Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
This is a year-long unit specifically designed for middle-school students, grades five through eight, but may be adapted to fit curriculum for students in grades nine through twelve. Students will discuss, read, and write about the topic of community, using a variety of resources that will include support staff within the school community, literature, and technology to build upon prior knowledge of the topic. This unit will appeal to students who are auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and linguistic learners because they will be role-playing, conducting interviews, telling stories, photographing, and narrating their own stories. By using multiple resources, the students will be more excited to learn more about what makes their environment such a diverse place to be, noting that the roles people play throughout the building affect the choices they make in and out of the classroom. The culminating project invites students to work effectively in small groups to complete an activity that involves social media. It is the intent of the unit that student discourse will be generated between adults and children, and perspectives about the idea of what a community looks like will be challenged and embraced.
(Developed for Language Arts/Social Studies, grade 6; recommended for all curriculum areas, grades 5-12)