Enlgish Unit Plan - Grade 9

English Unit Plan - Grade 9

Unit Plan: “Who Am I?”

Unit Plan
Date: To Be Announced
Topic: Who Am I?
Time: 75 Minutes, three times a week, for 8 Classes

Curriculum Expectations:
Overall Expectations
Grade 9 students will:
Oral Communication: Use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
Reading: Read and demonstrate an understanding of the elements of a variety of literary and informational texts, from contemporary and historical periods
Writing: Use a variety of print and electronic sources to gather information and explore ideas for their written work; use a variety of organizational techniques to present ideas and supporting details logically and coherently in written work; revise their written work, independently and collaboratively, with a focus on support for ideas and opinions, accuracy, clarity, and unity.

Specific Expectations
Grade 9 students will:
Oral Communication: Demonstrate an understanding of the information and ideas in increasingly complex and difficult oral texts in a variety of ways.
Reading: Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex and difficult text by summarizing important ideas and explaining how the details support the main idea.
Writing: Write a complex text of a variety of lengths using a wide range of forms.

Assessment Strategies:
Formative Assessment: On Day 2 an assessment on the “Role Play” will be conducted on whether the students understand the different concepts of idealist, humanist, and realist. On Days 3 and 6 a journal assessment will be done to check for completed work.
Summative: Students will be generating a final project involving choosing a prominent figure from the past or present who they feel embodies qualities that they feel the either already have or would like to achieve to acquire as a personal goal. The students will write a mini speech on their figure of choice and how they relate to him or her. The students will be able to create and present their project in any form they choose, whether media or written, as long as it represents the heart of the project.

Accommodations and Modifications:
For the more advanced students they can begin to complete their activity without teacher guided assistance. Students that need additional help with the more challenging activities such as the personal narrative we be guided by the teacher and other students to promote collaborative learning and student centered learning. This lesson addresses the following learners:
* Auditory (YouTube video’s)
* Visual (use of worksheets and examples)
* Kinesthetic (students are able to use hands on approach through he creation of their final project and group work)

Day 1

Resources: Journal book

Goals: By the end of today’s lesson, students will have an understanding of what the unit “Who Am I?” will be about and what topics will be included. They will learn that the question “Who Am I?” is a fundamental question that everyone asks themselves, especially people at their age. Students will gain background knowledge of Erik Erickson’s 8 developmental stages and will come to realize that their own development has led them to the category of “identity vs. role confusion”. By the end of today’s lesson students should leave having gained the basic fundamentals and building blocks that will help them progress throughout the rest of the unit.

Introductory Activity – 20 Minutes
In the beginning of the unit every student is given a complimentary journal book. It is mandatory students bring this to every class and to write a reflection in this journal book.

Journal Entry #1 – WHO AM I? (Describe who you are)
In grade 8, students might have been seen as being the “big man on campus” this is known as the “top dog” syndrome. However, this syndrome flips when grade 8 students enter high school. In high school, grade 9 students are place at the very bottom of the spectrum.
Statistics prove that high school plays an influential role on individuals; this is the time that individuals try to figure out who they are, where they fit in (in school and in the world), and who they want to become.
As early as grade 11, students must determine whether they will be university students or college students (Academic vs. Applied) and what they want their profession to be (taking math or sciences in grades 11 and 12 means you want to apply to university under that field)

Discuss answers from journal entry #1
After discussing the answers, see how many students put superficial characteristics. How many students put their hair color, eye color, height etc. as characteristics that define themselves?
Ask students to define themselves again. This time ask them to look at themselves at a deeper level, not just the surface. Define yourself by not just looking at your surface characteristics. What makes you, you? (DO NOT discuss their answers)




Developmental Strategies – 40 Minutes

1. Give an overview of the unit –“WHO AM I?”- Every new lesson will incorporate a different focus/theme: humanist, idealist, realist, feminism & gender, race, and social justice. These will be the lenses that help us better define who we are in relation to the text we read, the world, and our own personal experiences.

