Erin+Hall


 * Erin Hall **
 * Diverse Text Set Assignment **


 * Context for using the text set: ** For this assignment, I created a set of diverse texts that would optimally be used in a bildungsroman (coming-of-age) unit in an English Language Arts classroom. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a bildungsroman text is one that illustrates the moral and psychological growth of a main character. Bildungsroman texts are most frequently taught during the early years of high school, when students themselves are going through intense stages of moral, physical, psychological and academic growth. In creating this final product I was able to identify a large number of texts, mostly literary texts, that would fit in this category and could (or are) being taught in schools at every level. For this particular assignment however, I chose to focus on grades 9 and 10. Most of my discussions as pertaining to in-class use of the text relates to 9th graders, as they are the youngest students on my spectrum of teaching. They are also the ones who are most impressionable to ideas; transitioning from middle school to high school is difficult enough without all of the side effects of transitioning from children to young adults. I used a varied amount of texts in this assignment, in order for my text set to have the potential to be utilized in some way in classes of diverse ability levels.


 * Content Objective: **
 * Students will be able to understand the central themes of bildungsroman texts.
 * Students will able to track a character’s development throughout a text.
 * Students will understand the millennial generation, and their growth and role in their generation.


 * Reading/Thinking Objective: **
 * ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * ELA-Literacy.RL 9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (for example, those with multiple/conflicting motivations) develop throughout a text, interact with other characters, and advance/develop the plot or them.


 * A. Print Resources: **
 * // Text #1: The Catcher in the Rye //**
 * Salinger, J. (1991). //The catcher in the rye//. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
 * Holden Caulfield begins his adventures in New York City after a fight with his roommate at Pencey Prep, a private school his parents have sent him to. Interacting with teachers, nuns, prostitutes, ex-girlfriends, and his little sister, this classic portrays one teen’s struggle to grow up.
 * // Catcher in the Rye // is a literary canon classic. Students are commonly split evenly in classes as to if they love it or hate it; those who love it often discover a renewed love of literature afterwards, and those who hate it are forced to come up with literary critiques to defend their claims. Either way, it is an engaging novel that generates classroom discussions and strong passions for, or connections to, literature.
 * I would use this text in an upper level 9th grade or regular level 10th grade classroom. The protagonist, Holden, is of a similar age to those students, and they could connect to him easier because of that. I would work on a unit on the loss of innocence as seen through the eyes of a literary character as well as in contemporary media.
 * This novel is too long to attach to this assignment.
 * // Text #2: Lord of the Flies //**
 * Golding, W. (1962). //Lord of the flies//. New York, NY: Coward-McCann.
 * A group of British schoolboys are stranded on an island and are forced to recreate a form of society for themselves as they away rescue. After attempting to model the government structure of their homeland, chaos and savage survivalist behavior takes control of the students. This classic strives to bring light to the inner wildness that is inherent in all humans.
 * // Lord of the Flies // is another canon piece of literature for students in grades 9 or 10. Complex metaphors told in simplistic language with vivid imagery make this text one that can be easily taught and simplified for lower-level readers, but can also be scrutinized by higher-level readers for symbolism and allegory.
 * I would use this text in a unit on character studies. Because the characters in the novel differ so drastically from each other (Piggy and Jack stand out as major foils, for example) students would be able to sufficiently learn how to understand character development as they read the novel. They can witness the progression and regression from organized society, and track how different characters are affected differently.
 * This novel is too long to attach to this assignment.
 * // Text #3: "Hope" is the thing with feathers //**
 * Dickinson, E. (1999). //The poems of Emily Dickinson// (R. Franklin, Ed.). Boston: Harvard University Press.
 * This poem discusses the resilience of ‘hope’, characterized by bird imagery, and how it impacts the human spirit.
 * This poem can resonate with all students, especially if they are going through a difficult time in life. I would use this poem in a 9th grade class, when students are going through the struggles of their teenage years and creating a personal identity for themselves. It is a subtle encouragement for them to never lose hope, no matter how hard they believe the situation they are in is.
 * This is one of the greatest poems to begin a poetry unit with. The style of the poem, iambic tri-meter with an ABCB rhyme scheme, is simple enough for all students to follow, and mimics the style of Psalms and religious hymns.
 * See attachment #1 for a copy of this text
 * // Text #4: Perks of Being a Wallflower //**
 * Chbosky, S. (1999). //The perks of being a wallflower//. New York, NY: Pocket Books.
 * Socially awkward freshman, Charlie, falls in with a group of charismatic seniors who show him how to live life to the fullest. Told in a series of letters to an anonymous ‘friend’ (us, the reader), //Perks// explores one protagonist’s discovery of self-identity and self-worth.
 * This is my favorite book. It explores the journey of coming-of-age in a way that is relatable to everyone, and is a very candid approach to difficult topics that many students might not have access to information about, outside of the school environment.
 * This would, ideally, be the very first novel that I would teach in the beginning of the year in a 9th grade classroom. It would start the students thinking about their own self-identity through their discovery of Charlie’s, and force them to immediately become confortable talking with their peers about topics that are not often mentioned in an academic setting. This would help to create an environment of respect and confidence in the classroom very early in the school year.
 * This novel is too long to attach to this assignment.
 * // Text #5: Facing the Lion //**
 * Lekuton, J.L. (2005) //Facing the lion.// Des Moines, IA: National Geographic Children’s Books.
 * This autobiography follows the journeys of a young boy raised in a Massai nomadic tribe as he becomes the first child in his tribe to ever complete his education. From fighting off a lion, to the traditional coming-of-age initiation ceremony, to traveling to America for the first time for college, Joseph’s tale is one of maintaining identity despite mixing cultures.
 * This text is a pretty low level for high school students, which makes it a perfect text for English language learning students. It is especially relevant to them because, like the narrator, they too left a native culture to create a life for themselves in America.
 * I would use this text in an ELL ELA class of either 9th graders or 10th graders in a unit of cross-cultural awareness. Learning about other cultures is crucial for these students, and Joseph’s stories and tricks of adapting to life in America at a young age could be useful to students who are struggling to adjust to their new lives or to their education. It is also a great text to show students the importance and value of their education; witnessing the struggles of Joseph to get past middle school would potentially put them in a mindset to care more deeply about the education they are receiving.
 * This novel is too long to attach to this assignment.


