Erica Saidoo
Hannah Nagi
Writing Sequence Draft
Unit Overview
Context
 Eastern High School, Lansing, MI
 9th Grade Honors English (about 40 students) and General Education English
(about 15 students)
 Demographics: Diverse Races: Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, Asian
American, Refugees; Diverse Socio-Economic Backgrounds: low class to
upper middle class
 Ratio girls to boys: 3:1
Unit
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Bias & Cause and Effect (in relation to race, social class, ethnicity, etc.)
How biases are formed
How biases can affect one’s perception of the world around them
Linking bias to real world events as well as literary text
Displaying cause and effect relationships of biases
Themes/Concepts
 How do preconceived notions produce cause and effect relationships?
 What are the consequences of such biases? (i.e. external vs. internal)
 Real world and fictionalized application of biases and cause and effect
 Correlation of historical events in order to explain biases and such cause and
effect relationships
Rationale
 Within our context we have been exploring issues of bias in tandem with
concepts of race, social class, poverty, civil rights and how that can affect
different people. All of these issues are derived from a historical perspective
of the Great Depression and the uprising of the civil rights movement (Jim
Crow laws). With that said we will attempt to synthesize their background
knowledge to tap into the connections they can make in their everyday lives.
By using the “Migrant Mother” and To Kill a Mockingbird (movie and novel)
students will be able to explore the historical and fictional events that not only
produce cause and effect relationships, but real world applications.
Inventory
 Journaling is done on a daily basis with a thoughtful prompt
 Dialogic discussion is easily practiced and made useful
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Students have experienced persuasive writing through the means of
examining famous speeches and articles
Students have written persuasive speeches in which they have had to choose
a topic that is surrounded by highly charged biases
Students have viewed and discussed a documentary about real world events
in which biases and morality conflicted (Scottsboro Boy Trial)
Goals
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Students will be able to think critically about the world at which we present
them with and how they fit into it.
Students will be able to realize the interconnectivity of bias and cause and
effect in relation to recursive class themes and historical events.
Students will be able to create various pieces of written and aesthetic work
which will showcase their knowledge and perception of how biases and cause
and effect function together.
Assessments
 Dialogic discussion of writing prompts and Fishbone Maps
 Crediting students for completing the specified journal entries based on the
“check mark system”
 Creation and evaluation of Fishbone Maps in relation to the text; dependent
on the written content and its ability to express a mode of higher level thinking
Lessons
 “Migrant Mother”
 “Cause and Effect: The Fishbowl”
Activities
 Journaling
 Dialogic Discussion
 Creating Fishbone Maps (Cause and Effect)
 Writing responses to Fishbone Maps
Discussion
 Dependent upon student responses and lesson
 See Tasks for L1 and L2
Texts
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“The Migrant Mother” by Dorothea Lange
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Daily Lesson Plans
LESSON #1: “The Migrant Mother”
Target Audience
 9th grade Honors English
 9th grade General English
Goals
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Students will be able to think critically about an image presented in its original
form while interpreting surrounding biases.
Students will be able to participate in a dialogic discussion in which opinions,
biases, and personal revelations can be shared.
Students will be able to relate the concepts of bias and cause and effect in
order to specifically analyze the presented image.
Objectives
 Students will be able to journal their observations of the “Migrant Mother” by
using their sensory perceptions.
 Students will be able to revisit and synthesize their responses to the
presented image after the background story is given.
 Students will be able to recognize the causes of exploitation and how that
affects the subject.
Rationale
 In accordance with keeping up with the recursivity of bias and cause and
effect relationships students will gain insight by reflecting on a real world
example. By exposing the true nature of the photo, students will begin to form
their own opinions about how biases form and manipulation occurs.
Materials
 Overhead
 Overhead pen
 Photo of “The Migrant Mother”
 Student journals
 Writing utensil
Procedure
 Teacher introduces lesson with quote and instructs students to close their
eyes while she reads it.
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a
magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to
her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures,
working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or
her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they
had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds
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that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.
There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and
seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me.
There was a sort of equality about it.” (From: Popular Photography, Feb.
1960).
Teacher shows “Migrant Mother” image
a. Dorthea Lange
b. (1936)
Students begin Part One of their journals with instructed prompt
a. What are your initial “sensory reactions?”
b. What do you feel, see, smell, hear, if you were there?
c. How does it make you feel, what does it remind you of?
