Diary Unit Upper High School

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Portfolio/Memoir/Narrative Writing Unit adapted for 11th grade
The content within this unit is relevant to these upper high school students
because they are readying for their next steps post high school in a melting pot society.
It is likely students will be exposed to diverse populations of people not only at
university, but also in the workforce. It is important for students to have empathy and
compassion for people of color, native people, and immigrants, and to – on some level –
understand part of the challenges they face in this country. The writing content within
this unit will also be relevant to students because they will further their knowledge in
sensory writing, linear writing, close reading, and comparing texts to find a similarities.
Should students further their education at university, depending on their area of study
these will all be relevant and important skills for them to have mastered.
Formative assessments within this unit will mostly be reflective writing and class
discussions/activities. Students will write reflections in many of the lessons based on the
content of those lessons and their own opinions. This will not be a high-pressure
assessment, but rather a way for them to think critically about what we discuss in class,
and for me to see what they retain and how critically they think about the content we
examine. Class discussions will serve as a formative assessment as well, given that
students are engaged and participating when necessary. These activities will assess
where they are in their critical thinking skills.
The summative assessment in this unit will be comprised of our writing
workshop components. Students will create a memoir essay about a time in which they
had to assimilate to a dominant culture of some sort. As the school district is not very
ethnically or racially diverse, students can write about a time in which they had to
assimilate to a non-racial or ethnic culture, like middle class culture, teenage girl
culture, athlete culture, and so on. While not every student has experienced racial or
ethnic assimilation, they have altered or changed themselves somehow in order to “fit
in” with a certain group.
Supporting Texts include the poems, “How I Got That Name” by Marilyn Chin,
“Unforgettable” by Pages Matem, Elizabeth Acevedo and G. Yamazawa, and “Where I’m
From” by George Ella Lyon. Additionally we will study an essay written by the author of
our main text, Sherman Alexie, titled “Superman and Me”. Lastly we will examine two
articles that detail two different experiences with cultural assimilation in the United
States: “A Story of Assimilation, Told in Perfect English…” by De Tran, and
“Immigration: Assimilation and the measure of an American” by Stephanie Hanes.
These texts will supplement lessons in which we study the effects of assimilation on
those that are considered “other” in the U.S. Specifically, these supporting texts in
addition to our central text, Diary, will help us study certain aspects of language like
voice, vocabulary, connotations, and power.
Additional essays will be introduced to students during our writing workshop
towards the end of the unit to help exemplify memoir writing, sensory writing, and
writing by teens that celebrates diversity. The introductory memoir essay is titled “The
American Dream” by Lauren Stokes. The sensory writing passage is from Don’t Let’s Go
to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. The diversity essays written by adolescents
are: “I Refuse to Be Small” by Winona Gbedey, “A Letter to My Brother” by Francesca
Giardine, and “Wilson, the Princess” by “Allie”. These additional texts will supplement
the writing workshop lessons, and cap off the unit well with a discussion about and
celebration of diversity.
Standards Addressed:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or
trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific
purpose and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the
text leaves matters uncertain.
Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text
(e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or
tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic
impact.
Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly
stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or
understatement).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3
Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric,
assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and
tone used.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different
contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully
when reading or listening.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.4.A
Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word's
position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Lesson 1: Introduce the novel (Engagement)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the novel, The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. We will examine a passage and a
drawing from the novel in order to gauge what the main character might be like and
some struggles he faces.
Preparation: Students will need their novels, pens/pencils, and paper.
Procedure: I will begin by reading aloud the excerpt from page 5-6, that starts with, “I
draw all the time”, and ends with “...tiny little lifeboats”. Students will follow along in
their own copies. After I finish reading the passage, we will examine the drawing from
page 57. I will ask students a few general discussion questions. The questions are: What
can we glean about the narrator so far? What is his attitude toward being “Indian” and
how Native Americans are treated? What is his attitude toward himself? What is his
attitude toward the world?
Based on this drawing, students will create a chart of adjectives. On one side of the
chart, students will fill in adjectives they think of that would suit white people based on
the drawing, and on the other side they will fill in adjectives that might suit Indian
people. We will have a discussion once students have filled out their charts about the
words they chose and how they came to choose these words. I will prompt them with
questions like: How did you decide on that word? What about the drawing made you
think of that word? What kind of contextual clues did you use to choose your adjectives?
We will then create a word chart, where we identify given adjectives as “good”, “bad”, or
“neutral”. Students will decide where to put what adjective, and we will discuss why the
connotations of these words suggest their goodness, badness, or neutrality.
Assessment: Class discussion, adjective chart, and participation will serve as formative
assessments.
Lesson 2: Introduce Native American Reservations (Engagement)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the conditions of Native
American Reservations.
Preparation: Students will need access to computers to conduct research, paper,

