Alexander T. K. Elnabli
In order to select texts to teach in this unit, I propose that teachers identify highly alluded to texts that ask and answer fundamental questions about what it means to be human and that draw from a sufficient variety of traditions to be of relevance to our students in our contexts as well as to expand their thinking into others’. The “fundamental question” this unit specifically attends to and to which myths and spiritual stories especially address is “What does it mean to be human?”
Below are brief summaries of the key content elements for each assigned text that teachers should know in order to guide students’ analyses of how mythical and spiritual texts answer the essential question as well as those texts which allude to them. As they are frequently alluded to, you may pick a variety of other contemporary texts that could be especially engaging to your students. I offer suggestions for further texts in the Additional Texts section. As described below, this trio of text sets I have selected is virtuous not only because each pair is allusively connected but because each set has thematic connections to humanistic questions that extend beyond the historical confines of time and geography. Thus, these sets give students the opportunity to recognize the humanities as a larger human activity of making and expressing meaning, with similarities that connect people and differences that may enlighten us.
I provide detailed lesson plans as “Activities” for the first text set. Teachers should treat these as templates to duplicate for the next two text sets using the provided resources referenced at the end of this unit and any other teacher-generated resources. In all cases, this unit is designed to cycle the same teaching strategies outlined above and articulated in the Activities below. In short, hook students with an independent thinking and writing task, explicitly state the learning task for the day, use strategies of turn-and-talk, batch call, stop-and-jot, small group work, and whole group discourse to support student advancement through the Reading Strategy described above, then conclude with an Exit Ticket timed writing task that assesses student understanding of the key take-aways from the lesson and that practice the analytical writing required for the Key Performance Task. It is imperative that students get as much practice and feedback as possible on analytical writing in order to master the skill standards that organize this unit. I recommend referencing Teach Like a Champion 3.0 for a more detailed breakdown of how to employ each of the teaching strategies mentioned above.
As a final prefatory note, teachers may be wary about including excerpts from the Bible or other spiritual texts in a public school classroom. It is worth noting that the Common Core standard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9 explicitly uses the Bible as an example of a source that students could know in order to analyze how an author “draws on and transforms source material in a specific work.” Public school educators have good reason to be thoughtful and considerate in teaching these texts, which will likely be of great significance for our students and their families, and which will be interpreted and discussed in historical and literary rather than explicitly spiritual or metaphysical terms. See Classroom Activities for an example of how to address this topic directly, to frame appropriate use of these texts, and to gain student and parent buy-in. You may find it helpful to send home a note to parents to make them aware that you will be studying spiritually significant texts as great literature that has informed the thinking and writing of later authors, not that you will be teaching any particular religious doctrines.
Text Set 1: The Bible, Genesis 1-3
Given the pervasive influence of Christianity on the English-speaking world, it is well understood that the contents of the Bible have had a significant impact on the English literary tradition. While one may pick a great variety of books of the Bible to which there is much allusion in later literature, Genesis 1-3’s description of the creation of the world and Adam and Eve’s “fall” from Eden is particularly salient. It is an origin story that addresses at least two of the fundamental questions listed above. It is also of reasonable length to be accessible to 9th grade students.
Originally written in Hebrew, debates about who authored it and when are outside of the scope of this unit. For our purposes, it is enough to understand the following: Gensis 1-3 provides some answer to the question “What does it mean to be human?” These books describe an omniscient God which brings the earth, light, and creatures into existence from nothing and calls these “good.” God then creates “man,” “Adam,” as well as a “garden” in which he may live called “Eden.” Eden is presented as a paradise that contains all the things Adam could want, but God forbids him from eating from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” with the consequence that if he does he shall “surely die.”
Deciding that it is not good for man to be alone, God then extracts a rib from Adam and creates for him a woman, “Eve,” to be a partner to him. They are both naked and not ashamed. However, a serpent tricks Eve into eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, claiming that she will not die from it. She encourages Adam to eat as well. Having disobeyed God, both become aware of their nakedness, develop shame, and are banished from Eden to suffer in the world.
This account of the origin of humanity introduces several key ideas for students to consider in understanding how it answers the essential questions. First, that the world and humans came into being from nothingness from the act of an all-powerful God. Two, that a condition of human life is self-consciousness of our nakedness and suffering, or the ability to die. Three, that developing this ability to die, or the “fall” from Eden was the result acquiring a particular kind of knowledge, that of good and evil.
Key symbols for students to identify are the association of the serpent with deception, or evil, and the apple with temptation toward something dangerous.
Text Set 1: “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
This poem utilizes naturalistic imagery and an allusion to Eden in order to communicate the theme that nothing can last forever. The poem’s focus is on images of nature. Students will need support to make the connection between nature as living plants that can die and human nature as living beings that can die.
