Module 1: Stories of Human Rights

MODULE 1 UNIT 1 OVERVIEW:

This unit is designed to help students build knowledge about human rights while simultaneously building their ability to read challenging text closely through a case study of the threats to human rights faced by fictional characters in the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Students read this novel in conjunction with selected articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), of which they determine the main ideas and details to support the main ideas, and then summarize. Students also read informational texts related to the story’s historical context. Through their reading, they trace the journey of Esperanza, a young girl born into a comfortable life of privilege in Mexico in the 1930s, who is forced to flee to California and must rise above her difficult circumstances.

For the mid-unit assessment, students closely read a new article of the UDHR to use strategies to identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, to identify the main ideas, and to summarize the text. In the second half of the unit, students prepare for and participate in text-based discussions about the threats to human rights faced by the characters in Esperanza Rising and also their emotional response to these threats to human rights. This prepares them for the end of unit assessment, in which students participate in a text-based discussion about threats to human rights in Chapters 4–6 of the novel.

MODULE 1 UNIT 2 OVERVIEW

In this unit, students continue to read Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan to make connections to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They also compare and contrast characters’ reactions to situations and events in which their human rights have been threatened and interpret metaphors woven throughout the story to determine how they convey themes. For the mid-unit assessment, students independently interpret a metaphor that is woven throughout the novel and determine a theme that it conveys. They also analyze and compare the reactions of two characters to an event in Esperanza Rising.

In the second half of the unit, students choose an event in the novel to write a literary essay that compares and contrasts the reactions of two characters. Students begin by writing a two-voice poem with a partner to really get inside the minds of the characters during that event. They then follow the Painted Essay structure, writing their literary essay one part at a time after analyzing a model. For the end of unit assessment, students revise their literary essay for linking words and phrases, specifically those that signal contrast.

MODULE 1 UNIT 3 OVERVIEW

This unit is designed to bring together students’ knowledge about human rights and students’ work with Esperanza Rising in preparation for the performance task. In the first half of the unit, students work in groups to select an event in which human rights are threatened, and each group member chooses a character from Esperanza Rising involved in the event. Group members each plan an original monologue based on this event, from their character’s perspective—which, when put together, show multiple perspectives of the same event. Students then draft their monologue as part of the mid-unit assessment.

In the second half of the unit, students first focus on revising their monologues for use of the perfect verb tenses and task, purpose, and audience. They then shift gears to research and write a Directors’ Note to be included in their group’s program. The note explains the human right threatened by the event described in their monologues, connects the event to an article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and explains how people are affected by the issue today. For the end of unit assessment, students answer selected-response questions about perfect verb tenses, revise their Directors’ Note for task, purpose, and audience, and for the use of verbs in the perfect tense, and they also read aloud an excerpt from Esperanza Rising for fluency. For the performance task, they publish their programs and present their monologues to an audience.

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