To support the special education students throughout this unit, I have created a learning activity bank to be implemented within the resource room setting. These activities will not only help the students better understand and comprehend the text but it will also give them the confidence to share out in whole class discussion. Some of the experiences are directly tied to events in the novel and specific teacher driven discussions while others will be used to enrich and develop the students own understanding of their identities and the feelings of others.
Resource Classroom Differentiated Activities
|
Learning Experience:
Flight
Discussion with Note Taking Strategy Instruction
The students will discuss teacher selected questions and quotes from the novel
Flight
. The students will be paired based on ability and each student will be responsible for a discussion guide (Appendix C).
|
Essential Questions
|
Teacher/Student Roles
|
Assessments
|
Why are names important?
What makes a person who they are? Can people really change?
Why is it important to take notes during discussions?
|
The teacher will present quotes and questions both verbally and visually. Students will engage in discussion focusing active listening skills and accountable talk.
|
Successful completion of discussion guide. Did the student actively listen to peers
|
Connection to Curricular Aim:
This learning experience begins to explore what makes a person unique through the discussion of names. This was a very powerful activity completed during our first seminar meeting; it allows participants in the discussion to share a piece of themselves and in turn, learn something about the other students sitting in the classroom. It connects to the overarching goal of finding strength within our differences and ultimately building each student’s self-confidence.
Learning Experience:
American
Born
Chinese
and Stereotypes
The students will complete a character study after reading excerpts from
American
Born
Chinese
. They will begin by looking at pictures of Chin Kee and Jin, two characters in this graphic novel. They will begin to make observations about each character based on their physical appearance
|
Essential Questions
|
Teacher/Student Roles
|
Assessments
|
What is a stereotype and why do we create them?
How can stereotypes be harmful?
What assumptions do people make when they look at you?
Are stereotypes always true?
|
The teacher and student volunteers will read through excerpts from
American
Born
Chinese
that depict stereotypes of Asians. These selections will vary based on the amount of time allocated in resource for the activity. After reading, the class will engage in discussion and in pairs, will view a picture of Jin. They will make observations about what Jin feels people see when they look at him, the Chinese stereotype Chin Kee, and what Jin really cares about and what makes him who he is. The student will then draw a picture of themselves and complete the same analysis of themselves.
|
After the initial reading of the story, the students will create their own drawings. The drawing will be a self portrait detailing what they believe people see when they look at them. On the outer portions of the drawing, they will write/ draw words, poems, lyrics, symbols, etc that depict their true selves; what is not seen by the naked eye.
|
Connection to Curricular Aim:
This learning experience is designed with two intentions. First, the students will begin to understand what a stereotype is and why they often have negative connotations. Throughout the activity, students will begin to question their own prejudice and misunderstandings about others gender, culture, religion, etc. The second intention is to build empathy for others. Through the character of Jin and then again with their our drawing, they will begin to understand that there is much more to a person than just superficial things. I want them to begin to understand that each person has their own unique identity that has value and importance.
Learning Experience: What’s in a Name? A Look at the Poetry of Dwayne Betts
Using two poems, “Micah Michael Zamir Betts,” and “Miles Thelonious Betts”, the student will begin to examine the importance of a name. In the novel, Flight, the main character is referred to by his nickname, Zits. He says, ““Call me Zits. Everybody calls me Zits. That’s not my real name, of course. My real name isn’t important” (pg. 1) It is not until the very end of the story that the narrator reveals his real name, Michael.
|
Essential Questions
|
Teacher/Student Roles
|
Assessments
|
How does your own personal story shape who you are?
Why is it important for Zits to reclaim his real name?
What does naming someone or something mean? Why do we, as a larger society, name our children?
Why is it important to let others look at or read your art?
|
The class will analyze two poems by Dwayne Betts. The teacher will build prior knowledge about the poet through a multimedia approach. Through turn and talks and whole class discussion, the class will annotate the poems, focusing on the importance of a name. The students will write their own poems, using the poems by Mr. Betts as an exemplar.
|
The students will write a poem about their names, For students who struggle to get started writing, I will differentiate with a sample acrostic poem. Students will share their poems either to the whole class or to a table partner.
|
Connection to Curricular Aim:
There are many different categories with which we can define ourselves; we can use gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, and many other lenses to view identity. One piece of our identity that is not as easily defined is our own personal experience. Individual experience is unique to every person and it plays a pivotal role in the development of ones identity. Through the discussion of these poems and student self-reflection, we will begin to build connection to each other.
Learning Experience: Who are you? Chalk Talk
Given the maturity level of high school 9
th
graders and the sensitive nature of the issues involving identity, this activity is meant to be done in small group instruction with now more than three student and direct teacher scaffolding. Using the “chalk talk” strategy, student will begin to map their own identities using words that are commonly used to identify someone. The words will be general and more specific. The purpose of this lesson is to build awareness and empathy between students about being different. It is also an activity that forces students to begin to engage with three-faceted identity development cited in Crocetti et al. (2007).
|
Essential Questions
|
Teacher/Student Roles
|
Assessments
|
How do we define our own identity?
Who decides how we are categorized? Is it society, our families, ourselves?
Does your identity change over time? Can others influence your self-identity?
|
The teacher will explain the protocol for the chalk talk. A sample list of words pertain to how we categorize each other will be on the table. The words presented will differ depending on your small groupings. For example, you may have a word bank that focused on gender, religion, and ethnicity with one group and another with words pertaining to sexuality, race, and socio-economic status. This will depend on the maturity level and openness of the students and the teacher’s own comfort level with facilitating discussion.
|
This lesson will be assessed informally. The teacher will be looking for engagement and active listening skills.
There will be an optional journaling activity after the activity for students to debrief and talk about things that they did not want to share with the small group.
|
Connection to Curricular Aim
This learning experience forces the students to begin to think about how they define themselves. Through an open dialogue, students will begin to commit and explore their own self-identities and observe others engaging in the same work. This experience will build empathy and self-confidence among the students in the resource room and in turn, will make them feel more successful and valued in the general education classroom when they begin to discuss these challenging topics in
Flight.