Activity 1
This and the following activities are expected each to take one 90-minute class session, factoring in time spent during some classes on choice, independent reading described in Teaching Strategies above as well as for direct instruction in grammar and yearlong vocabulary study.
This class serves to launch the unit, introduce the concept of the humanities, and to get students engaged in the fundamental questions they will explore as humanists-in-training. Class begins with a Do Now prompt for students to answer in their journal: What does it mean to be human?
After sufficient time for reflecting and writing independently, students turn and talk with a partner to share their responses. Afterward, we open the floor for whole-group share out. There are no right or wrong answers here. As students provide their responses, the teacher will record answers on the board to create a visual display of the variety of perspectives in the room. Teachers will use this to transition to a unit launch. In a brief lecture format in which students may take guided or independent notes, teachers will define the humanities as the attempt to ask and answer fundamental questions like these about what it means to be human. Myths and spiritual stories are those that often provide us perspective and insight into these questions. Whether we’ve read them or not, they have had a profound influence on how we already answer these questions, and can help us understand even better how people answer these questions today.
It is recommended that teachers compile all of the printed materials of this Text Set into a Text Set packet. However, it is up to the teacher whether to use digital or paper materials and to distribute in whatever format is appropriate. In what follows, I will refer to the Text Set packet. Opening the Text Set packet, students will turn to the biography of Robert Frost. Students will read and annotate the text and answer the comprehension questions independently and silent: What do you now know about Robert Frost? What kind of poetry did he write? Then have students share out what they learned in a batch call of three students.
Now have students open Robert Frost’s, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Using a Three-Reads strategy specifically for poetry, guide students through the following steps: First, the teacher reads aloud while students simply listen and follow along then jot down an End Note on the bottom of the page of what the poem seems to be about. Second, students read the poem for literal meaning, highlighting any unfamiliar vocabulary, then working with a partner to define those words in the margins. With the vocabulary clarified, students “translate” the poem’s couplets into their own words with a partner, jotting this revision down in the margin. Third, students read for figurative meaning, circling any words or phrases that require inference to understand. Teachers should focus students on “gold” as symbolizing great value.
Have students work in small groups to answer the guiding question: “What is Frost’s message about nature in the poem?” Then open up to whole group discourse, leveraging active listening of small groups in order to call on students in a strategic scaffold, building from weaker toward stronger answers. Call on a student to summarize the ideas in order to arrive at a clear answer. An almost there response would be, “Everything changes.” Push students to note the negative or melancholy tone created by the phrase “sank to grief.” Then raise the question, do we know what it means that “Eden sank to grief?” Some students may have an answer, but we will turn to the source to understand for ourselves.
Conclude with an Exit Ticket asking students to list and explain the goal for each of the Three-Reads of poetry.
Activity 2
Open the class with the following Do Now journal prompt: What could be the value of reading religious, or spiritual, texts in school? What are some of the risks?
After actively monitoring student responses, have students turn and talk to share their responses. Then direct students whole group to share responses while recording a T-chart of Benefits and Risks on the board. Student responses will vary, but benefits could include: getting to learn about different things people believe, gaining wisdom, or learning the truth. Risks could include: offending someone, talking about a religion in the wrong way, teaching students a religion they don’t believe in.
Teachers should use this opportunity to affirm student perspectives and to legitimize their concerns. Motivate the teaching of spiritual texts because of their tremendous influence on how people have thought and wrote for as long as we have been writing. We’re surrounded by references from spiritual texts all the time, and to understand the images, ideas, and symbols all around us, we need to know where they come from. That said, our goal here is not to promote any particular religion or interpretation as the truth. Instead, we are here as humanists to learn what humans have written to answer those fundamental questions from last class, and to see how those answers can help us answer these questions for ourselves to make sense of what it is to be a human being in this world.
Students will engage in a small group activity to construct a set of guidelines for respectful discourse as we read spiritual texts this unit. Using a graphic organizer, students will work in groups to draft a series of commitments as to what actions and words they can use to show respect for the texts we will read and for their peers as we work together to understand those texts. After groups share out their responses, the teacher will collect these and compile them into a master list that will be copied and passed out in the next period for students to include at the top of the Unit Notes section of their binders.
The teacher will direct students to open to the teacher-created vocabulary previewing section of the Text Set packet. Students will proceed to follow the before reading strategies and complete a first read of Genesis 1-3. Students should submit an Exit Ticket answering the following prompt: How does Genesis 1-3 answer the question “What does it mean to be human?” Teachers should review these responses to gauge initial comprehension. If necessary, assign students homework to complete defining of any unfamiliar vocabulary included in the preview or independently identified by students as needed.
Activity 3
Students begin with a Do Now asking the skills question, “What strategies do strong readers use to understand challenging texts?” After actively monitoring student responses, use a turn-and-talk or move directly to warm-call in order to elicit a response that highlights the before, during, and after reading strategies introduced and practiced but not completed last class. If students are struggling to answer the question as written, ask them “Why should we read difficult texts twice?”