2. Give students a brief background of the importance of identity. Everyone goes through these stages. This is a lens that they could view themselves through while evaluating and figuring out who they are.

Note: Do not go into great detail of Erik Erickson’s 8 development stages. Just mention each title. “Identity vs. Role Confusion” is highlighted because it will be discussed in further detail later on in today’s lesson.

3. Erik Erickson (psychologist) – 8 developmental stages (briefly go over each)
Trust vs. Mistrust – birth to 18 months
Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt – 18 month to 3 years
Initiative vs. Guilt – 3 to 5 years
Industry vs. Inferiority – 6 to 12 years
Identity vs. Role Confusion – 12 to 18 years (high school years)
Intimacy vs. Isolation – 18 to 35 years
Generativity vs. Stagnation – 35 to 55/65 years
Integrity vs. Despair – 55/65 to death

4. What is Identity vs. Role Confusion?
Teenager. Questioning of self. Who am I, how do I fit in? Where am I going in life? Erickson believes that if the parents allow the child to explore, they will conclude their own identity. However, if the parents continually push him/her to conform to their views, the teen will face identity confusion.
According to Erickson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.
Erickson described identity as "a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given--that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals--with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters." (Erickson, 1970.)
In Erik Erickson's stages of psychosocial development, the emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.
5. Identity Statuses
a. Identity achievement occurs when an individual has gone through an exploration of different identities and made a commitment to one.
b. Moratorium is the status of a person who is actively involved in exploring different identities, but has not made a commitment.
c. Foreclosure status is when a person has made a commitment without attempting identity exploration.
d. Identity diffusion occurs when there is neither an identity crisis nor commitment.

Concluding Activity – 20 Minutes

Journal Entry #2: From the 4 Identity Status discussed, do you fall into one of the categories? If so, how?

Note: If time runs out, this will be assigned for homework.

Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?

If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?

Day 2
Resources: Journal book

Goals: By the end of today’s lesson students should have a strong grasp about what a humanist, idealist and a realist is and the difference between all three. Students should be able to reflect, analyze, and assess themselves through these new lenses. Using last class’s foundation with today’s new lenses, students should challenge themselves by exploring the question “Who Am I?” at a deeper level.

Introductory Activity – 20 Minutes

Journal Entry #3: Do you view yourself as a humanist, idealist, and realist? Do you fit into more than one category? Explain.
Do not define the terms for students. Let them make their own assumptions of what the meaning could be

Developmental Strategies – 40 Minutes

1. What is a humanist? How many of you believe you are a humanist? Why?
Humanist - a person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity. Concerned with human interests and with the human race as opposed to the purely physical world. It is an approach which stresses distinctly human traits such as meaning, feeling, and emotion.
Humanism sets man at the center, giving humans primary importance. It is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality.
Ethical Stances - The science of moral obligation; a system of moral principles, quality, or practice. The moral obligation to render to the patient the best possible quality of dental service and to maintain an honest relationship with other members of the profession and mankind in general.

2. What is an idealist? How many of you believe you are an idealist? Why?
Idealist – A person inclined to be imaginative or idealistic but impractical: dreamer, utopian, visionary
Utopian/ Utopia - An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. Not compatible with reality. Being the best possible; characterized by ideal perfection

3. What is a realist? How many of you believe you are a realist? Why?
Realist - One who is inclined to literal truth and pragmatism? A person who sees things as they truly are. A practical person.
Realism - The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of close observation of outward appearances.

Concluding Activity – 20 Minutes

Role Play Activity –
Students are broken into groups of 3
Within each group, students are to decide which character they will play: 1 humanist, 1 idealist, and 1 realist.
Students are to create a scenario where all three (a humanist, an idealist, and a realist) are involved and engaging in conversation with one another.
Students are not to disclose which character they are playing to the rest of the class.
During the student’s role play, the rest of the class must try to determine who is which.

Note: If time is running short, have students break into groups of 6 instead of 3. This way there will be time for all students to perform. (2 humanists, 2 idealists, and 2 realists)

Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?

