This unit prompts students in a twelfth-grade English class to question and challenge the roles and expectations that are placed upon them by society based on gender identity. By exposing the inconsistencies and contradictions inherent in a binary division of genders, our studies and discussions during this unit will push students to consider that gender identity and labeling need not determine an individual’s behavior, educational pursuits, or career path. Students will use a combination of contemporary and canon literature to reinforce the concepts that we will investigate. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun will serve as anchor texts for students.

I teach at a dual language school in New Haven formerly known as Christopher Columbus Family Academy. It is a school composed of almost all Hispanic students and designed on the exterior to resemble a ship. There is a large bust in front of the building of a navigator sighting land, an event commemorated on a nearby plaque celebrating the bravery and exploration of Columbus and his crew. The intended metaphor seems clear enough; the young students within the hull of this ship are also explorers of sorts. The school has since changed its controversial name, but the irony of the metaphor remains; students trapped within the hull of a vessel steered by imperialist authorities.

This unit would have the students up in the masts instead; to have them explore the world and map their journey through it, to make them navigators of their own identities and values. This unit introduces the concept of a cartography of the self. That is, by using the techniques and tools of mapmaking applied to our personal lives and literary stories, we can develop a much more clear and relevant sense of our own history, experiences, values, relationships, hopes, and fears. The aim of this practice is to give teachers and students, through the creation of a series of Life-Maps, a deeper understanding of who they are, what they value, where they wish to go, and who they wish to become. Map making of this kind is fundamentally empowering, as it necessitates the act of naming and ordering the world.

Through this unit, students will learn a broad narrative of the women's rights movement in the United States and elsewhere. We will begin with the present as to why there are still issues with equality among men and women, and search back through history for its causes. My objective will be to correct students’ misinformation and to encourage them to understand why gender inequality in its various forms--political, economic, and social--persists to the present day.

The inspirational examples of influential women will teach students the behaviors needed to succeed in the world. Case studies, informed by the CRAIGs structure, will be our starting point.

The unit will teach elements of civics and democracy through the lens of the Presidential election. Students will be asked to research, read, and write about various aspects of civics and democracy, using a wide array of multimedia resources that will include (but not be limited to) literature, music, visual arts, and technology. The goal of the unit is to help students understand the importance of voting and participation while building their knowledge of the election system. The unit will encourage your students to think about government in a new way and connect this remarkable election to their day to day lives. While this unit will be taught during the first marking period, the unit will work at any point throughout the next few years. It is a Social Studies based unit designed for middle school students, primarily in the sixth grade, but can be modified and adapted to fit high school curriculum, grades nine through twelve.

This curriculum unit focuses on children as citizens, and how they can claim ownership of their citizenship. Overall the unit works its way through the rights that children have as citizens and how they can use them to their advantage. It starts with what it means to them to be citizens, two specific rights that they have, and finally how they will use those rights to better their lives. The two rights that we discuss in this unit are education and voting. Those rights are the focus of this unit because I believe that they are the most important to young children and that they will benefit them the most in the long term. Education will provide the foundation for all of their learning throughout their lives, and voting is something that education prepares them for and will later in life affect their community and potentially the nation. I also believe that having an understanding of how voting actually impacts this country could potentially interest them in being active politically in the future.

This 6th Grade literacy unit focuses on the Required Core Novel The Skin I’m In , by Sharon G. Flake. This unit explores the confusing journey to finding identity as a middle school aged student. The complex identities of five characters from the novel, Maleeka, Char, Mrs. Saunders, Caleb and John-John, are analyzed with multiple supplemental texts. The project for the students includes a daily “Identity Journal,” in which they analyze the characters using text evidence from both the novel and supplemental texts, and then compare these with what they are feeling or seeing within themselves. The unit culminates with a drawing of the student alongside the character the most identify with. Students present their journals with the drawings.

