Student Teaching Teacher Work Sample

1
Empathy and the Heros Journey

As Seen in The Kite Runner
By Kelsey Valdez
Taught: April 4th- May 10th
Table of Contents
1. Setting and Context
2. Unit Topic and Rationale
3. Unit Standards and Objectives
4. Assessment
5. Instruction and Management Plan
6. Lessons
7. Appendices
8. References
9. Experience Reflection
10.
Pg. 3-5
Pg. 5-7
Pg. 7-8
Pg. 9-10
Pg. 11-12
Pg. 12-44
Pg. 45-75
Pg. 76
Pg. 77-78
Setting and Context
Evergreen High School (EHS) is nestled in the small community of Evergreen, Colorado,
and, therefore, has a unique culture. Evergreen contains 9,216 people; 49.85% males and 50.15%
females. About 22.46% of the population is school-aged with the majority of the population
between the ages of 35-54. 97.35% of the population is white, and the town has an average
household income of $131,932. Because of these demographics and the close-knit community,
both parents and other community members are highly involved and supportive of the school.
The school has partnerships with multiple businesses within the community that sponsor sports
teams and art programs as well as offer mentorships to the students, and this helps to make EHS
a Blue Ribbon School. With community, administrative, and volunteer support, EHS students
learn in a classroom environment that reflects the mission statement of [engaging] all students
in rigorous, creative, and innovative educational experiences that prepare them to advance the
global community (Evergreen High School) My classroom is no different from this. I ensure
that all students are respectful of one another and learn to care about the world around them in a
challenging way. We take time to discuss cultural topics, use technology to connect to other
cultures and ways of life, and participate in challenging novel discussions and analyses. The
most important thing in my classroom is a sense of safety and acceptance, which is uniform to
the expectations of EHS. These expectations are easy for students to follow because at EHS,
students care about one another. They value each others opinions and respect the beliefs of those
around them. This, coupled with each students desire to engage in his or her world and learn,
makes the classroom a welcoming place that fosters learning.
Although Evergreen is a fairly uniform and safe community, Evergreen High School has
policies in place for the inclusion and safety of all students. EHS houses 1,020 students from 9th12th grade,77% of whom participate in athletics or community services, with an average grade
point average of 3.26 and American College Test score of 23.8. Most of the population does not
require special services or fall under an ethnic minority; however, EHS has a great special
education program and hosts a Diversity Day every year. The students in the special education
program are assigned to a counselor as well as a special education teacher who works with staff
to ensure that the student reaches his or her highest potential. Within the classroom,
paraprofessionals (paras) are available for added support, and individualized education plans
(IEPs) are strictly followed so that learning can be accessed by all students. Both general
population students and special education students are encouraged to advocate for themselves,
develop communication skills, and develop organizational skills in order to facilitate their own
learning, and create a respectful environment. This environment ensures that classroom
management is maintained school wide and is consistent from class to class. In addition to a
consistent management plan and superb special education support team, EHS fosters safety and
community through their annual Diversity Day. During this day-long event, students participate
in breakout sessions that address topics in diversity, discrimination, and community. At the end
of the day, students leave the school feeling closer to their peers and more accepting of a diverse
community. Because of the unique community that is EHS, safety is rarely a problem, but safety
standards and procedures are in place. There is a no-tolerance bullying policy at the school which
means that if a student is bullying another, a dean of students will proceed with disciplinary
action. In addition to the no-bullying policy, lockdown policies are communicated with the staff
and everyone has been prepped for lockdown situations. Students also know the number to a
safety hotline that they can report to if they ever feel unsafe. After they have reported, the
severity of the safety breach is assessed and action is taken. Students at Evergreen High School
are given every chance to succeed, and they rise to the challenge of remaining a Blue Ribbon
School and fulfilling the mission statement every day.
Unit Topic and Rational

This unit has been created for an English 11 World Literature class. Students in these classes are
part of the general population at EHS and are highly motivated and capable of high-quality
work. The majority of students do not have specialized education plans, however 8%, or 12
students, do have an IEP or 504 plan.
This unit will be a literature unit focused on The Kite Runner as the anchor text using short
stories, memoir excerpts, and poetry as mentor texts throughout the unit. This unit will be used
to fulfill Common Core State Standard Three (CCSS 3): Reading for All Purposes and will be
used as a way to wrap up the year. Previous units have been utilized as a way to show the
common human experience and how the students at EHS fit into the world; students have
discussed the effects of war, what their duties are to society, problems that affect women
throughout the world, and ethnic conflicts. Now, students will be gaining an entry into theories
of narrative empathy. I am proposing to teach this unit through the focus of empathy because
students often do not get education regarding empathy and its importance to social change;
however, they should because it can create a link to fellow classmates and those in the world
around them. By discussing texts through an empathetic lens, students become emotionally
engaged with the text as well as gain agency by being taught that their emotions and responses
are valid, no matter what they are. This agency validates student voices and encourages
exploration of students passions.
Dr. Lisa Langstraat, in her Capstone course titled Empathy, Literary Studies, and Social
Change, states that empathy can be used as an avenue to connect to others with diverse
perspectives in a way that promotes social change. Suzanne Keen backs this theory in her article,
A Theory of Narrative Empathy. Keen uses studies done on mirror neurons as well as
physiological and psychological changes in the body when placed in a situation that invokes
empathy as a way to support her own theory. Keen surmises through these studies that,
Narratives in prose and film infamously manipulate our feelings and call upon our built-in
capacity to feel with others." (Keen) Novels are supposed to, and intentionally, make us feel
something.
Not only will these lessons aid students in their college essays, but they will help students
to understand the world around them in a more personal way. Because of the community context
of Evergreen, most students are not exposed to problems around the world, and this can result in
a lack of personal engagement. Because students are the future of our world, it would be
irresponsible to allow them to graduate without an emotional understanding of the plight of
people around the world. If they become more emotionally involved with the world, necessary
social change will be achieved. In order to achieve this goal, we will aim to read literature from
other cultures closely, as outlined in Common Core Standard Three, and engage with them in a
challenging way. CCSS 3 ensures that students are able to understand stylistic and thematic
choices in order to summarize an authors main message and that that main message is
intentional and requires revision and practice in writing to make clear. By engaging in reading
and understanding empathetic techniques, students practice close reading skills, understand how
an author uses different techniques to make his or her audience learn something, and understand
that an author must refine his or her craft in order to make that message clear. This unit shows
how students can both be educated based on the standards while still engaging in meaningful and
authentic instruction. In my classroom, I have already seen the kind of change that can occur
when students are engaged in their learning and the world; my sections of world literature were
able to raise of $500 dollars for developing countries in just two weeks. By focusing the unit on
understanding others, we will be able to do much more for the world by creating kind and
compassionate students.
Unit Standards, Goals, and Objectives

