13+Reasons+Why+(Unit+Rationale)


 * Unit rationale:**

Why this book? It’s an easy read, revolves around high schoolers and is appealing to boys and girls. Covers many topics that teenagers deal with.

Why not some other book, don’t others do that too? This book is pretty different from others. It covers a dark topic and some very serious material, but the story is funny enough that it can still be read. The book also has two characters that it speaks from gives a change in voice, which in and of itself is a great style for English students. good point

The book is about a teenage girl who feels alone and frequently feels her reputation is falsified through rumor and assumptions. This results in her greatly needing others to tell her who she is and help identify her self worth. Meanwhile we also read from the perspective of a boy named Clay, who sees Hannah for who she is outside of her reputation, but is too late to help Hannah see it herself.

Our hope is that this book will open the class up for some very deep discussions. Discussion is rarely used to its fullest potential in a class, we hope to change that, but to do so, the book selected would need to leave a lot of room for discussion. The unit would be on “swagger,” in a sense where swagger IS your identity. We want the students to realize who they are to them, and to other circles of their life including: family, friends, school, and exracurriculars. The students will learn what it would be like to have no self-worth from the book, then they build from there to identify their own. Another important sub-theme we wish to get across is something we are calling “the ripple effect.” Essentially that everything effects everything and even the smallest thing can have a huge effect on someone else. As another piece to this we would want to teach. Not only would this unit incorporate a lot of discussions and reading, it would also have a composition aspect. We will have the students write journals, about themselves. We may sometimes give them a topic to write on, for instance, write a two page paper from the perspective of such and such character. Essentially the unit would cause the students to engage in reading, writing and discussions, thus establishing multiple media__s__ involving English. Through the discussions the students will become more comfortable with talking to the class, which is vital as we want to show them the importance of a community rather than solidarity. This unit could be a great final senior project, ideally it would leave the student with a feeling of closeness with their classmates and help them learn more about themselves. This unit is bold, but the payoff would be a class, or a unit unlike most in high school. This would fully revolve around life-lessons and higher learning.

The intention would be for students to end the unit on a multi-genre project. They will be to identify who they are through multiple circles of their life as I mentioned before and present it to the class.

> === === > === Some attention should go the form of the novel: the dialogue with an absent person, the circuitous plot that moves abruptly forward and back in time, characterization that contrasts exterior behavior with motives and how characters are evaluated for the cruelty of their offenses. Students can learn ways to read and analyze text, as well as reflect on themes. ===
 * They could make a documentary in which they ask a few people they consider family to say who they are to the student and who the student is to them, not just literally. (for instance "I'm his mom, he's my son." It should be a more in depth look). Then they would do the same with a few people they consider friends, they should talk to at least one teacher or school member. Perhaps teammates if they are in a sport or club. It would also be fun if they could have a five minute discussion with a complete stranger, then interview the stranger and get a sense of who they think you are. Finally they interview themself and tell the audience who they are to them.
 * 1) === This would require extreme trust of both the teacher and fellow students. You can not expect students to reveal this much under normal circumstances. ===
 * 2) === The assessment does not really reveal their understanding of the novel. A summative assessment should address how students interpret theme through the elements of the text, such as narrator, character motives, and time shifts in the plot. ===