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Unit Overviews & Lesson Plans

What Are the Messages in Our Stories?

In this unit, we explored stereotypes through the lens of the fairy tales we grew up with and started by exploring the question, “What are the messages in our stories?” We looked at existing fairy tales in books and media from a variety of cultures and thought about some of the patterns and stereotypes that we noticed in them. Students were then challenged to do a deeper text analysis of a specific fairytale in groups and present their findings to the class. For their final project, students wrote their own “fractured fairy tale” addressing a particular common stereotype. Among the stereotypes students chose to combat were related to gender, sexuality, race, and general appearance. The core literacy skills that were addressed in this writing were narrative writing structure, using dialogue, and author’s purpose. After writing their stories, each student recorded them as a podcast episode. These recordings were edited and mixed with music in GarageBand, then sent off to two authors, the producer of a popular podcaster, and an English professor. Students received audio feedback from these experts, then shared their podcasts via Spotify with the school community.

Fractured Fairytales: Analyzing Disney Characters
November 2, 2021
Grades 6-8
Materials:
Disney Characters Google slides
student notebooks
writing material
Whiteboard/marker
SWBAT:
Analyze characters for stereotypes and provide evidence for how a character fits stereotypes
Make connections between stereotypes and the messages stereotypes send
Process:
Begin by setting up notebook with date and title
Go through PowerPoint and analyze male and female stereotypes of different Disney characters. Add to the list of stereotypes we find on chart paper
Beauty and the Beast
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White
Aladdin
The Little Mermaid
Cinderella
For each film, we will look at clips and photos embedded in the slideshow and discuss the stereotypes we see and how we know they’re stereotypes.
Closing:
Discuss how these stereotypes affect the people who watch these films.
What messages do female and male stereotypes send to little girls and boys? (i.e. cleaning, being beautiful, not having agency→ girls believing that is the role they should fill)
Begin to think about this question: How can we CHANGE the messages that are sent in these fairytales? What messages would you want to send?
This will be in preparation for the students mapping out their own fairytales that fracture stereotypes.

2. Whose voices are Heard and unheard in history?

In this unit, we explored the topic of historiography around the question, “Whose voices are heard and unheard in history?” After identifying that people of color have not been heard in history, students experienced the challenge of choosing and researching a person of color whose voice they would like to amplify. For their final project, students wrote and illustrated a picture book biography centering around the person of color they chose to focus on. Students were required to explain why they chose the person they did, identify and write for a target age group as an audience, establish a clear theme, and use proper citations to create a bibliography. Finally, students presented their picture books in two parts; first to professors who evaluate picture books on the Bank Street Book Committee, and second to the target audience they wrote for within our school. Students received feedback from the professors and from the children during their presentations. The main skills that were focused on in this unit were researching, narrative nonfiction writing, identifying and writing using themes, and using citations to create a bibliography.

3. How can we use poetry to express ourselves?

Students immersed themselves in poetry during this unit to explore the question, “How can we use poetry to express ourselves?” They read, analyzed, responded to, and wrote poems. We focused on the skills of using literary and poetic devices to communicate through poetry.

Analysis of lines of The Hill We Climb by middle school students:
"When day comes, we step out of the shade..."
The shade is a metaphor for darkness, destruction, and division in our country.
"The Hill We Climb"
This is a metaphor for all of the things that we have to overcome in our country."
"The new dawn balloons as we free it."
This is a metaphor for the new president, and things getting better.
"Victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made."
The blade is a metaphor for war and fighting while the bridges are a metaphor for us coming together as a country.
"We've braved the belly of the beast."
The belly of the beast is a metaphor for all of the bad things we've been fighting and still are fighting for.
Student-Written Poems Inspired by The Hill We Climb
Example Poem #1:
Pain, we fight
To strive with all our might.
We think of the poor
Who beg for more and more.
For there was always light.
If only we’re brave enough
To see it.
If only we’re brave enough
To be it.
Example Poem #2:
We can be lights
Brightening the night
We are a flame
We can be grown,
And cared
We can be extinguished
Stopped
But we are stubborn
For there is always light,
A hope
If we are brave enough to see it
– If we are brave enough to be it
Example Poem #3:
For there is always light,
If only we’re brave enough to see it.
If we’re brave enough to be it.
For if we hide in shade,
We will never find the golden hand
To bring us back into the shining light.
For then we run
From the consuming darkness
Till’ we reach the bridge
To the golden valleys.
We will find light
In this never-ending darkness
Middle School
January 26, 2021
Materials:
- Images projected on board
- Paper and pencils
SWBAT:
- Identify tone/ mood in an image
- Write poetry that captures the tone/ mood of an image
- Write poetry with the poetic device metaphor
Method:
- Project images on the board.
- Ask students what they believe the tone/ mood of each image is. What is the creator of the image communicating? How does it make you feel?
- Invite students to choose one picture to write a poem about that represents the tone/mood.
- Remind students that we discussed metaphor yesterday. Try out at least one metaphor in your poem.

Blackout Poetry

Students created new poems from copied pages of books by thoughtfully choosing what words and phrases to keep in order to create the right tone, mood, imagery, and theme.