Title of Unit How does one's environment affect one's identity?

Grade Level 9
Curriculum Area      English I – or Eng I Applications Time Frame       approx. 4 weeks (learning plan below…)
Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)
Content Standards
     3.1-3.5

Understandings Essential Questions

Overarching Understanding Overarching Topical
     Students will understand that place affects how they see themselves,      See curriculum essential       1.) In what ways are you
how they see the world, and how they see their place within society. Special questions… “marked” by where you come
attention will be paid to how place affects language and cultural perspectives. from?
2.) What do we “owe” to our
hometowns and neighborhoods?
3.) Is the American Dream
Related Misconceptions
accessible for all?
     …that a place defines who someone is, how they think or how they 4.) How does place affect speech?
speak, rather than simply affecting those qualities. 5.) What is class?
…that all people from a given place have the same cultural perceptions and 6.) In what ways are place and
cultural vocabulary. speech related?
…that place does not affect you, or that it is easy to change places without 7.) What causes “alienation”?
being affected by the two worlds, or affecting those two worlds.
Knowledge Skills
Students will know… Students will be able to…

What, of their own language, is culturally specific or may be considered Articulate the different effects a place may have on an identity
colloquial/informal. Identify culturally specific or colloquial speech.
What kinds of things can be learned by looking at a culture’s vocabulary or Model Cisneros’ non-linear vignette style of writing.
way of speaking about certain things.
How to identify and discuss regional or cultural vocabulary.
How to identify and discuss the effects of place and class on language (at a
basic level.)

Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)

Performance Task Description
     Students will attempt to show the effects of living in Westfield on their own identities in terms of how they view
Goal
themselves, the world and their places in the world.
Role      
Audience      
Situation      
 Product/Performance      Vignettes using a “culturally specific vocabulary” (see Place Rubric)
Standards      
Other Evidence
Where are your students headed? Where have they
been? How will you make sure the students know
where they are going?
How will you hook students at the beginning of the
unit?
What events will help students experience and
explore the big idea and questions in the unit? How
will you equip them with needed skills and
knowledge?
How will you cause students to reflect and rethink?
How will you guide them in rehearsing, revising,
and refining their work?
How will you help students to exhibit and self-
evaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and
understanding throughout the unit?
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize the
learning plan to optimize the engagement and
effectiveness of ALL students, without
compromising the goals of the unit?
How will you organize and sequence the learning
activities to optimize the engagement and
achievement of ALL students?
A Possible Four-Week Learning Plan:
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Windows, Mirrors…
     This is best used as an early unit in the Identity course framework, as it establishes some
good norms for approaching the discussion on one’s own identity and the identity of others.
     Allow them to talk about their own place in the world and think about what effects
Westfield is having on them.
     The experiences below should guide them through, in various ways, the major questions
of the unit, but the skills needed for each student to get the most out of the work would need to
be individually assessed and determined. A keen eye should be used to evaluate the writing that
the students do throughout to make sure that they are getting the concepts and a vocabulary
necessary to talk about them.
     Different activities will ask the students to think about the “Window” or “Mirror” idea
related to this text and other associated materials. Their opening reflection and closing
reflections should provide the basis for some transformative thought.
     Students will complete and correct in class their assignments as well as comparing their
work from the beginning and end of the unit in terms of understanding a cultural vocabulary.
     Major activities involve choice and scaffolding. Additionally, the unit itself involves
bringing each student’s personal understanding to the table (so to speak) to create the curriculum
that is studied. In this way, students are the experts of their own cultural vocabularies, while
being the students of each other and of the vocabulary of the text.
     See learning plan below…
 MONDAY
Opening Writing, Response and
Discussion:
Distribute “Questions about
Westfield, Language and Culture” –
allow time for discussion.
Homework: “My Personal Dictionary”
MONDAY
Discussion of Double-Dutch…history,
terms, Internet clips if available.
Where is Double-Dutch played? What
childhood games did you play? What
factors control what games are
played? (Possible Reading: Bill Cosby
– “Go Deep to the Sewer”)
MONDAY
 Opening Activity: What parts of the
country speak “the best” English?
Why do you think so?
Clip of Video: “Do you speak
American?” showing people
answering this question. Time for
discussion…
MONDAY
 
Unit Notes:
TUESDAY
 As a class, begin to make a Class
Dictionary, containing answers from
last night’s homework. Allow
discussion of different terms as they
come up.
Closing questions (written, quietly) If
this is our class’ dictionary, what
things do we care about? What things
are we afraid of?
Distribute Xerox copies of first
vignette. (Choose based on interest to
students…) Have students read for
homework and mark words or
phrases that they don’t recognize or
understand.  assignment. Distribute books,
TUESDAY
Activities focusing on
Vocabulary to Date
TUESDAY
Activities focusing on
Vocabulary to Date
TUESDAY
 Activities focusing on
Vocabulary to Date
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
Vignette-modeled writing: Choose
one of the vignettes and write on a
similar theme from your own
perspective. Allow time to share. Use
as a springboard to introduce “Place
Assignment” (handout rubric)
Open: “Window Versus Mirror”** Song: “Peaches, Pumpkin Pie…” Have
(available from E. Style) read silently lyrics and/or recording available
and respond in journals. when this section is read to discuss
Pair and Share responses to this and the implications of what is being sung
to previous night’s homework. as well as the culture that surrounded
Question: In what ways is this reading such a song. Question: What are the
a window or a mirror for you? songs on the radio about now? What
Use this as a springboard to explain Discussion of text, if class size does this say about our culture? What
“Cultural Vocabulary Squares” permits, favorite lines chapter expressions do we get from popular
explosions with discussion centered songs?
“bookmarks,” and “book journals.” on regional vocabulary.  
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
Discussion: How does
Mango Street and the
Quiz 1 – Mango Street & neighborhood Esperanza
Concepts (have vignette lives in affect who she is?
writing prompts available List all… Hand out “Essay
for students who finish.) Rubrics”
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
 Discussion of text, if class size
 Discussion of text, if class size permits, favorite lines chapter
permits, favorite lines chapter explosions with discussion centered
explosions with discussion centered on regional vocabulary.  
on regional vocabulary.    Clip of Video: “Do you speak
 Clip of Video: “Do you speak  Quiz 2 – Mango Street & American?” showing section on
American?” showing section on Concepts (have vignette deteriorating language and text-
bayou speech, or North Carolina Cost speak. Time for discussion.
(very difficult for us to understand…
writing prompts available Activity: What text speak should be
why?) for students who finish.) added to our class dictionary?
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
END of UNIT: Collect Essays…Re-
distribute questions about Westfield,
Language and Culture. Ask students to
answer again. Have them look at their
original responses, and the responses to
 Quiz 3 – Mango Street and Concepts the Mango Street questions. Discuss:
(have Questions about Mango Street Have they changed their minds about
Language and Culture available as any of their answers?
  students finish…finish for homework.) Collect Texts
***Vignette Writing Prompts should include things like:
-Writing a vignette over from another character’s perspective
-Writing the same themed vignette taking place in the writer’s own life
-Writing the vignette as it might have taken place today or in Westfield rather than Chicago.

Some ideas not fully fleshed out but worth consideration or inclusion:

Having the students re-organize the chapters and explain their choices

Scrap booking project which asks students to make “artifacts” from the story and place in a scrapbook as though they are the characters.

Post Read Discussion: What are the dangers of this book? (Re-enforcing stereo-types, focusing on the negative)