My Boldly Braiding Individual Unit Plan!

Kate Daly

SCG 439
Professor Lavie Raven

12 October 2012

“Homeward Bound”

Brainstorm:

1)    Cause- Abused and neglected animals

2)    Tool-Ceramic bowls

3)    Art Form- Photography

Objective/Purpose:

For this unit, my objective is to create awareness of the problems domestic animals face when they are neglected and what students can do to raise money and awareness for these animals. The students will also learn how to research charities and how said charities actually distribute their finances.

Project Title:

“Homeward Bound”

Background/Justification:

Despite the often-public outcry that animals be treated with respect and care, tens of thousands of cats, dogs, and other domestic animals are found dead or on the brink of death from abuse and neglect. In recent years, television shows and news stations have brought abuse to our attention, such as through programming about dog fighting rings, animal “cops” and caseworkers, and the Michael Vick case. Although many people want to help these animals, many charitable organizations divvy up their finances to only donate a small portion of their profits to the actual cause. Students need to look at these charities with a critical eye, identifying what red flags are present and how to avoid them.

Skills:

    Students will read Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? by Gary L. Francione.

    Students will learn how to identify bias and presentation in advertising and organizational groups.

    CC. K-12.W.R.2 Text Types and Purposes: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content (From Common Core.)

    CC. K-12.W.R.7 Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation (From Common Core.)

    CC. K-12.R.R.8 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence (From Common Core.)

    Students will be given ceramic pet bowls to paint to donate to an animal shelter. They will likely donate the bowls to P.A.W.S. Chicago as we will be taking a field trip to this shelter in the last week of the unit.

    Students will create a project based on photographs they take themselves that reflect what they’ve learned throughout the unit.

Content:

This unit is designed mostly for an English/Language Arts classroom, as we will be doing quite a bit of reading, critical analyses of texts, and writing proposals and response papers based on research they gather. However, this unit could work for a number of other content areas as well.

            Social Science/History:

            -History of animal rights. When did animals start becoming domesticated?

            -Evolution of advertising, which could coincide with the evolution of

              media (TV, radio, Internet, etc.)

           

            Mathematics:

            -Percentages and amounts that charities receive and how they spend it.

            -The value of your money: how much do you need to donate to make a

              difference?

            World Language/ESL:

            -How do animal laws compare in America to other countries? How can

              you write a proposal in that language to help homeless pets?

Community Building Assets:

Students will learn how to create awareness for a cause in their community by presenting factual information as well as creating an impact through emotion and personal story.  Students will also learn what other plights are affecting their community through research of charities and learn how they can help these groups through volunteering (meaning, money is not the only way one can help a charity.)

Other Expertise:

A speaker who works for P.A.W.S. Chicago will give a talk on how students can help animals in the city and what are the biggest issues a charitable organization face. If possible, we will also take a field trip to the P.A.W.S. shelter (1997 North Clybourn Avenue, Chicago IL 60614) to see the inner workings of a shelter and how those who volunteer or work there go about their days.

Materials:

    Drawing/Poster board

    Disposable cameras

    Markers

    Colored pencils, pens

    Glue sticks

    Ceramic pet bowls (one for each student)

    Ceramic paint (for the outside of the bowl)

    Paintbrushes

    Journals (for written reflection)

    Computers with Internet access

Student Activities:

At the beginning of each class, students will take five minutes to write in their journals about the readings, projects, or whatever we are currently working on. This is an informal reflection that will be their bell ringer for the day.

Week One

    Background for the students: A brief history of animal rights in America in the 20^th and 21^st century. How have these rights shaped the laws? What do these laws mean for domestic animals?

    Activity: Students will get into groups to discuss ethical dilemmas involving animal rights. For example, students will be given scenarios such as, “You’re walking home from school and you see a dog being dragged along by a leash and choke collar. The dog seems to be in pain but the owner is on their phone and isn’t paying attention. What would you do and why?” Students will present their answers to the class and we will discuss the impact of these issues in our everyday lives.

    We will begin reading excerpts from Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? and online supplemental materials to offer different views. Students will begin to learn about the importance of bias and presentation in books and online resources.

    Students will find one website that is presented “improperly” and one website that is presented “properly” and explain the differences between each one.

Week Two

    Students will continue to research bias in websites and books and will begin to learn about charities.

    Activity: Students will be assigned a recognizable/famous charity and will have to fill out a worksheet with such questions as “What percentage of collected money goes towards the cause?” This will help them start to identify how charities can advertise or present themselves as being more charitable than they really are.

    We will continue to read some excerpts from our book and begin to tie this into the idea of which charities we should look into.

    Hopefully we will have a guest speaker come in from P.A.W.S. Chicago to discuss the importance of animal shelters and what they do for our community.