pens/pencils
Procedure: A brief explanation will be given to students about what Native American
Reservations are, why they were created, and what their general purposes are. After the
short lecture, students will be asked to write an expository news story about life on a
Native American reservation. Students can refer to specific sections from the novel and
conduct their own research online from reputable sources. They must choose one
reservation to make a news story about. They can choose the Spokane Reservation
(which is near where the novel takes place) or another one. They must cite the sources
they use for their information. Once students have compiled facts and written their news
articles, they will be performed in front of class as if they were broadcast journalists
sharing a breaking news story. Students will work in pairs to complete this assignment,
and have time in class to work on it.
Assessment: The news story and performance that students write will serve as the
formative assessment for the day.
Source: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/writing-
newspaper-article/
Lesson 3: Hope Against Hope (Engagement)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to analyze the standard of life on the Native
American reservation in the novel.
Preparation: Students will need paper and pen/pencil.
Procedure: This lesson will involve information that we learned during the last lesson
regarding reservations. First, we will read aloud the section that starts on page 41 with
“You were right to throw that book at me”, and ends with “sad, sad, sad reservation” on
page 42. Based on what we learned about the way of life on some reservations, students
will be asked to answer two of the following questions in their journals.
1) Why did Junior throw his geometry book? What does it signify?
2) Why did Mr. P say the following? “Every white person on this rev should get
smashed in the face. But, let me tell you this. All the Indians should get smashed
in the face, too.” (p. 40)
3) What is Mr. P’s advice to Junior? Why does he give him this advice?
4) Why does Mr. P say “sad, sad, sad” to describe the reservation? Why does he
say sad 3x? Can we think of any other instance in the novel in which something is
said multiple times for emphasis?
5) Why is hope so important? Why can’t Arnold find hope on the reservation?
Once students have had some time to get a few of their thoughts on paper, we will begin
to discuss how students answered these questions. Are there any differing opinions or
thoughts? Any questions that you thought of while answering these? Anything you’re
unsure about?
We will then examine the White/Indian drawing for the second time. This time students
will be asked which side has hope and which does not. Why do they say this? Why do
they think Arnold believes this? What from this drawing gives us the idea that Native
Americans do not have hope? What about this drawing gives us the idea that white kids
have hope?
Assessment: Journals and class discussion will serve as formative assessments.
Lesson 4: What is assimilation?
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with assimilation.
Preparation: Students will need paper and pencils.
Procedure: The first half of the class period will be used to discuss what assimilation
means, and what it looks like in the novel. We will examine an excerpt from the novel
and discuss how this is part of the assimilation process.
"When I first started teaching here, that's what we did to the rowdy ones, you know? We
beat them. That's how we were taught to teach you. We were supposed to kill the Indian
to save the child."
"You killed Indians?"
"No, no, it's just a saying. I didn't literally kill Indians. We were supposed to make you
give up being Indian. Your songs and stories and language and dancing. Everything. We
weren't trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture” (p. 35).
How does Arnold Jr. create power of his own? Does he use language in any way?
How does one kill a culture? How does killing someone’s culture contribute to
assimilation?
What are some examples of assimilation we’ve read so far in the novel?
