SIDE DISCUSSION ABOUT KATHY RENFREW'S UNIT


KATHY WROTE:

All of this brainstorming and outside the box thinking has assisted me in beginning to write to my first literature/interdisciplinary unit for the fall. It started with "how change affect me and my world?" I can see it changing as we continue to discuss and develop sub questions for our overriding questions.

I want to share something that I did today because I would like some feedback from valued colleagues but I don't want to confuse what we are trying to do as a whole group. Well I will risk it!! Remember this is just my personal first take/possibility that has developed due to discussion

There's No Place Like Home

Focusing Questions:

How does change in ìhomeî as we know it affect you?
What changes if any have occurred in your home?
What changes have occurred in the world to change the concept/value of home?

Rationale:

Having a home of one's own is a desire that crosses cultural boundaries. It is a value that has been prevalent throughout history and in all corners of the world. In today's society there are regular threats against this value. In today's society we find that homelessness has become a common reality for many, refugee camps have become home for many children, and other children experience abuse and neglect in a place that is called home. Since middle school age students are starting to experience the need to establish their identities beyond the family, a unit titled ìThere's No Place Like Homeî can provide a framework for exploring what home can and should mean, for thinking about the variety of homes that exist, and for beginning to consider what type of home they may want to create for themselves in the future.

Unit Goals:

1. Read a title from those provided of their own choosing and discuss it's relationship to a unit on ìhomeî. (5.12)

2. Describe the relationship between the setting of the story and the concept of ìhomeî (5.11, 5.12)

3. Defineî homeî using personal experiences, literary examples and connections with and from the Structures and geography units. (5.11, 5.12)

4. Predict plot events based on understanding of the characters, settings and conflicts involved in literature. (1.3, 5.11, 5.12)

5. Compare and contrast literary works sharing the theme of home. (5.11, 5.12)

6. Research the concept of home from a variety of perspectives, including library research on scientific definitions, interviews with people of various age groups, and primary source material and by looking at homes in different parts of the world. (6.19)

7. Synthesize the unit content in a personally meaningful way through a presentation. (6.19)

Vermont Standards to be assessed in the unit

1.3 d Reading Comprehension:

Students make connections and applications of a text to outside experiences. (journals, discussions)

1.7 Response to literature:

In a written response to literature, students show understanding of their reading and connect it to the concept of home and issues that arise from that concept. (response to literature)

4.5 Continuity and Change:

Students demonstrate an understanding that perceptions of change are based on personal experiences, historical and social conditions and the implications of the change for the future. (answering focusing questions)

5.11 Literary Elements and Devices;

Students use literary elements to analyze, compare and interpret literature. (literature circles, journals)

5.12 Literate Community: Students participate as members of a literate community, talking about books, ideas and writing (literature circles, participation rubric, role sheets, journals)

6.19 Identity and Interdependence:

Students demonstrate how societal changes can alter identities over time. (presentation)

Literature Circle Choices:

Pinballs by Betsy Byars Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

I would love feedback on this.

Maybe I should have shared this on the regular list???

Kathy from VT

==========================================

From: KathleenA Renfrew <karenfrew@earthlink.net>
Subject: [MWprojects] home unit

I neglected to give credit to the book where the original idea for the
home unit came from. It is called Young Adult Literature The Heart of
the Middle School Curriculum by Lois Thomas Stover.

==========================================

MARSHA WROTE:

Kathy,

I think this theme is a wonderful extension of our essential question. I can see it being a wonderfully useful way of examining the world---particularly relevant to our middle schoolers who study world
geography. Do you think students will define "home" as a place or state of mind or some kind of ideal to aspire to find?
There's No Place Like Home

Focusing Questions:
How does change in ìhomeî as we know it affect you?
What changes if any have occurred in your home?
What changes have occurred in the world to change the concept/value of home?

Rationale:
Having a home of one's own is a desire that crosses cultural boundaries. It
is a value that has been prevalent throughout history and in all corners of the
world. In today's society there are regular threats against this value. In
today's society we find that homelessness has become a common reality for
many, refugee camps have become home for many children, and other children
experience abuse and neglect in a place that is called home.


Although I think it's true that the value of "home" is under attack, I don't think it's unique to our times. Some of the practices of the Middle Ages were anti-home. Subscription into armies was rampant whenever a lord needed an army to go to battle. I just finished reading an article about the long held practice in India of selling young girls to men because their families were running out of money. Without a dowry, there was little hope of marriage. Families were forced to chose which daughter to sell in order to save the rest of the family.
6. Research the concept of home from a variety of perspectives, including
library research on scientific definitions, interviews with people of
various age groups, and primary source material and by looking at homes in different
parts of the world. (6.19)

7. Synthesize the unit content in a personally meaningful way through a
presentation. (6.19)

I think this part of your unit will be a delight to watch happen. Students will have the chance to create some new ideas. Now I want to know what happens. I'd really love to see how, and if, students are interested in finding out about homes in tribal communities, nomadic communities, rural areas, urban areas, etc. Does geography influence how homes are structured?

I know I don't know the answer, but I'm guessing it will. I also wonder if you couldn't find a social anthropologist or sociologist to online chat with students as they explore this idea. Maybe through one of the Ask An Expert sites.Or maybe Margaret Mead has some easier stuff you can share with them in read aloud.

