5.1.1.1 - Powerful Individuals, Powerful Movements
Grade: 6-8Subject: English Language Arts
Number of Lessons: 6
Overview:
This unit will introduce students to civil rights issues in the Asian American community. It engages students to discuss individuals mobilizing their communities to address important issues.
The unit culminates in an essay assignment in which the students write about how ordinary individuals, in the course of fighting injustice, can start movements to create change in their communities. We assume that students have experience writing paragraphs, topic sentences, concluding sentences, and other essay structures. The objective is for students to complete an organized, five-paragraph essay.
 
Formative Assessment Objectives by Lesson:
 
Learning Objectives:
Students will:
 
Materials:
  1. “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 1“ worksheet
  2. “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 2” worksheet
  3. “Black Lives Matter Background” worksheet
  4. “Black Lives Matter” excerpt
  5. “Black Lives Matter Exit Slip”
  6. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Peer Review” worksheet
  7. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Rubric”
  8. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements” template
  9. “Essay Project – Thesis Exit Slip” worksheet
  10. “Lily Chin - Vincent Chin Exit Slip”
  11. “Lily Chin - Vincent Chin: The Courage to Speak Out” excerpt
  12. “Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement Discussion Points” worksheet
  13. “Unit Slide Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement”
 
Accommodations and Extensions:
Each lesson has ideas for extending the assignment for gifted and talented students. There are also ideas for accommodating students with special needs.
 
LESSON 1: Unit Introduction, Academic Vocabulary, Lily Chin Article (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
Materials:
  1. “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 1” worksheet
  2. “Lily Chin - Vincent Chin Exit Slip”
  3. “Lily Chin - Vincent Chin: The Courage to Speak Out” excerpt
  4. “Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement Discussion Points” worksheet
  5. “Unit Slide Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement”
 
Formative Assessment Objective:
Students determine the main point of the article on Lily Chin/Vincent Chin and describe how her story relates to an individual mobilizing their community to address a problem.
 
Activity 1: Warm-Up (10 minutes)
Introduce this unit to students by connecting the students to their prior knowledge and introducing the theme of the unit:
In this unit we will be studying how two individuals have responded to problems in their communities. Rather than remaining silent, these brave people have organized their communities to speak out against serious issues. We will be reading two stories on race and justice in the United States. We will discuss how individuals can mobilize others to fight any kind of serious problem affecting their communities.
Activating Prior Knowledge with questions:
  1. Pass out the “Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement Discussion Points” worksheet.
  2. Have students complete the pre-writing activity in the box to the left.
  3. Show the “Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement” slides (until slide 13).
  4. While showing slide 13, have students complete the box to the right in the Discussion Points worksheet.
  5. Have students think-pair-share with their elbow partner after the students write their responses about the issues brought up by the slides.
  6. Share responses with the whole group.
  7. While showing slide 14, take the following poll:
    Do you think the two persons who killed Vincent Chin should have gone to prison?
  8. Finish showing the rest of “Powerful Individuals Powerful Movement” slides. By end of slides, students should have a broad knowledge that movements can form to address injustices. However, these movements usually begin from ordinary individuals who in the course of fighting injustice start movements.
 
Activity 2: Academic Vocabulary (10 minutes)
  1. Pass out “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 1” worksheet.
  2. Guide the class through completing the sentence frames. Have them try to make their own definition of the word. Correct any misconceptions with the definitions provided in the Teacher Version on page 2 of the worksheet.
 
Activity 3: Lily Chin & Vincent Chin (20 minutes)
  1. Pass out “Lily Chin-Vincent Chin: The Courage to Speak Out” excerpt.
  2. Read in groups or pairs. Teacher may decide the best strategy.
  3. While reading, students fill out note column to the left or text.
  4. After reading, ask students the following discussion question:
    Do you think Lily Chin was a powerful person?
    Have students share their thoughts with the class.
 
Activity 4: Review/Closure (5 minutes)
  1. Ask students the following question:
    What does community mean to you?
    Discuss student responses as a class.
 
Activity 5: Assessment (5 minutes)
  1. Pass out the “Lily Chin - Vincent Chin Exit Slip.”
    The questions on the exit slip ask students to answer:
    1. What is the main idea of the first passage?
    2. How did Lily Chin’s fight for justice for her son start the movement for justice in the Asian American and other communities?
  2. Have students complete the Exit Slip. Remind the students to keep their completed Exit Slips for their essay writing.
 
Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
Utilize more visuals, think-pair-shares, group discussions, and culturally relevant pedagogy.
Text may be broken into shorter pieces.
 
Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
 

LESSON 2: Academic Vocabulary, Black Lives Matter Article (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
Materials:
  1. “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 2” worksheet
  2. “Black Lives Matter” excerpt
  3. “Black Lives Matter Exit Slip”
  4. “Black Lives Matter Background” worksheet
 
Formative Assessment Objective
Students will determine the main idea of the article on Black Lives Matter and describe how its story relates to individuals mobilizing their community to address a problem.
 
Activity 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
  1. Pass out “Black Lives Matter Background” worksheet.
  2. To have students recall topics from previous lesson, have students fill in the top box of the worksheet. Ask students to:
    Summarize the killing of Vincent Chin and the effect it had on his mother and community in one paragraph. What were some of the major points we took away from Lesson 1?
  3. Have students think-pair-share with their elbow partner after the students write their responses.
  4. Share responses with the whole group.
  5. After students finish reviewing previous lesson, introduce new lesson to students:
    Today we will be reading about three individuals who mobilized their community to address a problem. The problem is similar—violence and injustice based upon race. However, this takes place within the African American community.
 
Activity 2: Academic Vocabulary (10 minutes)
  1. Pass out “Academic Vocabulary Organizer Lesson 2” worksheet.
  2. Guide the class through completing the sentence frames. Have them try to make their own definition of the word. Correct any misconceptions with the definitions provided in the Teacher Version on page 2 of the worksheet.
 
Activity 3: Black Lives Matter (25 minutes)
  1. Tell students to refer back to the “Black Lives Matter Background” worksheet.
  2. Read the “Black Lives Matter Movement: Background” portion of the worksheet to the class.
  3. Teacher may ask the class to share what they have heard/learned about this movement.
  4. Pass out “Black Lives Matter” excerpt.
  5. Read in groups or in pairs. Teacher may decide the best strategy.
  6. While reading, students fill out note column to the left of text.
  7. After reading the excerpt, have students answer the following discussion questions on the next page of the worksheet.
    1. Do you see any similarities between the Black Lives Matter founders (Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi) and Lily Chin? Explain using at least one example from the text.
    2. What sensitive topics have Garza, Cullors, and Tometi helped create discussions around?
    Have students share their thoughts with the class.
 
Activity 4: Review/Closure (5 minutes)
Discuss accountability with students:
Ask students one or two of the following questions:
  • Do you think police departments have problems with racism?
  • How do you think we should judge whether a police officer acted within the law?
  • Do you think other ethnic groups (Asians, Latinxs) experience the same sort of violence at the hands of the police?
  • What role does social media play for us today in society?
  •  
    Activity 5: Assessment (5 minutes)
    1. Pass out the “Black Lives Matter Exit Slip.” Ask students to answer the questions on the exit slip:
      1. What is the main idea of the first passage?
      2. How did Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi as individuals start a movement with a simple social media post?
    2. Have students complete the Exit Slip. Remind the students to keep their completed Exit Slips for their essay writing.
     
    Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
    Teacher may pair weaker readers with stronger readers.
    Text may be broken into shorter pieces.
     
    Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
    Research
    Students may research the Black Lives Matter movement or similar movements/issue-based campaigns.
     
    LESSON 3: Constructing Thesis Statements (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Rubric”
    2. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements” template
    3. “Essay Project – Thesis Exit Slip” worksheet
     
    Activity 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
    1. Brainstorming: To have students recall topics from the previous two lessons on Lily Chin, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, ask students to summarize in their heads what they have read and learned about these individuals.
    2. Have students think-pair-share with their elbow partner after brainstorming.
     
    Activity 2: Essay Instruction and Brainstorming (15 minutes)
    1. Pass out:
      “Essay Project - Individuals and Movements” template
      “Essay Project - Individuals and Movements Rubric”
    2. Essay Introduction:
      • Introduce to students that for the rest of the unit they will be working on an essay:
        For the next few days, you will be working on an essay. In this essay, you will write about how ordinary individuals, in the course of fighting injustice, can start movements to create change in their communities. In this essay, you will talk about Lily Chi; Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi; and then a third topic of your choice.
      • Review rubric on “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Rubric” to students. This will be how the students will be graded.
      • Briefly review the essay outline/scaffolding and sentence questions with students on page 1 and 2 of essay project template.
      • Assign them a due date. It will most likely take 3 days to complete the essay in class. From there, it may take students another 2-3 days to write their final draft as homework.
      • Have students complete the self-efficacy rating on page 2.
    3. Describe Body Paragraph 3 to students:
      In this essay you will write about individuals who started movements to create change within their communities. While the first and second body paragraphs will be about the texts we have read, the third will be your own. You will choose a serious problem and describe how an individual who mobilized their community to address this issue. Some suggestions of problems include gang violence, bullying, and school safety.
    4. Give students time to think about a potential problem. Then, have them create a bubble map graphic organizer to collect their ideas.
     