Students share their responses and the class as a whole responds and
discuses the presented image in depth
Teacher shares with students the “real story” of the photo
a. Florence Owens Thompson
b. Dorthea Lange’s true mission: Hurried pictures of account during the
Great Depression
c. Michael Stone’s article
d. Daughter’s youth
Students begin Part Two of their journals with instructed writing prompt
a. How did your reaction change after learning the “true” story?
b. Can you trust the new story? Why or why not?
c. What does this say about bias and how that can affect your
interpretation of data presented, images, ideas?
d. What does this have to do with propaganda? Taking advantage of the
“poor” during times of extreme misfortune, capitalizing on said misfortune?
e. How can people justify?
Students share their response and the class as a whole responds and
discusses the implications of the new information
Assessments
 Journaling before and after image is described
 Dialogic discussion before and after journaling
To-Do List
 Make sure journal entries are completed on a regular basis
 Build on knowledge of the Great Depression
 Relate lesson to reoccurring themes and past real world examples (i.e.
Scottsboro Boy Trial, cause and effect of the Great Depression)
References
 Photo, http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd45.htm
LESSON #2: “Cause and Effect: The Fishbowl”
Target Audience
 9th grade Honors English
Goals
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Students will be able to think critically from a fictionalized character’s point of
view in order to better understand his or her disposition, and or external
perception within the fictionalized community.
Students will be able to express themselves through various forms of media
such as written, aesthetic, and dialogic forms of discussion.
Students will be able to formalize cause and effect relationships based on
their knowledge of historical and fictional events.
Students will be able to discover and rationalize various connections in order
to adapt them to their personal lives.
Objectives
 Students will be able to clearly and concisely describe their character from
that specific point of view by using at least one quotation and specific page
references form the text.
 Students will be able to utilize various fictional and historical events in order to
describe the causes of their characters’ disposition.
 Students will be able to discuss and share their findings in order to better
understand recursive classroom topics such as bias, racism, perception, the
Great Depression, Scottsboro Boy Trial, etc.
Rationale
 In accordance of keeping up with the recusivity of bias and cause and effect
relationships students will gain insight by associating fictionalized character
dispositions with their everyday lives. They will use their background
knowledge of important historical and fictional events in order to fuse these
connections appropriately. By doing so they will be able to tap into their high
level thinking skills while simultaneously making inferences and seeing
beyond.
Materials
 Fishbone Map Worksheet
 Art supplies
 Scissors
 Tape
 Fishbowl cut-out
Procedure
Day One
1. Fishbone Map worksheets are given to the students; directions are read
aloud; questions can be asked.
2. Students are divided into groups of 2-4 and must pick a specific character
based on a given list to focus on.
3. Students will not be told what the fish cut out is for; instead students must be
focusing on character analysis and the cause and effect relationships present
from the point of view of their character.
4. Once written material is completed students have the opportunity to decorate
and color their fish if desired.
5. Teacher must remind students to bring their fish to class the next day in order
to continue the activity and to share their findings.
Day Two
1. Teacher explains why the Fishbone Maps were created and the notion of a
“fishbowl” in relation to a real world application.
2. Students share their fish and what they have discovered about their
characters through this process. They will then put their fish in the fishbowl.
3. Teacher and students will make connections and ask open ended questions
in order to dialogically discuss the importance of bias, perception, and
correlating ideologies found within the novel and history.
4. Students will finish the hour with a written response to the activity in which
they will discuss the notion of a “fishbowl” and how it relates to their lives.
Assessments
 Creating Fishbone Maps (cause and effect relationships)
 Dialogic discussion upon completion of Fishbone Maps
 Written response
To-Do List
 Make sure To Kill a Mockingbird is almost completed
 Build on students’ understanding of cause and effect relationships
References
 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 Strategic Reading and Discourse Organization by Grabe and Stoller (p. 218)
Discussion
Erica’s Thoughts
1. How does what you planned account for the development of procedural knowledge in
your students?
Well, the students are presented with “truth” and then given another “truth”. It is up to
them to decide what to take away from the situation/information presented. This is the
same with bias, we need to be able to think for ourselves and be able to realize why
people may want others to think a certain way or believe particular information. This
accounts for procedural knowledge because students have to apply what they have
learned to the situation. Students are encouraged to think critically about how different
elements of society are presented to them, and then they must decide how to interpret
that. This is something that is actively done. It may not be quite hands-on, but it
requires students to think freely and come up with their own conclusion rather than a
forced result.
For the second lesson, students are asked to make the connections of cause and effect
on the fish map. Having the students lay out the cause for the character of the book to
behave and be such a way can help students to visualize their findings. This method
may allow students to “see” how each character is affected in different ways from the
same events and time period. I’m hoping that with this lesson, students will be able to
think about themselves and their surroundings instead of just the events and characters
in the book. In this way, students would be able to apply what they have learned about
analyzing characters to the real world. Short of sympathizing with people, students may
have another way to understand the people around them through digging deeper into
why people are who they are.
