Work MCU 1
Curriculum Map – Unit 4: Work - Our Stories, Our lives (modified unit from DESE MCU)
Subject Area: ELA Grade 12
Time: Three-four Weeks
Overview:
Students will read, view, listen to, analyze, and research texts relating to the topic of
work, including an ethnography and autoethnography. An ethnography is an analysis of
particular culture or social setting through participant observation, interviewing, and
other research techniques with the aim of creating a “thick description.” An
authoethnography is a self-reflective narrative that combines autobiography and
ethnography, relating the author’s personal experience along with his or her
observations about the group or culture. * After studying and discussing the concept of
culture and published examples of ethnography and authoethnography—nonfiction
account of life in the American workplace—students will (a) examine the cultural groups
to which they belong, (b) conduct qualitative research about their participation in one
cultural group, and (c) write an autoethnographic narrative focused on the topic of
work.
Texts:




A & P by John Updike
People Talk About What They Do All Day by Studs Terkel
How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel
Excerpts from Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara
Ehrenreich
Additional Resources:
 Bureau of Labor Statistics website: http://www.bls.gov/
 Border Jumpers:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/wa08.socst.world.glob.workabroad/
 Antarctica: A Challenging Work Day:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.dangers/
 Demolition Woman:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/phy03.sci.engin.systems.blowup/
 Welding Supervisor:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ate10.sci.engin.systems.weldsuper/
Reading Focus Standards:
CCSS.ELA.RI.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA.RI.11-12.5
Work MCU 2
Student Statements:
I can…
 Read and analyze ethnographies and autoethnographies, identify and evaluate
his/her choice of information, cultural biases, and social agendas.
 Determine why authors make particular stylistic choices.
 Discern between relevant and irrelevant sources of information for
autoethnographic research.
 Write autoethnographic narratives based on original research and reflection that
include thick description and cultural analysis.
Essential Questions:
 How is cultural analysis embedded in different literary genres?
 How do the cultural groups to which people belong contribute to their
identities?
 To what extent are people’s identities defined or formed by what they do for
work?
 What cultural beliefs and values are associated with work?
Reading Assessments:
 Content/Response Notebooks – summary and paraphrase
 SMELL
 Annotate
 Summarize articles
 Think-Pair-Share questions
 Socratic Seminar questions
 Questions on A&P by John Updike
 Bureau of Labor Statistics questions
 Cultural Analysis Chart
 Working Chapter Readings
 Reflection questions on Job-Related videos
 Post-Viewing videos questions
 Critical Thinking questions on Nickel and Dimed
 Dialectical Journal for Nickel and Dimed
 Close Reading on Nickel and Dimed
 Compare and Contrast essay on Working and Nickel and Dimed
Writing Focus Standards:
 CCSS.ELA.W.11-12.3
 CCSS.ELA.W.11-12.8
Work MCU 3
Student Statements:
I Can:
 Write an autoethnography
 Do research to find sources that support the topic
 Correctly cite multiple sources
Essential Questions:
 What skills are necessary to good narrative writing?
 What sources are best to include in an autoethnography?
CEPA (Student Instructions): CEPA Rubric on MCU
At this point, you should have a strong grasp on the term “work” and how it relates to
careers in the real world as well as your own life. Whether you work on a team or in
your home, it’s important to think about how it defines you as a person. Now it’s your
turn to tell a story of your own in the form of an autoethnography. Your task is to
research and describe a group in which you work and belong. The cumulative
worksheets from this project will help you ultimately write your autoethnography, so
please be sure to save all of your work.
Project Guidelines
1. Project Format: You will write a traditional research paper to convey your
autoethonography using the MLA format. Your paper should be at least five
typed written pages long.
2. Research: Your paper should have a minimum of three quality published sources
(not Wikipedia), plus interviews of other participants in your group and
reflections on your own personal experiences. Your sources should be listed
clearly, using MLA format, in your research paper.