    Activity: Students will make ceramic pet bowls to donate to P.A.W.S. and write a short letter to the shelter to express what they’ve learned about homeless pets and how they feel these bowls will help the organization.

Week Three

    We will take a field trip to P.A.W.S. Chicago to see the conditions of the shelter and learn some more facts about what it’s like for a homeless pet in a good shelter. We will also learn what it’s like for a homeless pet in a less desirable shelter.

    Activity: Students will get to create poster boards with disposable cameras and art supplies. Each student will pick an animal charity in Chicago to research and create an “advertisement” for this shelter/charity. If possible, students will notify these charities of their work and send them a copy of the poster!

    Wrap Up: Students will reflect on their ideas of animal rights and the state of animal shelters and organizations in Chicago. We will discuss as a group how this unit made them feel. What did they learn that surprised them? How can they continue to help their community through these organizations or through other causes?

Resources:

    http://www.pawschicago.org/

    http://www.charitynavigator.org/ (A website that critically and objectively analyzes various charities and their effectiveness.)

Evaluation/Assessment:

Students will be graded based on their reflections/journal entries, class participation, group and individual activities, their poster board advertisements, and various questions based on their readings.

Reflection:
N/A

Reading Response: Sundem, Chapters 3 and 4

Sundem, Chapter 3: Kids Helping Others


           Chapter 3 of Sundem's book focuses on students tackling real life situations and issues in order to help others. These issues ranged from a student predicting a tsunami because of her previous knowledge about tsunamis from school, to a student raising awareness in Taiwan for the safety of workers. Each story was inspirational in its own way, but they all had one thing in common: the students took the initiative to make a difference. None of the students had to do what they did, it was all voluntary and their decision. What struck me was the inspiration these students gave to other members of their school, community, and even the country. Each one of them gained attention from news publications and organizations, prompting others to take notice and often pitch in with said cause. These stories are all relatively recent as well, meaning that the work these students did is still making an impact and inspiring others (such as ourselves, as we are reading this book!)

          Something that stood out to me was the story of Ryan Hreljac. To refresh, Ryan wanted to raise money to help Africa dig wells to get clean water to its people. Ryan raised $75 through chores and work his parents gave him so he could build a well for a town. When Ryan learned this wasn't nearly enough money, he didn't give up. "His parents were sad that Ryan would have to learn a difficult lesson-that sometimes even though you try your hardest, some things are still impossible." This is how many people would have viewed this situation, and I'm sure how many of us in this class have looked at something before. Perhaps it was because of his adolescence that he was able to look at this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. His persistence paid off and he was able to raise thousands of dollars to help the cause, and he was able to do so through the help of countless people who also donated and spread awareness.

         Reading this chapter, I kept thinking one thing: How can I integrate stories like this into my classroom to spark motivation and inspiration? What can I do to make this a reality? I think that as educators, it's crucial to integrate social justice and change into our curriculum. This can be through any content area. If you're a math teacher, invite students to create proposals to save homeless pets in your area through the use of percentages, graphs, and financial goals. If you're a music teacher, organize a concert for the community to help raise money for schools with a lack of funding and musical instruments. I think that the possibilities are endless for teachers and students, and to me, one of the most important things is to be active yourself, as their teacher. Help them, get involved, and don't leave everything to them. It shouldn't feel like a chore or a boring assignment, it should be a great way to demonstrate real-world skill for the sake of bettering the community.

Critical Thinking Questions: (feel free to answer one or more)

1. How can you motivate students who would otherwise pass on an opportunity to get involved with their community? What can you do to get "lackluster" students excited about such a task?

2. What skills can charity and donation give to students? How do you make a project based on social justice while still reaching the common core standards?

3. How could you relate personally to this type of unit? What could you do to show your students that you too care about the cause and aren't just acting as a teacher?


Sundem, Chapter 4: Kids Overcoming Challenges


       Similarly to the third chapter, Chapter 4 discusses children tackling real-life issues, but this time due to personal tragedies or shortcomings. Each story began with a child having to overcome adversity, and none of these adversities were easy to overcome. One of the children even lost her life to the cancer she'd been battling since birth. But again, none of these children had to fight against their condition, they could have simply given in to the negative outcomes. Yet it was impossible for them to do so. Why? Maybe it was because they were simply unwilling to accept a less than amazing life. Maybe it was because each of them had a good support system throughout their lives, whether it was parents, school, or doctors. Whatever the reason, these children were unwilling to let anything get them down, and it inspired millions.

        The students in Chapter 4 are the type of children that inspired the stories in Chapter 3 to do something to help their community. They took matters into their own hands and were unable to accept "no" as an answer. To me, the story of the two children in America with physical disabilities served as motivation for a unit. If students in my classroom had to try to go through their day without an arm or leg, how would they do it? I could have students while in class hold their arm to their side or keep their leg behind them to see what they took for granted only moments before. Then, after this first class, I could introduce the idea of overcoming adversity in a number of different ways, such as teaching them about suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, and same-sex marriage today. I feel as if these ideas would easily translate into most content areas as well. For example, if you were discussing workers' rights, you could compare the amount of money workers throughout different countries make per hour, then discuss what would be a fair amount for each country and how each country could reach this amount reasonably. This would require students to really think outside the box and research these issues thoroughly.

