Text sell

Text Sell

Cathlyn Telebrico

Johns Hopkins University

Turn and talk:

– Did you read Dr. Seuss while growing up?

– What were some of the ideas and themes Dr. Seuss taught in his children’s books?– Name some of his stories that justify your

answer.

Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars.

Those stars weren't so big. They were really so small You might think such a thing wouldn't matter at all. But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches Would brag, "We're the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches." With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they'd snort “We'll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!" And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, They'd hike right on past them without even talking.

When the Star-Belly children went out to play ball, Could a Plain-Belly get in the game...? Not at all. You could only play if your bellies had stars And the Plain-Belly children had none upon thars.

When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts, They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches. They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches. They kept them away. Never let them come near. And that's how they treated them year after year.

Discussion Activity

– Now, let’s put together our unit theme!

– What were some of the ideas discussed in this book?

– How might we relate this back to our class title, “History through Writing?”

The Journey to Civil Rights(1960s – present)

Cathlyn Telebrico

Johns Hopkins University

“The Journey to Civil Rights”Social Justice and Identity– 7th grade - “History Through Writing”

– Objective: Students will be able to learn about the Civil Rights Movement and social justice today by examining specifically selected texts and activities, while analyzing various themes, genres, writing, and text forms.

In addition to being a text set which is inherently connected, these texts will also support their knowledge processing in a civic history unit.

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss(1953)ANCHOR TEXTQuantitative Analysis

Qualitative Analysis

Grade Band

Flesch-Kincaid

Flesch Reading Level

Lexile Word Count

Avg. Words Per Sentence

Avg. Characters Per Word

2-3 3.4 88.7 NP 635 10.5 4.3

Purpose – moderately complex Vocabulary – moderately complexOrganization – moderately complex Sentence structure – moderately complex

Use of Visuals – slightly complex Life Experiences – very complex

Conventionality - slightly complex Cultural Knowledge – exceedingly complex

Why Dr. Seuss as the Anchor Text?

– Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement– Engaging and familiar text to students– English Language Learners

– Supporting texts in set will provide opportunities to analyze deeper meaning and interpretations of the text– Unity– Freedom– Discrimination– Colorblindness

– Opportunities for rich discussions throughout unit– Specifically, focusing on how Dr. Seuss’s children’s book is

relevant today

Socratic Seminar

1. What types of privileges do the Star-Bellied Sneetches have? How do they make the Plain-Bellied Sneetches feel?

2. What does the Fix-It-Up Chappie McBean represent? Does he care about the Sneetches?

3. What does the Star Machine represent?4. List two historical situations that relate to this story.5. In our society today and historically, who might the Plain-Bellied

Sneetches represent? The Star-Bellied Sneetches?6. Looking back at the end of the story, in which the Sneetches are only

able to reconcile once they no longer know who is who, how does that make you feel? Should we forget about our differences or learn to celebrate them?

7. Do you think the message Dr. Seuss’s message is important? Why or why not?

TEKS Alignment

7.3 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

7.6 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

7.16 Writing. Students write about their own experiences.

7.19 Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.

UNIT OVERVIEWAs students transition from a STAAR-prep writing class, students will engage in the study of civics and law, specifically looking at how the Civil Rights Movement came to be.

Text Set– The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss (anchor text)

– Robert F. Kennedy on MLK’s Death (speech)

– “How to raise a black son in America” by Clint Smith (TedxTalk)

– “Be Free” by J. Cole (performance)

– “Equality” by Maya Angelou (poem)

– Civil Rights: Then and Now (images)

Robert F. Kennedy’s Speech on MLK’s Death in Indianapolis(1968)

Quantitative Analysis


Grade Band Flesch-Kincaid Reading Power Lexile Word Count9-10 8.9 69.1 1180L 635

Purpose – moderately complex Vocabulary – moderately complexOrganization – moderately complex Sentence structure – moderately complex



ExcerptMartin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

Background Information

Because Martin Luther King Jr. is such a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Robert F. Kennedy’s speech is an opportunity for the students to explore different perspectives of social justice in the 1960s.Prior to the reading of this text selection, students will examine Martin Luther King Jr’s life in-depth. This reading will further illuminate MLK’s fight for the end of discrimination and racism in the 1960s. I would also like to highlight how RFK’s speech in Indianapolis positively effected the rising tensions in the city following MLK’s death, further expanding on the idea of “unity” from The Sneetches.

Opportunities to Engage

With a higher reading level, students have the opportunity to watch the speech in text. Students may also study the conventions of written language in contrast to this impromptu speech. Students will also precede this reading with a study on Martin Luther King Jr.

Relation to anchor text:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.”

How does this statement reinforce or weaken the ideas presented on the last page of The Sneetches?

TEKS Alignment

7.1 Reading/Fluency. Students read grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.

7.2 Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing

7.9 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

7.10 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

TedxTalk: How to raise a black son in America by Clint Smith(2015)



Grade Band Flesch-Kincaid Reading Power Lexile Word Count9-10 10.1 65.8 N/A 946

Purpose – very complex Vocabulary – moderately complexOrganization – slightly complex Sentence structure – moderately complex

Use of Visuals – slightly complex Life Experiences – exceedingly complex


TedxTalks: “How to raise a black son in America” by Clint Smith(2015)

ExcerptBut this cannot be what defines us. Because we have parents who raised us to understand that our bodies weren't meant for the backside of a bullet, but for flying kites and jumping rope, and laughing until our stomachs burst. We had teachers who taught us how to raise our hands in class, and not just to signal surrender, and that the only thing we should give up is the idea that we aren't worthy of this world.So when we say that black lives matter, it's not because others don't, it's simply because we must affirm that we are worthy of existing without fear, when so many things tell us we are not. I want to live in a world where my son will not be presumed guilty the moment he is born, where a toy in his hand isn't mistaken for anything other than a toy.


