Narratives: Values and Friendship in “Thank You Ma’am,” “The World is Not a Pleasant Place to Be,” and “Seventh Grade”
Unifying Concept: What Makes Us Who We Are?
Overview:In Langston Hughes short story, “Thank You Ma’am,” the main character Mrs. Luella Bates Washington has quite a run-in, literally, with a young boy named Roger. Through the use of a variety of story elements, Bates teaches this boy a tough lesson in what it means to have morals and values, even when in challenging situations. Additionally, this unit includes “The World is Not a Pleasant Please” to Beby Nikki Giovanni. The speaker of this poem uses a variety of visuals to describe how unpleasant the world would be without a friend. These two pieces of literature share a similar idea about needing someone in your life to teach you right from wrong. Both pieces of literature express the idea of the importance of having someone important in your life to be a positive influence, but describe these ideas directly and indirectly by using a variety of metaphors, similes, and story elements.
Purpose:
To examine the writer’s use of values and morals using textual evidence.
To analyze how the writer’s uses a variety of story and literary elements to emphasize the theme of both pieces of literature.
To evaluate what our morals and values are compared to what society deems acceptable.
To demonstrate, through writing, the process writers use to create a narrative and how to connect those topics together.
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Enduring Understanding:
The examination of an individual’s culture and the culture of others through reading and writing expand engagement of the world, its people and oneself. / Essential Questions:
1. Why is it important to determine the variety of perspectives presented in complex texts?
2. What are the purposes of writing and why should it follow a process?
3. How do writers use language to convey personal experiences?
Target Standards are emphasized every quarter and used in formal assessment to evaluate student mastery.
Highly-Leveraged1are the most essential for students to learn because they have endurance (knowledge and skills are relevant throughout a student's lifetime); leverage (knowledge and skills are used across multiple content areas); and essentiality (knowledge and skills are necessary for success in future courses or grade levels).
7.RL.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
7.W.3Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
  1. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
  2. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
  3. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
  4. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
  5. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
7.L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  1. Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
  2. Choose among simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships among ideas.
c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling modifiers.
Supporting are related standards that support the highly-leveraged standards in and across grade levels.
7.RL.3Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
7.RL.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
7.RI.3Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
7.W.5With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 7.
7.SL.1Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  1. Come to discussions prepared having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
  2. Follow rules for collegial discussions, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
  3. Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others’ questions and comments with relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.
d. Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views
Constant Standards are addressed routinely every semester.
7.RL.10
7.RI.1,10
7.W.4,6,10
7.SL.2,6
7.L.6
Selected Reading of Complex Texts
Extended/Short Texts:
“Thank you Ma’am,” Langston Hughes
“The World is Not a Pleasant Place to Be,” Nikki Giovanni
“Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto
Additional Instructional Resources:
Electronic Resources and alternative Media
(“Thank you Ma’am video)
(The World is not a Pleasant Place to be audio)
Performance Assessments:
Formative Assessments:
  1. Questions/activities- “Thank You Ma’am”
  2. Questions/activities- “The World is Not a Pleasant Place to be”
  3. Vocabulary activities
  4. Story map
  5. Comparing “Thank You Ma’am” text to the video
  6. Comparing “The World is Not a Pleasant Place to be” and the audio version
  7. Graphic organizers
  8. Choice scenarios (handouts included)
/ Summative Assessments :
  1. Socratic seminar
  2. Comparative essay
  3. Debate
  4. Writing personal narratives
  5. Writing: Convince a judge to drop the charges of theft brought against Roger by District of Columbia for stealing by the Ms. Jones Purse
  6. School City Answer Key Only Assessment

1This definition for highly-leveraged standards was adapted from the “power standard” definition on the website of Millis Public Schools, K-12, in Massachusetts, USA.

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