Unit 1: Where do I fit? Examining Personal Culture
Fall 2013, 10 Days
Rationale:
The purpose of a World Literature course is to introduce students to other cultures to which they would not normally be exposed. Learning about the values of these other cultures can become, if the right foundation is not laid, a tedious and fruitless process. In order to approach other cultures successfully, one must first understand their own personal cultural perspective. This unit is designed as an exploratory unit for this specific purpose. Educational writer David Gall agrees with the importance of individual culture on one’s outlook on other cultures. He argues that, “personal identities are caught up in culture, driving it ad being driven by it, giving rise to securities and insecurities, comfort and discomfort” (20). The purpose of this unit to explore the source of these individual identities. Throughout this unit, students will explore their own cultural positionality and how that may affect their view of other cultures. This will provide as scaffolding and community building for later units dealing with understanding different cultures and their value systems.
In this particular context, there are primarily Caucasian students raised in the city of Fort Collins. There may not seem to be much cultural diversity within this group, however, every student comes from a different sort of background. The students will explore these backgrounds primarily through the use of personal writing, presentations, and reading self chosen short stories related to their culture. The students will combine passages from their writing as well as identified cultural points within the story to make a presentation regarding their culture to the class. Essentially, this unit not only provides some scaffolding to understanding cultural positionality, but will act as an important beginning of the year community building activity.
Textual Materials:
Calendar: 10 Days
The purpose of a World Literature course is to introduce students to other cultures to which they would not normally be exposed. Learning about the values of these other cultures can become, if the right foundation is not laid, a tedious and fruitless process. In order to approach other cultures successfully, one must first understand their own personal cultural perspective. This unit is designed as an exploratory unit for this specific purpose. Educational writer David Gall agrees with the importance of individual culture on one’s outlook on other cultures. He argues that, “personal identities are caught up in culture, driving it ad being driven by it, giving rise to securities and insecurities, comfort and discomfort” (20). The purpose of this unit to explore the source of these individual identities. Throughout this unit, students will explore their own cultural positionality and how that may affect their view of other cultures. This will provide as scaffolding and community building for later units dealing with understanding different cultures and their value systems.
In this particular context, there are primarily Caucasian students raised in the city of Fort Collins. There may not seem to be much cultural diversity within this group, however, every student comes from a different sort of background. The students will explore these backgrounds primarily through the use of personal writing, presentations, and reading self chosen short stories related to their culture. The students will combine passages from their writing as well as identified cultural points within the story to make a presentation regarding their culture to the class. Essentially, this unit not only provides some scaffolding to understanding cultural positionality, but will act as an important beginning of the year community building activity.
Textual Materials:
- Memoir Website: http://www.memoirsbyme.com/featured.html
- This American Life Podcast: #223 Classifieds
Calendar: 10 Days
Goals:
Students will learn…
Standards:
Students will learn…
- The definition of culture.
- The process of writing narratives through memoirs.
- Their personal cultural identity.
Standards:
Writing:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3:
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Speaking and Listening:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy. SL. 9-10.5:
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Language:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy. L. 9-10.5:
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Activities:
Memoirs
Memoirs
- Students will read a memoir website. They will be required to read at least 3 of these memoirs. After reading, they will then have to evaluate these memoirs based on a rubric I will give them.
- They will focus on why they believe each memoir worked or didn't work. They will also have to justify their answers.
- Stories are most often told through verbal means. In this activity, students will find a partner. Each pair will spend 5 minutes telling their story based on a prompt that I will provide. I will provide multiple prompts for this activity. The prompts will begin as random prompts and will eventually work towards discussing stories surrounding culture. (This will be used after listening to a This American Life Podcast).
- Students will peruse the local paper’s classifieds section. Pick one ad and have students write a short character portrait for the person who posted. What does that ad say about the person who posted it?
- Students will then be required to write a short narrative involving this person and the ad that they created. What made them choose to post that particular ad? (Again, this will be used after the This American Life podcast).
Assessments:
Personal Narrative
Personal Narrative
- Students must write a ½ to 1 page narrative describing an events (or events) in their lives that they feel describes their culture.
- Moment with family, friends, etc.
- Will be written and shared via class blog
- Students have option of sharing via the memoir writing site
- Students must create a 5-7 minute presentation with visual (Prezi, PowerPoint, etc.) that showcases what sort of culture they live in. This includes family culture, school culture, social culture, etc. They will bring in pictures and/or artifacts to show what sort of culture they live in.
- Their personal narrative will be tied into this
- This will be modeled by myself the second day of class
- Why is this a culminating text? This is a culminating text because the main goal of this unit is to allow students to explore their own cultural identity. This will be the opportunity for students to not only explore their cultural identity, but to also share it to the class.
- ½ page. What did you learn from this assignment? Did you enjoy this assignment?