The ultimate goal of this unit is for students to engage with the world around them and to care
about the lives of others. Because Colorado does not have empathy standards, students will
achieve this goal through reading and writing with assistance through mastery of usage of the
online program Schoology. Schoology allows for students to gain agency in their school work as
an organizational tool. It also allows for easy access to class materials, quizzes, and
assignments.
Students will read The Kite Runner through the frame of the heros journey to understand,
through Amir, the storys protagonist and how empathy is only useful when it creates a social
change. In order to understand the heros journey and be able to analyze it, students will learn to
do literary analysis and move past superficial reading. Common Core State Standard Three,
writing and composition, states, in standard 3.2 and 3.3, that students will understand how
elements of informational and persuasive texts can be refined to inform or influence and
audience, and how writing demands ongoing revisions and refinements for grammar, usage,
mechanics and clarity. In order to achieve these goals, students will participate in regular
literary analysis practice prompts online through Schoology, they will write personal essays, and
they will complete reflective journal entries. Through practice of these skills, students will
refine their editing and revision skills and be prepared for a literary analysis that will serve as
their final assessment and answer the question: How does the author create empathy in the
reader?
CCSS 2, Reading for All Purposes, states that students will understand that complex literary
texts require critical reading approaches to effectively interpret and evaluate meaning, ideas
synthesized from information texts serve a specific purpose, and knowledge of language,
including syntax and grammar, influence the understanding of literary, persuasive, and
information texts. In order to achieve these goals, students will participate in regular literary
discussions, they will complete weekly reading quizzes, and they will engage in activities that
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Instruction and Management Plan
This unit is the final unit of the semester. Students will have just finished writing a research
paper and will not have read a novel since the end of the fall semester. Because of this, before
beginning the novel, in class we have gone over reading strategies, reading schedules, and
expectations for what students will need to be able to produce after reading each chapter.
Because students are becoming acclimated to reading for class again, they will be provided with
a bookmark that tells them when every reading quiz is and when they should have each section
of the book finished. This will allow them to manage their time and gives some flexibility in
reading schedules. When students had received reading expectations, we then began the unit.
Students were first asked to work in groups (cooperative learning) to create a presentation that
taught the rest of the class various elements of Afghanistans culture and history. They were then
asked to think about how the presentations might connect to the novel (see, think, wonder).
After this, I created a PowerPoint that reviewed the elements of the heros journey (teacher led
lecture). This gave them the ability to begin thinking about the events of the novel and
comparing it to the heros journey which organically led to them being able to empathize with
the main character, and protagonist, Amir. Now that students had background knowledge, they
were able to discuss plot elements and characters in the novel. Throughout the next two weeks,
students were often asked to engage in literary discussion about the characters in the novel and
quotes that they thought were particularly important. They were asked first to think about
discussion questions, then to share them with their table groups before sharing with the whole
class (think, pair, share). As students became more comfortable with characters and events in the
novel, they were able to begin applying ideas about empathy to the book. I led another lecture
that gave students a common vocabulary to talk about empathetic techniques. They then engaged
in conversation about which techniques the author was utilizing and to what extent he was
10
successful. We then talked about adaptations and students were able to discuss what scenes they
would remove and replace in order to create more empathy within the text (student adaptation).
Through these activities, students were able to show their understanding of the novel and their
ability to analyze text in relation to learned ideas. They showed that they were prepared to write
a literary analysis that applied understanding of empathy to analysis of the text.
Lessons
April
Monday
4
History activity
Tuesday
5
History activity
Handout books,
overview of unit/final
assignment,
Wednesday/Thursday
6/7
Heros journey: lecture (take notes in
notebook) and then activity (application of
what they heard)
If time: start reading
Friday
8
Vocab Quiz 12
ACT Fun Friday
(Taught by Robyn)
11
Reading check quiz (1-23)
Plot discussion
-Who are the
characters/what do we
know about them/how do
we know it? (find a quote
that decribes each of the
characters and write it in
your journal) discuss: why
does this tell us who the
character is?
(ethnicity, social class,
character, etc)
-what is the world like that
they live in? (setting,
people, social classes,
discrimination etc.)
-talk about quotes theyve
picked
12 (BLOCK DAY)
(24-47 due)
College research day
13(BLOCK DAY)/14
(14th diversity day, no reg. classes)
15
(48-79 due)
Character discussion
continued
18
19
20/21 (48 min classes starting at 11:50)
22
11
Work Day/ College
Research
ACT
25
Reading quiz (124-189)
Vocab Quiz 13
NewYorker article
/is empathy something that
we can gain from reading
fiction?
(agree and argue)
26
Adjusted schedule
(40 minutes)
Plot discussion/theory
of narrative empathy
Answer in notebooks,
how and why does an
author create empathy
125-142 due
Reading Quiz
Literary analysis: quotes
(only period 7 starting

at 12:15)
27
(20 minute
classes starting
at 11:35)
202-213 due
Plot discussion
29
(TH. Block sched)
28
(Wed. block sched)
215-227 due
190-202 due
Plot Discussion/Make up
day
May
Monday
2
228-258 due
Quiz 190-258
Discuss quiz
How does an author
visually create empathy?
Share the comic version of
KR ask students to
illustrate scenes they were
most empathetic
with/Adaptations
Tuesday
3
259-272 due
Literary analysis practice
9
Book needs to be finished
Final quiz 259-371
Talk about quiz
Book wrap up
10
Collect notebooks
Final Literary analysis
Wednesday/Thursday
4/5
272-292
Malala/ TED talks
Journal
Friday
6
292-310 due
Food Day
Vocab Quiz 14
Make designs and plans for
kites
(tell them to bring materials
for block day )
12
School: Evergreen High School

Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Kite Runner Background
Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 1
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will work in groups to be able to learn and present information about Afghanistan, its history, the
two major ethnic groups in Afghanistan, and the effect of the Taliban on the society.
Step-by-step minute procedure: (47 min class):
*Materials: Chromebooks
1. students will get Chromebooks from the cart and wait at their desks for further instructions (1
minute)
2. I will explain that we will be starting a new unit, but first we need background information (1
minute)
3. Students will need to fill the seats of five tables; these will be their groups (3 minutes)
a. One group will be designated Afghanistan (location, size, culture, exports, imports,
resources, GDP)
b. One group will be designated Afghanistan History
c. One group will be designated Pashtuns
d. One group will be designated Hazaras
e. One group will be designated Taliban
4. Students will have the remainder of the block to research their designated category and create a
PowerPoint that they will share with the class tomorrow (42 minutes)
Modifications/Adaptations
Students in this class have completed an assignment with similar parameters in class before and did not
need adaptations.
Rationale, why this lesson matters to teach:
This lesson matters to teach because students need background information on Afghanistan in order to
understand the book and empathize with its characters.
Assessment(s):
Students will be assessed through the PowerPoints that they have made and through their participation
Homework:
Finish PowerPoint if necessary. Study for vocab quiz 12
13
Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize assessment data to justify your level of
achievement)
All students turned in a PowerPoint that summarized important points about their designated topic and are
able to present to the class during our next class period.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach again?
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would make sure that the group covering Afghanistan had the most
members because they have the most information to cover.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice, reteach content, etc.)
For the next lesson, students will present their PowerPoint to the class so that they are able to understand
the Afghanistan that is portrayed in the Kite Runner. I will also create a Zaption video that explains how
Afghanistan got to that place. We will then begin reading the novel and explanations on how to take notes
will take place.
14
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Background cont.
Lesson number: 2
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to further understand different aspects of Afghanistan and its culture through
PowerPoint presentations and a zaption.
*Materials: notebooks, writing utensil
1. Present PowerPoint on topics
2. Journal reflection
a. What do you think the connection is between all of the things we just learned? Use
eleventh-grade thinking.
3. All of these things are pieces of a larger puzzle that is conflict in the area. Afghanistan has never
had full control of itself, and paired with a variety of ethnicities, a weak government has made
itself susceptible to conflict. Were going to watch a video that details how Afghanistan became
the country were familiar with.
4. Watch Zaption: https://www.zaption.com/lessons/57019db55603ba1811378e12
5. Journal reflection
a. What did you get right about the connections between all of the powerpoints? What
shocked you/what did you learn from the video?
b. Handout books
6. Explain unit:
a. Reading Kite Runner
b. Story about an Afghan boy who grew up during a time of conflict, fled to America, and
has to go back to Afghanistan to atone for his mistakes.
c. This story follows a heros journey narrative and were going to be exploring the ways
that the heros journey creates empathy and the way that empathy leads to social change.
7. Start reading (first chapter together): notes: 1 quote and response to it, plot summary, make note
of when you learn something about a character: 1 response per chapter/2 responses per page.
Students will be provided a copy of the notes if needed.
This lesson matters to teach because it sets up important structures for the reading of the novel, and it
allows the students to reflect on what they have learned.
Assessment(s):
I will collect students notebooks, which contain their notes, to assess their learning.
Homework:
Study for vocab quiz 12. Start reading pages 1-23 due Monday.
15
achievement)
Students were all able to present a brief overview of their topics and they were all correct in their
information. Some students did not stick to the three minute maximum on their presentations which made
class run late and caused some agenda items to need to be pushed to next class. However, everyone
completed a journal entry that allowed them to reflect on what their classmates had presented.
For next time, I will tell students that if their presentation isnt turned in and ready by the time we get to
them, then we will have to skip their presentation because we dont have time to wait for them to upload
the presentation. I would also consider cutting students off if they go over the time limit so that we can
get through everything and I am able to fully describe the video we watch.
Our next lesson will pick up where this lesson left off. We will complete another journal entry that
synthesizes what students learned from their classmates and the video we watch. We will also go over
reading procedures and frame with the Kite Runner, and then we will do a lecture on the heros journey.
16
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Heros Journey
Lesson number: 3
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will understand the aspects of a heros journey and be able to apply it to a movie that they have
seen.
*Materials: notebooks, writing utensil, class novel
1. IF applicable: finish previous class agenda
2. Heros Journey lecture: taking notes in notebook (15 minutes)
3. Students will chose a movie that they believe follows the heros journey and illustrate it (in
groups) (45 minutes)
4. Presentation of illustrations (15 minutes)
5. Read (if time)
A copy of notes will be provided to students if needed.
This lesson matters to teach because it teaches the base knowledge of what a heros journey is which
frames the novel.
Assessment(s):
Students will be assessed through their illustrations of the heros journey
Homework:
Study for vocab quiz 12
achievement)
This lesson was incredibly successful. Students were able to apply their knowledge of the heros journey
to illustrate a movie or book of their choice that they think follows the journey. Everyone was able to
complete an illustration flawlessly!
I wouldnt change this lesson if I taught it again.
Students will be taking a break from the unit in order to score their ACT practice tests and take a vocab
quiz. They will resume Monday.
17
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: ACT scoring
Lesson number: 4 (Taught by Robyn)
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will know their score on the practice ACT and be able to understand what they need to improve
on.
*Materials: ACT books, writing utensil, Chromebooks
1. Vocab quiz 12 (17 minutes)
2. Students will be instructed on how to score the practice ACT that they took in the previous week. (30
minutes)
Students will be given extra instruction and help in the form of scoring with a teacher if they need it.
This lesson matters to teach because it shows students what skills they still need to work on as they
prepare for the ACT. It also gives them a good idea of how they will score on the ACT.
Assessment(s):
Students will have a fully scored ACT.
Homework:
Read pages 1-23 in novel.

