Embedded Files
Mapping Important Events
Whole Group Task
Whole Group Task
As a class, students and the teacher will create a timeline detailing the most important events from "Dear Martin." Although the timeline will be created together, each students will make their own copy individually to allow for choice and agency. Students can also choose what application they would like to use to create the timeline. Images of the location or an important item, location, date or year, and brief description of what happened will be included each event. Each time a new chapter of the book is completed, the class will engage in a discussion about what, if any, events should be added to the timeline. The point of this activity is not to include everything that happens throughout the story. It should only record events that develop the plot. At the end, students will write brief reflections on how the way Nic Stone ordered events in the story affected the reader's perception of the text and led to unexpected events throughout the story.
Standards Associated with Task:
RL.9-10.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it, and manipulate time create effects such as mystery, tension, or surprise.
RI.9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
"Dear Activist: A Letter to Leaders of Social Change"
Small Group Task
Small Group Task
Students will be grouped based on skill level. They will be asked to brainstorm a current social issue that affects their lives and that they would like to change (women's healthcare, LGBTQ rights, immigration laws, etc). They will then find a notable activist that has done work in society to try and change issues involving the topic they picked. Students will research this activist's speeches, videos, books etc. to gain insight on their perspective and actions they have taken to invoke change. Together, they will work through the writing process to construct a letter to this activist sharing their personal struggles with the issue and stating how they are taking the activist's teachings into practice to help make change.
Students will be grouped based on skill level. They will be asked to brainstorm a current social issue that affects their lives and that they would like to change (women's healthcare, LGBTQ rights, immigration laws, etc). They will then find a notable activist that has done work in society to try and change issues involving the topic they picked. Students will research this activist's speeches, videos, books etc. to gain insight on their perspective and actions they have taken to invoke change. Together, they will work through the writing process to construct a letter to this activist sharing their personal struggles with the issue and stating how they are taking the activist's teachings into practice to help make change.
Standards Associated with Task:
W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
W.9-10.5 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Book Review
Book Review
Independent Task
Independent Task
Students will use a video tool to create a book review for "Dear Martin." Students must provide an overall summary and the central message of the text. Students then state how or if Nic Stone did a good job at portraying the overall message of the story through details and events. Students will also need to give a short character analysis stating how the characters changed throughout the plot and how it supported or deterred the central message of a story. Finally, students will listen to each other's book reviews and comment/provide feedback on:
What the student mentioned as key events in the story and if they agree or disagree and why.
What the student decided was the central message of the text and if they agree or disagree and why.
Character's and their development throughout the story and if they agree or disagree and why.
Standards Associated with Task:
RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
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