 * B. Media Resources **
 * // Text #6: The Breakfast Club //**
 * // The breakfast club // [Motion picture]. (1986). Universal City, CA: MCA Home Video.
 * In this film, five students from different walks of life converge in their high school library to endure a Saturday of detention under the eye of their power-hungry principal. Throughout the day, each student opens their peers’ eyes to what their lives are actually like beyond the clichés of their social labels.
 * // The Breakfast Club // is a timeless movie about social structures and labels, and their effects on students in their impressionable teen years. As seen on popular shows such as //Glee//, the high school experience has really not changed too much in the last 25 years or so (when //TBC// and shows such as //Grease//) first were created. There are the same stereotypes and labels applied to students by outwards appearances.
 * I would use this lesson in the same unit that I taught //Perks// in; the discovery of self-identity. I would use it in a 9th grade class, to make students more aware of their new environment in high school, and their major role in that environment. This would further enhance a classroom environment of mutual respect and confidence in the students.
 * See Attachment #2 for a YouTube link to the preview of this movie.
 * // Text #7: Come On Eileen //**
 * Rowland, K. (1982). Come On Eileen (Midnight Dexys Runners). On //Too-Rye-Ay// [album]. London, UK: Mercury.
 * The song is about writer Kevin Rowland first relationship as a teenager in small village in the UK with a ‘girl next door’. The singer talks about how he knows that nothing ever is able to change in small towns without a little recklessness, which is what he is trying to convince Eileen to do; take a leap of faith and form a romantic relationship with the singer (Rowland), and the future will ultimately be bright and exciting for the both of them.
 * This inspiring 80s hit is all about individualism. As Rowland said in an interview, “It's very important to me to be an individual. I don't care if people laugh. That's what Dexys Midnight Runners is all about: showing your feelings and not giving a damn what other people think." This confidence in one’s identity is a crucial theme in bildungsroman texts, and something that I believe young high school students, most likely 9th graders here, need to be exposed to.
 * Music is a difficult text to work with, especially in an English classroom. What makes this particular song so great for a bildungsroman unit is a combination both the lyrics, the instrumentation (the music video is also an excellent complement for more visual learners). The unique use of banjos, accordions, and violins to create a distinct beat combined with the ramshackle dress of the artists create a look and a sound that is their own, and they are not afraid to share that with the world. I would use this music study to complement to the same identity lesson mentioned earlier in this assignment.
 * See Attachment #3 for a YouTube link to the music video.


 * C. Online interactive resources **
 * // Text #8: Millennials: Coming of Age //**
 * // Millennials: Coming of age. // (2015). Retrieved March 19, 2015 from Goldman Sachs website, www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/outlook/millennials/
 * This interactive infographic on the millennial generation is an extremely engaging and informative resource for students, who themselves are part of the millennial culture, for learning more about their past and predicting their future.
 * When utilizing coming-of-age texts, it is important for students to have the fundamental knowledge that they are at the stage of their lives where they are ‘coming of age’ and forming the person they will be for the rest of their lives. This infographic provides background knowledge to understand the circumstances in which they came to be part of this Generation X, and what qualities their generation possesses. It also predicts the futures of the millennial generation, so students will be able to have a vague idea of what is in store for them in the future.
 * I would use this text on a Smart board, if one were available to me, to use with the entire class. I would pursue interactive outlets on the site according to the verbal interests of my students, and be a guide for them to exploring the generation that both they and I are a part of.
 * See Attachment #4 for a link to the website.
 * // Text #9: How Millennial Are You? //**
 * // How millennial are you? // . (2015). Retrieved March 19, 2015 from Pew Research website, www.pewresearch.org/quiz/how-millennial-are-you/
 * This research-based quiz from the Pew Research center is very engaging and interactive, both in the taking of the quiz and in the results. It computes a score for you, and charts your answers against others in different generations who had the same answer as you, allowing you to see large trends over longer periods of time.
 * The aspect of a ‘quiz’ allows both the students and myself to collect some working data on the students. For them, they are learning more about themselves and discovering how to use that knowledge for their own personal betterment in their futures. For me, I am learning about what interests they hold in order to target my instructional practices to those interests.
 * I would allow students personal time to use this website after going over the infographic mentioned above as an entire class. This allows them to further pursue their own interests in the topic.
 * See Attachment #5 for a link to the website.