achievement)
Students were able to score their tests and take their vocab quiz, which were the goals of the lesson
I would not make any changes to this lesson.
For the next lesson, students will have begun reading, so they will have a reading quiz and then we will
spend class time doing a plot discussion and character charting.
18
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Kite Runner plot discussion Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 5
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will understand basic plot elements and be able to identify main characters.
*Materials: notebooks, class novels, Chromebooks, writing utensil
1. Reading quiz on Schoology (10 minutes)
2. Plot discussion: getting grounded in the book (35 minutes)
a. Who are the characters:
i. Ali, Baba, Hassan, Amir, Hassans mother, Rahim Khan
3. Who are the characters/what do we know about them/how do we know it? (Find a quote that
describes each of the characters and write it in your journal.) Discuss: why does this tell us who
the character is? (Discuss ethnicity, social class, character, etc.) What is the world like that they
live in? (Setting, people, social classes, discrimination, etc.)
Students will be able to use notes if they choose to on their quizzes. There will be no time limit, and I will
be available for clarifying questions.
This lesson matters to teach because it helps students to understand the characters and their motivations
within the novel. It gives them a stable foundation for reading.
Assessment(s):
Students will be assessed through reading their notebooks and class discussion as well as a quiz at the
beginning of class.
Homework:
Pg. 24-47
achievement)
Students were able to find quotes for each character. They also were able to familiarize themselves with
the text when working in class if they had not read for the day.
If I were to teach it again, I would teach this lesson on a block day because we did not have enough time
to discuss every character, so we had to continue during the next class.
For the next lesson, students will finish discussing their quotes in a large group, and they will begin doing
research for possible colleges in order to ascertain what scores they need on their ACT.
19
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: college research
Lesson number: 6
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to look into possible colleges to attend or alternative paths to college, what majors
or careers theyre interested in, and how to finance that education.
*Materials: Chromebook, notebook, writing utensil, class novel
1. Students will choose a table grouping, each of which contains one of the following
assignments:
College Search
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Head to College Board or Naviance

Revisit your college search from the fall in your notebook.
Do further research on those schools or do a new college search.
Update Naviance if you want/need to.
Now, create a list of your top 5 schools from your new college search or from previous
searches and answer the following questions for each school in your notebook:
a. What attracts you to this school?
b. What concerns, if any, do you have about this school?
c. Was this school on the list in the fall? Why or why not.
Career and Major Search

1. Go to the College Board career search: bigfuture.collegeboard.org
2. Visit the Bureau of Labor and Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook
3. Create a list of interests from these searches and answer the following questions in your
notebook:
a. What did you read about and why?
b. 3 possible careers- what attracts you to them? What concerns do you have about
them?
20
Financial Aid
1. Go to fastweb.com
a. Research costs and financial aid options at schools that interest you (dont let cost
be a deciding factor in your school choice just yet, though.)
b. Answer in your notebooks:
i. What concerns or plans do you have for paying for college?
Alternatives to College
1. Research alternatives to going to college:
a. Gap year
b. Military/ROTC
c. Study abroad
d. Community college options
e. Joining the workforce
2. Answer in your notebook:
a. What did you research?
b. Why did you research this?
c. What did you learn?
2. They will then spend 30 minutes at three different stations and do research on the
appropriate topic while answering questions in their notebooks.
I will be able to help students with researching skills if they need it, and specific websites to search
through have been provided.
This lesson matters to teach because it helps students plan for their futures.
Assessment(s):
I will collect notebooks and be able to see what students have researched and produced along with being
able to talk to them while they research.
Homework:
Pg. 48-79

