Judith J. Katz
The target class for this unit is the tenth grade English Language Arts (ELA) class at Co-op. The tenth grade ELA is likely to be a class of approximately 25 students who are considered average learners. Some will be at the high end of average, some will be at the low end of average, some will have special needs, and the rest will be the average of all of that. The unit is suited to all learners because its focus is on developing the individual's authentic voice. The unit can easily be modified so that students who work at a slower pace or at a lower skill level can work with shorter (more accessible) pieces of writing, as well as with fewer literary elements at a time.
Students come to Co-op, a small urban magnet high school, without deep literary experience. In the lower grades and sadly, even in high school there only seems to be enough time for students to learn to read and write for information. Even where High School ELA teachers are hustling to teach students how to read literature for depth and beauty, the writing assignments are most often analytical. Certainly these are necessary skills, but in this unit and in the Creative Writing classes we try to take students in a somewhat different direction. We try to help each student use their analysis to write a creative response in line with what they think and feel in a way that only that particular student could. We want to help them write creatively in his/her authentic voice.
Projected Timeline for Lessons/Unit
11 to 12 class periods
Additional Target Class
An expanded version of this unit, with additional, longer, and more complex readings, will be part of the senior level Creative Writing class curriculum at Co-op. Because the Creative Writing classes have experience in using a master text as, at least, the starting point for a piece of creative writing, they will work through the lessons in this unit quickly. They will then apply their new vocabulary, knowledge, and skills to [Leaves of Grass] by Walt Whitman. Although the students in the Creative Writing class are self-identified writers, there is usually a wide range of skill levels and abilities from students with IEP's (Individual Education Plans) to Honors level students and every kind of student in-between. Modification of the unit, even with the more experienced writing students, will still be required and is easily accomplished as described above.