    Activity 3: Forming a Thesis Statement (20 minutes)
    1. Explain Thesis Modeling to the students:
      The thesis statement is what gives an essay direction. Knowing how to write a thesis statement — the topic, a claim about that topic, and three points to support it — can help a writer start an essay in the most clear and concise way. Not only does it help you as the writer organize subsequent information in the essay, but a strong thesis statement helps the reader (your peer or your teacher) understand the information that leads to the conclusion. All your statements will be a bit different depending on what problem you choose to write about in paragraph 3.
    2. Model how to write a thesis statement on the chart paper.
      Example:
      Lily Chin, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and ________ show how individuals can start movements to create change within their communities.
      If talking about an issue such as school newspaper censorship, example thesis statement could be:
      Lily Chin, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and San Gabriel High School journalism students show how individuals can start movements to create change within their communities.
    3. Have students construct their thesis statement:
      • Now that students have a general idea of their essay topic and the three ideas to support it, have them fill out their thesis statement in the “The Writing Process” box on page 3 of the “Essay Project” template.
     
    Activity 4: Review/Closure (5 minutes)
    Have students share their thesis statement with a partner.
     
    Activity 5: Assessment (5 minutes)
    Students' Thesis Statements:
    • Have students write down their thesis statement in the “Essay Project – Thesis Exit Slip” and turn in their thesis statements for review.
    • Teacher reviews the students’ Thesis Exit Slips after class.
     
    Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
    SDAIE strategies
    Have students turn and talk to their partner about how Lily Chin and the Black Lives Matter founders effect changes in the community through movement. The teacher can use a circle map to record student responses. Visual aid helps students draw inferences and conclusions for their essays.
    Guided instruction on writing:
    Use sentence frames and starters to show students what writing multi-paragraph essays looks like.
     
    Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
    The teacher may choose to remove some of the paragraph scaffolds in the essay-writing template.
     
    LESSON 4: Introduction and Body Paragraph 1 (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements" template
    2. “Essay Project – Thesis Exit Slip” reviewed by teachers
     
    Activity 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
    1. Return the reviewed Thesis Exit Slips to the students.
    2. Have students recall yesterday’s lesson:
      Let’s review what we went over yesterday. We started organizing our essay and wrote our thesis statement. How confident do you feel about writing your essay now?
    3. Have students think-pair-share with their elbow partner.
    4. Share with the whole group.
     
    Activity 2: Essay Modeling (10 minutes)
    1. Introduce to students the lesson plan for the day:
      Yesterday, you wrote a thesis statement for your essay. Today you are going to begin writing the essay itself.
    2. Modeling: The purpose of this section is review the overall essay scaffolding so that students may better understand the organization of their essay. The breakdown of individual sentences and questions within paragraphs are to help students organize writing each paragraph and help facilitate thoughts for their essay.
      • Have students bring out their “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements” templates.
      • Review each individual question of essay scaffolding to students on page 1 and 2 of the template.
      • Explain to students that they will be discussing and answering each of the questions in the template individual boxes from page 3 to 7. Students will:
        • Discuss each sentence for Introduction Paragraph using 5 questions that lead to a thesis statement.
        • Discuss each sentence for Body Paragraph 1 using 7 questions focusing on Lily Chin and hate crimes in the Asian American community.
        • Discuss Body Paragraph 2 using questions focusing on Black Lives Matter.
        • Discuss Body Paragraph 3 using questions focusing on the students’ chosen problem. You could demonstrate using the topic of gang violence or bullying.
        • Discuss Concluding Paragraph by restating thesis using different words.
    3. Vocabulary:
      • Have students take out their Academic Vocabulary Organizer worksheets.
      • Tell students that they must use at least 4 relevant vocabulary words in their body paragraphs.
      • To keep track of vocabulary terms used, they may write down the vocabulary terms and circle them when filling out the essay project template.
     
    Activity 3: Essay Writing (30 minutes)
    Have students begin writing their essays. Teachers should explain to students that they will receive 15 minutes for Introduction Paragraph and 15 minutes for Body Paragraph 1.
     
    Activity 4: Assessment (5 minutes)
    Before students leave, the teacher should check each student’s essay template to make sure they have their Introduction Paragraph and Paragraph 1 complete.
     
    Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
    SDAIE strategies
    “Essay Project” template may be given in separate pages to students who are intimidated by the long template or struggle following it.
    Think-Pair-Share to stimulate oral conversation to help formulate ideas.
     
    Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
    Less Saffolding for the Essay:
    The “Essay Project” template provides an extremely large amount of scaffolding for writing the essay. Advanced students may take more freedoms while writing. They may not need the guiding questions for each sentence or the “Paragraph Scaffolding” worksheet. These scaffolds may be taken away to present a greater challenge to advanced students.
     
