ITIP UNIT TITLE: “Zhang Jie and the Cultural Revolution”
Authored by: Randall Green, Oakridge Public Schools, Muskegon, MI.
INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS: This lesson plan meets the academic goals for Standard
11:1 of the Oakridge Public Schools Language Arts Curriculum, as well as the content
standards of the Michigan Curriculum Framework listed in brackets. The teaching and
learning standards involve higher order thinking, deep knowledge of the subject,
substantive dialogue, and connections to the world beyond the classroom. It is suitable
for an 11th grade general education classroom, and assesses organization of information,
consideration of alternatives, elaborated written communication, and engaging an
audience beyond the classroom. [Michigan Curriculum Framework Standards: I.1; I.3;
III.5; IV.6; V.7; VI.8; VII.9; VIII.10; IX.11; and X.12]
OBJECTIVES: Students will research the historical, social, cultural, and political
contexts of China’s cultural revolution, and interpret how those contexts relate to a
possible theme in Zhang Jie’s short story Love Must Not Be Forgotten.
RATIONALE: This lesson follows a direct instruction model which taught the
concepts of context and provided a lengthy period of guided practice to assess
understanding. In as much as the goal of education remains the ability to transfer
learning to other circumstances and venues, this lesson will test students deep
knowledge of context by requiring them, in collaborative groups, to research, discuss,
and share the knowledge they’ve gained with both their classmates, and an audience
outside the classroom.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE: The unit will begin with a whole class discussion
of what students already know about China to access prior knowledge, using the K-W-L
pre-reading strategy. Students will be encouraged to further classify what they know in
terms of context, accessing both their knowledge of China, and their understanding of
the academic standard as learned in the previous unit.
Students will then be separated into collaborative groups of 4-5, and provided with
web access to research the political, social, cultural, and historical contexts of the
Cultural Revolution. Each group will research a specific context, with each member of
the group charged with the responsibility of answering one of the reporter’s questions
for that context: who? what? why? when/where? and how?. (Students will be provided
with a verification worksheet to record their findings, and a list of web resources to
research their topic. Both items will be downloadable from the teacher’s web page, if
applicable.) Each collaborative group will then report back to their classmates on the
context they researched, providing, in the end, the whole class with the knowledge
necessary to discuss the historical, political, cultural, and social contexts of the Cultural
Revolution.
Prior to the actual reading of Zhang Jie’s short story Love Must Not Be Forgotten,
students will complete a “word journal” (see the list of materials), to further their
understanding of unfamiliar vocabulary. (The word journal integrates Standard 11:4 of
the Oakridge Public Schools Language Arts Curriculum with this standard, and is an
ongoing assessment given periodically throughout the year.) The Words to Know on
page 196 of the McDougal/Littel text will provide the vocabulary for completion of the
word journal.
The reading of Love Must Not Be Forgotten may be done individually through
sustained silent reading, or as a whole class, with the teacher reading aloud or utilizing
the CD version of the text provided by McDougal/Littel [See bibliography]. As they
read, and to further their understanding, students should take notes to connect Zhang
Jie’s narrative to the historical, cultural, social, and political contexts they researched
and were taught. (In simpler terms, students should be instructed to take note of the
traditions, political institutions, beliefs and values of China, as Zhang Jie illustrates
them in the narrative.) After the reading has been completed, discussion of the story’s
framework should take place (plot, characters, conflict, and resolution). Multiple
themes exist in this story, and students should be instructed to consider which of three
they believe is best conveyed (choosing one’s priorities in life; the consequences of
change; the individual’s duty to others). Students should be informed that the notes
they took while reading must be used to justify their choice of theme. (The political,
social, historical, and cultural contexts of the narrative should interconnect and support
their choice of theme, as it influenced Zhang Jie’s creation of the story as a writer.)
ASSESSMENT: Reassembled in their collaborative groups, students will discuss their
choice of theme, and which theme is best represented by the narrative and their
understanding of context. Each group will then create a banner for display outside the
classroom that visually represents their choice of theme, and how that theme is related
to the historical, political, cultural, and social contexts of the narrative. (The size of the
banners is optional, but they should be large enough to accommodate the symbolic
representation of all four contexts, as well as the theme. It should also be noted that,
when viewed by the school community, they should be displayed in a manner that would
discourage defacement, and therefore, visible and understandable from an appropriate
distance.) The choice and placement of the symbols/visuals used on the banner are the
responsibility of each collaborative group, but a written rationale explaining the choices
made and their relationship to the assignment must be submitted upon completion of
the banner. Grading of each group’s effort will be based on a teacher-generated rubric
that assesses the group’s interaction and dynamic, as well as how well the final product
depicts the subject matter, contexts, and theme of Love Must Not Be Forgotten.
MATERIALS: A classroom set of McDougal/Littel’s Language of Literature, Grade
10, or individual copies of Zhang Jie’s Love Must Not Be Forgotten. Computer and
Internet access for two to five class periods. A classroom set of Word Journals
(optional); enough banner material and art supplies for completion. Web and print
resource page (attached). Anticipated instructional time for this unit is estimated at 1015 class periods.