A Sample 9th Grade Unit Plan

originally posted on My Big Campus February 26, 2013 - we have since tweaked the unit plan template that we use a bit, but the essence would be the same

Last night I came across a recently posted spoken word poem/video that has gone “viral.”  It is a mostly dismal (read: SAD) but overall brilliant piece (IMHO) that inspired me to write a unit plan this morning.  I collaborated with Rachel to develop the plan, and we offer this sample to English I (9^th grade) teachers for their use (if they choose).   

Just beware: sharing the video/poem with students will require a great amount of sensitivity and emotional preparation on the part of the teacher.  I think it is a perfect example of the type of “media” text that students will have to analyze on the PARCC (though not this long, I think), but it should not be used lightly.  The main topic of the poem/video is bullying, and it includes references to suicide and drug addiction.  These topics certainly are not unusual in the literature we typically read in ninth grade, but this portrayal is particularly heart-wrenching.

My thought is to open the unit with the spoken word poem video and to end it with the summative narrative task with a suggested rubric.  We’ve offered several other texts and formative assessments in between; use them or not – in any case, I welcome your feedback.

We will continue this kind of work at the other grade levels, for other units/essential questions in grade 9, and by fleshing out some actual lesson plans and assessment pieces.  I know teachers are working hard at these tasks, too, and in coming weeks we will be soliciting them for their own contributions to the banks we are building. 

P.S.:  The linked Google doc of the unit plan above and here will not transfer the hyperlinks to the texts.  You can find them through these:

• “The White Circle” by John Bell Clayton (short story) [find at this link]
• “If We Must Die” by Claude McCay (poem) [find at this link]
• “I, Too” by Langston Hughes (poem) [find at this link]
• “There’s Only One Way to Stop Bullying” by Susan Engle & Marlene Sandstrom (OpEd) [find at this link]
• “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan (spoken poem/collaborative animation project) [find video at this link or this link/find background and text at this link]