in order to promote students' senses of agency and to. celebrate the diversity in the classroom, this unit focuses on empowering students voices by beginning the semester with choices and by promoting students as producers of knowledge.
Agency, Student Voice, Diversity, Literacies, Knowledge Producers
This unit is the introduction to senior Advanced Placement Literature courses at a central Illinois high school in the diverse community of Champaign. While this is the capstone course for our English program, designated as advanced by the College Board, and it is recommended that students have passed previous honors level English classes with at least a C average, any student who is interested in the course and willing to do the heavier workload is welcome in the class. I have had students with no prior experience in an honors level English course decide to try AP Literature, and they did well.
Our school is very diverse not just in terms of race, but also socioeconomic status, country of origin, language spoken at home, gender expression, etc. I am grateful that this is reflected in this class. The students come with unique backgrounds and different experiences from junior English as well. Some of them have previous AP English experience, having taken AP Language that focuses primarily on nonfiction, some of them were in honors or academic English that focuses primarily on fiction. This creates strengths and areas for growth in all students, and it’s important to make sure everyone feels welcome, included, and valued. We also need to establish a common language for discussing literature early on in the course, which is the focus of this unit. Prior to the pandemic, I issued summer reading books to students in late May before they left for summer break, but the abrupt move to online schooling in March 2020 made that impossible. Since then, I’ve reworked the first unit because I saw summer reading becoming a gatekeeper and creating an access barrier for some of my students. This past year, we were in person, but I started the year without summer reading and saw no major learning loss and more opportunity for students to start the year on a positive and inclusive note.
For this learning module, I’m reworking yet again some of the components to the first unit for a more interactive, online presence. While this unit will still be taught in person, I wanted to consider how to rework the “textbook” of the classroom. As Kalantzis and Cope (2019) discussed in the “The Text of the Classroom” in the video below, through the format of CG Scholar, “Instead of telling students… we are prompting action through dialogue. [Instructors] are not summarizing, they are curating the world.”
Video 1: Kalantzis and Cope. (2019). The Text of the Classroom. Education at Illinois. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://youtu.be/s08KIO-bc9Q.
As I looked at my curriculum, I wanted to embed more places for students to have choice and voice in the classroom environment. As Kalantzis and Cope (2019) also noted the main tenets for new learning are:
To achieve these ends, I’ve changed the format of the unit to bring more diversity of text and student choice to the readings and worked to include more opportunities for student voice, collaboration, and feedback.
The summative assessment of the unit is for students to write a critical analysis paper about an independently-read novel. To do this, students will learn literary critical theory, write reader-response essays as they read their choice novel, read literary criticism to provide guides and models for their analysis, complete passage analysis formative assignments, analyze a common text with the class and write a formative analysis, complete two peer reviews and a self-review.
This is an Advanced Placement course in English; the work is intended to be rigorous and college appropriate. You will be expected to engage in careful and critical reading and discussions of complex literature. Beyond this, you will be expected to develop an analytical and exploratory writing style that engages course texts in a thoughtful manner. This class succeeds when we become a community of learners with respect underlying all interactions.
For our first unit, you will be introduced to the literary critical theories or lenses that we will be using all year. To do this, you will read two main texts in this unit. The first will be our anchor text, August Wilson’s Fences. The next will be a choice between the following novels:
The theories we will use to analyze the text are Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic, deconstruction, and critical race. We will add more next semester, but these will be the core of our current practice.
Our goals for this unit are:
This unit will take approximately five weeks. The main goal that I have is to curate information for students and give them the freedom and agency to express their interest in the various texts and to give them multiple opportunities to produce diverse artifacts to show their knowledge.
The first part of the unit is to have students select their choice text that they will use for their final assessment. They will read this independently as we work through the critical lenses and the core text Fences together. As they read, they will complete two reader response essays to provide opportunities for reflection on the book and its themes, as well as metacognitive analysis. They will be required to post analysis questions to our online forum and respond to classmates' questions in turn.
While they are working on that outside of class, we will have classroom collaboration to learn the basics of the lenses and practice applying them to popular culture examples.
The class will read and view the play Fences and will work on applying the critical lenses to passages that I select and passages that they select. They will also write a brief reader response essay to provide a chance for self-reflection and initial critical analysis. This will also provide them a model for how to work with the lenses with their choice text as well as some practice giving formative feedback to their peers. I wanted their first novels in this class to be modern, diverse voices to help represent the rich histories the class brings. With the exception of Like Water For Chocolate, all of the novels were published within the lifetime of my students and represent many eras and perspectives.
