Year of Reading:

Week(s) in Texts:
School Year:

1 (End of August “Above The Line” activity and “This I believe” one-page essay. (Class
to Beginning of Norms Creation/getting to know each other Unit):
September). Three (3) examples of exemplary “This I believe” Essays, and “Above The
Line” papers that classes have collaborated on in years past.
“This I believe” examples:
1. https://thisibelieve.org/essay/4205/
2. https://thisibelieve.org/essay/10490/
3. https://thisibelieve.org/essay/26/

Standard: GLE 2-8-2: Quality comprehension and interpretation of

informational and persuasive texts demand monitoring and self-
assessment.

2-5 (September). False advertising/fake news understanding and creation unit:

Reading: Factfulness by Hans Rosling Chapter 4.
Art of Manliness Fahrenheit 451 Article.

Various examples of advertising designed to manipulate people into buying

certain things. Focus on old cigarette ads, Mcdonalds ads, ads for bottled
water, etc.
Ad examples:
1. Cigarette Example
2. SmartWater Example
3. Mcdonalds Example

Standard: GLE 2-8-2-c-i: Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of

using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to
present a particular topic or idea.

6-9 (October Immigration and Cultural Acceptance Unit:

and first week of Why we shouldn’t say “developing world” reading:
November). Factfulness by Hans Rosling chapter 6.
1. Dollar Street

First Class Full Text: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon.

Standard: GLE 2-8-2-c-iii: Analyze a case in which two or more texts

provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the
texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
10-16 American Mythology Unit:
(November- The myth of the Self Made Man
December, to Colin Kaepernick Nike Ad (Calls into question myth of the self-made
end of semester). man). Go back and watch, is it possible to be self-made within parameters?
What about the self-made myth makes it a convenient one for those in
power to continue to tell? Daniel Robinson mentioned Scarface. Great
Gatsby is a great example as well of an unprincipled human becoming self-
made. Did we stop valuing principled humans along the way?

Colin Kaepernick Ad
Abraham Lincoln Self-Made Article
Art of Manliness Self-Made Man

Students will be given a choice of texts to read from:

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
Out of The Dust by Karen Hesse
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Standard: GLE 2-8-1-d-iv: Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws

on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional
stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the
material is rendered new.

17-22 (January- Responsible Use of Social Media Unit:

February).
Students will be asked to choose between the following three texts dealing
with social media:

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Feed by Matthew Tobin Anderson
Need by Joelle Charbonneau

Social Media Conversation

Standard: GLE 3-8-3-f: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce

and publish writing and present the relationships between information and
ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

23-30 (February, Holocaust Unit:

March, and a
little bit of Holocaust Last Letters
April). Night by Elie Wiesel
I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Various Authors
Excerpts from Please Enjoy Your Happiness (As a way to illustrate how
one can write letters to the deceased/disappeared).
 Standard: GLE 2-8-2-d-i: By the end of the year, read and comprehend
literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 6–8 text complexity band
independently and proficiently.

31-35 (April- Activism Unit:

May).
Burning Monk Photo
Ali as Activist video
Muhammad Ali Article
Muhammad Ali Gold Medal

Standard: GLE 2-8-2-c-i: . Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of

using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to
present a particular topic or idea.

36 (One week of Final “This I Believe” essay due.

May).
Standard: GLE 2-8-2: Quality comprehension and interpretation of
informational and persuasive texts demand monitoring and self-
assessment.

Full Book List:

For advertising unit:

Excerpts from Factfulness by Hans Rosling

For Immigration Unit:

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

For American Mythology Unit:Choice of:

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain,
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, or
Out of The Dust by Karen Hesse
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
All cover different time periods in American history. Also, they are a variety of levels, ranging
from contemporary to classic, with different genres (Out of the Dust is written in verse). They are
written by a diverse range of authors.

For Social Media Unit: Choice of:

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Feed by Matthew Tobin Anderson
Need by Joelle Charbonneau

For Holocaust Unit:

I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Various Authors (It is a collection of found writings)
Night by Elie Wiesel
Excerpts from Please Enjoy Your Happiness by Paul Brinkley-Rogers

Sources:

Themes | This I Believe, thisibelieve.org/themes/.

Google Search, Google,

www.google.com/search?q=misleading%2Badvertising&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS715US715&sourc
e=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkqaOorpPeAhUE5YMKHWDjCzEQ_AUIDigB#im
grc=4u9T_1ktG_fyyM:

“Dollar Street - Photos as Data to Kill Country Stereotypes.” Gapminder: Unveiling the
Beauty of Statistics for a Fact Based World View., www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix.

https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/last-letters/1941/index.asp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1gCtoxyfF8

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/other-sports/news/muhammad-ali-olympic-gold-medal-
legend-sports-detectives-smithsonian-channel-true-false/cm7ios85in5m12lt8m1bswg3p

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/muhammad-ali-refuses-army-induction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hIc_epqfI0

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0021.203?view=text;rgn=main
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/3-archetypes-of-american-
manliness-part-iii-the-self-made-man/

http://time.com/3791176/malcolm-browne-the-story-behind-the-burning-monk/
https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/how-to-have-honest-
conversations-about-social-media-with-students

Gallagher, Kelly, and Penny Kittle. 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to
Engage and Empower Adolescents. Heinemann, 2018.

Emdin, Christopher. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of
Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education. Random House Inc, 2017.