achievement)
All students were able to complete meaningful research on after high school plans. They were excited
about what they were learning and worked hard for an entire block.
21
The only change I would make to this lesson is the possibility of stretching it out for a whole week so that
every station could be researched for a longer period of time.
The next lesson will pick up where the character discussion left off. We will finish discussing the main
characters and then begin writing practice literary analyses.
22
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Character Discussion
Lesson number: 7
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to reflect on main characters within the next and practice their literary analysis
skills.
*Materials: class novel, writing utensil, notebook
1. Diversity day journal: What did you do with your day yesterday? Why? How was it? (5 minutes)
2. finish discussing main characters: Hassan, Amir, Rahim Khan, Hassans mother (25 minutes)
3. Practice PEAR (a PEAR is a form of writing assessment that EHS uses. It stands for point,
evidence, analysis, and restate. This is a way for students to check and make sure that they have
all of the elements of a good paragraph) on a character: What is the author trying to communicate
about Afghanistans culture through the character you chose? (17 minutes)
Students will have the option to share their responses or not to. They will then write their topic sentences
on a white board so that I can conference with them and ensure that they are on the right track.
This lesson matters to teach because it gives vital practice at literary analysis that will aid them on their
final.
Assessment(s):
Students will have written their PEAR in their notebooks, and I will see their topic sentences written on
whiteboards before they move on to their PEAR to make sure that they are on the right track.
Homework:
Finish PEAR/pg. 80-124
achievement)
Students were all able to produce a topic sentence that reflected analysis of a character to represent
Afghanistans culture. This allowed them to be able to write a PEAR.
If I were to teach this again, I would write my directions on the board because I often had to repeat myself
which made students feel unclear as to what my expectations were.
During the next lesson, students will have a reading quiz and we will have a discussion about how
literature creates empathy. They will be encouraged to think critically about whether or not this book
creates empathy, if this empathy is useful, and how the author connects with the reader.
23
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: ACT review/College Research Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 8
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to understand after high school plans and will be able to prepare for the ACT which
will help their after high school planning.
*Materials: Chromebooks, notebooks, writing utensil
1. Student will participate in an ACT review before they take the test the next day (17 minutes)
2. Students will complete the college research they did previously. They will visit the station that they did
not get to last class. Or they will be able to use their time to catch up on reading and reading logs (30
minutes)
Students will have copies of notes available to them, and they will be helped with researching if
necessary.
This lesson is important because it is the final review that students will get before the ACT. They will be
reminded of test taking strategies that will allow them to do their best on the test. They will also further
their understanding of their after high school plans. Or, this lesson will allow them to catch up and be
successful with their work.
Assessment(s):
I will collect students notebooks with their college research reflections which will tell me what they have
understood.
Homework:
Continue reading and prepare for the quiz next class
achievement)
Students worked hard throughout the class period and were able to catch up on their reading logs as well
as better prepare for life after high school.
I did not plan on teaching this lesson; I was in a car accident and was told by a doctor not to spend a lot of
time standing or doing mentally taxing work. Because of this, I would probably not teach the lesson
again.
For the next lesson, students will continue to discuss the novel, they will have a reading quiz, and we will
be choosing quotes that resonate with each student and explaining how they fit into the larger context of
the novel.
24
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Work with Quotes
Lesson number: 9
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
*Materials:
1. reading quiz (10 minutes)
2. with your table groups, do the following: (37 minutes)
a. Each person needs to choose two quotes from chapters 6-10 that stand out to you.
b. With your group, discuss why you chose these quotes and what you think they mean.
c. Choose one of the quotes from your group and, as a group, write a PEAR paragraph that
answers the following prompt: Explain how the quote you chose is reflective of and
relevant to the parts of the book that we have read as a whole. Be sure that your PEAR
explains what your quote means and why you chose it.
3. If you have extra time, continue working on your reading logs.
Students will be able to work by themselves if they are more comfortable with the group setting, they will
be able to use their notes on quizzes and activities, and I will be available to answer questions as the come
up.
This lesson matters to teach because students will be able to discuss the novel further and use critical
thinking skills to evaluate quotes and their meanings.
Assessment(s):
I will collect each groups PEAR paragraphs and quizzes which will tell me what they understand and
what they need to continue to work on.
Homework:
Pg. 143-189 and reading logs
achievement)
Students were able to contribute to meaningful discussion and produce a PEAR paragraph and complete a
reading quiz that showed that they understood the assignment and are keeping up with their reading.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would engage in a class discussion so that I could hear more of the
quotes that resonated with students.
For the next lesson, students will have another reading quiz, they will complete a vocab quiz, and we will
have a discussion that explains the answers to the quiz.
25
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Empathy
Lesson number: 10
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to think critically about whether or not our class novel creates empathy, if this
empathy is useful, and how the author connects with the reader.
*Materials: class novel, notebook, writing utensil, Chromebook
1. Review of vocab words (10 minutes)
2. Vocab quiz (7 minutes)
3. Reading quiz (7 minutes)
4. In notebooks: write your definition of empathy and share (2 minutes)
a. Explain: empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and
vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the
past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated
in an objectively explicit manner
b. Basically, its the ability to share the same feelings with someone without having
experienced exactly what they have experienced.
5. Read New Yorker article aloud (7 minutes)
a. As I read, students should listen, and in their notebooks, write down two things that they
agree with and two things that they would argue with.
b. Discuss your agreements and arguments with your table. Explain why you chose each. (5
minutes)
c. Decide as a table if you agree or disagree that empathy is a useful emotion/should we
teach more literary fiction.
i. Write a specific point sentence that reflects what your table has decided (on
whiteboards) (5 minutes)
d. Read your point sentences to the rest of the class (4 minutes)
26
Handout:
The New Yorker, November 6, 2013 Should Literature Be Useful?
By Lee Siegel
Two recent studies have concluded that serious literary fiction makes people more empathetic,
and humanists everywhere are clinking glasses in celebration. But I wonder whether this is a
victory for humanisms impalpable enrichments and enchantments, or for the quantifying power
of social science.
The two studies, one by a pair of social psychologists at the New School, and another conducted
by researchers in the Netherlands, divided participants into several groups. The methodology was
roughly the same in both studies. In the New School experiment, one group read selected
examples of literary fiction (passages by Louise Erdrich, Don DeLillo, and others); another read
commercial fiction, and another was given serious non-fiction or nothing at all. The subjects
were asked either to describe their emotional states, or instructed, among other tests, to look at
photographs of peoples eyes and try to derive from these pictures what the people were feeling
when the photographs were taken.
The results were heartening to every person who has ever found herself, throughout her freshman
year of college, passionately quoting to anyone within earshot Kafkas remark that great
literature is an axe to break the frozen sea inside us. The subjects who had read literary fiction
either reported heightened emotional intelligence or demonstrated, in the various tests
administered to them, that their empathy levels had soared beyond their popular- and non-fictionreading counterparts.
The studies conclusions are also particularly gratifying in light of the new Common Core
Standards, hastily being adopted by school districts throughout the country, which emphasize
non-fiction, even stressing the reading of train and bus schedules over imaginative literature.
Here at last, it seemed, was a proper debunking of that skewed approach to teaching the art of
reading.
There is another way to look at the studies conclusions, however. Instead of proclaiming the
superiority of fiction to the practical skills allegedly conferred by reading non-fiction, the studies
implied that practical effects are an indispensable standard by which to judge the virtues of
fiction. Reading fiction is good, according to the studies, because it makes you a more effective
social agent. Which is pretty much what being able to read a train schedule does for you, too.
Americans have always felt uncomfortable about any cultural activity that does not lead to
concrete results. He that wastes idly a groats worth of his time per day, one day with another,
wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day: though Benjamin Franklin was
fairly indifferent to money himself, the sentiment he expressed in that bit of advice became a
hallmark of the national character. Idleness is still anathema in American life. (Kim Kardashian,
who has restlessly turned her idle time into a profitable industry, is a Puritan at heart.) And the
active daydream of writing and reading fiction is idleness in its purest state, neither promising
27
nor leading to any practical or concrete result. From the didactic McGuffey Readers that lasted
from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century to William
Bennetts Book of Virtues in our own time (a liberal response, A Call to Character by Colin
Greer and Herbert Kohl, was published a few years later), the American impulse to make room
for literature by harnessing it to a socially useful purpose has taken many forms. You might even
say that the two archetypal fictional American characters, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, invented
by the countrys most scathing satirist, are essentially arguments for the superiority of idleness
over any morally, socially or financially useful American activity.
Perhaps it is appropriate, in our moment of ardent quantifyingpage views, neurobiological
aperus, the mining of personal data, the mysteries of monetization and algorithmsthat fiction,
too, should find its justification by providing a measurably useful social quality such as empathy.
Yet while the McGuffey Readers and their descendants used literature to try to inculcate young
people with religious and civic morality, the claim that literary fiction strengthens empathy is a
whole different kettle of fish.
Though empathy has become something like the celebrity trait of emotional intelligence, it
doesnt necessarily have anything to do with the sensitivity and gentleness popularly attributed to
it. Some of the most empathetic people you will ever meet are businesspeople and lawyers. They
can grasp another persons feelings in an instant, act on them, and clinch a deal or win a trial.
The result may well leave the person on the other side feeling anguished or defeated. Conversely,
we have all known bookish, introverted people who are not good at puzzling out other people, or,
if they are, lack the ability to act on what they have grasped about the other person.
To enter a wholly different realm, empathy characterizes certain sadists. Discerning the most
refined degrees of discomfort and pain in another person is the fulcrum of the sadists pleasure.
The empathetic gift can lead to generosity, charity, and self-sacrifice. It can also enable someone
to manipulate another person with great subtlety and finesse.
Literature may well have taught me about the complex nature of empathy. There is, for example,
no more empathetic character in the novel or on the stage than Iago, who is able to detect the
slightest fluctuation in Othellos emotional state. Othello, on the other hand, is a noble and
magnanimous creatureif vain and bombastic as wellwho is absolutely devoid of the gift of
being able to apprehend anothers emotional states. If he were half as empathetic as Iago, he
would be able to recognize the jealousy that is consuming his treacherous lieutenant. The entire
play is an object lesson in the emotional equipment required to vanquish other people, or to
protect yourself from other peoples machinations. But no oneand no studycan say for sure
whether the play produces more sympathetic people, or more Iagos.
Indeed, what neither of the two studies did was to measure whether the empathetic responses led
to sympathetic feeling. Empathetic identification with the ordeals suffered by Apuleiuss golden
ass, Defoes Moll Flanders, Shakespeares King Leara play Dr. Johnson wanted to be
performed with a revised, happy ending because he said its spectacle of suffering was too much
to endureDostoevskys Raskolnikov, Alyosha, or Prince Myshkin, Emma Bovary, not to
mention the protagonists of misanthropic modernists like Cline, Gide, Kafka, Mann, et al.
empathetic sharing of these characters emotions could well turn a person inward, away from
28
humanity altogether. Yet even if empathy were always the benign, beneficent, socially productive
trait it is celebrated as, the argument that producing empathy is literatures cardinal virtue is a
narrowing of literary art, not an exciting new expansion of it.
Fictions lack of practical usefulness is what gives it its special freedom. When Auden wrote that
poetry makes nothing happen, he wasnt complaining; he was exulting. Fiction might make
people more empatheticthough Im willing to bet that the people who respond most intensely
to fiction possess a higher degree of empathy to begin with. But what it does best is to do nothing
particular or specialized or easily formable at all.
Fictions multifarious nature is why so many people have attributed so many effects to
imaginative literature, some of them contradictory: catharsis (Aristotle); dangerous corruption of
the spirit (Plato); feverish loosening of morals (Rousseau); redemptive escape from personality
(Eliot); empowering creation beyond the boundaries of morality (Joyce). Fiction ruined Don
Quixote, young Werther, and Emma Bovary, but it saved Cervantes, Flaubert, and Goethe.
Its safe to say that, like life itself, fictions properties are countless and unquantifiable. If art is
made ex nihiloout of nothingthen reading is done in nihilo, or into nothing. Fiction unfolds
through your imagination in interconnected layers of meaning that lift the heavy weight of
unyielding facts from your shoulders. It speaks its own private language of endless nuance and
inflection. A tale is a reassuringly mortalized, if you will, piece of the oceanic infinity out of
which we came, and back into which we will go. That is freedom, and that is joyand then it is
back to the quotidian challenge, to the daily grind, and to the necessity of attaching a specific
meaning to what people are thinking and feeling, and to the urgency of trying, for the sake of
love or money, to profit from it.
Students will be given copies of the article to read along with me, and they will be able to ask me for any
support that they may need.
This lesson matters to teach because it helps students to begin to think about how and why an author
writes something to connect with an audience, and how that creates more meaning and can lead to social
change.
Assessment(s):
I will be able to see students point sentences which will show me their understanding of the article.
