The targeted learners for this module are seventh-grade reading students. These students are in the general education classroom setting, even if they have individualized reading and writing goals per their IEP or 504. 

The curriculum standards come from the English Language Arts Reading: Literature Grade 7 Common Core State Standards and are listed below. This module uses English Language Arts Common Core State Standards as they are accepted in 42 of the 50 states.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

In addition to the reading literature standards, students will also be addressing the following Speaking & Listening Common Core Standards.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1 Engage 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.A 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.C 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.D Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.5 Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Furthermore, in addition to the reading literature standards and the speaking & listening standards, the following language standards will be addressed in this module.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4.A Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4.C Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4.D Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.5.B Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonym/antonym, analogy) to better understand each of the words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.5.C Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., refined, respectful, polite, diplomatic, condescending).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

The intended targets/outcomes of this module for students are included below. These are only a few of the many as you can see contrasting the standards listed above and the following listed targets.

• Students will create a work that encompasses their learning from this module.
• Students’ work will contain multimedia elements to clarify my understanding.

• Students can use text evidence to back up their claims.
• Students are able to determine the theme(s) of the book as it develops throughout the text.
• Students are able to look at the elements of a story and how they interact.
• Students can determine the meaning including the connotation of words.
• Students can determine the meaning of figurative language and the impact it has on meaning.
• Students will compare as well as contrast the filmed version of The Breadwinner to the book.

• Students will come to discussion prepared.
• Students will ask questions and respond to their peers’ questions/comments to further discussion.

If this is used in a traditional classroom you will be constrained to your given class time. However, if you are not faced with that, I would limit each section to between 50-60 minutes. Please consider making modifications and alterations to any part of this unit to best meet the needs of your students. I created this unit with my students in mind, but yours may have different interests and thoughts! This was created with the understanding that each student would have a device or access to one.

Pedagogical Rationale: As is true with many books, you can dig deep and have some very meaningful discussion with The Breadwinner on militias, women’s rights, family structure, global relations, and more. Beginning with a survey will give you an idea of where your students are at with the literature standards as well as with Afghani culture. Having students look into the setting of the book and research more than just the flag or language will hopefully give them some insight while reading as to what Parvana’s life has been like.

Teaching Suggestions: This is currently set up for one-to-one devices, however, this can be modified for in-class teaching. Rather than have students write comments and respond, you could have them think-pair-share or do concentric circles.

I do not include a word limit for the comments as a personal preference. Rather than grade on meeting the minimum, I look at whether or not they answered the question completely. For some students this will take 20 words, and others 100 words.

If you’re in person and walking about the room or working with a group, consider steering students towards researching Afghanistan during Taliban rule (when this book takes place). This is not explicitly stated on the student side as this historical research takes a bit more time and isn’t as readily available as current facts are. 

Standards Mapping: None of the standards directly align with this portion of the module. This set-up will help students in all of the standards as we progress.

Supplementary Resources: Below are some links to reliable sources that you can share with students. You can share with the entire class, or just with those who are still establishing the skill of understanding and using reliable sources.  Of course, if you have never discussed reliable sources, pause and look into doing a lesson on that.  

• Lonely Planet
• Britannica
• World Factbook (CIA point-of-view)
• World Atlas

Pedagogical Rationale: I chose these questions because I think that they will help students understand the world that Parvana lives in. The goal is for them to understand that the setting, both physical and mental, affects how the story can go. There’s no way Parvana will all of a sudden be in a school when the Taliban have forbidden girls from being educated. I would also like for students to understand that we may come to the table with biases that impact how we see and judge others before knowing them. 

Teaching Suggestions: By this point, your students may already be familiar with discussions, but if this is the first-time students have ever led/held discussion, you may need to provide more structure and examples as to how to appropriately engage and build off ideas. If students or a specific group of students needs more assistance, consider sitting in with that group. How you structure groups is up to you. Personally, I prefer smaller groups to whole-class discussions where it can seem daunting to speak up and share your thoughts (fear of being wrong, fear of peer’s thoughts, fear of speaking, etc.).