2. How does what you planned connect to the overall plans for the unit and vice versa?
The planned lessons connect to the overall plans for the unit in the way that each
lesson either relates to bias or cause and effect. The first lesson prepares students for
the idea of bias. It allows students to think about different ways to interpret way is
presented to them. Showing students the “Migrant Mother” tells them to question what
is presented to them. Ask, inquire, wonder, etc. This image opens up students to ideas
of poverty, social class and race during the Great Depression and the different biases
people had toward the specific groups/stereotypes. Students begin discussing how
exploitation plays a part in why some people have biases against others, as a way to
make money, a way to keep oneself higher than others.
The second lesson connects to the overall unit in the way that it establishes the
students’ knowledge of cause and effect relationships. Students will create “fish maps”
that show the way bias infiltrates through in pretty much all situations. Bias is always
present, whether it is good or bad, and it plays a part in how information is interpreted.
Having the students make the cause and effect maps allows them to see from within the
fictional sense (the novel) and the real world sense (historical). This connects to the
overall unit because students need to be able to think critically about their surroundings
and how it affects them.
3. What makes what you’ve planned dialogic? What are you learning about the
challenges of dialogic teaching? How specifically could you improve these plans in this
regard?
The lesson plans are dialogic in the way that they both give students a chance to think
things through and voice their own opinions and thoughts about the subject at hand.
Students converse as a class and in small groups, creating a dialogue that is rewarding
in the sense that students are not expected to recite some “pre-formulated” answer.
Students are encouraged to think about bias and cause and effect and come to their
own conclusions. Thus, students are talking out their ideas. I know for me, it is easier
sometimes to write first and then share. Students are expected to journal their thoughts
as to make it less “scary” when speaking in front of the entire class. This makes sharing
examples or thoughts flow more as a whole and helps students to collect their thoughts
so they don’t feel as though they’re stuttering. Plus, if everyone is expected to write out
what they are thinking, discussion can keep going instead of having a big lull in the
middle of a great discussion.
I am learning that the challenges of leading a dialogic discussion with students are
considerable. I mean, we taught lessons and whatnot with out classmates, and
everyone wants everyone else to do well, so we participate and help them keep the
lessons flowing, However, when you’re in front of freshmen, they don’t care if you flop.
It is more challenging in keeping them interested in what is at hand. It is challenging
when you must think of other questions or examples on the spot when you’re not
necessarily prepared to answered specific questions. It’s a never-ending process that
I’m sure gets a bit less stressful with practice and experience.
The plans could improve in regards to “think-pair-share”. If there is more discussion
between students, they may feel more comfortable sharing. This could have been done
with out first lesson, but we went straight from journaling to sharing. It went well, but
there could have been more participation from other students possibly. The second
lesson we haven’t taught yet, but I think there is more discussion between students.
They will work in groups of 2-4 and have to decide what gets written down and why.
This may help students to discuss why certain aspects of the novel and historical events
are significant or not compared to a specific character. After students complete the first
part of the lesson, they will come together and share what they came up with to the
class as a whole. The teacher will foster discussion and lead students to think about
perspectives and bias. Students will write a response and then talk about that as well.
Overall, there is a lot of talking going on. Students have many opportunities to ask
questions, help their peers, and seek advice from the teacher. I don’t know how the
second lesson can be improved as of yet since we haven’t taught it yet. We’ll have to
see soon. 
Hannah’s Thoughts
1. How does what you planned account for the development of procedural knowledge in
your students?
Well in my opinion, and I am sure Erica would agree, every lesson in the class is
recursive. I do not know how Emily planned this so well or if it was a week to week kind
of thing, but whatever she has done has worked great for these students. Erica and I
were lucky to have been able to witness this before we decided to attempt to add to this
awesome planning. In our case we decided to take what we know and blend that with
the overall class themes. Therefore choosing to focus on bias and cause and effect
were not hard themes to bridge with existing ones.