The final stage will be to select one of the critical lenses and use it to write a critical analysis essay of their choice novel. Students will collaborate in groups based on their book and lens selection to help brainstorm for support and claims. They will also be required to provide peer reviews to give feedback before the writer submits their final draft.
The learning goals are posted in the “To the Student” section, but these are based on the following Common Core Standards for English Language Arts 11-12:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
To complete this unit, they will need:
Our first unit will incorporate choice texts as well as a common “anchor” text.
To begin the unit, you will:
As you read, you will:
Please read through the descriptions posted in this presentation:
and then take this survey to tell me which novel you have chosen.
Updates 1-2: Reader Responses to Choice Texts
Reader-response criticism, as its name implies, focuses its attention on the reader’s experiences and interactions with a text. This approach to literature describes what goes on in the reader’s mind during the process of reading a text. Reader-response criticism aims to describe the reader’s experience of a work. Reader-response criticism calls attention to how we read and what influences our readings in terms of assumptions that are either met or not met.
Over the course of your reading your choice novel, compose TWO reader-responses that describe your experiences with the text and fulfill the criteria found below. It is essential that these responses are composed as you read, not after you’ve finished your readings.
Requirements and expectations for your 2 Reader-Response Updates:
As this is reader-response, using “I” statements is valid and encouraged for this type of writing. I want to hear your voice in this writing.
Read the following chapters of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (they are short; some are only 3 pages long):
We will continue to use the book throughout the year, so eventually, you will read all of it. There are some chapters that would spoil the plot of some of our upcoming books. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, and you would like to read the whole thing on your own, go for it. Just don't give the spoilers away to others.
Comment:
Respond to the question posted that has your choice novel as the header.
Ask 2 questions and respond to each other's posts. What questions do you have about your novel?
Respond with a question of your own. Questions should focus on:
Questions should not have a simple, plot-based answer or definition. Do not ask "What is a [insert unfamiliar term]?" for example. Google that and find the answer.
Responses to classmates should be professional, courteous, and detailed (several sentences in length). Agree, respectfully disagree and pose an alternate reading, or a combination of both. Use quotes from the book or direct textual references to support your responses.
For this first section of the unit, I wanted to highlight diverse voices who may or may not be part of a traditional “canon” of literature. To do this, I wanted to focus on female authors of color who represent a range of experience for our choice texts. Most of the authors are American, except for Laura Esquivel, who is Mexican and the work has been translated into English. Celeste Ng and Jesmyn Ward are living, producing American authors whose works were released in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Ng’s work, set during the 1970’s, is perhaps the most accessible for students, but while Ward’s novel may be more challenging, it is set in present-day America and has an urgent relevancy. Toni Morrison, who recently passed away, published A Mercy in 2008; we will read her seminal work Beloved later in the semester, but I wanted to include this book that is set in the 1690’s to give a historical perspective to many of the issues we will discuss in class. It is also the most challenging of the novels. As we discuss the plot and the level of difficulty, learners will be able to self-differentiate their selection based on interest, readiness, and experience.
I chose reader-response criticism to provide opportunities for self-reflection and analysis in lower-stakes, formative writing. Being able to say “I” in an analysis takes so much pressure off these early stages of writing and gives students “permission” to experiment. They also can choose what parts of the novel they wish to emphasize rather than responding to questions that I provide. There is no right or wrong answer here; the focus is on their ideas and experiences with the text. They just need to be thorough and thoughtful.
This is the rubric that they will be assessed on. It will be posted for them on Google Classroom where they will post their responses, so they will see it before they submit.
Q & A in the comment section will promote collaborative learning and thoughtful discussion of the books. Hopefully, it will also foster a sense of shared understanding and help create a community of learners.
Our goals for this section are:
To help build background knowledge about the literary theories that we will use for analyzing our texts, please read through the posted packet. Be sure to practice with the “To Get You Thinking” Sections as this will be where we begin some of our discussions about the theories, and be sure to write your responses to the final practice sections as a way to check your understanding and bring any questions to the class.
We will begin with the discussion of the Marxist and feminist lenses.
Leave a Comment:
Practice with the lenses- Choose 1 of the following clips from popular culture and discuss how they relate to one of the lenses we have discussed so far.
Example #1:
Video 1: Tin Cup Riddles and Saddles. (2013). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/2zI-EXuYgm4.
Example #2:
Video 2: Marcia Belsky. (2020) Proof That Nasa Doesn't Know Anything About Women. Comedy Central. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/PmyByJ4nqN0.
Example #3:
Video 3: Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - Someday My Prince Will Come. (2013). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/HLQ2sYxktMQ.
Update 3: Critical Analysis of Popular Tex
Select a clip from a movie or television show, a music video, an excerpt from a book or article that you can share with the class. Discuss what lens you feel would be appropriate to use to analyze it and why.
Then, select a classmate’s selection and discuss how you would apply the lens they chose or another one to their cultural artifact.
One goal that I have for this class is to prepare them for the rigorous coursework they will encounter in college by giving them transferable skills and knowledge. These critical theories will be used in classes that study not only literature but sociology, psychology, law, linguistics, cultural studies, and history courses. Next semester, we will build on these ideas by expanding the lenses to include postcolonial theory, queer theory, and new historicism; but these theories are foundational.
I usually start this section by asking them what they remember about critical lenses from previous years. We do a quick “parking lot” activity where I pass out post-it notes (more if they need them) and have kids write down 3 things on 3 different post-its (minimum) and put them up on the various boards labeled with the theories. This helps reactivate prior knowledge, but with being online this past year, this activity didn’t yield very much discussion since many junior English classes didn’t get through their usual content that would cover this. We had to spend more time on the theory packet than in previous years to compensate.
Sample of the theory analysis questions:
There are two options for this packet -
You can go through it with the class and discuss questions as they arise. This is more teacher-centered, but it does take some pressure off their homework load as they are reading their choice novels and working on their reader-response updates and comments.
You can “flip” the classroom and post mini-lectures on the various lenses. We can then use class time to go over specific questions in small groups or class discussion. This method allows for more differentiation, but it does put more expectations on learners outside of class, unless everyone has headphones and can listen to the lectures in class.
For the Comments and Updates:
I wanted to curate a diverse range of popular and academic texts for them to experiment with during this early stage of the analysis. I wanted to give them the option to choose a lens they struggled with for formative feedback or to practice with a lens they felt they understood to help build confidence.
When students select texts for the update, they pull from a variety of sources, many of which I had not considered or was aware of but might speak more directly to their peer group. Students have fun watching me connect with their choices and my role becomes a facilitator as they produce the texts for the course.
Our goals for this section are:
To continue building background knowledge about the literary theories that we will use for analyzing our texts, please finish reading through the posted packet. Be sure to practice with the “To Get You Thinking” Sections as this will be where we begin some of our discussions about the theories, and be sure to write your responses to the final practice sections as a way to check your understanding and bring any questions to the class.
We will continue with the discussion of the psychoanalytic, deconstruction, and critical race lenses.
Please continue working through the Critical Theory Packet that was posted on Update 2.
Leave a Comment:
Practice with the lenses- Choose 1 of the following clips from popular culture and discuss how they relate to one of the lenses we have discussed so far. Be sure to pick a different lens than the one you used for the previous comment.
Example #1: from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
Analyze the following speech by the constable Dogberry after he has arrested a gentleman and heard testimony that he participated in a conspiracy that resulted in a “murder”. The gentleman, Conrade, is being bound to be transported to another nobleman’s house whose daughter was “killed” by these men.
CONRADE
Off, coxcomb!
DOGBERRY
God's my life, where's the sexton? let him write
down the prince's officer coxcomb. Come, bind them.
Thou naughty varlet!
CONRADE
Away! you are an ass, you are an ass.
DOGBERRY
Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not
suspect my years? O that he were here to write me
down an ass! But, masters, remember that I am an
ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not
that I am an ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of
piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness.
I am a wise fellow, and, which is more, an officer,
and, which is more, a householder, and, which is
more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in
Messina, and one that knows the law, go to; and a
rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath
had losses, and one that hath two gowns and every
thing handsome about him. Bring him away. O that
I had been writ down an ass!
Video 4: MovieClips. (2017). Much Ado About Nothing (2012) - The Night Watch Scene (6/10). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C919Gt7Yd2g&feature=youtu.be.
Example 2:
Video 5: Madonna - Material Girl (Official Video) [Hd]. (2017). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/6p-lDYPR2P8.
Example #3:
Video 6: Button Poetry. (2015). Danez Smith - Dinosaurs in the Hood. YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/nJwiOTeKDOQ.
Update 4: Critical Analysis of Popular Text with Different Lens
Select another clip from a movie or television show, a music video, an excerpt from a book or article that you can share with the class. Discuss what lens you feel would be appropriate to use to analyze it and why. Be sure to pick a different lens than the one you used for the previous update.
