21st+Century+English

21st Century Skills Map



__Grade: __ 10th __Outcome: __ Creativity and Innovation--Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work. __Summary: __ After reading Fahrenheit 451, students will create a boat out of any medium they desire. It may be a box, an old barrel or even a graphic done in Photoshop for example. Students must then decide what 10 items the main character, Guy Montag, would take with him if he were to be stranded on a boat for the rest of his life without any hope of being reunited with his own world. Not only must they construct physical representations of each item, they must also present their boats to the rest of the class while elaborating on why they chose the objects they chose. And they also need to justify each item's symbolic meaning and connect that meaning to the text and its development.

__Grade: __ 11th __Outcome: __ Critical Thinking and Problem Solving--Frame, analyze and synthesize information in order to solve problems and answer questions. Demonstrate ability to work effectively with diverse teams. __Summary: __The American Dream. __The Great Gatsby.__The two are nearly interchangeable; but what used to be considered the American Dream, the ability to come from nothing and turn it into something through hard work and dedication, has lost its luster and is seemingly redefined as apathy. Where did it go wrong? After reading __The Great Gatsby__, students will be put into groups of four and asked to do some action-research through vehicles like student polling. For example, one student could go to a retirement home and have the residents answer the question, "What is the American Dream?" Then another student should head to the cafeteria during lunch and poll students. From there the group can compare, analyze and synthesize the data they gather and begin researching the topic on a national scale, examining the evolution of the American Dream as well as its de-evolution. The group can also compare other countries' perceptions of what the American Dream is to the one they've defined and examine the differences and similarities. Finally, each group will be required to provide an action plan highlighting the key problems that stifle the American Dream along with solutions.

__Grade: __ 10th __Outcome: __ Communication--Articulate thoughts clearly and effectively through writing, speaking and multimedia. __<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Summary: __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">After reading Joyce Carol Oates' "Where have You Been; Where are You Going?" and after analyzing Oates' allusions to the dangers of popular culture, and the even more ominous references to the Devil, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their new found understandings through art. Well...at least through magazine art. Students will be expected to build their own Arnold Friend by cutting pictures, phrases, stories, and clip art out of popular magazines like Cosmo, GQ, Teen, and so on. They need to piece together their creations on poster board and then explain its thematic and symbolic connections to the story itself (by writing an essay) while making connections to modern day issues that still exist despite the fact this story is around 60 years old. Students will then be expected to present the posters to the class highlighting their major points and discoveries.

__<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Grade: __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> 11th __<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Outcome: __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> Demonstrate ability to work effectively with diverse teams. __<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Summary: __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">After reading Charlotte Perkin's "Yellow Wallpaper,"split the class into male-female pairs. During the first five minutes have each person write down their impressions of the narrator. Generally speaking, the girls will agree that the narrator is delusional, but they will generally be compassionate and empathetic whereas the boys just can't relate and in fact, are annoyed or irritated by the narrator's behavior. The students will be required to find textual evidence supporting why they feel the way the do and engage in a discussion with their partner about their findings while keeping an open mind to new or different interpretations. The class will then be asked to join large group Socratic Seminar. The question, "Does the narrator find freedom" will be posed, and from there students will be encouraged to incorporate their small-group findings into seminar discussion.