Within our first lesson we decided to keep with Emily’s recursive implementation
of journaling and directly present them with an image that they knew nothing about
except for what was right in front of their faces. They were able to not only tap into their
prior knowledge about the Great Depression, but also begin to think cause and effect,
and why such a relationship may occur. It was very interesting to witness the students
thinking pattern. It was very easy to tell that they really felt cheated when we told them
the “true” story. Their feelings toward the picture immediately changed and they now
had a different perception of the world around them. I was so happy to see that the
connections we provided them with were made and even others. Such connections that
were made stemmed from all of the recursive themes that Emily has been revisiting
throughout the year. I could only hope that my classroom resemble some of this in the
future. As for the second lesson, we have not been able to teach it yet therefore I am
hoping for the best. Similar to our first lesson I feel that it will more than likely tap into
the development of procedural knowledge. We designed the lesson to bring out our
students creativity and ability to think abstractly. They will have to think from the view
point of a character and then analyze this character based on real world perception and
baises. It brings together our WS themes and once again taps into the recursive
themes, concepts, etc. of the class as a whole. It will be interesting to see this play out
in a two day process. I have never had this experience so I am looking forward to it
most definitely.
2. How does what you planned connect to the overall plans for the unit and vice versa?
Oh wow…well once again I feel that everything is recursive. Everything Emily
does and says every day relates back to various lessons, assignments, and real world
events. Our few lessons only took up an inch worth of space in her plans, but I honestly
feel that we were able to fit in to her recursive methods quite accurately. In our case we
were pretty lucky because Emily had already been working with her students on biases
and cause and effect relationships. Therefore we decided it would be easy to expand on
what the students already know, and introduce a few new terms, themes, things to think
about, etc.
Our first lesson reintroduces the concept of biases and how cause and effect
works. We also introduced concepts of exploitation, perception, and morality. The
students ended up responding pretty well to these themes because most of them knew
what they were and could easily apply them to our context. As suspected the Honors
class had an easier time making such connections and giving us the kind of answers we
expected…which I am not sure is a good or bad thing as of now. I say this because
when discussion was sparked in the General class they did not give us the nice “cookie
cutter” answers. Instead they were real and up front and pretty much told us what they
would do if this was actually happening to them. I found that somewhat more refreshing
than a highly rehearsed or practiced answer. Overall, both classes made excellent
connections with the first lesson. When we teach our second lesson I hope we have
some of the same results. Like the first it deals with the recursive themes of the class,
and more specifically relates to biases and cause and effect. This time they are using
To Kill a Mockingbird to understand character relationships and what causes their
fictional fates. Not only are we going to have them look to the novel for evidence, but
use what they know about real historical events. This way we can bring back all of the
previous lessons Emily have taught and tap into their critical thinking skills. Also, I have
a strong feeling that this lesson will be fun…we are coloring FISH!
3. What makes what you’ve planned dialogic? What are you learning about the
challenges of dialogic teaching? How specifically could you improve these plans in this
regard?
What we have planned is dialogic because we have given students the
opportunity to critique, hypothesize, understand, etc. the world at which we present
them without telling them what is right or wrong. Thus we are presenting them with a
reality that they must make their own in order to better understand. We are not going to
be giving them letter grades based on what they come up with. Instead we are going to
be giving them credit for doing the work and participating in class discussion. And
although we will respond to their work and participation we will not be judging them. In
such an instance I feel that the exchange between teacher and student becomes more
valuable and authentic because there are dialogic based exchanges rather than grade
striving exchanges. Erica and I hope that through discussion, journaling, character
profiling, and real world application we can make this experience as authentic as
possible and recursively dialogic.
Throughout this process I have definitely learned that my lesson plans are going
to change day to day. Just for these two lessons our plans changed about ten different
times. With that said I do not think that my best ideas will come to me right away. It is
going to take a lot of backwards planning and critical analyzing to make sure that I am
providing my students with a dialogic and pedagogically sound lesson. Also, I have
found that what I have planned will most likely change while I am teaching it. I am going
to think of something new that better makes a connection right in the middle of my
lesson which ultimately will change how the rest of the lesson goes. So basically, I have
realized that trying to plan a dialogic lesson is hard! It does not come as naturally as I
thought it would, but it is totally worth the hard work when you realize how awesome
your students respond to it. It’s like I did that!!!
Overall, I think that we could improve our lessons if we got to know the students
on a more personal level. We could really connect things to their everyday lives if we
knew what they liked or what their opinions were about certain real world issues. I think
that this would definitely make our lessons more dialogic and authentic without a doubt.
Also, I think that we could improve our lessons by adding more room for creativity and
expression. I would never want to subject my students to a mode of expression they do
not fit with. I think that by giving my students options would make the lesson more
authentic and useful to them. Then again this was a writing sequence lesson so we
really did have to focus it mainly around writing. Overall I have realized that there
always will be room for improvement in any lesson that I create now and in the future.
Side Note: This was a really fun and useful assignment, Kelly!!! 