Then, select a classmate’s selection and discuss how you would apply the lens they chose or another one to their cultural artifact. Be sure to pick a different lens than the one you used for the previous update.
For this section, we are continuing our discussion of the critical lenses, but I wanted to bring in some different options for comment. At this point, they would ideally be using the three newer lenses that I identified in the instructions, but if they wanted to go back to the one they didn’t use in the previous section, that’s fine, too.
I included the text of the Shakespeare scene because of the difficulty of the language and the need to include a bit of background context, but I chose the more recent film version of it because the actors bring the absurdity of the situation to life so well. I wanted to bring in different genres and so chose a music video and a spoken word poem to encourage more diversity in student response, particularly if they felt bogged down in tv shows and movie clips.
Now that we have finished building our knowledge of the critical lenses, it’s time to put this into action by reading and analyzing August Wilson’s play Fences.
Please complete the Take a Stand Pear Deck. We will see your responses along with your peers’ answers, but they will be posted anonymously. These questions will bring up issues that will be explored in the play, and your responses now will help you with the assessment over Fences.
Now that we have completed the Take a Stand, you will read the play. You will have class time for reading as well as the weekend to accomplish this. Please be sure to go through the Fences Introduction Powerpoint to learn more about our author.
Before you read, make a comment:
Choose one of the introductions to Fences and respond to the prompts.
“When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in His Largeness and Laws.”
-August Wilson
Video 7: Fences Official Trailer #1 (2016) Denzel Washington, Viola Davis Drama Movie Hd. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/jj-ZYPVRQbc.
Then, look over the responses to the question you didn’t answer and respond to one classmates’ post.
As you read, please complete the attached close readings to help you with characterization and thematic development.
Update 5: Critical Analysis of Fences
Using your annotations and analysis question responses from your close readings and other important passages from the play, develop an argument centered on one critical lens and how this lens helps develop the author’s purpose in writing Fences. You should concentrate your thesis on one central character, but feel free to discuss their relationship with other characters as part of your support.
See attached document for more instructions with this update.
This is another to engage students’ prior knowledge and allow them to bring in their experiences and knowledge to the classroom. The questions shown in the Take A Stand below all relate to key character choices in Fences, and the students all have opinions on them. Here are the questions in the old document format.
I converted this to the online presentation Pear Deck. If you're not familiar with Pear Deck, the format gives two options:
I prefer option 2 with the locked screen until I reveal answers (gives me a chance to screen in case anything is inappropriate) and anonymous display (I can still see who submitted). I can also save the Pear Deck and review it for credit/participation later, as well as post it to the LMS in case anyone was absent.
The Pear Deck method makes sure all students have the option to have their voice heard versus when we would fill this out on paper and rely on students to raise their hand. It also takes some of the pressure off of them with the anonymous projection, although some students claim their answers. PD also allows the teacher to modify the response options; I particularly like making students draw their response. It’s always interesting, to say the least.
Comment:
I routinely do quick writes, particularly at the start of the unit, but I decided for this unit to give more student choice and options to respond to each other.
I also found that the close reading exercises help students hone in on a few key passages to provide them with a bit of roadmap. Again, these will be useful for their summative assessment. This work will help them trace character development and theme. They will use these updates as they craft their final reader response.
Update:
This update is very similar to what they will complete for the final summative grade for the unit. This is only a one-page analysis, but it will give the students and me a chance to see where they are with these lenses in a formative, low-stakes environment.
Make a Comment -
Before we move to discussing our choice texts, go back to the previous updates, and read and comment on one of your peer’s Fences analysis.
Did you learn something?
Do you agree or respectfully disagree with their position on the application of the lens, the discussion of theme, and/or character analysis?
Why or why not?
We will now begin discussing our choice texts.
Our goals for this section of the unit are:
Step One: Our first step is to discuss how the lenses apply to our texts. To do this, you will get into collaborative groups with your peers who read the same novel as you.
You will work through the quotes that I selected from your novel and apply the designated lens to the quote. See the sample response I provided for the first lens as a model for you.
Step 2: Select passages on your own that you feel correspond to the appropriate lenses. Be sure to provide a brief analysis of the quote/passage
Update 6: Practice with Quote Selection and Lens Response
Post one of your self-selected quotes and your lens response. Respond to one classmate’s post.
Did you learn something?
Do you agree or respectfully disagree with their position on the application of the lens, the discussion of theme, and/or character analysis?
