STEP+FOUR



A. NC General Course of Study Competency Goals for English and SS. 1. Eighth grade Language Arts Competency Goals to be added… 4.01 Analyze purpose of author 4.02 Evaluate the quality of communication 4.03 Use stance of a critic 5.01 Increase fluency and comprehension 5.02 Study characteristics of literary genres 6.01 Demonstrate understanding of written & spoken expression 2. Eight Grade Social Studies Competency Goals to be added…

B. Unit Map/Narrative Overview 1. Day One: Introduction & The Rise of the Nazi Party (1918- 1933) Today I will introduce Anne Frank and the Holocaust. As students settle in I will read a selected passage from Anne Frank and then follow that with questions asking if they know what this was talking about and who might be speaking, without telling them I am reading from Anne Frank. After a class discussion on the reading I would like to move to looking at the map of Germany. From here we will learn how WWI led into the Holocaust; the devastation in Germany after being defeated in WWI, the power struggle of political parties (Communists & Jews), the Treaty of Versailles, and the Nazi Party. This will only be a brief overview to get the students interested in the unit. I also want to introduce Adolf Hitler today. I thought we could read some things on him and then make a quick positives and negatives list of Hitler’s characteristics. Towards the end of class I will distribute Anne Frank, as well as, a vocabulary list. We will read through the vocabulary list, make some initial observations about the list and then head to a journal activity. The last part of class I want the students to write in their journals what they know about Hitler, WWI, the Holocaust, Anne Frank, and concentration camps. It will be similar to a KWL chart, but I would like it in narrative form. I do want them to include things we discussed in class today and what they are interested in finding out about the Holocaust. I might ask the students to read a few pages in Anne Frank for homework or begin looking through the book to find the vocabulary words given and write down some page numbers. 2. Day Two: Timeline of the Holocaust Recapping from yesterday, we will talk about the things we learned about the Holocaust and reasons we found for it starting. We will also listen to a few ideas students wrote in their journals about what they know and/or want to know. After this we will move into setting the scene. So we began talking about the Holocaust, but what really was the Holocaust? Who was exiled? What did this do to the world, especially Germany? Why do many writers consider people survivors of the Holocaust, even if they died during it? What does the word to survive mean? Let’s make this more clear; we know that WWI and the defeat of Germany created tension throughout the country, especially with political parties and the devastation, but why did this really lead to genocide? In pre-decided groups, the students will be assigned to different time periods. Each group will research with computers and given handouts/articles their time period, what happened during the years given and how they influenced the Holocaust. Key people during the Holocaust will be researched as well (the list of people for each time period will be given with some information on each). I would like the groups to make (creative) timelines, including all of the above information. At the end of the class we will connect all of the time periods together and have the groups give a little overview of their time period. If time allows we will take the last few minutes to reflect in our journals. I would like the students to write at least 2 sentences on each time period and then write a concluding sentence about the Holocaust. 3. Day Three: Who is Anne Frank and why do we keep writing in a journal? Today we will begin researching and learning about Anne Frank. Who was she? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why do we study her? What can we learn from her and her experiences of the <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Holocaust? A prezi will be presented to look at Anne Frank’s life and <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">accomplishments. There will be interjections with video clips and observation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">questions. After the introduction of Anne Frank I want the students to write <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">what they learned about Anne Frank in their journals and contemplate whether <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">they could have done what she did during the Holocaust. Do they consider her a <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">hero, survivor, teacher? How has her experience impacted each and every one of <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">us? After the journaling we will talk about journals in general. Why do they think <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I keep making them write in journals? Who might we be trying to imitate? How <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">can journals be useful to them in their futures or to future people? The last part <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of class we will individually create either character webs, character trait charts, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">or use descriptive words and things we learned about Anne Frank to create a <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">book cover (I would actually like to use technology here, and make a glogster rather <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">than a web or chart, book cover with the information learned in class will be a fun, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">engaging activity). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Day Four: Anne Frank <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why journal??? We will begin today with a current event. I will present the current event and then ask the students to write and reflect in their journals on this event. Was it necessary? Tragic? Good? How would/do you feel that this happened? After we will talk about the importance of keeping journals and shift to Anne Frank. Who wants to read?! As a class we will begin to read out loud. I will most likely begin the novel. Remember to have the students annotate while reading and after every key thing, stop and discuss, to ensure the students are following along and understand the information. We will break into the same groups as yesterday and continue to read with some of the questions from the handout Dr. Pope provided (10 book questions for any book). At target page will be set for the time allotted before we being the questions. I then want the students as a group to answer to questions. The main thing the questions will focus on is the innocence and purity of Anne Frank in the beginning of the novel. After they discuss these we will jigsaw out and present the questions to other groups. At the end of class we will talk about the questions, the reading, and who Anne Frank is. The students will be asked to read a selected number of pages for homework tonight and because we now know how important journaling is, I would like them to write in their journals after they read at home (reader response/ focus on the growth of Anne Frank). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. Day Five: What is theme? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today we will begin talking about one of our literary elements, theme. Students will have a chance to give their answers and opinions on what the word theme is. This will lead us into reflecting on our jigsaw activity from the day before. We talked about Anne Frank’s innocence in the last class, might this be a theme of the novel? After reading further into the book for homework we can see that Anne is put through a lot at a young age. We will discuss a possible theme of adolescent growth and maturity. Are there any situations that you have been in that have caused you to grow up quicker than you would have liked, or can we brainstorm some possible ideas? Keeping in mind the theme might be maturity, we will read silently in class for some time annotating throughout and looking for references of Anne’s maturity. At the end of class we will come back together and discuss what we found so far. Again, for homework the students will read and reflect in their journals. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Day Six: Vocabulary is important! Words do not always mean what you think! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let’s take a step back. As we have been reading, reflecting, annotating, and discussing the Diary of Anne Frank we have been seeing some new words. Take out those vocabulary lists we received on day one and let’s define! In pairs I would like you to go through the chapters we have read so far, locate the vocabulary words given, and using the context clues illustrate and define the words. Remember to include page numbers for your definitions and have fun and get creative! Next, we will take out our journals and have a class discussion on the weekend’s reading. What have we learned about the Holocaust and Anne Frank? How has she matured so far? Looking at our timelines can we infer what might happen next? As we head into tonight’s reading remember that the vocabulary is a big part of this Diary. Words can have more than one meaning and often symbolize something different than one would think. Please read the selected pages tonight and continue writing in your reader response journal (at this point I will probably prompt a journal entry). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Day Seven: Poetry using common words <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We will start today off recapping on our vocabulary activity yesterday. Did anyone find any new words that presented a different meaning than the one they inferred? How about the reading in general last night? Was it intriguing? What is going on in the diary? How is Anne unfolding this tragedy? Today is all about words. Anne Frank’s diary is a great way to look at common words and how they mean different things in different contexts. I will move into a poetry activity now. We will talk about poetry, how is it used? Today we are going to create our own poems using common words, which actually dig deeper than the straight forward definition. I will explain the activity and then read and show them the poem I created about the Holocaust. The students will then break into groups (they can pick) and conduct a list of mostly nouns and some adjectives that they would associate with the Holocaust. I encourage them to use their vocabulary words and the words they noted in the book while reading. After creating the list we will do a poetry workshop and follow the handout with the poem structure. Once the students have finished their poems I will ask people to share them and we will continue discussing the power of words. At the end of the class we will read either in groups or as a whole class if time allows. Please take a few moments to either find current events or historical events that happened that you think can be connected to the Holocaust. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Day Eight: Making connections from the plot <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hopefully the students will bring in some plot connections, but if not I will have some. What does plot mean? What is the plot of Anne Frank? Plot will be discussed as a class and then students will work on a Diary handout that deals with plot and its significance. We will go over the worksheet and then look at some current or historical connections to Anne Frank’s experience in the Holocaust. We will discuss at least one connection in depth and then practice a Socratic seminar. Read, read, read and respond tonight! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Day Nine: Stereotypes & maturity <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Class will begin with a review of the prior nights reading. At this point in the book and unit the students should be grasping the idea of maturity and importance of journals. I hope the students can lead the book discussion more than normal today. After, we will discuss stereotypes and those labels given to Jewish people and Germans during the Holocaust. Why haven’t we learned? Stereotypes are horrible and create devastation. What stereotypes do we still live with today? How can we correct these without violence? Let’s brainstorm! Now that we have connected the stereotypes during the Holocaust with today we will move into a structured debate. The class will be split in two; Germans and Jews. They will debate ways to correct their problems and stereotypes. They should use evidence from the other stereotypes we discussed and how badly some of those turned out, as well as the connections we made the day before to the Holocaust. The point will be for students to use what they learned throughout the unit and through Ms. Frank’s Diary to pose their opinions on the Holocaust. Tonight: Finish the book! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10. Day Ten: Novel Reflections & Film! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With the novel behind us, we will recap what we learned. Starting with the timelines, is there anything we could add to the timeline after the unit and Anne Frank’s Diary? In general what did we learn about the Holocaust and Anne Frank’s position? Let’s take a look at a section of Anne Frank’s film. Did the novel or the film represent the story Anne Frank tells better. What are the similarities and differences seen and why? After a good discussion of the book and film I will introduce the assessment. Over the weekend I am asking the students to write a one page reflection on their own journals as opposed to Anne Frank’s Diary. They will then be asked to write a page on their stance of the Holocaust.