Through what lens do we identify a nation, its leaders, and its people? Can those of us outside of a select culture impartially examine and embrace a nation and its constituents through multiple lenses such that we objectively identify a country and its people—many of whose descendants live within American shores? How do we enlighten future generations to become thinkers who empathize, communicate, and interact with diverse cultures, ultimately helping them develop working relationships with diverse people within our country and ever-expanding global community? How can understanding identity and collective consciousness serve as a unifying force for a community, a nation, and the world? By immersing students in hands-on research activities, engaging discourse with entrepreneurs and individuals from diverse cultures, and more, we can perhaps evoke positive change in this regards. “Cuba! Identity Revealed” serves as a proposed “discovery prototype” to achieve this end. Using the country of Cuba as a springboard, young learners will go beyond textbook knowledge, media images, and sweeping generalizations to better understand and constructively embrace diverse cultures that exist both within and beyond America’s shores.

There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? This course will examine a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. The possibility that death may not actually be the end is considered. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? Also a clearer notion of what it is to die is examined. What does it mean to say that a person has died? What kind of fact is that? And, finally, different attitudes to death are evaluated. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? How should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life?

The unit focuses on the struggles for self-identity and self-determination that continue to be problematic even a century after Puerto Rico’s inclusion in the United States’ territory. As a teacher of Spanish and Latin American culture, I find it very appealing that my Puerto Rican heritage students are aware of their roots and I have tried to bring that perception into the unit using a variety of lesson plans to help students understand the political status of Puerto Rico and their rights as citizens of the U.S. In this unit students will be exposed to various topics in the history of the Caribbean islands but with a focus on Puerto Rico. Students will be able to contrast the different historical epochs and their political implications. Finally, using the research as a guide, students will able to evaluate how the outcome of the Spanish-American War changed Puerto Rico’s political status from Spain’s colony to a U.S. territory. After exploring what being a Commonwealth meant for the people of Puerto Rico, they will be able to explain Puerto Rico’s “dual” citizenship and how it affects the Island’s national identity and culture.

In the context of an 11th-grade English classroom, this unit will focus explicitly on the complications of “literature” and “identity.” It explores the tensions that exist in these words themselves: the distinct and intensely personal lived experience of literature that at the same time touches on the universal elements of humanity; the idea that identity is a signification of the self, yet at the same time the signification conditions the identity it signifies. This unit hopes to challenge students with questions that they may not have answers to as they study a series of short stories with a focus on voice: where literature and identity converge. Ideally students complete this unit with a sensitivity to these tensions and the confidence to engage with them with whatever text they encounter or create.

This unit was developed for middle school students but may be adapted for elementary or high school students. The unit is focused on language arts, social emotional and behavioral standards. The activities and lessons included in this unit explore themes of identity. Using multicultural children’s literature, this unit will encourage participants to have honest and courageous conversations regarding race, culture, and socio economic identity. The activities in this unit have been created to boost a sense of belonging and acceptance by breaking down stereotypes in order to build a positive school community. The unit includes hands on activities and celebrates individual as well as group identities.

The time frame for this unit is nine weeks. Included in this unit are lesson plans and reading lists for teachers and students. Different hands-on activities are also recommended.

Know thyself. These two, small words hold tremendous power. The path to understanding who we are and how we relate to others is long and ever changing. This unit has been designed for high school special education students enrolled in English I. The novel Flight by Sherman Alexie and other supplemental readings will be used to explore the development of self-identity and the importance of empathy. Through classroom support in the general education classroom and specialized instruction in the resource room, students will engage in learning experiences that explore how we as individuals define ourselves and relate to others who come from different backgrounds; it is through our differences that we can find common connections.

Teenagers often feel the need to hide their true identity deep inside, but the mask that gains them acceptance can also crush their spirit. This unit examines façade, personal repression, and societal oppression via the aptly titled book, Bottled Up by Jaye Murray. Bottled U p is the story of Pip, a teenage screw up, who represses everything he feels until a book assigned in English class tears away his mask. Reading Stevenson’s novel, Pip realizes he’s living out his own Jekyll and Hyde story. Eventually, he manages to shirk society’s restrictions, balance his impulses, and release the truth of his soul. Murray’s book provides an opportunity to delve into some of the many powerful adaptations of a classic story, while also serving as the foundation for a socially progressive unit. During this unit students will track the consequences of repression in various Jekyll and Hyde adaptations. They will explore socio-cultural influences on each version while building analytical skills to deal with written and filmed texts. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, students will question the repressions our current society demands, evaluate the consequences, and ask themselves what they can do as citizens to right some of the world’s injustices.

