Enduring Understanding
The impact of the effects that war has on the people who have served or lost loved ones drastically changes society.
How the cultural and societal perspective shifts are reflected in the art and literature of the time.
The freedom and way of life that our society has grown accustomed to, has a price and that price is paid by the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives.
How the inner battle of good vs. evil that every person faces manifests itself in society during times of war.
How the cultural and societal perspective shifts are reflected in the art and literature of the time.
The freedom and way of life that our society has grown accustomed to, has a price and that price is paid by the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives.
How the inner battle of good vs. evil that every person faces manifests itself in society during times of war.
Essential Questions
Do people have the responsibility to respond to injustice?
How does art and literature reflect the shifts of society’s perspective before, during and after war?
What is society’s obligation to those who have served?
How does art and literature reflect the shifts of society’s perspective before, during and after war?
What is society’s obligation to those who have served?
Unit Rationale
Our ITU will carry an enduring understanding of how war impacts society throughout all of the lessons we include in the unit. Essential questions that we will guide our students to answer will include: Do people have the responsibility to respond to injustice? How does art shift society’s perspective before, during and after war? What is society’s obligation to those who have served?
In looking at the first of our three lessons included in our ITU, “Lord of the Flies and The Cold War/WWII” student activities are designed so that students will be thinking critically about historical events that impacted society. By responding to the quick write (to what lengths are you willing to go to to protect your way of life), students immediately have a personal investment in the subject matter because they are asked to answer at what point would they fight for what they believe in. By watching a 4 minute pecha kucha presentation on the parallels between literature and history, students will come to understand how the event in the world influenced William Golding to write Lord of the Flies. By showing the a pecha kucha at the beginning of the unit, students also have the actual task of creating their own presentation modeled for them by the teacher. Finally, the process of orally presenting to the class gives students the opportunity to communicate complex issues to their classmates in a sophisticated manner. This history lesson goes hand in hand with the students’ reading of Lord of the Flies in their English class. Standards that are addressed in this lesson include social science standards 10.8.6: Discuss the human costs of WWII, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, the United States, China, and Japan and 10.9.2: Analyze the causes of the Cold War, with the free world on one side and the soviet client states on the other, including competition for influence in such places as Egypt, the Congo, Vietnam, and Chile. Additionally, CA ELD standards addressed include 2.A.1: (Expanding) exchanging ideas. Addressing these standards will lead to meeting the objectives stated in the lesson (Cognitive: After Pecha kucha instruction and demonstration, students will be able to identify, define and correctly use vocabulary specific to the Cold War and Lord of the Flies. Affective: After instruction and demonstration, students will work together and be able to identify, analyze, and synthesize literature and historical data into their own new perspective. Psychomotor: After pecha kucha presentation, students will demonstrate mastery of vocabulary and literature by synthesizing the information they have analyzed into a new perspective and understanding. By identifying parallels and present new questions their conclusion uncover. Language Development: After presentations, students will be able to demonstrate comprehension of oral presentations and discussions on a variety of social and academic topics by asking and answering with thoughtful consideration of the ideas or arguments with moderate support) and will be assessed through progress monitoring of small group collaboration, and a summative assessment of the unit exam and final pecha kucha presentations.
The English lesson we included is the anticipatory lesson for the reading of the British novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The lesson’s objective states: After reading a biography on William Golding and collaborating in small groups to discuss what they see in various books covers of Lord of the Flies, students will be able to make a prediction about what they think they think the novel will be about and how the theme relates to society at the time. By having students begin the lesson by watching a YouTube video, multimedia is brought into the classroom and students also respond to a controversial statement made by Golding. By giving students a biography of Golding, students are able to get a sense of how the historical events from WWI influenced golding to write the novel. By learning that Golding was a member of the British Navy, students will come to learn more about the vicious nature of the book. Finally, by having students collaborate to look at different covers of the book, they are working with art and also making prediction about the text. This establishes a buy-in with the students because now they have something invested in the text. Standards that are covered in this lesson include: “Reading Standards” - 2. “Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details.” (CCS p. 47) “Writing Standards” - “9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.” (CCS p. 74) and CA ELD standard 2. Interacting via written English “Collaborate with peers to engage in short, grade‐appropriate written exchanges and writing projects, using technology as appropriate. By addressing these standards, students will be able to complete the assessments for this lesson which include completing their quick write, annotating their Golding Biography, and predicting a theme for the novel based off the book cover and information about the author.
In looking at the first of our three lessons included in our ITU, “Lord of the Flies and The Cold War/WWII” student activities are designed so that students will be thinking critically about historical events that impacted society. By responding to the quick write (to what lengths are you willing to go to to protect your way of life), students immediately have a personal investment in the subject matter because they are asked to answer at what point would they fight for what they believe in. By watching a 4 minute pecha kucha presentation on the parallels between literature and history, students will come to understand how the event in the world influenced William Golding to write Lord of the Flies. By showing the a pecha kucha at the beginning of the unit, students also have the actual task of creating their own presentation modeled for them by the teacher. Finally, the process of orally presenting to the class gives students the opportunity to communicate complex issues to their classmates in a sophisticated manner. This history lesson goes hand in hand with the students’ reading of Lord of the Flies in their English class. Standards that are addressed in this lesson include social science standards 10.8.6: Discuss the human costs of WWII, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, the United States, China, and Japan and 10.9.2: Analyze the causes of the Cold War, with the free world on one side and the soviet client states on the other, including competition for influence in such places as Egypt, the Congo, Vietnam, and Chile. Additionally, CA ELD standards addressed include 2.A.1: (Expanding) exchanging ideas. Addressing these standards will lead to meeting the objectives stated in the lesson (Cognitive: After Pecha kucha instruction and demonstration, students will be able to identify, define and correctly use vocabulary specific to the Cold War and Lord of the Flies. Affective: After instruction and demonstration, students will work together and be able to identify, analyze, and synthesize literature and historical data into their own new perspective. Psychomotor: After pecha kucha presentation, students will demonstrate mastery of vocabulary and literature by synthesizing the information they have analyzed into a new perspective and understanding. By identifying parallels and present new questions their conclusion uncover. Language Development: After presentations, students will be able to demonstrate comprehension of oral presentations and discussions on a variety of social and academic topics by asking and answering with thoughtful consideration of the ideas or arguments with moderate support) and will be assessed through progress monitoring of small group collaboration, and a summative assessment of the unit exam and final pecha kucha presentations.
The English lesson we included is the anticipatory lesson for the reading of the British novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The lesson’s objective states: After reading a biography on William Golding and collaborating in small groups to discuss what they see in various books covers of Lord of the Flies, students will be able to make a prediction about what they think they think the novel will be about and how the theme relates to society at the time. By having students begin the lesson by watching a YouTube video, multimedia is brought into the classroom and students also respond to a controversial statement made by Golding. By giving students a biography of Golding, students are able to get a sense of how the historical events from WWI influenced golding to write the novel. By learning that Golding was a member of the British Navy, students will come to learn more about the vicious nature of the book. Finally, by having students collaborate to look at different covers of the book, they are working with art and also making prediction about the text. This establishes a buy-in with the students because now they have something invested in the text. Standards that are covered in this lesson include: “Reading Standards” - 2. “Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details.” (CCS p. 47) “Writing Standards” - “9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.” (CCS p. 74) and CA ELD standard 2. Interacting via written English “Collaborate with peers to engage in short, grade‐appropriate written exchanges and writing projects, using technology as appropriate. By addressing these standards, students will be able to complete the assessments for this lesson which include completing their quick write, annotating their Golding Biography, and predicting a theme for the novel based off the book cover and information about the author.