Leanne Thomsen

Dr. Mary Warner

ENG 112B

5 December 2007

Unit Plan

Unit Plan:  Nonfiction, Autobiography and Self Help Books:

Fostering a Classroom of Tolerance, Self-Acceptance and Personal Growth

           

            Although the events that took place on September 11, 2001 happened more than half a decade ago, its effects have made an enormous impact on many AmericanÍs viewÍs towards the Middle East.  Growing up in America, it is sometimes hard to see life through the eyes of someone living on the other side of the planet.  The events that occurred as a result of 9-11 have prompted many Americans to make harsh judgments about people living in the Middle East.  As teachers it is impossible to simply ignore the effects 9-11 has had on our students and as English teachers it is our responsibility to address the issues at hand.  I agree with Dr. Mary L. Warner when she says that,

English teachers, teachers who are the primary users of story, are those crucially poised to address these attitudes of bias, fear, and hatred, because we are the teachers most capable of reaching students with the literature that can inextricably link them to other human beings.  (LfTYA 197)

It is simply irresponsible as a teacher to ignore these issues, as they are happening in every school, whether it is a home-school, public school, private school or alternative school.  It is in these schools where teens are learning how to deal with these issues and it is teachers, particularly English teachers, who have the ability to set a good example and give teens the resources and knowledge to conquer these issues. 

In recent years there has been an explosion of nonfiction books that deal with issues in the Middle East, but not many of these relate to young adult readers.  One book that does is My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young WomanÍs Story, by Latifa (a pseudonym).  Latifa shares her story of growing up a fairly normal life, in American standards, in Kabul, Afghanistan when the Taliban enter Kabul and change her life forever.  She goes from being able to wear jeans and t-shirts and tennis shoes and being able to go running outside, have an education, watch TV, and many other luxuries to being secluded to a small apartment and living under strict Taliban religious rule.  This book provides students with an inside prospective on what it is like to be a woman living under the rule of the Taliban.  It not only helps students connect to other cultures, but it provides the perfect opportunity to discuss such issues as racism, sexism, hatred, etc.  By incorporating other nonfiction novels, music, art, and group activities this unit plan should help foster a classroom of tolerance, self-acceptance and personal growth.  This unit plan is appropriate for all grades, but would best be introduced as early as possible.         

 

Launching the Unit

  1.  Making a Pact:

To make the classroom a safer place for students to discuss issues that deal with race, gender, diversity, sexuality, etc., students will gather in a circle and make a pact each morning and say, ñEverything that is said and discussed in this classroom will stay inside this classroom unless it is endangering yourself or another.  No other personÍs personal stories may be shared outside this classroom without their permission.î 

 

2.  Cross the Line:

I suggest an icebreaker called ñcross the lineî to preface the discussion on the book.  For this icebreaker the teacher will place a piece of masking tape that divides the room in two.  Everyone will start out standing on one side.  The teacher will begin by having the students cross the line to surface commonalities like ñCross the line if you like the color blue.î  With each statement the teacher will ask the students who did not cross to look at those who did and just acknowledge that they are there.  The teacher will then ask the students who have crossed the line to look at those next to them and see how many people share their experience.  Then the teacher will have those students look across the line and see all those who didnÍt cross, but support them.  Each time the teacher asks the students to cross the line the statements should go a level deeper.  Toward the end the statement may be something like ñCross the line if you or someone you know has ever been discriminated upon because of their race, culture, sexual preference, etc.î 

 

3.  Read the following poem by Langston Hughes:

ñLet America Be America Again,î by Langston Hughes deals with issues of diversity and was written in a time when many black people were fighting for the civil rights they deserved.  The poem is especially effective if read aloud in a circle with each student reading a different line.  Follow the reading of the poem with a discussion of diversity.  What is diversity?  What is the difference between tolerance and acceptance?   

 

Let America Be America Again

by Langston Hughes

 

Let America be America again.


Let it be the dream it used to be.


Let it be the pioneer on the plain


Seeking a home where he himself is free.







(America never was America to me.)







Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--


Let it be that great strong land of love


Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme


That any man be crushed by one above.







(It never was America to me.)







O, let my land be a land where Liberty


Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,


But opportunity is real, and life is free,


Equality is in the air we breathe.







(There's never been equality for me,


Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")







Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 


And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?







I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,


I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.


I am the red man driven from the land,


I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--


And finding only the same old stupid plan


Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.







I am the young man, full of strength and hope,


Tangled in that ancient endless chain


Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!


Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!


Of work the men! Of take the pay!


Of owning everything for one's own greed!







I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.


I am the worker sold to the machine.


I am the Negro, servant to you all.


I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--


Hungry yet today despite the dream.


Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!


I am the man who never got ahead,


The poorest worker bartered through the years.







Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream


In the Old World while still a serf of kings,


Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,


That even yet its mighty daring sings


In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned


That's made America the land it has become.


O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas


In search of what I meant to be my home--


For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,


And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,


And torn from Black Africa's strand I came


To build a "homeland of the free."







The free?







Who said the free?  Not me?


Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?


The millions shot down when we strike?


The millions who have nothing for our pay?


For all the dreams we've dreamed


And all the songs we've sung


And all the hopes we've held


And all the flags we've hung,


The millions who have nothing for our pay--


Except the dream that's almost dead today.







O, let America be America again--


The land that never has been yet--


And yet must be--the land where every man is free.


The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--


Who made America,


Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,


Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,


Must bring back our mighty dream again.







Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--


The steel of freedom does not stain.


