Transcript Cultural Conflicts: When Things Fall Apart

Cultural Conflicts:
When Things Fall Apart
11th Grade, English 3, Unit 3
The Process of Backward
Design/Modifying Concept Units
1. Select available and meaningful main texts.
2. Brainstorm enduring understandings.
3. Create essential question.
4. Select important concepts.
5. Select supplemental texts.
6. Select standards/objectives.
7. Align assessments.
8. Map unit learning activities.
Print\English 3\Concept Curriculum English III.htm
Main Texts
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua
Achebe
•Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan
Paton (secondary novel)
Enduring Understanding
•Things fall apart in individual
lives when society experiences
cultural shifts.
Essential Question
•How does culture shape identity?
•Original: How does the writing of
a given group of people offer
insight into cultural conflicts?
Important Concepts
• Symbol
• Point-of-View
• Rhetoric
• Colonialism, Post-colonialism
• Apartheid
• Paradigm Shift
• Globalization
Supplemental Texts
• Nobel Prize Lecture, 1991, by Nadine Gordimer
• “Post-Script: Nelson Mandela” by Nadine
Gordimer
• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
(exerts)
• “The Empire Fights Back” by Chinua Achebe
Standards/Objectives
• RL.11-12.1 – I can locate and summarize strong
and thorough evidence in the text to support my
analysis of what the text says.
• RL.11-12.2 – I can determine multiple central
ideas of a text and describe how each section
develops each central idea.
• RL.11-12.5 – I can analyze how structural
elements of a text function to shape the overall
meaning and aesthetic impact of a text.
Standards/Objectives
• W.11-12.7 – I can conduct short as well as more
sustained research projects to answer a question I
have or one that is assigned to me.
• W.11-12.8 – I can synthesize multiple sources on a
subject and demonstrate an understanding of the
subject under investigation.
• W.11-12.9 – I can draw evidence from literary and
informational texts to support my analysis,
reflection, and research.
Standards/Objectives
• L.11-12.2 – I can demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling.
• L.11-12.3 – I can apply what I know about
language to make effective choices in the
language I use to shape meaning and style.
• L.11-12.4 – I can vary my syntax for effect,
consulting reference guides if necessary.
Assessments
• Socratic Seminar – Speaking and Listening, Reading Literature: concept
of “things falling apart” (identity crisis); student cultural identity,
universe of obligation
• Major Essay – Reading Literature, Argument Writing: Discuss the impact
of cultural shifts on Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and James Jarvis
from Cry, the Beloved Country.
• Multi-Media Presentation – Speaking and Listening, Informational
Writing, 21st century literacy skills: Visual representation and written
description of cultural identity
• Minor Essay – Narrative Writing, Language: Describe a time in your life
when things have fallen apart for you. Explain how you coped with this
experience and reflect on what paradigm shifts, if any, it caused you to
make.
Assessments
• Socratic Seminar – Speaking and Listening, Reading
Informational Texts: role of literature in cultural
conflicts; relationship between writing and identity
• Research Presentation – Informational Writing, Speaking
and Listening: Examine how Chinua Achebe or Alan Paton
offers insight into a cultural conflict in his novel. Support
your explanation with evidence from the novel, as well
as research on the author’s background and historical
context.
Map unit learning activities
•8 weeks (shortened to allow
incorporation of all four English 3
units, as specified by the
Concept curriculum map)
Insights/Reflection
• Unit and semester cohesion, end goals =
more student insights and engagement;
students know what is expected
• Process becomes easier and faster after
the first unit
• Easy to make adjustments as you go once
familiar w/process – all about looking for
connections