Grade Level: 10th
Unit Title: Journey to Freedom and Discovery / Timeframe Needed for Completion:
4 weeks
Grading Period:
Understandings:
- Struggle is not necessarily a bad thing; it’s often necessary for success.
- Life is comprised of journeys that teach us more than destinations.
- Lies can imprison, but the truth will set you free.
- “Forgiveness is giving up the hope for a better past.” -- Lama Sabachthani
- Forgiveness is a choice.
- Redemption begins with the epiphany that one needs redemption.
Essential Questions:
- Are individuals born innately evil or good?
- Is a journey necessary to discover truth?
- Is hardship or challenge necessary for growth?
- Does truth lead to salvation?
- Is there one truth?
- Can you be redeemed from all circumstances?
- Why and how does a person forgive?
- Does everyone deserve the opportunity for redemption?
- What must be sacrificed for freedom?
- Can a nation be saved/redeemed?
1.01 Produce reminiscences.
1.02 Respond reflectively to texts by making connections between text and life and exhibiting awareness of one’s culture and other cultures.
1.03 Read, listen to and view a variety of expressive texts.
2.01 Demonstrate ability to read, listen to and view variety of complex print and non-print informational texts.
2.02 Create responses that examine a cause/effect relationship
2.03 Pose questions prompted by texts and research answers.
5.01, 5.02, 5.03 – Interpret and analyze world literature.
6.01, 6.02 – Apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
Common Core Standards
RL- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
RI- 1, 2, 3, 4, 10
W- 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
SL- 1
L- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Essential Skills/Vocabulary:
Use inquiry to explore and analyze.*
Reflect on important moments in life and those people or events that shape us.
Use details to effectively create anecdotes and memoirs.
Actively read by making connections (text to self, text and world) actively annotate. *
Examine author’s purpose.*
Draw conclusions from what you read.*
Make inferences about deeper meanings.*
Examine the structure of a text.*
Summarize.*
Analyze character motivation.
Examine multiple perspectives.*
Examine cause/effect relationships.*
Write to define.
Write to inform.
Establish main idea and elaborate with details in writing.
*Both literature and informational text
Vocabulary
Tier 2
Catholicism
Shia
Sunni
Harelipped (cleft pallet)
Buddhism
Islam
Ethnocentrism
Forgiveness
Redemption
Mullah
Pashtun
Hazara
Sin (Deadly Sins)
Tier 3
Canto
Slant Rhyme
Apostrophe
Foreshadowing / Assessment Tasks:
Benchmark
Teacher-made tests
Reading checks(Annotation checks)
Mosaic quotes
Chalk Talks (Dante’s Inferno)
Paideia Seminars
One-pagers
Mandalas
Soundtrack of my Life Project (writing and music)
Common Theme Charting
Forgiveness Essay (Informational)
Thematic Connection Chart between Kite Runner and Dante’s Inferno
Suggestions Anchor Literature:
Dante’s Inferno
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
Tim Krabbe’s The Vanishing / Suggested Anchor Informational Text(s):
Sunflower Essays
FDR’s “Four Freedoms”
Obama’s Speech at West Point Fall of 2009 on Afghanistan / Suggested Mentor Text(s):
Literature:
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist
Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha
Italo Calvino’s Baron in the Trees
Pär Lagerkvist’s The Dwarf
Sophocles’ Oedipus
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis / Informational Texts: / Poetry:
Chinese poetry
“How Do We Forgive Our Fathers?”
Music:
Dan Hill’s “I Am My Father’s Son”
Song Linkin Park’s song “What I’ve Done” / TV/Film:
Film Whale Rider
Film Rabbit-Proof Fences
Film In the Time of the Butterflies
Smoke Signals / Art/Photography: