Fame is a relevant topic for students. My middle schoolers wear Justin Bieber shirts, admire NFL football players, and are addicted to television. They are bombarded by media messages about status, popularity, and talent. Some Big questions we will address are: What makes people famous? What is fame? Who is not famous? How does our society talk about fame? What do the characteristics of famous people tell us about what our society values? What is the relationship between fame and morals?
The unit will not only involve reading poetry and short stories, but also television commercials, magazines, sports stars, political figures, and celebrities. We will read poetry, such as "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost and possibly "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Housman (in addition to Dickinson and Nye). Any other poetry suggestions? I also want to read a short story or two, but need to search for some. A large part of this unit plan will involve media literacy, so I'm excited to explore how I will go about teaching it.
I still need to address: What standards will I address? What assessments will I include? How long is this unit going to be? I want students to craft their own poems about fame. It would be fun if they could create an advertisement or pamphlet or ad that deals with the opposite of fame... How will students' reading and writing progress?
Although my unit plan is in the beginning stages, I am excited to pursue this topic, and I am greatly interested in your feedback.
Amy:
ReplyDeleteYour questions need much thought! No doubt about that! If you have taken Young Adult Literature, there are many short stories to choose from in the three different books. For instance, I actually presented on "Satyagrapha." There are at least thirty high quality stories to choose from. Also, if you have kept the short story handouts, that would be very beneficial. I hope all is well.
Dear Amy,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful beginning to your unit plan! I really like the whole topic of theme; I thought you created some wonderfully important and relevant overarching questions to guide your unit plan. I especially appreciate your implementation of media literacy. What I like most about your unit plan so far is the relevance of it; students will be engaged from the beginning becuase it is something that means something to them.
Like Tony, I reccommend the Lit for Young Adults texts. Search through the anthologies that we read to see if there are any short stories revolving around fame.
As far as assessing your students goes, I think having them write a poem or short story about fame or create an advertisement dealing with the opposite of fame would both be great options. For the sake of time and quality of the work, I would only choose one final assessment for students to do. Perhaps let them choose between the two options and let them decide how they want to show you that they learned something.
I look forward to seeing your unit plan progress and I am excited to hear about the final product! Well done on your proposal!
Courtney B.
I have to agree with Courtney that this is a fascinating thematic focus for a mid level unit, and I think your students will appreciate the multimedia integration and relevance of the topic. There aren't any specific texts that jump to mind. Instead, I wonder if this could include some of the media literacy standards. Maybe pursue the general arena of reality TV and how this has shifted our concept of fame in the last decade. Or the relation to this and web 2.0 tools, esp. YouTube and social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Otherwise, I wonder if you might find some texts in YA Lit that take up popularity as a related topic, even if it isn't fame per se. Let me know if you want to meet and discuss this more.
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteThis lesson sounds very interesting! It is neat to see that you have incorporated media literacy into your unit, because as you stated it is a very large part of middle school students' lives. I also like the fact that you are incorporating the two day lesson plans into your unit. Having this jump start will help you out tremendously! I know that this unit plan may seem huge, but you will get through it just fine! You have a strong direction in which you would like to take this unit, which will serve you well. Of your ideas, I really like having your students create some form of media as a part of your final project. I think that students will really enjoy doing something like this, just be ready to have any resources they may need available :)
Thanks for the feedback! Although some short stories about popularity come to mind, I might drop the short story element of the unit simply because poetry and media literacy already seems like a lot once I begin planning it out day by day.
ReplyDelete