It will be explained that the most common way we all tend to push non-white people to
assimilate is by shaming them or making them feel embarrassed by their own culture.
We ultimately create stereotypes.
The purpose of this portion of the lesson is to examine stereotypes of Native Americans
found in the novel.
Students will be asked to first define discrimination in their own words. They can use
bullet points, full sentences, or examples - whichever way is easiest for them. We will
come together as a class to discuss definitions that students wrote, and potential
examples they came up with. Once the discussion has come to the point where all
students understand what discrimination is and could provide examples, we will move
on to examine the White/Indian drawing again from the novel. Students will be familiar
with this drawing, but the point is to get them thinking about it deeper.
We can clearly see that Arnold views one side as “good” and one as “bad,” but are there
any stereotypes we can identify or come up with based on this drawing? We will also
examine the depiction of the Reardan mascot on page 56. Native Americans are being
depicted as savages in this image – are there other instances in the book in which this
happens?
While Arnold views white people positively, do white people return the sentiment? We
will look at the image on page 63. Based on the fact that the white jocks are calling
Arnold offensive names, is it safe to assume that the positive associations Arnold makes
with whiteness is returned?
Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment.
Lesson 5: Rowdy and Reardan (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to look at Rowdy’s point of view, or the point of
view of Native Americans that don’t have hope or a means to get off the reservation.
Preparation: Students will need paper and pencils.
Procedure: In this lesson, we will examine a short passage that students will have
already read, starting on page 51 with “I’m going to Reardan tomorrow” and ends on
page 53 with “my worst enemy”. Before we begin the activity for the day, students will be
asked general comprehension questions like:
What happened in this passage? Why do you think Rowdy reacted like that? Why does
Rowdy associate Reardan with being better than him?
After the class discusses these questions, they will be asked to write a series of diary
entries from Rowdy’s point of view after Junior leaves Wellpinit High. Try to capture
Rowdy’s voice and emotions based off of what we know of him so far. Potential diary
entry topics could be: hope, loneliness, anger, sadness, violence, depression, race,
ethnicity, culture, etc. Students will be required to write 3 entries. After students have
time to write some entries, students will have the chance to share theirs. We will discuss
the elements students bring up in their entries, and how it all relates back to the effects
of assimilation.
Assessment: Diary entries will serve as a formative assessment, as will the subsequent
class discussion.
Lesson 6: Who is Junior? Who is Arnold? (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine the characteristics of our main
character, Arnold Spirit, Jr. We will also look at him as “Junior” and as “Arnold” to
identify ways in which these representations of him are different. How does he act when
he goes by Junior, and how does he act when he goes by Arnold? Students will be asked
to talk about what this means for his overall identity.
Preparation: Students will need character charts, their texts, and a writing instrument.
Procedure: In this lesson, students will fill out the Character Sketch worksheet below.
Once they’ve finished filling out this worksheet, I will ask them to look at their list of
character traits, wants, and fears, and try to identify which of these apply to “Junior”
and which of these apply to “Arnold”. Is there a difference? Once students go through
their lists and use their novels to find support for their choices, class discussion will
commence. We will address questions like:
1. Is there a difference between “Junior” and “Arnold”?

