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Home > INSTRUCTION > State Standards and Frameworks > English Language Arts > Unit_Overview

 Gr. 10 Unit: The Journey for Social Justice


Essential Question:

What is the basis for the belief that justice will ultimately prevail in American society?


Lesson Calendar

DAY 1 - SEED 1

DAY 2–3 - SEED 2

DAY 4–8 - PLAN 1

DAY 9–10 - SEED 3

DAY 11–15 - PLAN 2

DAY 16 - SEED 4

DAY 17–22 - SEED 5

DAY 23–25 - SEED 6

CCSS Standards for this Unit

Monitoring Templates

Download Seeds, Plans, and Resources (zip)

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UNIT OVERVIEW

5 Weeks - "Unit at a Glance" Organizer

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This unit will focus on the concept of justice in American society through an exploration of the essential question: "What is the basis for the belief that justice will ultimately prevail in American society?" This unit promotes thoughtful engagement with seminal U.S. documents and other supporting literary nonfiction texts, including speeches. Through the lens of a predominantly African-American cultural experience, students analyze not only what social justice means to many American writers but how enduring the struggle has been. Through reading, writing, viewing, and speaking and listening, students explore the qualities of a just society and whether we can attain it in America.

The unit targets the in-depth examination of two works by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in addition to several other complex American essays and speeches. While the texts were written at vastly different times throughout history, all of the writers argue for a similarly just American society. Students begin by contemplating the requisites for a just society then they view a short film documentary about a civil rights foot soldier. Students closely read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and analyze the elements of writer's craft, paying particular attention to the use of rhetorical language, that underscore Dr. King's ideas about the injustices in America society. Students work cooperatively to synthesize their ideas and present their findings to the rest of the class. They also read Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech and several other speeches and essays by other American writers and then they analyze the writer's ideas about realizing a just society. In addition, students routinely participate in small group and class discussions.

Throughout this lesson, students write brief and extended explanatory responses to the various texts they read. They work cooperatively to create a written presentation on the elements of Dr. King's letter and they conduct a short research project and write an argument essay to demonstrate understanding of the subject of social justice. As they respond to text-dependent questions throughout this unit, students demonstrate their ability to synthesize, paraphrase, and summarize information from the texts while producing clear, coherent writing that is appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience.


TEXT MODELS FOR LESSONS AND LESSON SEEDS

  1. W.E.B. DuBois' Credo
  2. "The Barber of Birmingham" PBS Documentary Short Film
  3. "No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery" William Lloyd Garrison
  4. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  5. "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  6. "What Does American Democracy Mean to Me?" by Mary McLeod Bethune
  7. "Niagara Movement Speech," by W.E.B. DuBois
  8. President Barack Obama's speech at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

STUDENT OUTCOMES

Students will

  1. read closely to analyze the word choice, tone, and author's purpose in a literary nonfiction text
  2. analyze how the central idea of an informational text is shaped and supported by specific details
  3. investigate the cumulative impact of figurative language and specific word choices on both meaning and tone
  4. demonstrate understanding of an author's use of rhetorical devices to advance his or her purpose
  5. participate in small and large group discussions
  6. work collaboratively in small groups to analyze texts and present their findings on how a writer crafts language and reveals his or her purpose throughout a text
  7. analyze how related themes and concepts are viewed and addressed by different writers
  8. demonstrate their ability to objectively summarize a text
  9. delineate and evaluate the specific claims in an argument
  10. write an argument to analyze and support a claim about the existence of social justice in America

UNIT RESOURCES

  1. "Civil Rights Address" by John F. Kennedy
  2. "We Shall Overcome" by Lyndon B. Johnson
  3. "A Eulogy to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," by Robert F. Kennedy
  4. "Abundant Hope" poem by Maya Angelou
  5. President Barack Obama's Speech on Race
  6. Alice Walker's Essay: "Choice: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
  7. Winton Marsalis' multi-media presentation: "On Martin Luther King's Legacy

Interdisciplinary Connections

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  Last Updated 3/17/2020 11:56 AM