I wonder if you couldn't include pieces of art to show how families have changed. I know there is a wonderful National Gallery of Art online unit that looks at how animals have changed over time by examining pieces of sculpture. It's very cool. and I'll bet you could do this with families, as well.

This looks great. Good luck with it. I hope some of my ramblings help.

===========================================

MARY ANNE WROTE: Kathy--Your work with the idea of homes is really good. I think kids will really enjoy the discussion. To dovetail on some of the things Marsha said as well--there is a series of art prints called "communities." If my memory serves me correctly it is published by Teacher Created Press. That are inexpensive, yet fabulous to use.

Also have you ever read the picture book--"The Little House" ? I can't remember the author's name. But, it is this incredible little book written decades ago about a little house that is built in the middle of a field and a city slowly grows up around him. It is nothing fancy--just a darling story with lots of lesson possibilities!

===========================================

NAOMI WROTE: Regarding the study of home, homes, a place to live, one could integrate science and math quite easily.

Homes are build in accordance with the climate, building materials available, etc. (Houses on stilts in flood areas, )

Round houses maximize space (there is a book something like "The Village of Round Houses" or "The Village of Round and Square Houses".) Kids can investigate spacial use. Architectual design, etc.

There are also Nomadic peoples who have mobile houses. And there are homeless shelters, homeless children, etc. social issues.

===========================================

BEVERLY WROTE:To echo Mary Anne, _The Little House_ by Virginia Lee Burton is indeed a good picture book to inspire thinking, discussion, and writing as well as inspiriing kids to contrast effects of change. If you have a hard time finding it, most libraries should have it. I recently bought a copy at an estate sale.

I'm planning to use this book for a writing and thinking unit when I return to school. Little Rock has divided into various factions concerning the impact a potential new super mall could have it is is built. I want my 8th graders to research the controversy and think about the changes it will bring to their town.

_Letting Swift River Go_by Jane Yolen (ISBN 0-316-96860-9) tells of the drowning of the Swift River towns to creat the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. It begins "When i was six years old the world seemed a very safe place. . . .Mama let me walk to school all alone along the winding blacktop."

This evocative book, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, goes on to describe the destruction of the communities--After the houses and buildings were razed, "The waters from the dammed rivers moved in slowly and silently. They rose like unfriendly neighbors halfway up the sides of the hills. . . ." Then the setting of the book shifts to "Much later when I was grown, Papa and I rowed out on the Quabbin Reservoir...and Papa pointed over the side."

Papa points out various landmarks to the narrator, who says, "I looked. I thought I could see the faint outlines, but I could not read the past. Little perch now owned those streets..." Darkness falls, she thinks about the town, "Then I heard my mother's voice coming to me over the drowned years. 'You have to let them go, Sally Jane.' I looked won into the darkening deep, smiled, and did."

Is this about change? I think so--


===========================================

BILL WROTE:

>_Letting Swift River Go_by Jane Yolen (ISBN 0-316-96860-9) tells of the
>drowning of the Swift River towns to create the Quabbin Reservoir in
>Massachusetts....

As a resident of Western Massachusetts who grew up relatively near the Quabbin, I would second this recommendation. In many ways, growing up with the acute awareness that the big and powerful can easily impose unwanted change on those they outnumber has shaped my political and social views. "How do you handle unwanted change?" was, I think, one of our sub-essential questions, and this book fits perfectly.

_Pip's Magic_ is another children's book which might fit, if you're looking for children's books and what the can teach older kids. It's about a lizard who is scared of the dark, and heads off in search of a wizard who can provide magic to solve the problem. In the process, Pip explores many dark places, and of course learns at the end that he had the magic to solve the problem all along. This would relate to the idea of "change and growth," I would think.

>Regarding the study of home, homes, a place to live, one could integrate
>science and math quite easily. >
>Homes are build in accordance with the climate, building materials available,
>etc. (Houses on stilts in flood areas, )

Yes, and you can also easily study the role passive solar heating might play in home design. _From the Ground Up_ is a good resource if you want kids to get into specifics of home design, or you could have them experiment with model houses and thermometers and figure out which designs heat most efficiently. Of course, this assumes these activities help them get at something you want them to learn permanently.

===========================================

To add a couple (of books) to the list-- "The River Ran Wild" by Lynne Cherry is a fabulous little book about the history of the Nashua River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. (Before we came to Florida, I lived right on the river in the town of Bolton. It was a beautiful spot!) The book takes you through what the river looked like in the days of the Native Americans, through the coming of the Europeans, the building of farms and factories all the way through until today. Another book by the same author is "The Great Kapok Tree." It predicts what will happen if the rainforest is "changed".

There are also many young adult novels out there that deal with changes. A relatively new one is "The Captive." It is a mini-Roots type story. The author does a great job with comparing a boys life in Africa with his life on a boat and in the new colonies. She does some interesting work with color comparisons. During the boys time in Africa she describes the brightly colored cloth and the soft green tones of the forest. The boat is gray and brown. Finally the colonists are dressed in black and brown and the dust covers everything. It is easy for the kids to pick up the change in moods.

One of the things I have been playing with, is having the kids keep a "change journal." Throughout the unit when they question or change an attitude or behavior I want them to be aware and open to it. Giving them a safe forum is always an effective way to do that. Maybe I'll just incorporate it in their regular journals, but I would like to do something special with it! Any ideas!?

Mary Anne

===========================================


BACK TO MAIN RECORD OF CONVERSATION