a. If yes, why do you think this is the case?
2. What is the significance of going by two names?
1. Why does he do it?
3. Can race or ethnicity be determined based on setting?
4. Can you find any evidence from the text to support your ideas?
5. What does this split personality have to do with assimilation? Explain your
answer.
6. What does this say about Arnold Jr.’s identity?
1. Is he experiencing an identity conflict? Why?
“I had no idea that Junior was a weird name. It’s a common name on my rez, on any
rez.” (p. 60)
“My name is Junior,” I said. “And my name is Arnold. It’s Junior and Arnold. I’m both.”
I felt like two different people inside of one body.” (p. 60–1)
“The people at home . . . a lot of them call me an apple . . . because they think I’m red on
the outside and white on the inside.” (p. 131–2)
“They weren’t calling me by my rez name, Junior. Nope, they were calling me by my
Reardan name.” (p. 143)
Assessment: Class discussion and character chart will serve as formative assessment.
Source:
https://www.penguin.com.au/content/resources/The%20Absolutely%20True%20Diary
%20Of%20A%20Part-Time%20Indian.pdf
Lesson 7: David and Goliath (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to compare Diary with the tale of David and
Goliath, and discuss how power dynamics could affect assimilation and hope.
Preparation: Students will need paper, pens/pencils, and access to this image.
Procedure: After the basketball game where Arnold beats his former all-Native
American team and best friend Rowdy, Arnold realizes that he is playing on the side of
Goliath, not David. We as a class will examine this passage (p. 195) and discuss the story
of David and Goliath. Students will be asked if they know the tale of David and Goliath.
Assuming that at least one student will feel comfortable enough to share their
knowledge of the story, we will work from their explanation of the legend.
How does this picture illustrate this analogy? Why is Wellpinit David, and why is
Reardan Goliath? Why would people root for Davids instead of Goliaths? Why does this
realization shame Arnold?
Students will be asked to write about two of the following questions in their journals.
1) What about this passage suggests Arnold still has a sentimental attachment to his
old school?
2) What does this passage say about his identity? Is he now a Goliath and not a
David? Is he still a David?
3) Why does Arnold feel guilty about winning this basketball game?
Assessment: Journal entry and class discussion will serve as formative assessment.
Lesson 8: Your Tribes (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine the passage in which Arnold lists the
tribes he belongs to.
Preparation: Students will need access to the text, pencil, and paper.
Procedure: By the end of the novel Junior realizes he is a member of many tribes, that
he is a ‘Spokane Indian . . . but [also belongs] to the tribe of American immigrants. And
to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms.’ (p. 217). We will read
that excerpt out loud as a class just so students get a refresher of all that he lists.
Once we’ve read the passage, students will be asked in a whole class discussion format
the following questions:
What is the significance of this passage?
What are Junior’s emotions during this passage? How can we tell based on context
clues? What elements give him his voice?
Why are the sentences fragmented like that? Does it help or hinder the overall emphasis
of Junior’s message?
“I wept and wept and wept” (p. 217). In many instances throughout the novel, Alexie
uses repetition to emphasize what he is saying. What does he accomplish by doing this?
Why? Does the emphasis give way to certain emotions?
After class discussion, students will begin the activity for the day, which is the beginning
of our brainstorming activities for our final project, a memoir essay. First, students will
be asked to list all the tribes that they belong to. There will not be a required minimum
or maximum number of tribes to belong to, but I recommend students to have anywhere
from 10-20.
After they create their lists, they will be asked: Why is it important to belong to a
community?
They will ponder this question and then write an extended reflective response in their
journals. After students have reflection on this issue, I will briefly explain the final
summative assessment. Students will need to write a memoir essay about a time in
which they felt they needed to assimilate to one of their tribes. This could be a tribe of
football players, a tribe of musicians, a tribe of middle class families, etc. They will want
to start thinking about and reflecting upon their experiences with assimilating to a
larger group in order to “fit in”. If students have a hard time thinking in the context of
the tribes they came up with, they can work backwards and try to answer “when have I
ever tried to fit in with a group?” and identify a tribe from that.
Assessment: Discussion, list, and reflective response will serve as formative