If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?


Homework - Journal Entry #4 – Now that you know what the real definition is, use these lenses to reassess yourself. Do you fall into any of these categories? Do you fit into more than one? Can you see yourself as being one or more of them? Explain.

Day 3

Resources: The introduction from A Vindication of the Rights of Women found in the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women p. 258-261, or the handout provided for those without access to the book, pens, paper.
Goals: The students will have finished the class with an understanding of the struggles that women went through to become accomplished and respected authors today. They will use creative writing skills to formulate an idea of what it was like to be a woman in the 18th Century. And finally, they will choose their topic for their final project.


Introductory Activity – 10 Minutes
Take up homework from previous class.
Have the students imagine that they are in 18th Century where women have little to no rights. Now have them write to the editor of a local newspaper. They have just been told that their work will not be published because it is “Silly women’s nonsense” and it has “no place in the world of men.” They are to write a rebuttal to this.

Developmental Strategies – 25 Minutes

Briefly outline the feminist perspective as originating in the 1960s from the sociopolitical movement that arose to name and combat the gender divisions that affect the legal, economic, and social lives of women, taken from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008684:

Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, and Laura Jamieson (March 1916) were the leaders of the feminist cause in western Canada. The federal government in 1967 set up the Royal Commission on the STATUS OF WOMEN to examine the situation, and in its 1970 report the commission made 167 recommendations for greater equality of women. The women's movement has been working for social justice for women along many different fronts, including politics, culture, the mass media, law, education, health, the labour force, religion, the environment and the home. Combining the fight against sexism with a fight against racism has become increasingly important. The organizational structure includes groups of every size and from every region, including national and international ones. In the paid labour force, concern focused initially on equal pay for equal work. In the '80s, the demand for equal pay for work of equal value has prompted comparisons of dissimilar jobs in order to establish fair pay scales for jobs requiring similar skills, efforts and responsibilities. The Royal Commission on Equality in Employment (Abella Commission), which tabled its report in 1984, made a number of recommendations for sweeping changes. Employment equity and pay equity have become a concern for unions, employees and governments. Some programs try to overcome historical discrimination by facilitating the promotion of women into levels and types of occupation from which they have so far been excluded. There was also a concern to recognize the contribution of wives who work in partnership with their husbands in non-incorporated businesses, so that wages paid to the wife can be rated as such for tax and legal purposes.
Male control over women's bodies has also traditionally expressed itself through violence. New halfway houses for battered women have opened in several cities, and analyses and reports on this hitherto forbidden topic are published in newspapers and magazines. RAPE, the chief representation of aggression against women, has escaped from the silence which formerly surrounded it. Rape crisis centres have existed in major cities since 1973; a lobby has been organized to press for changes in the law; each fall urban women parade to demonstrate their right to use the streets safely at night; and every year thousands of Canadian women take courses in self-defense. Since the '90s, the greatest challenges to the women's movement - as to other socially committed groups - are the policy changes that are taking place in the context of deficit and debt reduction. This is occurring at the provincial as well as at the federal level. Provinces vary in the degree to which social programs are slashed and infrastructure is dismantled, but the general trend is towards tightening public spending in social programs. These programs are often geared to serve the poor and disadvantaged, which include a disproportionate number of women. Women are thus particularly negatively affected by the manner in which Canadian governments are attempting to balance their books

After reading this pose the following questions to the class:
How has the role of the woman changed from 1900 to now? (Possible answers could include: women now have the rights to vote; we can wear pants; we are no longer forced to stay in the house; we have jobs)
Do you feel that the change has been for the better? Why or why not?
Do you feel that men and women are considered equal in the eyes of the world? Give examples for your answers.


Concluding Activity – 35 Minutes
Students will write in their journals their reactions to the plight of the woman and whether they were aware of the trials that women went through in order to be considered equals in society. They will also write whether they think women will ever be seen equal in the eyes of man, and why or why not.

