Speak Unit Plan
Unit Outline
- Rationale: We chose to focus our unit on Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak because it lends itselfto a good exploration of social issues and themes like rape, silence, and speaking out against injustice. It is a book that allows important discussion in the classroom, and gets students thinking critically about these issues. This novel also includes a lot of symbolism and themes which are important objectives we want to cover over the year. Since one of the main themes of this book is Melinda’s relationship with art, this book also lends itself to an exploration of art, media, and using different artistic mediums. Just like Melinda learned a lot about art in this book, we are hoping students can learn how to use media and art in our English classroom to express their creativity while also showing their understanding of content. We will give students a chance to use media a lot in this unit. The only problems that we could foresee are some of the students having a hard time handling the mature topics this book deals with, and it is our job to help facilitate these discussions.
- Contextualisation: For our class presentation, we will each be teaching 10-15 minutes of our own lessons. We have ordered these lessons the same way they would be structured in a unit plan. First, Katelyn will teach an introduction to theme and main idea. This lesson would be one of the first lessons taught in the unit, after the students have read the first few chapters of Speak. Then, Shelby will be teaching a lesson on symbolism and how symbols in the text connect to major themes. This lesson would take place a third of the way into the unit. Then, Shelby and Maddie will teach on the affordances and limitations of different mediums and analyze how textual themes are altered when presented in different mediums. These lessons, in the actual unit, would follow close after one another, with Maddie’s lesson introducing the final assessment.
- Standards to be taught:
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2 : Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail 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.
- Breaking it down into individual skills/lessons:
- Students will be able to differentiate between theme and main idea. Additionally, they will be able to find textual evidence to support the theme. (Katelyn)
- Students will be able to identify setting.
- Students will be able to identify tone. (Katelyn)
- Students will be able to identify characters in a story.
- Students will be able to recognize characterization.
- Students will be able to identify plot elements and track plot.
- Students will be able to write an objective and accurate summary of a text.
- Students will be able to find signs and symbols in the text that are representations of or commentaries on the theme. (Shelby)
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7 : Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and Breughel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).
- Breaking it down into individual skills/lessons:
- Understanding different mediums and the affordances and limitations of each (Kaily)
- Themes through different mediums (Maddie)
- Essential Questions
- What forms your identity?
- How do experiences shape us?
- When should an individual take a stand in opposition to an individual or a larger group?
- In what ways are people silenced? How do we silence other people?
- How do people find their voice?
Speak
Final Project
We’ve been spending a lot of time discussing theme and symbolism in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.
Now is your time to show off what you know! Most of this project will be completed in class, but
some work will need to be done at home. This project will have 2 parts and will be due on __________.
You will be presenting part 2 in class on ___________.
Now is your time to show off what you know! Most of this project will be completed in class, but
some work will need to be done at home. This project will have 2 parts and will be due on __________.
You will be presenting part 2 in class on ___________.
Step 1: Think about different themes we’ve talked found as a class in Speak. Pick one of these themes,
or another you’ve found in the text. You can use the theme you used to create GIF stories in class.
Search your copy of Speak and find 5-7 quotes/scenes that support the progression of the theme
through the text. Choose passages that show how Melinda’s interaction with the theme change, or how
the theme becomes more complex; use our discussion of silence as an example. Create a word
document (part 1) and title it with your name and the theme you have chosen. Then, type a out a list
of the 5-7 quotes you’ve selected in chronological order of how they happened in the book.
or another you’ve found in the text. You can use the theme you used to create GIF stories in class.
Search your copy of Speak and find 5-7 quotes/scenes that support the progression of the theme
through the text. Choose passages that show how Melinda’s interaction with the theme change, or how
the theme becomes more complex; use our discussion of silence as an example. Create a word
document (part 1) and title it with your name and the theme you have chosen. Then, type a out a list
of the 5-7 quotes you’ve selected in chronological order of how they happened in the book.
Step 2: Find a piece of media that represents the theme at each one of your 5-7 quotes; this can be a
song, a GIF, a poem, a video, a photograph, a social media post, a painting, or any other media we’ve
discussed in class, but make sure whatever you chose fits your quote. On your Word document add a
short explanation (3-6 sentences) for why you chose the piece of media you did after each of your
quotes, explaining why it accurately represents the theme you chose and why it correlates with the
quote it is paired with. You must create at least one of the media points you use yourself. This
could mean using the word-art we created when talking about theme, or creating something new our
discussion of adaptations. Print out this Word document and turn it in.
song, a GIF, a poem, a video, a photograph, a social media post, a painting, or any other media we’ve
discussed in class, but make sure whatever you chose fits your quote. On your Word document add a
short explanation (3-6 sentences) for why you chose the piece of media you did after each of your
quotes, explaining why it accurately represents the theme you chose and why it correlates with the
quote it is paired with. You must create at least one of the media points you use yourself. This
could mean using the word-art we created when talking about theme, or creating something new our
discussion of adaptations. Print out this Word document and turn it in.
Step 3: Organize your media/quote pairings into a timeline (part 2) that shows how the theme you
chose develops throughout the course of the book. This timeline could be a playlist, a GIF story like
we started in class, or a Prezi presentation (this works particularly well for timelines using different
mediums), but you must be able to share your timeline with your classmates. Be creative with your
timeline! If you have an idea you want to try that we haven’t talked about in class, come tell me and I
can help you get started. You will be presenting your timeline to the class, so be prepared to talk about
what media(s) you chose and why. You will also be asked to ask at least 2 questions during
presentations about your classmate’s timelines.
chose develops throughout the course of the book. This timeline could be a playlist, a GIF story like
we started in class, or a Prezi presentation (this works particularly well for timelines using different
mediums), but you must be able to share your timeline with your classmates. Be creative with your
timeline! If you have an idea you want to try that we haven’t talked about in class, come tell me and I
can help you get started. You will be presenting your timeline to the class, so be prepared to talk about
what media(s) you chose and why. You will also be asked to ask at least 2 questions during
presentations about your classmate’s timelines.
Rubric
Word Document:
__/5 You identified a theme from Speak
__/10 You turned in 5-7 quotes from the book that represent this theme
__/10 The quotes show how the theme progresses through the text
__/10 You explained why you chose the pieces of media you used on your timeline after each quote
Timeline:
__/10 Your timeline has 5-7 pieces of media that show the progression of your theme
__/10 Your timeline is organized in a clear, chronological way
Presentation:
__/5 You asked at least two question about your classmates timeline’s during presentations
Total: __/60
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