Call on students to summarize what they remember from Genesis 1-3 from last class. Then have students turn and talk to discuss their “pleasures and perplexities” after the first read. In other words, what did they find interesting and what did the find confusing. Once confident that students have externalized their reactions and hopefully helped each other a bit to answer some confusions, present the close reading question to focus their second read: “What is the setting of Genesis, and how is it described?” Students will use a graphic organizer independently to re-read Genesis 1-3, taking notes on where, when, and mood of the setting. As this is not a modern text, we do not expect students to find much by way of mood. Also, anticipate that students may misunderstand the setting as just “earth,” by focusing only on Genesis 1. Address this misconception individually or collectively depending on frequency of the error as you actively monitor student progress. Student notes should include direct quotations as evidence to support their response to the guiding question.
Then have students turn and talk to share their evidence and answer to the close reading question. Turning to whole-group, use a document camera to take model notes that students can copy or add to their own. Create a T-chart with “Evidence” on the left and “Inference” on the right. At the top of the page, write the prompt. Elicit student responses and record their evidence, citing line numbers. Push students to provide inferences explaining how their evidence answers the prompt. Student responses will vary, but teachers should focus on answers that indicate that Eden is a beautiful place, bountiful with food, in which humans have no shame, and which God considers “good.” If students do not also find evidence describing the world into which Adam and Eve are banished, pose this back-pocket question, “What about the setting outside of Eden?”
Once students have produced a class set of notes that indicates the transition from paradise to toil, direct instruct them that this event is often called the “fall” and gives an account of why humans experience death, pain, and suffering. Clarify that “evil” does not just mean doing bad things but it also means the experience of bad things like suffering and pain. Underscore that it is their action of defying God through temptation to eat the apple that leads to the fall. Students should add this term and definition to their Text Set notes. If there is time for further discussion, ask students, “Why is it that knowledge of good and evil causes Adam and Eve to experience suffering and death? What did they know before they ate the apple?” Interesting ideas students may produce could be that to know good is to know evil, so to be free from evil would also mean never knowing anything good. Eden is a paradise we could not recognize as good. If we want goodness, it must come at the cost of knowing evil, etc.
Students should now complete a timed final write Exit Ticket answering the prompt and using at least one piece of quoted evidence to support their response. Use the paragraph writing format aligned to the essay writing format adopted by your English department. As an example, I use TEQEC: Topic sentence, Explain the topic sentence, Quotation, Explanation of quotation, Conclude.
Activity 4
Open the class with a written Do Now question, “What is an allusion?” If your department provides students with lists of key literary terms as a resource at the start of the year, teachers should actively be looking for students to habitually open their class binders to locate the answer. If students are not using their resources, prompt them to “use their resources,” re-enforcing key academic habits of mind outlined in the Unit Overview above.
After calling on a student to define “allusion,” remind students that we started this Text Set reading Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” That poem alluded to “Eden,” but we weren’t totally sure what it meant at that time. Now that we know, we can try to better understand Frost’s poem.
Students will take a moment to re-read the poem and review their notes. Then present them with the Discourse Question: How does Frost use allusion in “Nothing Gold Can Stay” in order to communicate an answer to the fundamental human question, “What are we?” Before beginning the discourse preparation process, explicitly ask students to explain what they need to know in order to answer the question. Students should recognize that they must identify where Frost uses allusion and then explain how he uses that to tell us something about what we are as humans.
Students will prepare for discourse by stopping-and-jotting their initial response to that question. Students will then break into small groups to conduct a peer-led discussion on the prompt. Using an academic habits of discourse guide, students should be sure to follow a clear protocol for participation: each student takes a turn to speak to give a response; each student listens and looks at the speaker when he/she/they are speaking; students use evidence to support their responses; students ask and answer questions to each other. After groups have worked together for some time, assign in each group a presenter who will share the group’s answer to the class.
After small group discourse, turn to whole group discourse. Groups’ presenters will take turns to share out their answers to the prompt, referencing evidence. Invite individuals from any group to respond to others’ answers with comments, questions, or critiques. Be patient and allow students to generate discussion independently without excessive intervention. When appropriate use guiding questions to support students to arrive at the idea that the allusion to Eden highlights a horrible transition from paradise to suffering and the introduction of death into human life. As Frost describes that in nature nothing lasts forever, the allusion to Eden makes the point that humans are also a product of the same nature, and we do not last forever either. Thus, Frost’s poem reveals that the natural world and human nature both experience change as decline, or mortality.
Give students an Exit Ticket final writing task to answer the prompt in a formal argumentative paragraph using their notes from discussion. This writing will serve as a resource for the final performance task and also provide a formative data point for teachers to reteach the ideas from the class or writing skills that will be essential when it comes to write the mini-essay.
