Unit Overview
ICP Overview
Our group has created an Interdisciplinary Collaboration Project that uses a variety of strategies, activities, and texts in order to create a cohesive social studies and English learning experience for students. The unit plan concerns European interactions with Native Americans, with a focus on bias in history and literature and examining point of view.
We begin our ICP with an introduction to point of view and bias. We want our students to for an understanding that bias can be found in almost every piece of literature and historical text, and can be especially prominent in first-hand accounts. On the first day of the unit, we will also be teaching the students the insert note taking strategy in order to ensure that they have knowledge of effective note taking skills throughout the unit. Anticipation guides and RAFT activities will be used to activate prior knowledge and spark group conversations about the different points of view found in primary texts written by historical figures in the time period.
We will be using historical song lyrics and poetry to examine the themes and literary elements in the text that support themes found in the ICP. For example, students will encounter an account from a poem that suggests that Native Americans were not treated fairly by the incoming Europeans. After analyzing opposing views through the song and poem lyrics, students will be creating a point of view journal to demonstrate their understanding of how each group was feeling. After analyzing the poetry and songs, students will participate in a group project where they will choose song lyrics that relate to what they have learned so far. In the assignment, they will be tasked with justifying why it represents the point of view of either the Native Americans or the Europeans.
Students will be reading from Walking the Choctaw Road and participating in literature circles to discuss the book. This historical fiction novel is set during a much later period than the focus of our unit, but we felt that students would benefit from learning of the longevity of the issues at hand, particularly the issues that began during the Columbus and Jamestown eras and still existed for centuries.
The final evaluation of student learning in this ICP will be the Socratic Seminar discussion that will occur at the conclusion of the unit. To prepare for this discussion, students will create a poster of information gathered from their guided notes packet which they will have been collecting information in for the duration of the unit. The questions for the final discussion will be created by the teacher and students. They will be assessed on the depth of their discussions, how many times they participate, and the quality of the individual comments. Teachers will monitor the discussions as they occur and possibly record the discussions for later evaluation.
The specific disciplines for this Interdisciplinary Collaboration Project are English and Social Studies. These content areas tend to complement each other sufficiently when teaching and learning about various historical topics, including our own. Students can learn about the importance of recognizing bias in literature while still reading a variety of texts that highlight specific historic events. The primary sources used when examining European and Native American interactions are sources for creating a discussion about point of view, as well as the literary structure of the documents.
From this ICP, we want our students to be able to interpret and collaboratively engage the impacts that interactions between Native Americans and Europeans had on the development of the Colonial region. We are hoping that, by teaching this historical content with an eye towards recognizing bias and discrimination in historical texts, students will be able to recognize recurring themes in history and recognize injustice in everyday life. We want students to learn that there are two sides to every story and that point of view is an important factor to consider when reading a fictional literary work or a historical text.
Our group has created an Interdisciplinary Collaboration Project that uses a variety of strategies, activities, and texts in order to create a cohesive social studies and English learning experience for students. The unit plan concerns European interactions with Native Americans, with a focus on bias in history and literature and examining point of view.
We begin our ICP with an introduction to point of view and bias. We want our students to for an understanding that bias can be found in almost every piece of literature and historical text, and can be especially prominent in first-hand accounts. On the first day of the unit, we will also be teaching the students the insert note taking strategy in order to ensure that they have knowledge of effective note taking skills throughout the unit. Anticipation guides and RAFT activities will be used to activate prior knowledge and spark group conversations about the different points of view found in primary texts written by historical figures in the time period.
We will be using historical song lyrics and poetry to examine the themes and literary elements in the text that support themes found in the ICP. For example, students will encounter an account from a poem that suggests that Native Americans were not treated fairly by the incoming Europeans. After analyzing opposing views through the song and poem lyrics, students will be creating a point of view journal to demonstrate their understanding of how each group was feeling. After analyzing the poetry and songs, students will participate in a group project where they will choose song lyrics that relate to what they have learned so far. In the assignment, they will be tasked with justifying why it represents the point of view of either the Native Americans or the Europeans.
Students will be reading from Walking the Choctaw Road and participating in literature circles to discuss the book. This historical fiction novel is set during a much later period than the focus of our unit, but we felt that students would benefit from learning of the longevity of the issues at hand, particularly the issues that began during the Columbus and Jamestown eras and still existed for centuries.
The final evaluation of student learning in this ICP will be the Socratic Seminar discussion that will occur at the conclusion of the unit. To prepare for this discussion, students will create a poster of information gathered from their guided notes packet which they will have been collecting information in for the duration of the unit. The questions for the final discussion will be created by the teacher and students. They will be assessed on the depth of their discussions, how many times they participate, and the quality of the individual comments. Teachers will monitor the discussions as they occur and possibly record the discussions for later evaluation.
The specific disciplines for this Interdisciplinary Collaboration Project are English and Social Studies. These content areas tend to complement each other sufficiently when teaching and learning about various historical topics, including our own. Students can learn about the importance of recognizing bias in literature while still reading a variety of texts that highlight specific historic events. The primary sources used when examining European and Native American interactions are sources for creating a discussion about point of view, as well as the literary structure of the documents.
From this ICP, we want our students to be able to interpret and collaboratively engage the impacts that interactions between Native Americans and Europeans had on the development of the Colonial region. We are hoping that, by teaching this historical content with an eye towards recognizing bias and discrimination in historical texts, students will be able to recognize recurring themes in history and recognize injustice in everyday life. We want students to learn that there are two sides to every story and that point of view is an important factor to consider when reading a fictional literary work or a historical text.