NIGHT

CONTENT/UNIT:    

NIGHT: Memory and Social Justice

Anchor Text:

Night – Elie Wiesel

Additional Texts:

“Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” – Elie Wiesel

“Montgomery Boycott” – Coretta Scott King

“I Have A Dream” – Martin Luther King

From Farewell to Manzanar – Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

Unit Learning goal: Students will determine the author’s purpose by citing specific evidence from the text and creating a project (video, PowerPoint, spoken word presentation with visual aids) that connects Night to other works that contain ideas of 1) social justice; 2) the use of memory as a force of change; 3) the Holocaust.

Scale/Rubric relating to learning goal:

4 – The student can determine the author’s purpose by citing specific evidence from the text and connect NIGHT to many works, fiction and nonfiction, that contain ideas of social justice, memory as a force of change, and the Holocaust.

3 – The student can determine author’s purpose and cite evidence from the text and connect NIGHT to another work – either fiction or nonfiction – by connecting one of the following ideas: social justice, memory as a force of change, and/or the Holocaust.

2 – With some direction/help from the teacher the student can determine author’s purpose and cite evidence from the text and connect NIGHT to another work – either fiction or nonfiction – by connecting one of the following ideas: social justice, memory as a force of change, and/or the Holocaust.

1 – Even with help from the teacher the student cannot determine author’s purpose and cite evidence from the text and connect NIGHT to another work – either fiction or nonfiction

Objectives (smaller chunks of overall goal) and suggested time periods

Students will be able to

1. Discuss the author’s purpose by connecting it with a major theme in Night

2. Discuss how Night uses elements of fiction to tell a story

3. Outline the plot

4. Discuss 2-3 motifs found in Night

5. Discuss the importance of various characters in the story and how their roles reinforced a major idea (theme)

6. Connect Night to the larger picture of the Holocaust

7. Connect Night to the larger picture of social injustice in the world

8. Discuss one major symbol in Night and analyze its meaning in connection with a main idea (theme) of the book

9. Briefly discuss the following questions:

·     What does it mean to be human?

·     Why do bad things happen to good people?

·     How does one man’s experience represent the experience of millions?

·     How does one overcome difficult situations?

·     How do perceptions of a situation make it more or less stressful?

·     How can feelings of sadness or anger affect one’s life?

·     How can stress affect individuals?

·     What events can suddenly change the course of a person’s life?

·     What does hopeless mean to you?

·     How can hopelessness affect people’s lives?

·     Do I realize there is an ongoing battle against the exploitation of the weak by the strong?

·     What is freedom?

·     What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility?

·     Is liberty and justice for all attainable?

·     How can an author’s personal experiences influence his/her work?

ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS:

Why do people choose to write memoirs?  What is the difference between a memoir and a novel?  How does a memoir utilize the techniques of fiction?  What is the purpose of Elie Wiesel’s memoir?   Why did he write it?