As a teacher of primarily students of color, this TedxTalk is particularly relevant to the lives of the student. Because the reading level may be higher for my seventh-grade students, this is another opportunity for students to see visuals. However, the students should be thoroughly engaged with the content of this text.


This text provides students with the opportunity to explore racism and discrimination through the lens of a father. In relation to the RFK speech, this text explores a modern juxtaposition of the call to action that RFK called for nearly half a century ago.

Activity

Writing activity– In the TedxTalk, Smith discusses the difficulties in raising a

black son in America today. For a writing activity, after students have discussed the tensions with America today, students will have the opportunity to write a letter to their parents, or someone they believe has had the same belief and perseverance that Smith has.

TEKS Alignment




7.10 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

“Equality” by Maya Angelou(1990)Quantitative Analysis


Grade Band Flesch-Kincaid Reading Power Lexile Word Count5-6 5 83.7 N/A 181

Purpose – very complex Vocabulary – slightly complexOrganization – very complex Sentence structure – slightly complex


Conventionality – very complex Cultural Knowledge – exceedingly complex

ExcerptYou declare you see me dimly through a glass which will not shine, though I stand before you boldly, trim in rank and making time.You do own to hear me faintly as a whisper out of range, while my drums beat out the message and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free.

Questions to Discuss

– Who do you think the speaker/narrator of the poem is? Is it a person? A cultural group? Identify words or phrases that help you identify the speaker/narrator.

– How does the speaker/narrator seem to feel about herself (or itself)? Draw a face that represents that emotion (e.g., a smiley face, sad face or angry face) next to a word phrase that exhibits it. Have you ever felt that way about yourself? If so, share with your partner what makes you feel that way.

– To whom do you think the poem is directed? Highlight words and phrases that support your answers and share them with your partner.

– What message is the writer trying to give to the person or group to which she is writing? Have you ever had to give a similar message to someone? If so, when?


This selection provides students with the opportunity to explore the same themes of discrimination and racism in a figurative perspective. Students can examine Maya Angelou’s use of figurative language in order to strengthen her writing and purpose.

Relation to anchor text: Maya Angelou’s poem explores how racism and discrimination effect those who are directly targeted by these actions. In The Sneetches, the Sneetches segregate themselves because of the notions of their looks. This text may be looked at, and related to the text, in the sense that this poem may be interpreted and correlated to the original plain-bellied Sneetches.

TEKS Alignment



7.4 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

7.8 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about how an author's sensory language creates imagery in literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.


“Be Free” by J. Cole (2014)


– N/A

Qualitative AnalysisPurpose – moderately complex Vocabulary – moderately complexOrganization – very complex Sentence structure – moderately complex

Use of Visuals – moderately complex Life Experiences – exceedingly complex

Conventionality - verycomplex Cultural Knowledge – exceedingly complex

“Be Free” by J.Cole

Lyrics

Are we all alone fighting on our ownPlease give me a chanceI don't wanna danceSomething's got me downI will stand my ground,Don't just stand aroundDon't just stand around

All we want to do is take these chains offAll we want to do is break the chains offAll we want to do is be freeAll we want to do is be free


Although students are general unfamiliar with the rapper J.Cole, this text is an opportunity for students to see the modernity in how social justice issues from the 1960s and 1990s are still prevalent today.The text does not have any measurable quantitative data points because of its non-prose, lyrical format, but the essay will be engaging and interesting in order to start discussion within the classroom.


Character study

All we wanna do is take the chains offAll we wanna do is break the chains offAll we wanna do is be freeAll we wanna do is be freeAll we wanna do is take the chains offAll we wanna do is break the chains offAll we wanna do is be freeAll we wanna do is be free

Hear the tempo so compelling, hear the blood throb through my veins. Yes, my drums are beating nightly, and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free.

“Be Free” and “Equality”

This provides students with another opportunity to examinethe similarities and differences between social justice in the late 1900s

and what is going on with the current political climate today.

TEKS Alignment






Gallery Walk

Gallery Walk Details

Images of civil rights and social justice in the 1960s and today (in relation to the Women’s March on Washington, #BlackLivesMatter, and police brutality) will be available for each student to observe, The students will go through the images and initially attempt to sort whether or not the images were from the past or present.

Each image has the opportunity to be selected as a piece of media in which students can relate to The Sneetches. Students may explore how the images may contrast to some of the ideas in the book, as well as see how their initial representations of the book may have changed since their first read.

TEKS Alignment






References

Literary Text Complexity Rubric and Worksheet. (n.d.) Retrieved February 06, 2017, from https://www.teachingbooks.net/content/text-complexity-literary.pdf

The Sneetches and Other Stories. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.lexile.com/book/details/9780394800899/

https://www.teachingbooks.net/content/text-complexity-literary.pdf

https://www.teachingbooks.net/content/text-complexity-literary.pdf

https://www.lexile.com/book/details/9780394800899/

https://www.lexile.com/book/details/9780394800899/

Text sell

Education