Own Voices: Diversity in Literature

Senior Options English Course

Ms. Miller, H3

lmiller@opusd.org

The Class

Own Voices is a one semester, college preparatory, senior options English course. In this literature based class, we will focus on diverse authors telling their stories in their own unique voices. Reading will be supplemented with discussion and definitions of terms related to issues of the day, videos, films and short reading selections. In the last unit, students will choose a novel to read from a curated list, which includes women’s literature and other diverse authors, who represent an array of races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. The class format will be discussion based through the use of Socratic seminars and book clubs, have a strong emphasis on written assignments and involve an element of personalization in each unit as students make connections between the works we read and aspects of their own lives! The course will conclude with a final project showcasing students’ own voices and their own unique stories.

The Units

1. Who Are You and What Do You Want to Become? Text: Becoming, Adapted for Young Readers by Michelle Obama

2. Who and/or What Do You Struggle With? Text: Between the World and Me by Tahneisi Coates

3. What Are the Secrets of Your Universe? Text: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

4. What Do You Love to Read? Text: student choice from a curated list!

Grades

Grades will be based primarily on a variety of class discussion formats, a variety of written responses for different purposes and a culminating final project. I grade in points, not percentages and I round up at .5 (example: 89.5 = A).

The Standards

CCC ELA Reading Standards addressed:

#1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

#2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.

#3 Analyze a complex set of ideas of sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.

CCC ELA Writing Standards addressed:

#4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

#7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate, synthesize multiple resources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

#10 Write routinely over extended and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

CCC ELA Speaking and Listening Standards addressed:

#1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

#2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

#3 Present information, finding, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective and logical argument, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning.