, cellular respiration and microscopes. It then looks at how the Industrial Revolution has impacted the water quality of New Haven harbor. Students will determine how the bioaccumulation of pollutants may affect a food web. The scientific method will be taught by conducting an ecological experiment. By accessing local research on the harbor the students will determine sediment toxicity throughout the area. With this information students will generate a hypothesis about the environmental quality throughout the harbor. The unit will be concluded by determining an ecological profile of New Haven harbor by sampling the biological, chemical, and geological environments of four parks located along the coastline of the harbor. Students will generate conclusions on the overall heath of New Haven harbor after the study.

(Developed for Biology, grade 10; recommended for Biology, grade 10, and Environmental Science, High School grades)

Guide Entry to 05.05.05:

This unit provides students with a methodology for how to measure and appreciate biodiversity through the study of taxonomy. Biodiversity is an important issue for today's society with government review of the Endangered Species Act and debate over Kyoto Protocol. Biodiversity affects us on many different levels. On the local level reduced biodiversity increases our risk to vector-borne diseases such as Lyme Disease, while increased biodiversity leads to ecosystem stability

Students will be introduced to common plant and animal phyla and the roles they play in an ecosystem. Students will also collect and quantify species from the local neighborhood in order to document the overall biodiversity of the local ecosystem. This unit is primarily designed for the teachers of AP Biology, although teachers at other levels are encouraged to modify this unit for their own purposes. It requires minimal equipment and the chance to go outside to hunt the wild exotica of your school backyard.

(Developed for AP Biology, grade 12; recommended for High School, grades 10-12)

Guide Entry to 05.05.06:

How can the teacher of young children help them to understand the crucial role each person must come to play in repairing the health of our natural environment? Fostering such thinking at an early age will help children to become responsible inhabitants of the earth. This curriculum unit will begin with my students learning about the fascinating life and work of Jane Goodall, a tireless advocate of chimpanzees. Her life, her love of animals from a very early age, her patient techniques of studying chimpanzees in the wild, and her groundbreaking discoveries about them will effectively engage the children's interest and, so, serve as a stimulating topic for them to read and to write about. They will learn about how this lover of animals became a great scientist. Her philosophy is really quite simple: As we learn to care about all species, we better appreciate the interconnections among all living beings.

Our focus in third grade is on literacy, helping students develop and strengthen their reading skills as well as their writing skills. My focus in this unit is on reading and writing informational texts. Indeed, this genre of nonfiction presents its own unique set of challenges which students must learn to master. We as teachers must provide them with the strategies that will help them to 'unlock' the knowledge found in such texts. This unit will be interdisciplinary in scope, incorporating reading, writing, science, poetry and art, and will, I believe, provide topics of high interest that will motivate even the most reluctant reader and writer.

Part of the third-grade reading curriculum involves immersing students in nonfiction reading and helping them appreciate and use the many features inherent in these texts. There is a natural progression from the teaching of reading nonfiction to that of writing it. I plan to focus on three types of writing in this unit: journal writing, writing descriptive observations and writing an informational text. I have used an excellent and very teacher-friendly resource book entitled Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports by Lucy Calkins and Laurie Pessah to help structure my lessons on teaching young students to write informational texts or as they refer to them, 'all-about' books.

(Developed for Reading, Writing, and Science, grade 3; recommended for Reading, Writing, and Science, grades 2-5)

Guide Entry to 05.05.07:

This curriculum unit will explore species diversity in a number of different ecosystems. The ecosystems will be differentiated according to the amount of land management being practiced on them by humans. So, for example, a city park with swings, paved paths, and a soccer field would be considered one ecosystem while a state park in the same area with unpaved walking trails and open meadows would be considered a different ecosystem.

In this unit ecosystems are used as a way to study many related topics. Classification and taxonomy are essential for identification of organisms found in any ecosystem. Statistics and other mathematical tools also fit well into this curriculum unit as it is impossible to count every organism within the large areas we will study. Reading for content will be necessary to obtain information about the different ecosystems we will study in this unit. Strictly speaking, statistics and reading skills are not the purview of most science departments, but without the math and language backgrounds provided by these two activities, the observations made by the students are useless. So, there will be scientific topics covered in this unit as well as many topics typically covered in other classes.

(Developed for Biology, grade 10; recommended for Ecology, Biology, and Integrated Science, High School grades)

Guide Entry to 05.05.08:

This unit, which is geared toward fourth and fifth grade English language learners (ELLs), focuses on exposing students to the social and environmental issues of waste management. In this four-to-six week unit, I have integrated language arts, science, math and social studies to allow students multiple opportunities to be exposed to the content. Because the unit is targeted toward language learners, it is designed in a way to repeat key vocabulary and concepts through poetry, chants, stories, and projects. Students will keep track of their own waste for a week, thus increasing their awareness of how much waste one person can be responsible for. Students will have hands-on opportunities to observe and experience the effects of waste through field trips to the landfill and recycling plants, as well as through observing their own compost pits. Students will learn about cycles in nature, such as the water cycle and the cycle of decomposition, and how humans have affected these cycles through waste and pollution. My goal is that by the end of the unit, students will be impacted by the magnitude of the issues of waste management, and that they would begin to make positive personal choices to reduce their own waste and attempt to 'emulate nature' through recycling.

(Developed for Bilingual, ESL, and Science, grades 4-5; recommended for Science, ESL, and Language Arts, grades 4-5)

Guide Entry to 05.05.09:

This unit is anchored in the science vision statement of the New Haven Public School curriculum standards and frameworks. This unit will provide the elementary school teacher in a dual language program with a framework that closely matches district-wide goals of literacy and numeracy to the study of biodiversity focusing on science standards. The list includes standards in the areas of scientific inquiry, life science, technological science, ecology, and historical perspectives in science.

This unit focuses on biodiversity by allowing children to explore and become familiar with food sources, producers, chains and webs, different habitats, the importance of diversity to a habitat, and how biodiversity affects our ecosystem and our lives. Through the use of concrete examples that contextualize and make meaningful a few ecological principles and processes involved in their day-to-day living, students are able to understand how biodiversity is an essential and integral part to our lives. Therefore, as we uncover and discover the surrounding backyard habitats in school and homes, we explain the reasons as to how and why the diversity of life affects our lives. A glossary of the most important terms, a list of student, teacher and electronic resources, evaluation rubrics, extension activities and standards are provided for the implementation of the unit.

(Developed for Integrated Science and Language Arts, grade 1; recommended for Elementary grades 1-4)

Guide Entry to 05.05.10:

Teaching the history of Colonialism usually centers on the political, social, and economic effects of the era. Often, the environmental effects of Colonialism are glossed over, as time constraints make covering every aspect of this era impossible. This is unfortunate as we are just beginning to realize the long-lasting consequences of the environmental destruction caused during the colonial era. This unit is designed to help social studies teachers give students a more complete understanding of what happened to the North American continent and its inhabitants during this time period. In addition, the goal of the unit is to make our students more aware of the adverse effects environmental degradation can have upon us all by having them research modern land uses and judge these land uses as either just or unjust.

(Developed for World History, grade 9; recommended for World History and U. S. History, grades 9-10)