assessments.
Lesson 9: Where I’m From
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is for students to write a Where I’m From poem
based on the tribe activity from the day before.
Preparation: Students will need writing utensils and where I’m from template.
Procedure: After finishing our Tribe lesson from the day before, students will be asked
to write a Where I’m From poem in the style of George Ella Lyon. As a class we will look
at her example of this type of poem, and discuss what it means.
Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,

from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I'm from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,

fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box

spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments--
snapped before I budded --
leaf-fall from the family tree.
Brief analysis:
Where I'm From is clearly a look back at a childhood full of things but in the
process of looking back the speaker is clarifying her identity as of now...I am
from...meaning that her identity is made up of all these things from her past.
This poem goes some way towards answering the question “Who am I?” The speaker
takes the reader on a journey through her childhood, through time and into the home
where she was brought up.
• So there are lots of different domestic objects on view, each one with a connection
back to the speaker. The home and its environs become alive through simple
suggestions and memories.
The speaker isn't only a product of the household interior, she relates to nature too.
Take the forsythia bush and the elm, whose limbs (branches) feel like her own, an
allusion to a rooted existence and steady growth.
• The second stanza contains references to a part religious upbringing. The phrase He
restoreth my soul is from Psalm 23, from the Old Testament of the Bible.
And cottonball lamb could be Jesus Christ and the ten verses also from the Good
Book.
She is a learner this speaker but she's had to endure some stuff - how about having to
wear pass-it-ons (hand-me-downs)?, clothes from an older member of the family,
instead of new ones bought from a store.... OR is pass-it-ons to do with secret messages
whispered quietly in the ear?
We all know what know-it-alls are, they are people with rampant egos who think they
know everything about everything but sometimes know very little and are not willing to
learn!
Perk up and Pipe down are probably straight out of the family household or classroom,
where an adult has calmly suggested to the speaker that they should:
a) dig deep for energy, look on the bright side of life and find their mojo again.
b) not talk so much and in so loud a fashion.
• In the third stanza the reader is taken into the state of Kentucky, to Artemus and
Billie's Branch. The setting is rural, or basic, for she's from is fried corn.
She also is from a finger belonging to her grandfather, which was lost in an accident
with an auger, a large wood boring drill made of metal. Ouch. And the eye of her father,
which had to be kept shut to save his sight. Drastic stuff, pointing to a strong
family/blood connection, related to trauma.
No mention of the mother though, which is kind of strange. perhaps the house and
home and surrounds are a substitute?
• The final stanza concludes with that most mysterious of places - under the bed,
where lurk often ghosts and bogeymen and what have you. But not in this case. The
speaker keeps her dress box and it is full to overflowing with images from her past,
perhaps her ancestors.
The imagery is vivid - picture the girl asleep, dreaming, whilst the visages of her past
family go on with their business below. What about the word sift? It means to separate
out the most important things, in this case, ancestral portraits.
I will ask the class about the last two lines.
What does she mean when she says that she was snapped before she budded? Does that
imply that she was broken and wasn't allowed to flourish? And that she has now left the
family fold?
Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Where-Im-From-by-
George-Ellen-Lyon
At this point, students will be given their own templates for creating a Where I’m From
poem. They will have time in class to work on it. They can use scrap paper to list out
some ideas before filling out the template.
I Am From Poem Use this template to draft your poem, and then write a final draft to share on blank
paper.
I am from ______________________________
(specific ordinary item)
From ________________________ and __________________________

(product name) (product name)
I am from the ______________________________________________

(home description)
___________________ , _________________ , ________________________________

(adjective) (adjective) (sensory detail)
I am from _________________________________________ ,
(plant, flower, natural item)
________________________________________________________________________
(description of above item)
I'm from ____________________________ and ______________________________

(family tradition) (family trait)
From ______________________________ and _________________________

(name of family member) (another family name)
I'm from the ____________________________ and ______________________

(description of family tendency) (another one)
From _________________________________ and ________________________

(something you were told as a child) (another)
I'm from ___________________________ , __________________________________

(representation of religion or lack of), (further description)
I'm from _______________________________________________

(place of birth and family ancestry)
______________________________________ , ________________________________
(a food item that represents your family) (another one)
From the ______________________________________________________________