 * D. Instructional Resources **
 * // Text #10: To Kill A Mockingbird: Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources //**
 * // Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird: Lesson plans and teaching resources. // (2014). Retrieved March 19, 2015 from Web English Teacher website, http://www.webenglishteacher.com/lee.html
 * This instructional resource on teaching //TKAM//, another excellent canon bildungsroman text, contains a vast assortment of teaching aids including anticipation guides, character analysis essay prompts, mapping text projects, and media resources such as videos and photo collections.
 * This source would incredibly increase a teacher’s background knowledge on //TKAM//, as well as provide quality lesson plans for immediate classroom use.
 * I would personally be drawn to the collections of media resources and the interdisciplinary project ideas. I feel like many classrooms teach //TKAM// the way the teacher learned it in their secondary education classroom; looking at symbols and society, and writing many papers on the loss of Jem’s innocence. This resource provides several art-based projects that I feel would benefit the tactile learners and creative thinkers in the classroom, ideas that I would not be able to create on my own.
 * See Attachment #6 for a link to the website.
 * // Text #11: Storyboard That! A Teacher Guide: To Kill A Mockingbird //**
 * Ray, R. (n.d.) //Teacher guide: To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee//. Retrieved March 19, 2015 from Storyboard That website, http://www.storyboardthat.com/teacher-guide/to-kill-a-mockingbird-by-harper-lee
 * This resource provides examples of storyboards and ways to help teachers utilize this activity to see how well students can synthesize and summarize texts. This particular guide is again looking at //TKAM//, but breaks down each example storyboard by guiding themes that the students should be watching while reading.
 * When I was a student, I was never able to fully grasp the concept of storyboards. I was never into comics, and was lost while trying to cram an entire chapter of knowledge onto one piece of paper. This resource broke down the process in a way that I now understand how to use storyboards enough to successfully teach it to my students.
 * Storyboards are excellent for texts that include a lot of action or intense scenes of character development. It gives students a creative outlet to visualize the text and grasp the key points, and record those points in an organized manner. I would use these especially in classes with ELL students, who might understand artwork better than the letters, or in classes that appear to be struggling to keep up with the density of many canonical texts.
 * See Attachment #7 for a link to the website.


 * Which texts/tasks selected for each type of learners: ** (indicate by listing the # of each resource selected for that population)
 * Students with Matchup Assets: Texts #1, 2, and 3
 * Students with Matchup Gaps: Texts # 5, 6, 8 and 9
 * Students with Mismatches: Texts #4, 5, 7 and 11
 * Non-native English speakers: Texts #5 and 11

In a unit on bildungsroman texts, I could easily pull all of these resources together to form a comprehensive and thorough lesson. I believe that the most important texts are those found on the literary canon; I recall seeing the list of canonical books for the first time as a sophomore in college, and being shocked at the number of novels that people label ‘classics’ that I had never read, or seen, in my high school. I do not want my students to enter college not knowing whom Harper Lee, or Piggy, is. The more contemporary novels can be read either as introductions to the unit, or in the student’s book club group. In my future classroom, each student will have to take personal responsibility to constantly be reading some sort of personal text; this will develop a love of literature that will only benefit all students as they grow older. I believe that exposure to multiple medias of text is also important, to cater to the needs of diverse learners, so I would also place a large emphasis on art, music, and film in my classroom. Using these resources, combined with patience and passion, I believe that this bildungsroman unit would be successful for the students’ academic purposes, and would also serve to expose them to new ideas as they ‘come of age’ themselves.
 * Using these texts together in the classroom: **

** Attachments ** = 1. // “Hope” is the thing with feathers // - By Emily Dickinson = “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

2. //The Breakfast Club// Preview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkX8J-FKndE

3. //Come On Eileen// Music Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q

4. Millennial Infographic: www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/outlook/millennials/

5. Millennial PRC Quiz: www.pewresearch.org/quiz/how-millennial-are-you/

6. //To Kill A Mockingbird// Teacher Resources: www.webenglishteacher.com/lee.html

7. //To Kill A Mockingbird// Storyboard Resource: www.storyboardthat.com/teacher-guide/to-kill-a-mockingbird-by-harper-lee