1.2 Exploring Multi-Modal Texts

Level: Grades 7-9
Subject: English/Language Arts

Theme:
All of our lives are connected to the lives of others; the pattern of my life is unique but it also fits with patterns that other lives have taken; I can see this for myself and I can explain it to others

Big Idea:
Using multi-modal texts students will read, analyze and produce memoirs that help them understand that just like everyone else, their lives are connected to the lives of others; and that while the pattern of their life is unique it also follows patterns that others have taken.

What students will understand
By reading memoirs, students will understand that
• exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world, and that they in turn can tell their stories and connect themselves to the world
• people understand text differently depending on their worldviews and perspectives, and they tell different stories about their lives based on their own circumstances
• texts are socially, culturally and historically constructed—events that happen to you and how you react to them depend on what is happening in the larger society (NOTE: the focus of this unit is on memoir, but several of the works I have selected are stories by first nations people, so students gain an implicit and explicit understanding of how social, cultural and historical factors actually come into play).

What they will be able to do:
They will be able to
• identify chronological sequence in narrative in a variety of media
• distinguish the genre of memoir by comparing it to a third-person narrative recount
• analyse the memoir for point of view—past and present selves
• understand cause and effect relationships
• understand what details to include or leave out depending on the needs of their audience (by comparing two similar works designed for two different audiences)
• discuss their thinking with other class members in groups and on blog/google doc
• use planning heuristics to create their own simple narrative memoir
• use presentation software to present their memoirs

What they will know
• They will gain insight into how lives of individuals unfold over time
• They will see that all lives are unique but still follow some common patterns and pathways
• That their own lives are connected to the same patterns,
• That they can explain events in their lives to themselves and others.

Resources: Watching/Listening

Film:

Stand By Me

Directed by Rob Reiner

Use this to introduce genre of memoir

Conventions of memoir:

1^st person narrative
Point of view—compare past self and present self; compare narrator’s POV with other characters
A single event, not your entire life
Why is this event important—what is the big take-away idea?

Picture books:

Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell

When I was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton

and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Use these two books to show the difference between memoir and 3^rd -person narrative
Notice features of visual story-telling (which is why picture books)

Chapter book:

Fatty Legs by

Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Compare to picture book When I was Eight—which is the same story written for younger children
What details are included?
What is missing?

Resources: Reading/Talking

Graphic novels:


*The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* by Sherman Alexie	*Relish: My Life in the Kitchen* by Lucy Knisley

*The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen* by Susin Nielsen	*This One Summer* by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

*I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot By the Taliban* by Malala Yousafzai
Students self-select into lit circles—6 copies of each novel Read as fast as you like Everyone needs to read at least one novel Do the activities Move on to another circle and another novel