        Critical Thinking Questions: (again, feel free to answer one or more)

1. How could you push the envelope with "kids overcoming challenges"? In other words, what topics could you address that would make your students really think about the issue, not just brush it aside?

2. Think of an issue that you've personally struggled with, whether it's been something you suffered from or something that affected a loved one. How could you turn this into a unit in your content area?

Recommended tools!

Three texts/tools/films I would like to recommend:

#1 American Teacher (2011 film)

       This movie is a little hokey and a little sappy (you might be able to tell that just from the photo), but it's an amazing depiction of real-life teachers in our country. With the CPS teachers strike and uncertainty ahead, it's crucial that we as future educators know the politics and bureaucracy of the educational system. As a potential middle school educator, I want to know that my position as a teacher is not only valued and respected by my community, but also by my country. It's great to see change within our city's school system, and this is a timely film for that reason.

#2 John Dewey's texts

       As I mentioned in my introduction, I believe that Dewey's philosophies and writings about experience and education are essential to me as an educator. His ideas are useful in and out of the classroom, especially with middle schoolers. Because of where middle schoolers are, developmentally, his ideas on educational reform and practice are essential to study if one is to teach middle school. I truly appreciate his writing and want to read more as I continue through graduate school.

#3 Dead Poets Society (1989 film)

This might also seem hokey, but this film is a perfect example of how teachers should interact with their students. I think that Robin Williams' portrayal of a hands-on, exciting, "teaching outside the classroom" teacher has changed how many teachers interact with their students today. I think every adult has had that one teacher that's changed their lives, and it's usually because the teacher pushed them to be better people while treating them like equals. I don't think this is necessarily how one should always teach, but it's a great attitude to have overall.

My learning foundation

Here, I will discuss three scholars that have influenced me to be a teacher!

Scholar #1: Toni Morrison

         I have been a fan of Toni Morrison for years, starting when I was a freshman in high school. I loved the way she weaves fantasy and otherworldly experiences with reality. As a reader, I'm never quite sure what is real and what is a dream/fantasy/etc. I have always been a fan of her writing style and have tried to emulate her brazenness and strong femininity in my own writing. She's a great role model for young women, as her female characters may battle with "out of this world" dilemmas, but they are all rooted in realistic struggles women face.

         I want to teach Toni Morrison in my classroom because I think she's a very mature writer with adult themes that could be taught in a high school classroom. Themes of sexuality, violence, women's struggles, and death seem like difficult things to bring up in front of high schoolers. However, with an author like Toni Morrison, I feel like this would be much easier to teach. I saw Morrison speak not too long ago at a One Book, One Chicago event, and I was in tears. When she gave a voice to her characters, I felt even more compelled to bring her literature to the classroom.

   


Scholar #2: Ms. Cassel

         When I was in high school, my junior American Studies teacher, Ms. Cassel gave me such an

incredible experience. I had just moved to the area and didn’t have many friends, but I knew my passion was in Writing and Literature. I was 17 and was going through a very difficult time in my life. I was in therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and was in a special program at my school to keep the minimum required number of hours to legally be in school. I would come to school at around 11AM, be in a study session with a private tutor, and then go to an English class and a history class. I wasn’t involved in any after school programs, nor was I fully adapted to my new school. I had transferred from a private school of 24 kids/grade, to a public high school with a graduating class of 927.

            Ms. Cassel worked one-on-one with me to keep my grades high and help me feel more comfortable in her school. She was strict, but always fair. She wanted every student to work as hard as they possibly could, even if their final product wasn’t perfect. She expected the best from everyone, which wasn’t the same as “the highest grade”-she never condemned us for doing poorly on a test, she would work with each of us to figure out what we didn’t understand and help us to learn the material better.

            What really made Ms. Cassel stand out was her ability to make me feel like an adult. I didn’t feel like a “special” student with odd circumstances. I felt like I was working harder than anyone and I was ready for whatever she gave me. On one of my assignments, I received a fairly high grade, but she wrote “SEE ME” on the paper in red ink. I was terrified I had done something wrong. Instead, she told me how impressed she was with my writing and that I should try out for Steppenwolf Theatre’s playwrighting program. I was floored but I auditioned and was one of 7 children (out of a pool of about 100) to be accepted.