Once they have finished their journal they will be given 25 minutes to work on their final project for this lesson. Time will be allotted for computer use to research topics, teacher time to ask questions and get guidance on where to start, and time to discuss with classmates to get a variety of ideas of prominent figures that they embody or admire.


Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?



If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?



Day 4

Resources: The introduction from A Vindication of the Rights of Women found in the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women p. 258-261, or the handout provided for those without access to the book, pens, paper
Goals: The students will have finished the class with an understanding of the struggles that women went through to become accomplished and respected authors today.

Introductory Activity – 10 Minutes
We will revisit the Feminist perspective and ask students their thoughts and feeling from the lesson prior to this one. Have the students share personal feelings and experiences from being a victim of prejudice or racism and how those made them feel. Relate these back to being a woman who was put down, considered no higher than a dog in society, and seen as having no intellectual perspective.

Developmental Strategies – 40 minutes
Have them think about the question “Did a woman ever find an identity for herself not defined by attachment to a man?” (Have it written on the board) while reading the introduction from A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft. (This should have been done for homework from the previous class).
Start a discussion of the story. Then, ask more basic questions about the story to get the facts straight and deeper-level discussion questions.
What does Wollstonecraft explicitly state in the introduction? (Some answers include: her assumptions and beliefs about what she will write about, the fact that she is a woman, etcetera.)
Do you think you would act differently or grow up as a different person if you had never read a novel or been to school? (Possible answers could include: I would not know the possibilities out there, getting a job would be difficult, I wouldn’t know how to use my imagination as well).
For students who cannot get to the deeper level thinking then the following questions would suffice for their instruction
1. Why does Mary Wollstonecraft choose this particular title for her essay? (Possible answers could include: what does vindication mean; she choose vindication because it could mean absolution of the fact that women’s rights have been removed)
2. If you could change anything about the introduction what would it be, and why (Possible answers could include: make it shorter; use today’s language)
3. If you could add anything to the introduction, keeping to the theme of the essay, what would it be, and why?
First the students will write down their answers and then they will orally discuss this in groups of 4. In their groups they will then write a letter to Mary as if she were living today about their thoughts on her essay. These will then be presented to the class by each group.
Make sure that as they are reading this work that they stop and look up all unknown words, for there are quite a few. This piece was written in an old dialect and many of the terms are not used today.
Concluding Activity – 25 minutes
Students will write in their journals a reflection on the following questions: After reading this short essay from Mary Wollstonecraft on “The Vindication of the Rights of Women,” how would you express yourself if you were restricted to censorship like women were then? And, how do you feel, if you do, that you relate to the feminist perspective? Did this reading help you relate to something that you couldn’t define before?

Students will then be given time to work on their final projects when they have finished their journal entry.


Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?



If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?


Day 5
Resources: Sylvia Plath reading “Daddy” on YouTube: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hHjctqSBwM) and “Cinderella” by Sylvia Plath as a handout.
Goals: The students will be able to, by the end of the period, identify some of the devices of literature and how it makes the poem more powerful to the reader in the context of the female struggle.





Introductory Activity – 10-15 Minutes

Play the YouTube clip of Sylvia Plath reading “Daddy.” Have the students reflect on the words and the way that she phrases certain parts to highlight importance. For students on an IEP they will be required to listen to the poem and write about how it makes them feel when they listen to the words.
The poem “Cinderella” will then be given out as the assigned poem for the day’s analysis.


Developmental Strategies – 45-50 Minutes

Introduce an activity of “What kind of Poetry Reader are you?” from Bridging English p.210. The four types of readers are paraphrasers, thematisers, allegorizers, and problem solvers. Paraphrasers seldom push beyond the literal meaning of the poem. Thematisers seek to crack the code of the poem and conceptualize a general theme about life, nature, man, animals, landscapes, or loneliness. Allegorizers are intent on exercising ingenuity to work out the equivalences between the poem and life. Problem Solvers refuse to settle immediately on the meaning and are tentative in their formulations of meaning because, for them, a poem is never fully understood. Place these explanations on the board for reference purposes.
As a whole group read the poem together. Ask the students “Which of these four strategies best describes how you approach a poem? Do you typically favour one strategy over another when you read poems? In which category does your teacher typically belong? In bold letters, write down on the back of your explanation which category you typically favour. There are no wrong answers.

