They Called Us Enemy - Complete Text Unit, Projects, 5-6 Weeks
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What educators are saying
Description
Overview
A step-by-step process for students to discover a text then create compelling products using what they have learned about language, narrative structure, and/or themes.
Students will
Investigate Independently
Create, prepare and deliver a Presentation
Create digital products, like a Movie Comic and Video Essay
Read closely
Make connections to film and other media
Learn how to use Themes to connect ideas across media, place, and time
Learn Vocabulary
Each class usually requires students to have read for homework, arriving in class with prepared notes, creative products, or annotated sections of their text. Along the way, students will participate in independent textual investigations that produce worthwhile discussions. Class time will be dedicated to either themes, narrative structure, or language learning through the text. Check out my Whippoorwill Humanities homepage for lessons on annotating fictional texts and note-taking strategies.
Interdisciplinary learning is essential for discovering a text, as context from history, religion, culture, and/or philosophy allow students to grasp key developments in plot and character development. Additional reading outside of the text will be provided to secure this context.
Teaching Graphic Novels
Teaching narrative through comics and visual storytelling offers not only a respite from novels but tangible connections to another, more popular, form of storytelling: film. Read these and quote these as you would a novel, cite pages and teach students how to read comics—it is a unique medium that could yield interesting conversations in class about how to visualize stories
Materials Included
Three Reading Tools Sheets (QQSI, QCE, FivePI)
Blank Comic Pages for Movie Comic Activity
Reading Roundtable Activity Sheets (Formative Discussion)
How to Read a Comic Links, Contextual Links
Day-to-Day Lessson Plans (15-20 Classes)
Formative Presentation & Summative Theme Video Essay
Vocabulary Lists (100+ words, 4 lists) with Three Activities