From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,


We must take back our land again,


America!







O, yes,


I say it plain,


America never was America to me,


And yet I swear this oath--


America will be!







Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,


The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,


We, the people, must redeem


The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.


The mountains and the endless plain--


All, all the stretch of these great green states--

 

And make America again!

 

4.  Before you read the book.                                                                                                                       Have the students do a short research project on Afghanistan.  Break the students up into groups and spend a day at the school library where each group will research a different aspect that relates to Afghanistan: culture, religion, foods, climate, etc.  Have them present their findings to the class with their information organized onto poster boards.  Leave the boards up in class while discussing the book.

 

 

5.  Discussing the book My Forbidden Face, by Latifa

            Have a list of discussion questions relating to important aspects of the book.

Examples:

a)     What would you do if you were in LatifaÍs shoes? 

b)    Discuss the role each family member plays in LatifaÍs escape. 

c)     Do you think Latifa and her parents made the right decision in leaving the country?  Why or why not? 

d)    How important is education to Latifa and her family?  Discuss the history of education in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban have entered.

e)     When the Taliban announces its new decrees for the people of Afghanistan almost everyoneÍs lives changed.  What decree to you think would be the hardest to follow and why?

f)     What are some of the main differences between the typical Afghan life vs. the typical American life? 

g)    Have you even been forced to do something you didnÍt want to do?  Did you stand up for your beliefs or did you go along with it?  Why did you chose to do what you did?

h)    Have you ever traveled to another country?  What kinds of different customs did you observe? 

 

 

 

The Text

My Forbidden Face provides a great opportunity to introduce and discuss issues of diversity in the classroom.  It also introduces a way to discuss what has and is happening in other parts of the world.  It challenges studentÍs assumptions about the Middle East and forces them to look beyond their own world.  After the students have read the text they can write autobiographies and present these to the class.  This would be especially useful if there is a diverse group of students from different backgrounds in the classroom.  

 

Extending the Unit

To extend the unit, bring a list of books the students can choose from that deal with different aspects of diversity and have them each choose one to do a short book report on.  Before the students choose a book it would be beneficial to do a Book Pass.  Send the books around the room and give each student a few minutes to look at each book; this way the students ñcan get an initial introduction to each work and then can make a more informed selection of one theyÍd like to read (LfTYA 210).î

            Some books that might be considered are:

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank:  Anne FrankÍs diary is perhaps the most well-known piece of literature stemming from the events of the Holocaust.  Anne is only 13 when she begins writing her diary and it chronicles her life up until the point where she and her family are discovered; they have been hiding in the attic of her fatherÍs workplace.  Although Anne Frank does not escape her horrendous living conditions and eventually dies in a concentration camp of typhus.  Her diaries provide an inside look on what it is like to live in total confinement.  This would also be a good novel to introduce a unit on the Holocaust and Holocaust literature. 

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury:  Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most popular books taught in middle and highs schools today.  Not only is Fahrenheit 451 about the banning of books, but it is about the destruction of intellectual freedom.  This is a great novel for anyone that does not see the value and importance of literacy and reading.    

 

 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:  ñThe world the novel describes is a utopia, albeit an ironic one: humanity is carefree, healthy and technologically advanced. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is permanently happy due to government-provided stimulation. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things that humans consider to be central to their identity — family, culture, art, literature, science, religion, and philosophy (taken from wikipedia, see works cited).î  Much like My Forbidden Face all things that make an individual unique have been taken away; although, in Brave New World things are quite different in other aspects.  Where the TalibanÍs goal is to bring back religious morality, life in Brave New World society is about the extremes of technological advancement and the dangers this can bring if left in the wrong hands. 

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry:  The Giver is a great book about the importance of diversity in every society.  In the book, the life of twelve year old Jonas is followed as he takes on his new position as ñReceiver of Memoriesî for his society.  All the memories of the past are held by him and his society has been subjected to a life of sameness. 

 

Ending the Unit

      Toward the end of the unit the students should have a better idea of the importance of diversity and understand the difference between tolerance and acceptance.  While it is agreeable that not everyone can be accepting of otherÍs differences, it is important that students are at least able to recognize, and at the very least, tolerate otherÍs differences. 

      To end the unit, have the students write an essay on the importance of diversity in our culture.  Have them discuss important elements they have learned from reading both novels, My Forbidden Face and the one of their choosing.  Also, have students write a one page autobiography that highlights who they are.  Have them share this with the class with the help of visual aids, music, art, food, etc. 

      Hopefully, at the end of this unit, students will have a better understanding of who they are and why it is so important to celebrate our culture differences.  All the books mentioned have several key elements that teach about diversity and open studentÍs minds beyond what they already know about themselves and the world around them. 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray.  Fahrenheit 451.  New York:  Random House, 1991. 

ñBrave New World.î  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  1 Dec. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World>

Donelson, Kenneth L., Nilsen, Allen Pace and contributions from Warner, Mary.    Literature for TodayÍs Young Adults.  Massachusetts:  Pearson Custom      Publishing, 2006.

Frank, Anne.  Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.  New York:  Bantam, 1993. 

Hughes, Langston.  ñLet America be America Again.î  The Collected Poems of Langston  Hughes.  1994 Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.  30 Nov. 2007 <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609>

Huxley, Aldous.  Brave New World.  New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.

Latifa.  My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young WomanÍs Story.  New York: Hyperion, 2001. 

Lowry, Lois.  The Giver.  New York:  Bantam, 1993.