    LESSON 5: Body Paragraphs 2 & 3, Conclusion Paragraph (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Template”
     
    Activity 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
    1. Have students recall yesterday’s lesson:
      Let’s review what we did in Lesson 4. We started writing our essay and completed two body paragraphs. Turn and talk to your partner about your body paragraphs. Do you think you will be successful at writing this essay?
    2. Have students think-pair-share with their elbow partner.
     
    Activity 2: Essay Writing (45 minutes)
    1. Introduce to students the lesson plan for the day:
      • Today we are going to finish our rough drafts. Again, you will have 15 minutes for each paragraph. If you finish early on any paragraph, you may go on to the next one. If you have finished everything, proofread your essay for grammatical mistakes.
    2. Essay Writing:
      • Set the timer for 15 minutes and let students work on Body Paragraph 2. If they finish Body Paragraph 2 before the timer rings, they may go on to the next paragraph.
      • Set the timer for 15 minutes and let students work on Body Paragraph 2. If they finish Body Paragraph 2 before the timer rings, they may go on to the next paragraph.
      • Repeat for Conclusion Paragraph.
     
    Activity 3: Assessment (5 minutes)
    At the end of the period, teacher should check all “Essay Project” templates. All paragraphs should be complete.
     
    Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
    SDAIE strategies
    “Essay Project” template may be given in separate pages to students who are intimidated by the long template or struggle following it.
    Think-Pair-Share to stimulate oral conversation to help formulate ideas.
     
    Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
    Less Saffolding for the Essay:
    The “Essay Project” template provides an extremely large amount of scaffolding for writing the essay. Advanced students may take more freedoms while writing. They may not need the guiding questions for each sentence or the “Paragraph Scaffolding” worksheet. These scaffolds may be taken away to present a greater challenge to advanced students.
     
    LESSON 6: Peer Review (Suggested Time: 50 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Peer Review” worksheet
    2. “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Peer Review” template
    3. Student Essay Drafts
     
    Activity 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
    Activating Prior Knowledge
    1. Have students take out their draft essays and “Essay Project” templates.
    2. As students will be working with the rubric, have students connect to their prior knowledge and recalling information from the rubric. Activate prior knowledge by asking students:
      Look at our thesis statements and body paragraphs. Who remembers what constitutes a 4, 3, 2, or 1? Do you remember what it means to edit and revise your paper? You will be doing that with a partner or two.
     
    Activity 2: Peer Review (40 minutes)
    1. Introduce today’s lesson on peer-reviewing to students by explaining what peer-review is.
      We are going to do peer review today, so that’s when our partners are going to look at our work and see what grade the paper will get based on the standard rubric. Let’s take a look at the rubric as a class.
    2. Pass out “Essay Project – Individuals and Movements Peer Review” worksheet.
    3. Guided Practice (15 minutes):
      • As a class, have students do a practice run together.
      • Have students pair up with a partner. Have students exchange essay drafts.
      • Explain peer-review directions to students:
        Partner A will look at Partner B’s work and vice versa. What kind of grade does the person deserve based on the rubric? Please explain. Talk to your partner about their work.
      • Teacher goes around to listen to student responses.
    4. Independent Practice (20 minutes): Now that students have an understanding of peer-review, have students do it on their own.
      • Have students pair up in groups of three to grade each other’s papers according to the Rubric.
      • Explain to students that instead of talking to their partners this time, students will write in the Comments column on the right side of Peer-reviewing worksheet.
      • Have students exchange essay drafts and begin peer-editing. First peer-edit should take around 10 minutes. Have students exchange again for a second peer-edit. This should also take about 10 minutes.
     
    Activity 3: Review/Closure (5 minutes)
    1. To have students brainstorm good writing tips and improvements, ask students the following discussion question:
      What were some of the strengths of your partner’s work? Name some things they could improve as well. What did you learn by reading each other’s work?
     
    Adaptations: Students with Special Needs
    Partner Work:
    Students are able to review each other’s work according to rubric before it goes to teacher for final grading. Students will know what needs to be better in order to get a good grade. They will also know each other’s strengths.
    Teacher Scaffolds:
    Teacher walks around during guided practice to help students with peer review issues.
     
    Extensions: Gifted and Talented/Advanced
    Presentations:
    Students will get a chance to present their essay in different formats, whether it is multimedia, skit, narration, and/or poster-board demonstration.
     
    HOMEWORK: Final Essays (Suggested Time: 3 Days of Homework)
    Formative Assessment Objective:
    Homework: Students complete the final draft and turn it in as they complete the assignment.
     
    Activity: Homework (3 Days)
    Students will take their peer-edited work home. They must rewrite their essays and turn in their final drafts by the due date.
     
    Assessment Based on Objective:
    Grade students’ final essays according to rubric.