Homework:
Pg. 190-202
achievement)
Students were able to finish their quizzes and write a working definition of empathy; however, they were
not able to finish reading the article or discussing empathy.
29
I would give students less time to review for the vocab quiz if I were to teach this lesson again. This
would allow for ten more minutes of instruction.
For the next lesson, we will finish this lesson and then begin to talk about different theories of narrative
empathy.
30
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Empathy cont.
Lesson number: 11
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to understand how and why an author creates empathy and how that functions in
Kite Runner.
*Materials: class novels, writing utensil, notebook
1. (Finish From Previous Class) Read New Yorker article aloud (5 minutes)
a. As I read, students should listen, and in their notebooks, write down two things that they
agree with and two things that they would argue with. Review the handout if you need to.
b. Discuss your agreements and arguments with your table. Explain why you chose each. (5
minutes)
c. Decide as a table if you agree or disagree that empathy is a useful emotion/should we
teach more literary fiction.
i. Write a specific point sentence that reflects what your table has decided (on
whiteboards) (5 minutes)
d. Read your point sentences to the rest of the class (4 minutes)
2. PowerPoint on The Theory of Narrative Empathy (20 minutes)
a. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gpl7gY13JpY721_7Lplxr6vtIr5swIqYr6aVUv2oVs/edit#slide=id.g12ccf282da_0_78
b. Students should take notes on PowerPoint
Notes will be available to students, directions will be given in multiple formats, and students will have
teacher support.
This lesson matters to teach because students will need to have a working vocabulary and understanding
of empathy in order to complete their final assessment.
Assessment(s):
I will be able to see if students have understood based on class discussion.
Homework:
Pg. 202-213
achievement)
This lesson did not get completed which lessened objective understanding, Students were able to begin
collecting new vocab words that will give them the ability to continue discussion about empathy.
I think that if testing hadnt shortened classes, I would have been able to finish all of my objectives, so I
would not make changes to this lesson at this point.
31
For the next lesson, we will finish the PowerPoint and continue discussion about empathy and how it
applies to our novel.
32
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson:
Lesson number: 12
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to apply different types of empathy and recognize them within the text.
*Materials:
1. Discussion: how might an author create empathy?
a. Primarily characters and events (weve talked about characters, now focus on events)
b. What characters do we empathize with and why? (5 minutes)
c. Discussion on the events of the section in regards to empathy (10 minutes)
i. In order to create empathy, an author must relate to their reader, what events help
us to relate to this section?
ii. The American Dream: we understand this, but is this the American Dream were
used to hearing about? So, who is he trying to relate to? Us? Refugees? Afghans?
How do we know?
iii. What are some events that you think create empathy?
1. Babas cancer? Lack of money? Being alone in a new place? Marriage?
Disclosing secrets?
2. Amir and Baba can now relate more to Hassan and Ali, theyve
experience a reversal of fortune, and their relationship has improved
from it (much like Ali and Hassans relationship) If we do a close reading
of this, what could it potentially say about empathy or the ability to be
able to relate to others? Could it show how positive social change
happens?
d. Look back at notes on broadcast emotion etc., decide what kind of emotion the author is
invoking and find three quotes that support it.
Students will have a copy of the PowerPoint available to them.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows students to engage in the kind of thinking about empathy
and literature that they will need in order to be successful in their final assessment.
Assessment(s):
I will know students have been successful by their participation in class discussion.
Homework:
Pg. 215-227
achievement)
Students were all able to engage in a plot discussion and all had insightful things to say about the
characters and situations that create empathy.
33
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach
again?
I think that this lesson went really well, so I would not make any changes.
During the next lesson, students will continue to discuss the plot and they will have time to catch up on
their reading logs.
34
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Empathy cont. Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 13
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to identify different techniques for producing empathy in written works.
*Materials: class novels, writing utensil, notebooks, markers and paper (provided)
1. Plot discussion: (25 minutes)
a. In groups: list the five scenes that you think create the most empathy in a reader
b. Decide what kind of empathy this is, and why you think its that kind of empathy
2. Catch up on reading logs/reading quizzes/missed class work (65 minutes)
Students will be supported by group members and they will have myself to ask questions to if they need
assistance.
This lesson matters to teach because it will help students to stay caught up in the reading and maintain
understanding. They will also practice analyzing the text for empathy which is what they will be doing in
their final assessment.
Assessment(s):
I will collect their list of important scenes and empathetic responses to them.
Homework:
Pg. 228-258
achievement)
I was incredibly impressed with the way that students were able to pick out important scenes and analyze
their empathetic responses and how the author created those responses. Students clearly understand the
theory of narrative empathy.
If I were to teach this again, I would create a visual aid, such as a T chart, so that students would visually
be able to organize their responses rather than just write in paragraph format.
For the next lesson, students will continue to talk about empathy and adaptations. They will have a quiz
and produce an artistic adaptation of the novel.
35
*Note: because the teacher work sample is due prior to the completion of my unit, the remaining lessons
will not have a post lesson reflection.
36
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Adaptations and Empathy Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 14
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to understand how authors create the same empathy in artistic adaptations of their
work.
*Materials:
1. Reading Quiz (7 minutes)
2. Adaptations:
a. Share Kite Runner graphic novel.
b. Explain that often the books that connect the most with readers are turned into some sort
of adaptation, the author then must decide how to represent the novel visually.
3. Visual empathy PowerPoint (5 minutes)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FU4C0WgkQ_2cJwdYUqtQpz5LIpZFKdOqcRvAHXC
YtAM/edit?usp=sharing
a. draw the scene you empathize most with and chose three techniques to create the most
empathetic drawing you canon the back explain what you chose and why (note*
remind students that if they plan on depicting the rape scene it should be done maturely
and respectfully) (30 minutes)
4. Food day sign up (5 minutes)
Students will have a copy of the PowerPoint available to them, and they will have their note available to
them.
This lesson matters to teach because it gives students a way to connect empathy to different mediums.
This teaches them to look for the ways that someone is trying to make a connection throughout all forms
of communication which will create a more caring community.
Assessment(s):
I will see students scene adaptations and explanations which will tell me if they understood the lesson.
Homework:
pg. 259-272
37
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Literary Analysis Practice Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 15
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to complete a literary analysis of the short story.
1. Read Barbaru, the Family (20 minutes)
2. Complete a literary analysis on Schoology that answers the following prompt: what is the
authors main message and how do you know? Make sure that you use at least three pieces of
evidence. (27 minutes)
Students will have the text available to them, and they may use notes on literary analysis if they choose
to.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows students to practice for their final assessment and it shows
me what skills we still need to work on.
Assessment(s):
I will collect students literary analyses which will show me what we need to work on.
Homework:
Pg. 273-292
38
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Connecting to the World around You Content Area: English Language Arts
Lesson number: 16
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will learn about a similar situation and be able to make connections between books. They will
also see how one person can make a difference in their environment.
*Materials: notebooks, writing utensil, class novel
1. Watch Malala biography (32 minutes)
a. http://zapt.io/t68n3fpg
b. Journal (5 minutes)
i. personal reactions to the biography
ii. What shocked you?
iii. What did you learn?
2. Read excerpts of I am Malala aloud (20 minutes)
a. Kite Runner is a fiction novel while Malala is nonfiction. What story do you feel more
empathetic toward and why? Does Malalas story help to create more empathy for Kite
Runner? (5 minutes)
3. Watch Malalas Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (26 minutes)
a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOqIotJrFVM
Students will have copies of the excerpts we are reading available to them, they will have any notes they
need available to them, and they will have directions presented to them in a variety of ways.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows for students to make connections within literature and
nonfiction and it allows them to see how one person can make a difference in a troubled world.
Assessment(s):
I will be able to assess students understanding through conversation and notebook collection.
Homework:
Pg. 293-310, prepare for vocab quiz
39
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Food/Culture Day
Lesson number: 17
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will immerse themselves in the food culture of Afghanistan.
1. Vocab Quiz (10 minutes)
2. Get food (10 minutes)
3. Eat/start planning on how youre going to make your kites (26 minutes)
4. Reminder to bring kite building materials on next block day (1 minute)
Allergies and ingredients will be listed so that there are no allergic reactions.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows students to immerse themselves in the culture of
Afghanistan.
Assessment(s):
Students will be assessed by their willingness to try new foods and immerse themselves in a culture.
Homework:
Finish novel
40
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: The heros journey
Lesson number: 18
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will wrap up the book and reflect on the story.
*Materials: class novels, writing utensil, Chromebook, notebook
1. Reading Quiz (30 minutes)
2. Discussion: How does the heros journey create empathy in the reader?
a. Discuss your quiz answers with your group (5 minutes)
b. Discuss the elements and how they enhance empathy (12 minutes)
Students will be allowed to use notes for quiz and discussion.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows students to apply the things that we have learned to the
whole novel. They are able to wrap up the events and think critically about them.
Assessment(s):
I will know students have been successful through their quizzes and their discussions.
Homework:
Prepare for literary analysis
41
Grade: 11th
Title of Lesson: Final Assessment
Lesson number: 19
____________________________________________________________________________
Learning Target(s):
Students will be able to complete a literary analysis that can explain how empathy is used within the
novel.
*Materials: Chromebooks, notebooks, class novels
1. Final assessment: (47 minutes)
a. Using your notes on empathy and your book, respond to the following prompt: An author
needs to relate to an audience in order for his or her book to be successful. He or she does
this by invoking empathy in the readers. What kind of empathy does Hosseini invoke
(broadcast, bounded strategic, ambassadorial strategic), and through what means,
(characteristic or situational) in order to relay his message to readers? Make sure you
explain what the main message is, use specific evidence from the book to write a PEAR,
and include at least three pieces of evidence that defend your answer. (Your format
should be PEAEAEAR.)
2. Turn in notebooks
Students will be able to use their notes and books and will not be held to a time limit.
This lesson matters to teach because it allows for me to assess learning throughout the novel.
Assessment(s):
I will be able to asses learning through the literary analysis and notebooks.
Homework:
Keep studying for the vocab final!
42
Assessment Data and Analysis
In order to assess my students on their grammar, I gave a pre-test that was multiple
choice (see Appendix 2). Students were given one point if they answered the question correctly,
and no points if they did not. I then used this test as a formative assessment, so I showed students
what their scores would have been so they knew what they needed to work on, but I did not put
these scores in the grade book. After I saw their pre-test scores, I developed lesson plans that
would address their needs based on what sections of the test students struggled with.
After students participated in grammar instruction, they were prepared for a post-test.
This post-test followed the same format as the pre-test (see Appendix 4); it had the same amount
of questions and the same type of questions for each grammar topic. This test did go in the grade
book, and students received two points if they answered a question correctly and no points if
they did not.
Appendix 5 shows the improvement of the students in this class. From Appendix 5, it is
clear that most students saw a significant improvement in their grammar skills. They were now
able to use the grammar points within their own writing, and they were able to find and correct
the same grammar mistakes in other written work. Because the assessments were almost
identical, it was clear that students understood the concepts that they had been taught. The
biggest improvements were seen in the area of concrete and abstract nouns, usage of semicolons, and the usage of conjunctions. Students informed me that they had never been explicitly
told the differences between concrete and abstract nouns, and they had never been told the rules
of using conjunctions or semi-colons. They clearly made gains in their education and are now
better prepared to continue improving their writing for next year.
43
The biggest strength of this assessment unit was that students were engaged in grammar
in a way that made sense to them and did not bore them. Assessment tools utilized popular
culture so that students did not become bored as they went through the assessments, and
instruction utilized competition so that students were engaged. I knew that this particular set of
students does not do well with worksheets, so I made sure that they were participating through
games and competition. This allowed for all students to become invested in what they were
learning and gave them a fun way to learn grammar. The biggest weakness of this assessment
unit was that there was not a lot of formal assessment. I had students complete some written
work, but the majority of our time was spent on group activities, this made it difficult to ascertain
if the students were truly learning until the post-test. I think that because it was easy to rely on a
group, some students did not learn as much as they were capable of. If I were to teach this again,
I would make sure that I had weekly quizzes so that I knew for sure if students needed more
instruction. I would also incorporate more written activities because students would have more
practice with correcting sentences and would be more likely to notice them in their own or their
peers work. All in all, Appendix 5 supports that students learned a great deal even without these
modifications. They were able to make fairly uniform gains in their scores, which tells me that
the way that I taught this unit worked for the majority of students and allowed for successful
grammar acquisition.
44
Appendices
Appendix 1 (adapted from Common Core State Standards)

