Students read and discuss “The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse”—a gentler type of satire, known as Horatian. Then they create concrete details to modernize the story.

In this lesson, students will study voice in the comedy of a contemporary satirist, this time in the comic’s writing. Then students will look at their own voice in a piece of writing.

In this lesson, students will start to think about the satirical videos they will create to end this unit. Students will sort through all the satirical pieces and videos they have considered and use them as a springboard for their own ideas.

In this lesson, students will continue to look at Seinfeld’s use of the word really and how its use is satirical. Students will also begin to create a basic plotline for their groups’ satirical video.

In this lesson, students finalize their storyboards with some peer advice from classmates. Students can also ask the teacher for help to revise their plans to sharpen their satire. Students begin to video-record their satires.

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.

In this lesson, students will take the time to share their strongest work and to celebrate the writing of themselves and their classmates.

In this lesson, students will work to finish the revision of their personal narrative.

This doc presents an example of an intermediate-level learning plan modeled after Modern Teacher templates.  It covers 17th-century writer Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and teaches students how to make inferences and how to recognize different kinds of satire.  Students are asked to use correct MLA parenthetical documentation to write an essay discussing Swift's message by analyzing his use of satirical devices.  This plan provides some student choice while still being pretty directive about what the students have to complete and understand to be successful.  Funding for this Advanced Learning Plan provided by the NCDPI Digital Learning Initiative Grant.

This doc presents an example of an intermediate-level learning plan modeled after Modern Teacher templates.  It covers 17th-century writer Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and teaches students how to make inferences and how to recognize different kinds of satire.  Students are asked to use correct MLA parenthetical documentation to write an essay discussing Swift's message by analyzing his use of satirical devices.  This plan provides some student choice while still being pretty directive about what the students have to complete and understand to be successful.Funding for this Playlist provided by the NCDPI Digital Learning Initiative Grant.

This example of an Intermediate learning plan provides clear structure while offering the student a little bit of choice in learning activities and ways to show knowledge.  The plan concerns Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and asks students to make inferences, recognize different types of satire, and write argumentatively while using correctly-cited material in their own writing.  Funding for this Learning Plan provided by the NCDPI Digital Learning Initiative Grant.

Students will use Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary to complete the analysis on the words used to convey his satirical piece.

In this lesson, students complete multiple readings of Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay "A Modest Proposal": guided reading with the teacher, a collaborative reading with a peer, and an independent reading. After independent reading, pairs of students develop a mock television newscast or editorial script, like those found on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or The Colbert Report, including appropriate visual images in PowerPoint.