Sean T. Griffin
Focusing on Walter Dean Myers' novel Monster and several poems that will accompany the novel, this unit will attempt to help students uncover things about themselves as they make discoveries about Myers' protagonist, Steve Harmon. I hope that students will see the parallels between life and literature as we move between the characters of Monster and the students' lives.
Students' comfort with sharing and writing will increase as we explore several types of writing in the unit. As is always the case in my classes, journal writing will provide an important writing connection to the novel and to ourselves. Students will also explore poetry writing, memoir, letter, and essay writing. Students will become more comfortable with class discussions and sharing as we go through the unit, emphasizing the importance of respecting each other's ideas.
Finally, my hopes are that the understanding and analysis that students put into literary characters can be applied to their own lives and displayed in an artistic format. Through the series of writing exercises mentioned above, students will apply the lessons learned through literature to their own lives and ultimately express their understanding through artwork as they create three dimensional self- portraits that reveal more than a simple surface depiction of themselves.