This unit focuses on the surveillance culture and lost liberties in post 9/11 America and in the wake of hurricane Katrina. An increasing number of my students display interests in social justice and activism, two areas that should be at the heart of “Citizenship, Identity, and Democracy.” Initial research questions revolve around surveillance culture (SC): is today’s SC a byproduct of the post-9/11 era or a carryover from the Cold War? How much further back in time do its roots go?

What rights and privileges are guaranteed to citizens under the constitution? If times of ‘emergency’ require a suspension, a limitation, or alteration of these rights and privileges, how do we know what an “emergency” is during a period in which we wage wars on drugs as well as terror, and in which the “War on Terror” has lasted for more than a decade? Does the requirement need amending in times of seemingly endless conflict/war, or is a state of emergency temporary by definition?

This unit is developed for an 8th grade English class using Monster by Walter Mosley as the core text. The overarching inspiration can be used for all grade levels along with the knowledge of ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores, and recent studies related to trauma informed care in education. The unit meets national Common Core language arts standards along with New Haven social emotional standards. Through the study of poetry, scenes and literature, students will be doing self reflective analysis of themselves and literary texts with the hope that a message of resilience can be developed. Writing will be a tool for academic and social/emotional self improvement. The activities range from creating a found poem, writing a scene, and creating a narrative.

This unit is based on the fourth-grade core text, Yolonda's Genius , by Carol Fenner. It intends to connect the core text to the general music curriculum and focus on responding and expressing identity through music. Students will concentrate on the responding and connecting processes from the National Core Arts Standards. Students will spend time exploring the identity of Andrew, the young boy in the novel who cannot read and barely speaks, but creates incredible music with his harmonica. Students will then create what they believe Andrew's music sounds like, and use what they learn about Andrew's creative process and the musical elements to create an original composition based on their own identity. This unit would work best if the General Music teacher works together with the fourth-grade Language Arts teacher.

At no other time in a person’s life does one search for a sense of identity, a definition of what self means on a personal level, than during adolescence. It is during the middle and high school years that we are provided meaningful opportunities to step outside of the principal parental/guardian dominated influence that shaped our identity for our first decade.

This unit explores the combined use of music and literature as a means through which youth and adolescence navigate the development of what I have defined as personal, projected and perceived identity. Lessons are organized using the three areas of scope as a guide through sequential and iterative modules designed to develop students’ lines of inquiry towards a deeper and broader understanding of how music mirrors and supports the psychological and emotional events impacting our sense of self.

History is a challenging subject to impart to students, especially 7 and 8 year olds. As with all subjects, showing a connection to their daily lives ensures its relevance and an enduring understanding. Students have some sense of their basic rights, but they do not know how these rights came to be and how they differ for noncitizens and those outside the United States.

The aim of this unit is to teach students how our constitutional rights evolved and why they are salient today. It’s divided into sections to ensure this complex topic can be presented at an elementary level. It will provide the students with an overview of the Constitution of the United States with a focus on the rights and privileges of citizens that will be most intuitive to children (1 st , 13 th , 14 th ,15 th , and 19 th ). Activities include producing a narrative writing, a research booklet, a dialogical notebook, and a take-action choice piece with an eye to promoting critical thinking about historical change. Upon completion, students will have a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, and how they can contribute to the betterment of this country.

This course is an introduction to the problems of philosophy—in particular, to problems in ethics, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and philosophy of logic, language, and science. It takes a systematic rather than historical approach. Readings come from classical and contemporary sources, but emphasis is on examination and evaluation of proposed solutions to the problems.

This curriculum unit investigates self-identity, social-identity and the historical conditions that give rise to both. Using Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man students will examine the relationship between racism, exploitation and identity formation. Throughout the unit, students will use close reading techniques to develop an analysis of the nameless protagonist. Additionally, students will study the political figures and historical moments that are reflected in the Invisible Man’s identity. This unit addresses strategies for providing “non-traditional” AP Literature and Composition students an entry point into AP curriculum. At the culmination of the unit, students will write a literary analysis of the novel.