Standard 3: Writing and Composition
2. Informational and persuasive texts can be refined to inform or influence and audience
Evidence outcomes
21st century skill and readiness
competency
Students Can:
a. Write arguments to support claims in
an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient evidence.
(CCSS: W.11-12.1)
Inquiry Questions:
1. Why is audience determination
important to the writer?
2. What are the implications if the
revision process is not done?
3. Why do authors want to appeal to the

o Introduce precise,
readers' senses?
knowledgeable claim(s),
establish the significance of
4. How is this beneficial to the reader?
the claim(s), distinguish the
claim(s) from alternate or
5. How does an author use sensory tools
opposing claims, and create an
to influence readers as they read?
organization that logically
sequences claim(s),
Relevance & Application:
counterclaims, reasons, and
evidence. (CCSS: W.11-12.1a)
1. Forest rangers and cattlemen can
sometimes refine information to
o Develop claim(s) and
differentiate their respective points of
counterclaims fairly and
view.
thoroughly, supplying the
most relevant evidence for
each while pointing out the
strengths and limitations of
both in a manner that
anticipates the audience's
knowledge level, concerns,
values, and possible biases.
(CCSS: W.11-12.1b)
o Use words, phrases, and
clauses as well as varied
syntax to link the major
sections of the text, create
2. Blogs, advertising and public service

announcements are examples of
where persuasive texts attempt to
influence audiences.
Nature Of:
1. Writers can clearly articulate their
thoughts to persuade or inform an
audience.
2. Writing Standards for Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science and
45
cohesion, and clarify the

relationships between claim(s)
and reasons, between reasons
and evidence, and between
claim(s) and counterclaims.
(CCSS: W.11-12.1c)
o Establish and maintain a
formal style and objective
tone while attending to the
norms and conventions of the
discipline in which they are
writing. (CCSS: W.11-12.1d)
o Provide a concluding
statement or section that
follows from and supports the
argument presented. (CCSS:
W.11-12.1e)
b. Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine and convey complex ideas,
concepts, and information clearly and
accurately through the effective
selection, organization, and analysis
of content. (CCSS: W.11-12.2)
o Introduce a topic; organize
complex ideas, concepts, and
information so that each new
element builds on that which
precedes it to create a unified
whole; include formatting
(e.g., headings), graphics (e.g.,
figures, tables), and
multimedia when useful to
aiding comprehension.
(CCSS: W.11-12.2a)
o Develop the topic thoroughly
by selecting the most
significant and relevant facts,
Technical Subjects, Grades 11-12.

