Amber Ballinger 3
Week 7, Monday
Title
What is a coming-of-age moment?
Conceptual Framework
In Burke’s The English Teacher’s Companion, the author talks about the ten elements of effective instruction. Number three on this list is “Make explicit connections between present and past lessons, students’ lives, other texts or subjects, the real world, and the Big Ideas around which the lessons are organized” (50). This lesson asks students to think about their own lives and the events that have shaped them as they move away from childhood and towards adulthood. They use the main ideas of the unit, coming-of-age moments and identity, in relation to their own lives and what they are currently going through as sophomores in high school. The question they are being asked to answer also links to past lessons and the unit as a whole because they are thinking about coming-of-age moments, or moments that move you experience as you leave childhood and that shape your identity as you become an adult. Burke also emphasizes the important of making predictions in his overview of reading strategies and essential skills (173).
Background/Foreground
Background Content
Students started out this unit with a lesson on coming-of-age and what it means. They
have also read Catcher in the Rye and thought about coming-of-age and identity in that
context. They have almost finished reading When I Was Puerto Rican and have followed
Negi’s journey from being a young child in Puerto Rico to a teenager in New York.
Explanation of Background Content
Students have already talked about coming-of-age and what it means. In this lesson, they
make the content relevant by linking the coming-of-age moments that Negi experiences
to their own moments that have shaped their lives and moved them away from childhood
and towards adulthood. When I Was Puerto Rican deals with Negi’s transition from
childhood in Puerto Rico to adulthood in New York and the challenges she faces along
the way.
Linkage to Past/Future Lessons
This lesson links to past lessons by delving deeper into the topic of coming-of-age and
what exactly coming-of-age moments look like to different people. Students think about
their own coming-of-age moments and how they shaped who they are and then think
more about Negi and the events that shape her life. This lesson links to future lessons
because students will be finishing the book in class tomorrow and reading a short story
about the events a character goes through as he comes-of-age. They will think about the
meaning of the title of the book and how the culmination of Negi’s life events up until
the end of the book shape who she is in the end. The students will eventually be choosing
a single event that they believe had the most impact on Negi’s life and identity and doing
a mini-project on that event.
Objectives
By the end of this lesson students will be able to:
1. Identify coming-of-age moments and understand how they contribute to identity.
2. Make connections between coming-of-age moments in their own lives and in the protagonist’s life.
3. Make thoughtful predictions about the end of the book based on what they have read so far and our discussion of coming-of-age moments.
Materials
· student journals
· chalkboard/whiteboard and chalk/markers
· prediction worksheets for each group
Preparation
· Write journal prompt on the board
· Create and make copies of predictions worksheet
Procedure
1. Begin class with the following journal prompt written on the board: “I knew I wasn’t a child anymore when…”
2. When students enter the room, have them take out their journals and write about the prompt on the board. (5 minutes)
3. Have students move into their literature circle groups and discuss what they wrote, if they are comfortable doing so. (5 minutes)
4. Discuss the topic with the class as a whole. Record answers on the board. Discuss the different answers that students put forth. What are some similarities/differences in the students’ answers? Why did this particular moment play a part in defining you and separating you from the child you once were? (10 minutes)
5. Transition into thinking about Negi and the coming-of-age moments in her life. Have each group come up with three “coming-of-age” moments in the book that Negi has experienced so far and discuss as a class. Compare to experiences/moments of the students written on the board. What experiences has she had that are similar to those brought up by the students? What experiences are different? (15 minutes)
6. Make predictions for the end of the book, which the students will be reading tomorrow. In their lit. circle groups, have students make three predictions for the end of the book, especially focusing on the following: Has Negi really found out who she is yet? If not, will she by the end of the book? (15 minutes)
Discussion Ideas
· Is a coming-of-age moment a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence? Or do many of these moments occur in our transition from childhood to adulthood? Explain.
· Is Negi a reliable narrator? Should we take her word for how events occurred, even though she is so young throughout most of the book? How might her experiences have shaped the way she approached writing this book?
· Talk to your parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. about what their own coming-of-age moments and when they feel that they really transitioned into adulthood.
Language Accommodations
As usual with journal entries, students are allowed to write in their first language or home language as long as they are able to share with their group and the class in English. In Teaching English Learners and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools, Faltis and Coulter emphasize the importance of allowing students to use their home language when appropriate in the classroom (89). It could also be an option to allow students to make a drawing in their journal for this particular prompt since they are detailing a specific moment in their lives. Students who have difficulty with writing could choose this option and then articulate the moment to their group.
Special Education Accommodations
The student with hearing impairment would have preferential seating in the front of the room, as per his/her IEP. The student with ADHD will be accommodated by the transitions from individual work to group work to whole class discussions and activities. This lesson is not very reading-focused, so the students who struggle with comprehension will not feel too challenged by the discussion-based material. The small amount of reading on the prediction worksheet will be straight-forward questions and the students will be working in groups to answer the questions.
Assessment
Students will be assessed on their group and class participation as well as on their completed predictions. Students should be engaged and participating in the class discussion of personal coming-of-age moments and should turn in a complete and thoughtful predictions, for which they will receive a check-plus (great work), check (good work), or check-minus (acceptable work).
Extension Ideas
One interesting extension idea I have is to have students talk to their older family members about coming-of-age moments. It’s difficult for a lot of younger people to imagine that their parents or grandparents were once children too, so this would give them an interesting perspective on what leaving childhood means for older people. Another extension idea would be to have students debate whether or not they consider themselves adults yet. They have all experienced coming-of-age moments, but just because they are no longer children does not mean that they are full-fledged adults. It would be interesting to hear the perspectives of high school sophomores arguing whether or not they consider themselves to be adults and just what they think being an adult means.
Source of Activity
When looking for coming-of-age ideas online, I came across the prompt “I knew I was a grown up when…” in a lesson by Scott Porter and Don Horacek. I altered this question as a journal prompt to get students thinking about what it means to come of age and stop being a child. The idea for transitioning from whole group to small group to individual activities is something that has been used in many of my CI class by professors to keep the class interested for three hours. It is also a good way to help keep students with attention-deficit problems on task, as I learned in my special education class.
Resources and References
Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: A Completely New Guide to Classroom,
Curriculum, and the Profession. 4th ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2013. Print.
Faltis, Christian, and Cathy Coulter. Teaching English Learners and Immigrant Students in
Secondary Schools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Illinois Professional Teaching Standards
Standard 1- Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students.
Knowledge Indicator 1D: The competent teacher understands the relationship of
knowledge within the discipline to other content areas and to life and career applications.
This knowledge indicator is met because the content being taught is applicable to the
students lives. By making connections between the main ideas of the unit and what they
experience in their own lives, students become more engaged with the material.
Performance Indicator 1K: The competent teacher facilitates learning experiences that make connections to other content areas and to life and career experiences.
This performance indicator is met because students are actively applying the content to
their lives and relating their own experiences to those of the protagonist.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
This standard is met because, after thinking about coming-of-age moments in their own lives, students will think about events that effected Negi’s life as she moved from childhood to adulthood and from Puerto Rico to the United States. Her experiences and her identity have a lot to do with her culture and the changes that take place when she moves to America.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
This standard is met because students are asked to use discussion as the basis for this class period. They work on their own to answer a question, speak about their answers in pairs, and then participate in a group discussion of the topic and how it relates to the book.