(specific family story about a specific person and detail)
The _________________________________________________________
(another detail of another family member)
_________________________________________________________________
(location of family pictures, mementos, archives)
__________________________________________________________________
(line explaining the importance of family items)
Source:
https://www.sausd.us/cms/lib/CA01000471/Centricity/Domain/3043/I%20Am%20Fr
om%20Poem.pdf
Assessment: Class discussion, close reading, and writing of the Where I’m From poem
will serve as formative assessment.
Lesson 10: Debate: is assimilation good? (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to get students thinking about whether
assimilation is a good thing or not based on Absolutely True Diary.
Preparation: Students will need their novels, paper/writing utensils, and journals.
Procedure: At this point students will have finished the novel. I would like for us to
engage in a friendly debate about whether or not assimilation is good based on what
we’ve read in this novel. The class will be split into two halves: the PRO side will argue
that assimilation is a good thing, whereas the CON side will argue that it is a bad thing.
The two sides will have 15 minutes to craft their arguments, find support from the text,
and decide on who the speakers will be. Once the 15 minutes are up, the two sides will
face off with me as the moderator. I will ask the CON side to share their first argument.
Based on what they share, the PRO side will have to argue based on their own evidence.
The debate should not take up the entire class, but I will not force them to stop if they
are engaging in a thoughtful discussion/debate. Should they wrap things up early, I
want to have them write in their journals about a couple of questions.
1) Disregarding the results of our debate, do you think assimilation is a good thing?
A bad thing? Or both?
2) Do you think Arnold Jr. would argue it to be a good thing or a bad thing? Why?
Assessment: Participation in debate, class discussion, and reflective writing will serve as
a formative assessment.
Lesson 11: Superman and Me (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine an essay written by Sherman Alexie,
titled “Superman and Me”. We will come to understand Alexie better through this essay,
and we will also look at his use of vocabulary words and voice. This will also be
(somewhat) of an introduction to their final project, which is a memoir essay (similar to
this one).
Preparation: Students will need access to the essay, pencils/pens, and lined paper on
which to write their answers, thoughts, questions, etc.
Procedure: We will read through Alexie’s essay as a class, possibly more than once. After
we have read through it, students will be asked various questions based on the content
of the essay and their inferences based on what they read.
Reflection/Discussion questions after reading:
Alexie clams that Indian children were “expected to be stupid”. Explain in a paragraph
or two how expectations can impact children literacy learning. Can you think of
examples from your own childhood where expectations of you - positive or negative -
affected what you did or didn’t do?
What claims does Alexie make that you don’t understand? For example, what does it
mean when he says “a smart Indian is a dangerous person”?
Why does Alexie repeatedly use the word “lucky” to describe himself? If you recall, he
often repeated words in his novel. Do you think this is an important stylistic choice, or a
coincidence? Do you think this contributes to his voice in writing?
What do you think of his explanation of paragraphing? Is there anything interesting

about his paragraphs in this essay? What about in his novel (what we’ve read so far)?
What kind of voice is Alexie using? How can you describe it? What kind of tone? What
language techniques does Alexie use to attain the kind of voice or tone he wants?
What does assimilation have to do with this essay? In what ways is it apparent?
Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment.
Source:http://engl101-gomez.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Superman+and+Me.pdf
http://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/SupermanandMebyAlexie.pdf
Lesson 12: Poem #1 (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine the language devices used in the
poems “How I Got That Name” by Marilyn Chin in order to create voice and tone.
Preparation: Students will need access to the poem, a poetry graphic organizer, and a
writing utensil.
Procedure: Students will be given a copy of the poem to read along with as we listen to
Marilyn Chin read her poem. We will use this clip up to 3:54.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL93vVOuE8Y
“How I Got That Name”

By Marilyn Chin
I am Marilyn Mei Ling Chin
Oh, how I love the resoluteness
of that first person singular
followed by that stalwart indicative
of “be," without the uncertain i-n-g
of “becoming.” Of course,
the name had been changed
somewhere between Angel Island and the sea,
when my father the paperson
in the late 1950s
obsessed with a bombshell blond
transliterated “Mei Ling” to “Marilyn.”
And nobody dared question
his initial impulse—for we all know
lust drove men to greatness,
not goodness, not decency.
And there I was, a wayward pink baby,
named after some tragic white woman
swollen with gin and Nembutal.
My mother couldn’t pronounce the “r.”
She dubbed me “Numba one female offshoot”
for brevity: henceforth, she will live and die
in sublime ignorance, flanked
by loving children and the “kitchen deity.”
While my father dithers,
a tomcat in Hong Kong trash—
a gambler, a petty thug,
who bought a chain of chopsuey joints
in Piss River, Oregon,
with bootlegged Gucci cash.
Nobody dared question his integrity given
his nice, devout daughters
and his bright, industrious sons
as if filial piety were the standard
by which all earthly men are measured.
Oh, how trustworthy our daughters,

