Demographics
Our diverse English classroom of 25 tenth graders is approximately half male and half female. Of these students, seven are African American, seven are White, five are Latino/Carribean, three are Asian, and three are biracial. Six students, including one African-American student, were not born in the United States, but all speak English fluently. Our students' achievement test scores range from college level to four years below grade level and half of the students do not complete homework reliably or carefully.
Daily Assignments
This unit makes use of regularly-assigned writing assignments, some to be completed individually, and others within small groups. Free writes challenge the students to make connections between their own lives and the Chinese culture. We also use free writes as a tool for maintaining a focus on the final project, and for giving students the opportunity to share their thoughts in a different way than verbal discussion. Additional writing assignments include worksheets and handouts, which are to be completed in groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the poetry-analysis section of the unit. These worksheets keep the knowledge the students gain organized and focused, as it shows the applicability of each of the ways of thought to each poet while simultaneously helping to define the differences between the three poets and ways of thought. We have kept the daily assignments subjective and slightly open-ended to promote creativity and avoid restricting students.
Weekly Assignments
The weekly assignments in this unit will be compiled in a class blog. Each week, students are to post an individual poem to the blog forum and also leave a substantial comment on two of their peers' poems. Reading their poems aloud for the class earns extra credit, and extra posts do, as well. We compiled a blog as a means of exposing students to "new media" technology as well as creating a display of student work/talent.
Long Term Assignments
Our multi-modal approach to the unit culminates in one final project. Students will create a piece of "multimodal art" that incorporates their own work in poetry, calligraphy, and visual artwork all on one tableau to be featured in the class art show on the last day. At the beginning of the unit, students will be assigned one Chinese character that represents a word that they are to think about and be creative with for the entire four weeks leading up to our work week for the project. Each student's piece of "multimodal art" must revolve around this word and what the student determines to be its meaning. Choosing a word provides the students with some direction with the project. Free writes, handouts, brainstorming and explaining plans for the final project help to guide students' thought and creativity processes.