While this module isn’t about multiculturalism, be aware that students may use racist language, or have microaggressions that they aren’t even aware of. In my opinion, it is our role as educators to educate and inform. I have a module about multiculturalism that you can check out here, and I think that it’s important to note that this is not a book written by an Afghani woman, but is about an Afghani girl. Here’s what I’ve said about multiculturalism previously:

Depending on where students come from, their home life, and previous education they may have never interacted with someone a different skin color than themselves. The video below goes into detail about why it’s important to teach multiculturalism in a way that is content rigorous, from multiple perspectives, and engages critical thinking.

TEDxTalks. (2013, March 22). Multiculturalism in the Modern World: Jen Holladay at TEDxDenverTeachers. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5rKgDOs33U

Standards Mapping: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

Supplementary Resources: If you have other world maps or maps of where you physically live these would be great to bring in and share with your students. Additionally, you could bring in demographic information and town/state/country data.

Pedagogical Rationale: This book is less than 180 pages and made up of 15 chapters. There are some longer chapters and then shorter ones, you can break it up how you want to, but I’m starting off with the first two chapters because it leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. I was not able to find a recording of the author reading the text, and the audiobook version has a British narrator, so I would decide to read the first two chapters out loud to the entire class. I think that it is important to begin this book with a modeled version of how to pronounce some of the characters' names as they are Afghani. 

This seventh-grade reading literature standard asks students to make an inference as well as recognize when the author says something explicitly. The table with two examples was made to help students see the difference between the two and see examples to help them.

Teaching Suggestions: You could set up a table somewhere in your room and make that the “help” table to work with students after the reading is completed. You can encourage students who you know do better with regular check-ins or are required to have check-ins per their IEP. Students can stop by for a brief period of time or set up shop there. Ideally, I like to meet with every student for a check-in. Even if they don’t want to, hearing what they enjoy about the book, or what they don’t like about it builds rapport.

I would also suggest that you have students create a visualization board/document where they can draw different things as they appear in the text. When I did this whole group, I would pull names of two students to draw on the whiteboard as we were reading the book out loud. This way a variety of interpretations and artistic ways were represented. At the end of the class, the students would explain what they drew and why, essentially providing a summary of the reading. Students could look up at this visualization to help them remember aspects of the book, characters, setting, and events.

Standards Mapping: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Supplementary Resources: Below is a PDF of a study guide available on Deborah Ellis’ website. It includes chapter questions, follow up activities, and resources for educators.

The Breadwinner Study Guide (Groundwood Books, 2014)

Pedagogical Rationale: Connotation is introduced in sixth grade, so students may still need some help with understanding this. More importantly, students may need help identifying words in the text and determining their impact on how the story is interpreted. This is something that many students already do but thinking about why and how we know these things is important. You can help them out by focusing on the words used to describe the Taliban which have more of a negative connotation. 

Figurative language is introduced in fifth grade but limited to similes and metaphors. Just like with connotation, students probably understand what it is, but struggle to identify it within the text and then analyze the significance of it.

Teaching Suggestions: When this is being done within a classroom setting consider working with a higher needs group, like those with reading goals or reading disabilities, or rotating through students. If this book is out of students’ zone of proximal development, they may not be able to follow along as well when you read aloud.  The idea though is that students are reading in a way that resonates with them, but they may need help to choose "correctly".  There isn't a set amount listed to read.  This is up to you and how long you plan to spend on each portion.  Reminder, the book is just about 180 pages and comprised of 15 chapters.    

Urge students to look at the significance behind the word and phrase choice the author uses. While they may be able to identify and label connotation, the next higher-order thinking step is to evaluate the effect these have on us as the reader.

Standards Mapping: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4 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.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Supplementary Resources: Knowing your students, you may want to provide a sheet that defines connotation and denotation for them to have on hand. Below are two worksheets that students can use, one of which I created for a previous learning module.  Both are still applicable.