how thrifty our sons!
How we’ve managed to fool the experts
in education, statistic and demography—
We’re not very creative but not adverse to rote-learning.
Indeed, they can use us.
But the “Model Minority” is a tease.
We know you are watching now,
so we refuse to give you any!
Oh, bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots!
The further west we go, we’ll hit east;
the deeper down we dig, we’ll find China.
History has turned its stomach
on a black polluted beach—
where life doesn’t hinge
on that red, red wheelbarrow,
but whether or not our new lover
in the final episode of “Santa Barbara”
will lean over a scented candle
and call us a “bitch.”
Oh God, where have we gone wrong?
We have no inner resources!
Then, one redolent spring morning

the Great Patriarch Chin
peered down from his kiosk in heaven
and saw that his descendants were ugly.
One had a squarish head and a nose without a bridge
Another’s profile—long and knobbed as a gourd.
A third, the sad, brutish one
may never, never marry.
And I, his least favorite—
“not quite boiled, not quite cooked,"
a plump pomfret simmering in my juices—
too listless to fight for my people’s destiny.
“To kill without resistance is not slaughter”
says the proverb. So, I wait for imminent death.
The fact that this death is also metaphorical
is testament to my lethargy.
So here lies Marilyn Mei Ling Chin,

married once, twice to so-and-so, a Lee and a Wong,
granddaughter of Jack “the patriarch”
and the brooding Suilin Fong,
daughter of the virtuous Yuet Kuen Wong
and G.G. Chin the infamous,
sister of a dozen, cousin of a million,
survived by everybody and forgotten by all.
She was neither black nor white,
neither cherished nor vanquished,
just another squatter in her own bamboo grove
minding her poetry—
when one day heaven was unmerciful,
and a chasm opened where she stood.
Like the jowls of a mighty white whale,
or the jaws of a metaphysical Godzilla,
it swallowed her whole.
She did not flinch nor writhe,
nor fret about the afterlife,
but stayed! Solid as wood, happily
a little gnawed, tattered, mesmerized
by all that was lavished upon her
and all that was taken away!
Brief Discussion Questions:
From Arnold’s perspective, we mostly saw his experiences with assimilation as a good
thing. Do you think Marilyn Chin’s experiences were as positive?
What makes you say that?
Activity:
The activity of the day will be to create a found poem from the poem we already have.
We will follow the instructions from this website:
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/found-poems
Essentially, students will identify themes and meanings of this poem and create a found
poem with the same theme or meaning. This will showcase to them the power of words
and how long, complex sentences might not always be necessary - in fact, sometimes the
complexity of a sentence can affect its impact. This will also be an exercise in
understanding how to use language to give readers an idea of theme without explicitly
discussing it.
Assessment: Found poem will serve as a formative assessment.
Lesson 13: Poem #2
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to analyze the figurative devices used to create
voice in the poem, “Unforgettable” by Pages Matem, Elizabeth Acevedo and G.
Yamazawa.
Preparation: Students will need a transcript of the spoken poem, writing utensils, and
graphic organizer.
Procedure: As a class, we will listen to this poem on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvah3E1fP20
After we listen to the poem, I will hand out a transcription of it so students can see the
words in front of them as we listen to it a second time.
After we finish listening, students will work on the poetry graphic organizer. Some of the
elements will not be important – I’ll have students cross out section 4.
After they have 15-20 minutes to work on it, we will engage in a class discussion.
Discussion questions:
1. What happened in this poem?