            When I reflect on Ms. Cassel’s teaching methods and her ability to work with us as adults, I’m reminded of theorist Erik Erikson’s stages of development. His adolescent stage “Identity versus Role Crisis” explains how children at this age develop “fidelity”, a strong sense of self-awareness and self-confidence that will boost their development as they go. Ms. Cassel was forcing us as teenagers to look at the world as adults, in order to develop a stronger sense of who we were. This was a risk, as many students may not have responded to it well and reverted to “Role Crisis”, having a harder time planting their feet in the world. However, her one-on-one tutoring and praise helped us to become stronger students and people.

Scholar #3: Mr. King

In high school, I was going through severe emotional trauma and was in therapy several times a week for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Without going into too much detail, my trauma stemmed from abuse in my past that I hadn’t fully come to terms with. I was physically and emotionally unable to go to school for eight hours a day. I would begin to hyperventilate, retch, and cry hysterically. Needless to say, I was not able to focus on my studies.

My mom was insanely concerned for me, to say the least. She spoke with the dean of my new school and I was allowed to carry my cell phone on me at all times in case I needed to call my mom or therapist. I was still failing all my classes, though, and I wasn’t a fully-functioning student. My teacher, Ms. Cassel, suggested I meet with the school counselor for further guidance and advice. Because our school was so big, we were assigned a counselor based on the first letter of our last name. For me, this was Mr. King. He was a younger counselor, with a great smile, who took a special interest in me. We developed a program that would allow me to attend school the minimum hours required by the state, yet still feel comfortable enough to stay in school for several hours a day.

Mr. King’s office was my safe haven. If I was ever feeling uncomfortable or anxious during class, I was able to excuse myself and go speak with him. He had an open door policy and would speak to me about anything, from school to home life. My mom often called him to check in on me, and he was always accommodating and friendly with her. He and I had such a strong relationship, one that was based on trust and care. He pushed me when necessary, saying things like “If you feel ready, you are ready. Don’t second guess your progress.” When I returned to school full time and made the honor roll, I let him know immediately. He never made me feel like one of the hundred plus students he had to see. Rather, I felt like he was my personal counselor.

“According to Baltes, Reese, and Nesselroad…life span perspectives represent an approach to the study of human development…” (Bergen, p.78.) These theorists explained that there are basic assumptions that are understood as “normative” or expected. When a person does not meet these normative perspectives, things can shift for them, developmentally or emotionally. These “events” make up one’s “life course” and are essential in shaping an individual. Because I experienced such an abrupt and traumatic change, I was experiencing a “nonnormative” event and was forced to change my perspective on things. I was struggling to function and adjust to my environment (which also ties in with Piaget’s accommodation theory), but with the help of positive human interaction, I was able to succeed in regaining a fluid life course.

Bandura believed that “certain competencies are required” in order to become a successful and strong individual, meaning, they must understand and develop their “self-efficacy” (Bergen, p.68.) Broadening and Self-Efficacy explains that children are highly influenced by their peers, citing one’s school/formal academic environment as a pusher for these interactions. When a child is reaching for broader social circles, there can be a difficult transitional period. He also discussed that if a child’s self-efficacy is low, that child may feel socially incompetent and become withdrawn and isolated. This was my situation. I was unprepared to interact with anyone, let alone my peers, who would have judged me and ridiculed me (as was my belief at the time.) Mr. King was my social interaction, which both covered my academic influence and, in a way, my peer development. He showed me that I could grow and become accepted by my peers, and that I never had to change who I was to do so. Because I was lucky enough to have this type of guidance, I made it through this extremely difficult time and developed a strong sense of self-efficacy.

 If it hadn’t been for Mr. King, I don’t think I would have made it through high school. He was able to keep me in school (which was something I always wanted), and he never made me feel like I was a “special circumstance.” I was able to make it through high school with flying colors, and it also helped me understand how students with low self-efficacy should be treated: like normal. No one should be constantly reminded of their shortcomings, but should be encouraged instead to focus on their strengths. It’s this type of counseling that Mr. King used to make me an amazing student and person.

All About Me!

           Hi, my name is Kate Daly. I am a graduate student at DePaul University, specializing in secondary education in English. I hope to be a high school English and Theatre teacher someday, but I am also very interested in being a middle school teacher. I think that middle school students are at a wonderful age, in terms of cognitive and behavioral reception. Middle school students are at that awkward age where they want direction but also crave independence. I think that because of this, I strongly identify with this age group.
            In terms of pedagogy, I think that John Dewey's approach in Experience and Education is something I agree with. The idea that students are highly molded by their experiences in and outside the classroom is important to note, as these experiences will change their behaviors and approach to knowledge when I'm teaching them. It's important to note that everyone in life has good and bad experiences in life, and these can positively or negatively impact us when we sit down to learn. Because of this, I need to be aware of the hazards that can come with teaching to a classroom of students, each with their own individual experiences. I want to ensure that my students are able to learn in a group but are also able to create their own unique classroom experience.