(CCSS: WHST.11-12.1-6 and 10)
46
extended definitions, concrete

details, quotations, or other
information and examples
appropriate to the audience's
knowledge of the topic.
(CCSS: W.11-12.2b)
o Use appropriate and varied
transitions and syntax to link
the major sections of the text,
create cohesion, and clarify
the relationships among
complex ideas and concepts.
(CCSS: W.11-12.2c)
o Use precise language, domainspecific vocabulary, and
techniques such as metaphor,
simile, and analogy to manage
the complexity of the topic.
(CCSS: W.11-12.2d)
o Establish and maintain a
formal style and objective
tone while attending to the
norms and conventions of the
discipline in which they are
writing. (CCSS: W.11-12.2e)
o Provide a concluding
statement or section that
follows from and supports the
information or explanation
presented (e.g., articulating
implications or the
significance of the topic).
(CCSS: W.11-12.2f)
3. Writing demands ongoing revision and refinements for grammar, usage, mechanics,
and clarity
47
Evidence outcomes
21st century skills and readiness

competencies
Students Can:
Inquiry Questions:
a. Demonstrate command of the

conventions of standard English
grammar and usage when writing or
speaking. (CCSS: L.11-12.1)
o Apply the understanding that
usage is a matter of
convention, can change over
time, and is sometimes
contested. (CCSS: L.11-12.1a)
o Resolve issues of complex or
contested usage, consulting
references (e.g., MerriamWebster's Dictionary of
English Usage, Garner's
Modern American Usage) as
needed. (CCSS: L.11-12.1b)
o Use a variety of phrases
(absolute, appositive)
accurately and purposefully to
improve writing
o Use idioms correctly,
particularly prepositions that
follow verbs
1. How does word choice affect the

message a writer conveys?
2. How does a writer plan his/her work
for a specific audience?
3. Why is it important to know and
properly use the English conventions
of writing?
4. What are both a benefit and a caution
to using grammar and spell-checker
tools?
5. How does reviewing previous drafts
and revisions improve a writer's
work?
1. Writing personal narratives in college
essays and scholarship applications is
necessary to be considered as a
candidate.
2. Using the dictionary, spell-checker,
and other tools can teach as well as
correct or edit writing.
o Ensure that a verb agrees with

Nature Of:
its subject in complex
constructions (such as inverted
1. Writers save copies of their revisions
subject/verb order, indefinite
to see how their writing has
pronoun as subject,
progressed.
intervening phrases or clauses)
o Use a style guide to follow the
conventions of Modern
2. Writers use proper English

conventions when writing.
48
Language Association (MLA)

or American Psychological
Association (APA) format
o Use resources (print and
electronic) and feedback to
edit and enhance writing for
purpose and audience
b. Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing. (CCSS: L.1112.2)
o Observe hyphenation
conventions. (CCSS: L.1112.2a)
o Spell correctly. (CCSS: L.1112.2b)
c. Produce clear and coherent writing in
which the development, organization,
and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience. (Gradespecific expectations for writing types
are defined in expectations 1-2
above.) (CCSS: W.11-12.4)
d. Develop and strengthen writing as
needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach,
focusing on addressing what is most
significant for a specific purpose and
audience. (CCSS: W.11-12.5)
e. Use technology, including the
Internet, to produce, publish, and
update individual or shared writing
products in response to ongoing
feedback, including new arguments or
49
information. (CCSS: W.11-12.6)
Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

1. Complex literary texts require critical reading approaches to effectively interpret and
evaluate meaning
Evidence outcomes
21st century skill and readiness

competency
Students Can:
Inquiry Questions:
a. Use Key Ideas and Details to:

o Cite strong and thorough
textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text, including
determining where the text
leaves matters uncertain.
(CCSS: RL.11-12.1)
o Determine two or more
themes or central ideas of a
text and analyze their
development over the course
of the text, including how they
interact and build on one
another to produce a complex
account; provide an objective
summary of the text. (CCSS:
RL.11-12.2)
o Analyze the impact of the
author's choices regarding
how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama
(e.g., where a story is set, how
the action is ordered, how the
characters are introduced and
1. Which character from the current text

do you most identify with and why?
2. Why did the author choose this
particular setting for this story?
3. How might this story have been
different with another setting?
4. How does living in the 18th and 19th
centuries compare with life in the 21st
century?
1. Capturing the stories and culture of
ancestors through American literature
is the role of most periodical writers,
historians, and sports writers.
2. Exposure to diverse authors and
genres of literature enhances readers'
perspectives.
3. Online book clubs, blog sites, and
storytellers depend on ever better
literary text strategies to find and
share meaning in stories.
50
developed). (CCSS: RL.1112.3)

b. Use Craft and Structure to:
o Determine the meaning of
words and phrases as they are
used in the text, including
figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the impact
of specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including
words with multiple meanings
or language that is particularly
fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
(Include Shakespeare as well
as other authors.) (CCSS:
RL.11-12.4)
o Analyze a case in which
grasping a point of view
requires distinguishing what is
directly stated in a text from
what is really meant (e.g.,
satire, sarcasm, irony, or
understatement). (CCSS:
RL.11-12.6)
o Explain the influence of
historical context on the form,
style, and point of view of a
written work
c. Use Integration of Knowledge and
Ideas to:
o Analyze multiple
interpretations of a story,
drama, or poem (e.g., recorded
or live production of a play or
recorded novel or poetry),
evaluating how each version
4. Electronic spreadsheets and online

storyboarding are effective tools for
comparing and contrasting, tone,
metaphor and theme development.
Nature Of:
1. Reading Standards for Literacy in
Science and Technical Subjects,
Grades 11-12. (CCSS: RST.11-12.110)
History/Social Studies, Grades 11-12.
(CCSS: RH.11-12.1-10)
51
interprets the source text.

(Include at least one play by
Shakespeare and one play by
an American dramatist.)
(CCSS: RL.11-12.7)
d.
Use Range of Reading and

Complexity of Text to:
o By the end of grade 11, read
and comprehend literature,
including stories, dramas, and
poems, in the grades 11-CCR
text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding
as needed at the high end of
the range. (CCSS: RL.1112.10)
2. Ideas synthesized from informational texts serve a specific purpose
Evidence outcomes
a. Use Key Ideas and Details to:
o Cite strong and thorough
textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text, including
determining where the text
leaves matters uncertain.
(CCSS: RI.11-12.1)
o Determine two or more central
ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the
course of the text, including
how they interact and build on
one another to provide a

competencies
Inquiry Questions:
1. Does a periodical's headline affect an
argument differently?
2. When people's ideas are challenged,
does their ego or instinct respond
first?
3. What is the greatest authoritative
position from which to write for a
specific purpose?
4. Describe an author's belief that you
can cite from the text. Why do you
suppose the author holds that belief?
Do you share that same belief? Why
52
complex analysis; provide an