Team Name Connotations (Sanazaro, 2020)

Connotation and Denotation Guide ​(Mocogni, Connotation and Denotation, 2020)

Pedagogical Rationale: Theme is part of Common Core Reading Literature Standards beginning back in fourth grade. Seventh grade builds on previous years' curriculum, but the idea of the theme developing over the course of the story is new this year. This update attempts to provide a very brief review of theme with the video and introduce the idea of looking at plot over the entirety of the story. This update asks students to look at the beginning of the book compared to where they are now, which should be at least halfway. 

Teaching Suggestions: If you’d rather wait to discuss theme using all three sections of the book, beginning, middle, and end, then you can wait to do this when you’ve completed reading the book. Discussing and looking at theme will still work at any point, but one will not be able to see the entirety of its development.

I have found that students struggle with theme. It’s something they know, but when you try to define, teach it, and explain it, it becomes a bit convoluted. Take a look at the supplementary resources below for more suggestions on how this update could look.

Standards Mapping: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

Supplementary Resources: In the past and in previous modules I’ve used the slides below for additional practice on theme before having kids work on their own. It’s here if you want an additional resource.

Theme Slides (Mocogni, Theme, 2017)

I’ve written about this next resource in previous learning modules too. Here’s what I’ve found enjoyable, educational, and effective:

". . . consider using short videos, like Pixar shorts, or The Present to help get theme across."

Pedagogical Rationale: Common Core Standards have students beginning to learn to compare and contrast in kindergarten. What is specific to seventh grade is that it asks students to think about the effect different techniques across different mediums have on us the receiver.

Graphic organizers have, in my experience, greatly benefited all students. According to researchers Tracey Hall and Nicole Strangman, successful learning outcomes were found for students ranging from elementary to university level both with and without disabilities (Hall & Strangman, 2008). I have had students with graphic organizer use written into their IEPs or 504 plans, but the use has been helpful for all students as indicated in the research above. Using a graphic organizer is a way for students to sort out their thoughts on paper rather than just in their minds.

This standard can be changed to CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9 which compares and contrasts a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period. This would require students to look at Afghanistan during Taliban rule, look at nonfiction texts, and news reports. If you have time in your unit, I think that it would be great to have both the movie and historical accounts addressed. 

Teaching Suggestions: This film is available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes. Your local library may also have it if the aforementioned aren’t available.

It may be beneficial to have printed copies of the Venn Diagram or a three t-chart available for students who prefer to handwrite rather than use their device.

Standards Mapping: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

Supplementary Resources: You may want to provide other types of graphic organizers for your students or have paper copies available to use. The site below has several different options.

• https://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/

Pedagogical Rationale: Students have been working through this module for a while now. They’ve been getting formative assessments and feedback on the different reading literature elements. Now it’s time for them to extend their learning and work on something that they find important/interesting. My thought is that they can do any project that they want as long as it somehow relates back to the book (or they convince me it relates back to the book). I’ve never done this before in person but had a lot of fun creating it for my last learning module on Ghost by Jason Reynolds. I like the idea of letting students take this where it may and really find what intrigues them. They’ll still be working on researching, and writing, and some literary elements, but it is unique to them. 

Teaching Suggestions: You know your students best. If you think they need more guidance and structure then you can provide graphic organizers for them to use when creating this project. You could also limit the prompts, or suggest specific prompts to individuals depending on ability, home life, IEP, etc. Because I’m giving so much choice, creating a single graphic organizer wouldn’t work, but I would sit with students and help them create one! You could also encourage students to create their own graphic organizers to help them become self-sufficient and take ownership of their learning.

I created this rubric for the second time for this module as I have never done this type of project in person. Giving students this much freedom is a bit daunting (thinking of having to manage it all), but it’s also very freeing to say to students, “You got this, go where your passion and interest takes you”. I have never given students this much freedom, but I hope one day I can implement this to see what students choose and how they work through this. When students do go on to the peer and self-review, encourage students to be honest in their feedback, but most importantly kind and constructive. Everyone is learning and growing!

Standards Mapping: I’m not listing any standards, because all of the ones listed above could be applicable. Each student will be doing their own project so the standards they are hitting will be different, but all students will be addressing the same rubric.