Why or why not?
This peer-review is critical at this point. I want students to get used to sharing their work with one another because by doing so they improve their own writing and understanding as they reflect on their peers’ choices. Hopefully, by this point we’ve established a sense of community and rapport through their previous comments and the Take a Stand, but if not, this activity really does bring partnerships together. It’s lower-stakes since it’s done online and students can craft their responses without the pressure of someone watching them as they read the writer’s work.
The next steps for the choice texts build on this collaboration. I will be giving support as needed, but they are helping each other with selecting topics and choosing textual support. They are empowering each other with their responses, selection of detail, and meaning making.
We will now begin working on our summative assessment for this unit, the Critical Analysis of Choice Novel Essay.
You will look over the prompt sheet attached and choose one critical lens to guide the analysis of your chosen novel.
Specifications: 4-5 pages, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font; 1” margins. Use MLA format throughout, separate Work Cited page.
Peer Review: You will provide peer revision strategies for members of your writing group using the comments feature of Google Documents. Your grades for this will depend on me looking through the histories of submitted documents and seeing comments and the times of the comments. A checklist will be provided as a rubric for your peer review. You will also submit the checklists when you submit your final draft.
Keep in mind that for all prompts, you are making an argument, not a summary of the work; assume your reader is already familiar with the book’s plot, the critical lens used, and the prompt.
Please use the following handout to help you get started and work through your first draft of your essay.
Make a Comment:
Please complete the following survey to help me provide individualized support for you as you work on your draft. Please feel free to email me to set up paper conferences or request additional resources.
Update 7: Peer Analysis of Drafts
Post a link to your rough draft on Google Classroom, and then find a draft that needs to be reviewed, preferably one that is about the same novel that you read.
As a reviewer, it is your job to make three comments about what the person has completed successfully and 3 comments to help direct them to places where they need more development. Please use the attached checklist to help you make your comments. Make these comments on the Google Document itself, but reply to the post you are reviewing with your name so that other students can see which documents have been claimed.
After you receive the results from peer reviews, you will make revisions to your essay. Use the posted rubric and the checklists from your peer reviewer to help you with this.
After you have completed your revision, write a brief self-reflection based on the following questions:
Submit these answers in a separate Google document in addition to your final draft on Google Classroom by the deadline.
During this time, I will be available for help and will provide writing models or additional guidelines as students need. Some of this will be by their request, and some will be shared with them after reading through their analysis of Fences.
We will spend time in class going over the paper topics and the rubric and making sure everyone understands the standards for demonstrating mastery. To help with this, I will ask students to submit their introduction paragraphs, and I will pick exemplar texts to uphold as models for students (if I have the writer’s permission). This discussion also serves as a model for peer reviews.
Rubric for Essay
The survey below will also help me with providing individual assistance during the rough draft phrase.
The main goals I have for the end of the unit is for students to demonstrate that they understand the main principles for the critical lens they have chosen, they understand the author’s purposes for writing the novel, and they can make a clear connection between the lens and the novel. They should then support their claim with support from the novel.
The self review helps students advocate for their grade and give them a chance to metacognitively consider their work and their habits of mind.
*Button Poetry. (2015). Danez Smith - Dinosaurs in the Hood. YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/nJwiOTeKDOQ.
*Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - Someday My Prince Will Come. (2013). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/HLQ2sYxktMQ.
*Fences Official Trailer #1 (2016) Denzel Washington, Viola Davis Drama Movie Hd. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/jj-ZYPVRQbc.
Kalantzis and Cope. (2019). The Text of the Classroom. Education at Illinois. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://youtu.be/s08KIO-bc9Q.
*Kalantzis, M., & Cope, W. (n.d.). Multimodality. New Learning Online. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://newlearningonline.com/learning-by-design/multimodality
*Kalantzis, M., & Cope, W. (n.d.). Learning By Design- Principles. New Learning Online. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://newlearningonline.com/learning-by-design/lbd-principles
*Madonna - Material Girl (Official Video) [Hd]. (2017). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/6p-lDYPR2P8.
Marcia Belsky. (2020) Proof That Nasa Doesn't Know Anything About Women. Comedy Central. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/PmyByJ4nqN0.
*MovieClips. (2017). Much Ado About Nothing (2012) - The Night Watch Scene (6/10). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C919Gt7Yd2g&feature=youtu.be.
*Tin Cup Riddles and Saddles. (2013). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://youtu.be/2zI-EXuYgm4.