Divide the students into the four different types of readers and have them discuss in their groups how they see the poem “Cinderella.”
When they are finished then each group will take turns and present their findings.

The students will then write their own poem based on a topic that they find inspiring to them, whether it is about a personal issue or their favourite book or television show.
For students with specific special needs they will draw a picture of how the poem made them feel.
Make sure that as they are reading this work that they stop and look up all unknown words, for there are quite a few. This piece was written in an old dialect and many of the terms are not used today.

Concluding Activity – 10 Minutes

Students will write in their journals a reflection on the following questions: After listening to Sylvia Plath read her own poem how do you think this makes a difference in interpreting it? Do you feel more connected to the poem or the subject matter, or does it make it seem more distant? Do you have any similar experiences with or feeling about family members like Plath does?




Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?

If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?



Day 6

Resources: SmartBoard
Goals: By the end of the lesson students will hopefully become more aware of whom they are as individuals from racial-ized backgrounds and the privileges that they possess in education among other endeavors due to the sacrifices and hardships of other who have come before them.

Introductory Activity – 15 Minutes

Begin class with phrase from “I Have a Dream” speech on board – “All Men are Created Equal”, and have students interpret the meaning of phrase
The above should hopefully generate discussion around the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) in order to gage the prior knowledge that students bring to this subject area
Give brief description of the CRM, Jim Crow, and the general conditions Black lived under during this era

Developmental Strategies – 45 Minutes

Pose Question: What is the significance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s (MLK) non-violence philosophy and why is it particularly important to blacks living in this era? (Possible answers could include: one day things will be better than they are now, i.e. no segregation; God is the arbiter of human kind)
Show the “I Have a Dream Speech” on the SmartBoard pausing on significant parts and giving brief explanation
Have students break out into groups of 4 and discuss what they liked about the speech as well as focus question
Bring class together as a whole and discuss issues as well as attributes associated with non-violence philosophy

Concluding Activity – 15 Minutes
Have students write in journal what they have learned from the lesson and how it has the contributed to the formation of their identity
Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?

If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?


Day 7

Goals: By the end of the lesson students will hopefully become more aware of who they are as individuals from racial-ized backgrounds and the privileges that they possess in education among other endeavors due to the sacrifices and hardships of others who have come before them.

Introductory Activity – 15 Minutes

Begin class with phrase from “A More Perfect Union Speech” on board – “Today’s injustices can be traced back to yesterday’s inequalities” speech on board, and have students interpret the meaning of phrase (Possible answers could include: the disproportion achievement gap between Blacks and Whites in America can be traced back to a legacy of race and discrimination and segregation).
Have class discussion around the above phrase
Give context in which “A More Perfect Union” was delivered

Developmental Strategies – 45 Minutes

Pose Question: How does Obama speech, and Obama on a whole, see the realization of MLK’s goals? (A possible answer could include: the probability of Blacks resorting to violence due to the injustice they face in society)
Show “A More Perfect Union” on the SmartBoard pausing on significant parts and giving brief explanation
Have students break out into groups comparing and contrasting highlights of the two speeches
Bring class together as a whole and discuss the Obama speech in contrast to MLK’s speech as well as the progress that has been made on race relations in America

Concluding Activity – 15 Minutes

Have students write in journal what they have learned from the lesson and how it has the contributed to the formation of their identity
Method of Evaluation:
Participation, effort, and engagement with the exercises will be noted and given special consideration
Journal will be assessed at end of unit
Reflection on the Lesson:
How did I feel this lesson went over?



If I could change one thing about it to make it better what would it be?

If I could rate this lesson in comparison to others like it, how would it rate on scale of 1-10?




Day 8

The students will present their final projects. A rubric has been created for the marking of these.