In our lives, we are constantly telling stories to ourselves and to others in an attempt to both understand our experiences and present our best selves to others.  But how do we tell a story about ourselves that is both true and positive? How do we hold ourselves up in the best possible light, while still being honest about our struggles and our flaws? Students will explore ways of interpreting and portraying personal experiences.  They'll read Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart , analyzing the text through the eyes of one character. They'll get to know that character's flaws and strengths, and they'll tell part of the story from that character's perspective, doing their best to tell an honest tale that presents their character's best side. Then they'll explore their own stories, crafting a personal narrative about an important moment of learning in his or her life.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , viewing the events and conflicts of the novel through the eyes of one of the central characters.
Students write a two-part narrative project: one narrative told through their character’s perspective and one personal narrative about an incident in their own life.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

How do our conflicts shape and show our character?
How can we tell a story about ourselves that’s both honest and positive?
How do definitions of justice change depending on the culture you live in?
What are ways individuals can react to a changing world? To a community that doesn’t accept us?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

Why do we tell painful stories? In this lesson, students read an article about Chinua Achebe, the writer of Things Fall Apart, in order to figure out his motivation for writing this novel and to learn about the issues facing Nigeria in the late 1800s.

Nonfiction may be dull for some students, but this lesson helps them focus on the main ideas. Through awareness of section headings, students learn to sort and categorize main concepts.

The amount of information being consumed on a daily basis is staggering and often leads to "information overload." As literacy has shifted to a digital landscape, it is even more imperative for consumers, especially students, to learn how to navigate this environment. This multi-day lesson helps students 1) examine terms associated with "fake news" and how to evaluate them for reliability and authenticity, and then 2) develp a set of skills to help them continue to evaluate sources for both academic and personal needs."Fake News Image" by Pxfuel logo is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

This lesson may be used for language arts and writing. The students will listen to a variety of tall tale stories, learn the characteristics that make up a tall tale, and identify hyperboles in the stories. The teacher will check for understanding by having the students list the hyperboles found.

Overview:Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to introduce the use of personification in your classroom? This resource created by Jennifer Bauer can be used as an introduction to the use of personification in reading and writing. The students will identify and analyze the use of personification in example sentences within a PowerPoint. The teacher can also check for students' knowledge of identifying and analyzing personification by having students play a Quizizz game on their devices. Nebraska State Standards Addressed:LA 3.1.6.c Identify and explain why authors use literary devices. LA 4.1.6.c Identify and explain why authors use literary devices (e.g., simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, imagery, rhythm, personification, hyperbole, idioms).

This Lesson Plan was created by Joanna Pruitt as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. This original lesson is for classroom use; however, there is a virtual option as well. Educators worked with coaches to create Remote Learning Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The attached Lesson Plan is designed for Grades 9-12 English Language Arts students; however, this could also be used as a Social Studies project as well. Students will evaluate credible sources through research on genocides post World War II after completing a novel unit covering the Holocaust. Students will also create scrapbooks using summarizing, citation, informative writing, textual evidence, caption writing, and persuasive writing. Students will also be expected to demonstrate oral communication skills as they have to present their projects to the class. Students will use background knowledge to clarify text and also gain a deeper understanding by using relevant evidence from a variety of sources to assist in analysis and reflection of informative text. 

The attached Lesson Plan is designed for Third Grade English Language Arts students. Students will determine if a text is literary or informational text and use that knowledge to determine author's purpose and provide evidence. This Lesson Plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA 3.1.6.g and NE LA 3.1.6.a.It is expected that this Lesson Plan will take students 3- 30-40 minute sessions to complete.

Explicit goal-setting is linked with confidence, motivation, autonomy, and goal completion (PsychologyToday.com). As such, the explicit teaching of goal-setting can be a crucial classroom practice. This lesson consists of a HyperDoc which uses text (article) and video lecture (TEDTalk) to communicate the importance and process of setting goals. This lesson seeks to expose students to a variety of information on the importance and process of setting goals. Students read a short article entitled, "5 Reasons Why Goal Setting Will Improve Your Focus" and view a TEDTalk entitled, "Why the Secret to Success is Setting the Right Goals". Students will respond to each text by clarifying their understanding and reflecting on the content. Students then set their own personal and educational goals. This lesson can be used at any time to enhance student motivation or focus that would benefit from having concrete goals. This lesson was curated by Tyler Barna for the 2020 NDE OER Workshop and is designed for a middle-level English Language Arts classroom. It is expected that this lesson will take students 45 minutes to complete. All materials are linked digitally within the lesson.  