objective summary of the text.
(CCSS: RI.11-12.2)
o Analyze a complex set of
ideas or sequence of events
and explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events
interact and develop over the
course of the text. (CCSS:
RI.11-12.3)
o Designate a purpose for
reading expository texts and
use new learning to complete
a specific task (such as
convince an audience, shape a
personal opinion or decision,
or perform an activity)
o Predict the impact an
informational text will have
on an audience and justify the
prediction
b. Use Craft and Structure to:
o Determine the meaning of
words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and
technical meanings; analyze
how an author uses and refines
the meaning of a key term or
terms over the course of a text
(e.g., how Madison defines
faction in Federalist No. 10).
(CCSS: RI.11-12.4)
o Analyze and evaluate the
effectiveness of the structure
an author uses in his or her
or why not?
1. Pharmacists require the ability to
compare and synthesize ideas from
informational texts to prevent
unnecessary deaths.
2. Mechanics use informational texts
when making repairs to assess the
sufficiency of a specific "fixing"
function.
3. Air quality commissioners depend
and must discern many research texts
to make difficult and specific
decisions.
4. Trusted Web sites are used to seek out
visual and multimedia representations
of printed text to enhance
understanding.
Nature Of:
1. Readers use relevant background
knowledge and consistently apply it
to what they are reading to better
facilitate drawing conclusions and
increase comprehensibility of the text.
Science and Technical Subjects,
Grades 11-12. (CCSS: RST.11-12.110)
History/Social Studies, Grades 11-12.
(CCSS: RH.11-12.1-10)
53
exposition or argument,
including whether the
structure makes points clear,
convincing, and engaging.
(CCSS: RI.11-12.5)
d.Use Range of Reading and Complexity
of Text to:
o By the end of grade 11, read
and comprehend literary
nonfiction in the grades 11CCR text complexity band
proficiently, with scaffolding
as needed at the high end of
the range. (CCSS: RI.1112.10)
4. Knowledge of language, including syntax and grammar, influence the

understanding of literary, persuasive, and informational texts
Evidence outcomes

competencies
Students Can:
Inquiry Questions:
a. Apply knowledge of language to

understand how language functions in
different contexts, to make effective
choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading
or listening. (CCSS: L.11-12.3)
o Vary syntax for effect,
consulting references (e.g.,
Tufte's Artful Sentences) for
guidance as needed; apply an
understanding of syntax to the
study of complex texts when
reading. (CCSS: L.11-12.3a)
1. How does having a sound knowledge

of English Language aid in text
comprehension of difficult text?
2. Describe how content specific
academic language is beneficial to the
development of comprehension in
content areas, i.e. science, social
studies, and health and PE, specific
vocabulary.
3. What is the significance of being able
to correctly use patterns of word
changes to bring meaning to text?
54
b. Determine or clarify the meaning of

unknown and multiple-meaning
words and phrases based on grades
11-12 reading and content, choosing
flexibly from a range of strategies.
(CCSS: L.11-12.4)
o Use context (e.g., the overall
meaning of a sentence,
paragraph, or text; a word's
position or function in a
sentence) as a clue to the
meaning of a word or phrase.
(CCSS: L.11-12.4a)
o Identify and correctly use
patterns of word changes that
indicate different meanings or
parts of speech (e.g., conceive,
conception, conceivable).
(CCSS: L.11-12.4b)
o Consult general and
specialized reference materials
(e.g., dictionaries, glossaries,
thesauruses), both print and
digital, to find the
pronunciation of a word or
determine or clarify its precise
meaning, its part of speech, its
etymology, or its standard
usage. (CCSS: L.11-12.4c)
o Verify the preliminary
determination of the meaning
of a word or phrase (e.g., by
checking the inferred meaning
in context or in a dictionary).
(CCSS: L.11-12.4d)
c. Demonstrate understanding of
figurative language, word

1. Doctoral students are required to
write a thesis with a dissertation.
Having a sound knowledge of
language, and how language
functions, is a necessity to this type of
work.
Nature Of:
1. Sound readers are able to immerse
into the English Language to derive
and infer meaning from difficult text.
55
relationships, and nuances in word

meanings. (CCSS: L.11-12.5)
o Interpret figures of speech
(e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in
context and analyze their role
in the text. (CCSS: L.1112.5a)
o Analyze nuances in the
meaning of words with similar
denotations. (CCSS: L.1112.5b)
d. Acquire and use accurately general
academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading,
writing, speaking, and listening at the
college and career readiness level;
demonstrate independence in
gathering vocabulary knowledge
when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or
expression. (CCSS: L.11-12.6)
56
Appendix 2
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
Appendix 5
75
References
Colorado Department of Education. "New Colorado P-12 Academic Standards." Colorado State
Standards. Colorado Department of Education, 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
"EHS Cougars." EHS Cougars. Evergreen High School, 2016. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.
Keen, Suzanne. "A Theory of Narrative Empathy." Narrative 14.3 (2006): 207-36. JSTOR. Web.
15 Nov. 2015.
Langstraat, Lisa. "Empathy and Social Change in Literary Studies." Capstone Course. Eddy Hall,
Fort Collins. 25 Aug. 2016. Lecture.
"Stats/Taxes." - Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce. Evergreen Chamber of Commerce,
2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
76
Student Teaching Experience Reflection
My student teaching experience was the best experience that I could have asked for. I
learned more this semester about teaching than I have in three years of school; nothing beats
experience when it comes to learning. I think that I was able to collaborate so well with my
cooperating teacher because of the welcoming environment that she created. She was always
available for help with lesson planning and to answer any questions that I had. I always felt
comfortable asking her for advice on management, lesson planning, or content. She was quick to
assure me that she was there to support me in any way possible. This made for an incredible
amount of learning.
I learned an amazing amount from this experience. During my first days in the classroom,
I felt like I had no idea how to teach. I was unorganized in my lesson planning, unsure of how to
make meaningful lessons, and unsure of pacing. As I worked, however, I quickly refined these
things, and I feel as though this was the greatest contribution to my learning. My first lesson
plans lacked meaningful instruction, but Mrs. Ramsey taught me that in order to create a good
lesson, I should first decide what I want my students to learn from it and why, then I should
decide what skills I want them to learn, and finally, I should decide what activities will create
this learning. Now, every time I lesson plan, I ask myself these questions, and then I am able to
ask whether or not my students understood the lesson. These things have made my teaching
much stronger and have allowed me to assess my teaching and maximize my learning.
Because I made the choice to stay for the entire semester rather than just the required
fifteen weeks, I dont think I would change anything. I think that if I had chosen to stay for a
shorter amount of time, I would not have been able to observe as much as I was able to, I would
not have been able co-teach for as long, and I would not have been able to learn as much as I did.
77
Because I was able to start my unit later in the year, I was more comfortable in front of my class,
I had more confidence in my teaching, and I had better relationships with my students which
aided in their learning as well as mine.
This pacing allowed for my teaching and management techniques, philosophy of
teaching, and personal expectations to evolve greatly as I went from observer, to co-teacher, to
full time teacher. I now know that the best way to manage students is to have a relationship with
them. Because I took the time to get to know my students and understand what motivates them,
they began to respect what I had to say because I respected them. This allowed for me to be able
to joke around with them during class and have a good time, but to also let them know when it
was time to get back to work. This led to the evolution of my philosophy as well.
I discovered that the most important part of teaching is the relationships you build with
students. I now believe that students need a positive adult influence and a person who gets them
invested in their future. I believe that teachers are some of the most important people in the lives
of young people as they discover their interests and grow into who they are going to be. I cant
wait to be that influence. Before student teaching, I was unsure of whether or not I would be able
to be a teacher. Now, I know that there is nothing else that I want to do. I hope to get a job for the
next school year so that I can continue to be a part of the education community and continue to
change the world.

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1

Empathy and the Heros Journey

Setting and Context

Unit Topic and Rational

Unit Standards, Goals, and Objectives

20/21 (48 min classes starting at 11:50)

(only period 7 starting

School: Evergreen High School

Post Lesson Reflection

Post Lesson Reflection

Head to College Board or Naviance

Career and Major Search

Post Lesson Reflection

Appendix 1 (adapted from Common Core State Standards)

3. Why do authors want to appeal to the

2. Blogs, advertising and public service

cohesion, and clarify the

Technical Subjects, Grades 11-12.

extended definitions, concrete

21st century skills and readiness

a. Demonstrate command of the

1. How does word choice affect the

o Ensure that a verb agrees with

2. Writers use proper English

Language Association (MLA)

information. (CCSS: W.11-12.6)

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

21st century skill and readiness

a. Use Key Ideas and Details to:

1. Which character from the current text

developed). (CCSS: RL.1112.3)

4. Electronic spreadsheets and online

interprets the source text.

Use Range of Reading and

2. Ideas synthesized from informational texts serve a specific purpose

21st century skills and readiness

complex analysis; provide an

4. Knowledge of language, including syntax and grammar, influence the

21st century skills and readiness

a. Apply knowledge of language to

1. How does having a sound knowledge

b. Determine or clarify the meaning of

Relevance & Application:

relationships, and nuances in word

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