This lesson plan was created by Dawn Spurck as part of the 2020 NDE OER Project. The attached lesson plan is designed for Grade K English Language Arts students. Students will demonstrate their understanding that exclamation marks show something very exciting or make a strong statement.  Students will also give oral feedback on written sentences.  Students will proofread and make edits to sentences they write. This lesson plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA O1.1.b, NE LA 0.1.1.e, NE LA 0.1.1.f, NE LA 0.2.1 f, and NE LA 0.2.1.h.It is expected that this lesson will take students 15-20 minutes to complete. 

This lesson is strictly to have students find a love for reading. Many times we just give them books and make them read them, but if we can incooperate a series that is popular and urge them to go to the library,  they might catch on that there are millions of books and they will like some of them. This would work for 5-6 grade students and is based on "The Bad Guys" series. 

This Lesson Plan was created by Joanna Pruitt as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Lesson Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The attached Lesson Plan is designed for 7th or 8th grade English Language Arts students. Students will learn not only about how to write friendly letters, but they will also learn about our country in a fun and engaging way. This is a letter-writing challenge that connects students from all around the United States. Students are assigned a state and they must select three schools within that state to write a letter challenge to. The goal is to see who receives the most letters back by the end of the school year and to learn about the state that they sent letters to. 

This resource was created by Sandy Schneider, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

 This Remote Learning Plan was created by Tami Hughson in collaboration with Dorann Avey as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Remote Learning Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The attached Remote Learning Plan is designed for Grade 7 English Language Arts students. Students will analyze and evaluate the elements of literary text, build background knowledge to clarify text and deepen understanding, and use relevant evidence from a variety of sources to assist in analysis and reflection of complex text. This Remote Learning Plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA 7.1.6B, NE LA 7.4.1A, NE LA 7.2.1B, NE LA 7.3.2CIt is expected that this Remote Learning Plan will take students 90 minutes to complete.

 This Remote Learning Plan was created by Tami Hughson in collaboration with Dorann Avey as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Remote Learning Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The attached Remote Learning Plan is designed for Grade 7 English Language Arts students. Students will learn to analyze vocabulary using latin and greek roots and affixes. They will then apply learning to authentic text to comprehend grade level reading texts.  This Remote Learning Plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA 7.1.5AIt is expected that this Remote Learning Plan will take students 90 minutes to complete.

 This Remote Learning Plan was created by Tami Hughson in collaboration with Dorann Avey as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Remote Learning Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The attached Remote Learning Plan is designed for Grade 7 English Language Arts students. Students will explore and identify rules for correct punctuation of dialogue. They will write a short dialogue and apply the rules for correct formatting.This Remote Learning Plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA 7.2.1 HIt is expected that this Remote Learning Plan will take students 60-90 minutes to complete.

This resource was created by Katie Mace, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

 "Homeless," by Anna Quindlen, allows the student to understand homelessness as it affects many people on a broader scale. She emphasizes the individuality of homelessness, the fact that they not only lack possessions but have no place to keep them."The First" (also titled "Eviction") is a short poem by Lucille Clifton that provides the opportunity to compare and contrast the approach to the same issue through another genre.In "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls the parents choose to live as homeless students.  Students will compare and contrast the Walls' view of homelessness with Quindlen's and Clifton's.Final Assessment: How do Anna Quindlen and Lucille Clifton use language to convince the reader that their arguments have value? (focus on use of specific language, word choice, mood, tone, etc.)  Would Walls agree?

This resource was created by Jenna McAfee, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

A Project Based Learning Outline for Citizenship and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. To be used with 1st or 2nd Grade, as fitted with standards.