2. Who is/are the speaker(s)?
1. Are they happy? Sad? Mad? Disappointed?
1. Why? What gives you that impression?
2. What about their speech patterns gives you that knowledge?
What examples give you an idea for their emotions?
3. Any specific words that stand out to you as indicative of mood?
4. What instances of assimilation do you see in this poem?
5. How do you think these individuals feel about assimilation?
6. How do you think they felt about their names?
1. What was the point of them focusing on their names? Why is
that such a big part of assimilation?
7. Find examples of figurative language in this poem, like similes, metaphors,
personification, hyperbole, etc.
1. Do you think these help or hinder the voice of the poem?
8. What does figurative language add to someone’s writing? What does it take away?
At this point the lesson will likely come to a close, with one last choice of question given
to students to answer as their homework in their journals.
How are the poets’ experiences similar to Arnold Jr.’s experience? Are there
similarities? Are there differences? Explain.
OR
Did this read as a positive experience with assimilation? A negative experience? Back up
your ideas with support from the poem.
Assessment: Graphic Organizer will serve as formative assessment, as will the class
discussion and homework assignment.
Lesson 14: Articles (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine the articles, “A Story of Assimilation,
Told in Perfect English…” by De Tran, and “Immigration: Assimilation and the measure
of an American” by Stephanie Hanes
Preparation: Students will need access to the articles, paper, and a writing utensil.
Procedure: Students will begin by reading through these articles. The article by Tran is
essentially written as a memoir essay, but the article by Stephanie Hanes is not. The
Hanes article features a lot of facts and figures and an outside point of view of Ms.
Garcia’s experiences with assimilation. We will read both of these articles and students
will answer a variety of discussion questions based on what we’ve read.
1) Which was more interesting to read?
2) Which article engaged you more?
3) Were there similar themes in each article?
4) Was the message the same?
Assessment: The article will serve as a formative assessment, as will the class discussion.
Lesson 15: Other kinds of Assimilation & Identity (Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to examine other assimilation in the novel, not
necessarily cultural.
Preparation: Students will need their novels and a writing utensil/paper to keep notes.
Procedure: We will begin this lesson by doing a close reading of a couple of passages
from the novel. We will first examine the short passage on p. 119 “My parents gave me
just enough money…” to p. 120 after the drawing. I will ask students: in what way has
Junior assimilated to middle class culture? Why did he feel pressured to do this?
The second passage we’ll look at starts on p. 142 with “Two weeks later,” and ends at the
end of p. 149. After we read that students will be asked: in what way has Junior
assimilated to basketball culture here? How has his assimilation to basketball culture
taken him farther away from his Indian culture?
After we look at the last passage, students will be asked: we may not all have to
assimilate in the same way Arnold Jr. does, but can you think of any ways or places in
which we have to act a certain way to be accepted? How and why? Do our actions take us
further away from who we are? When we assimilate, do we lose our culture? Do we lose
the respect of those around us?
Students will be asked to write in their journals about these questions:
What does assimilating do to our identity? How does assimilating affect who we are?
Are we being our authentic selves when we assimilate?
Assessment: Class discussion will serve as a formative assessment.
Lesson 16: What is a memoir essay? / Introduce Portfolio (Summative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to have students read through an example of a
memoir essay and identify characteristics of the genre.
Preparation: Students will need writing utensils, handouts, and a copy of The American
Dream by Lauren Stokes (in Appendix)
Procedure: In this lesson, students will be introduced to the memoir essay in a more in-
depth way than in lesson 11 with Alexie’s example. The example we look at during this
lesson was written by a teenager regarding her experience with coming of age in two
different countries and facing the expectations of both. We will read through it once as a
class and then answer a couple of discussion questions.
Discussion Questions:
1) What was this about? What happened in this essay?
2) What do we know about the author?
3) Why was she going through a hard time?
After we finish discussion those questions, we will read through it again, but this time in
consideration of the question: What does this example tell us about the format/structure
of memoir essays? Keep in mind the way the story is ordered, the language used,
sentence structure, and the use of dialogue to help the story advance. Students should
also take note of how it appears that we were given a “screenshot” of a moment as the
introduction to the overall story. It is possible to do this in a memoir essay and still tell a
linear story, as Stokes did. Once we’ve read through it again as a class, students will
answer those questions and we will write down their ideas on the board to make a list of
potential qualifications for memoir essays. This list will give students an idea of what is
expected of them in their own memoir essays.
Students will also receive a handout about the portfolio. This will not include examples
of the artifacts, which student will have access to via our class Google Drive. The
handout they receive will look like this:
Reflective Portfolio
Hello students! As we come to the end of our unit on assimilation, I would like for us to
create a portfolio of the writing we’ve done. In this portfolio, I ask that you include the
following artifacts:
• ONE Journal Entry

• ONE Diary entry from Rowdy’s point of view
• ONE Poem
o Either “Where I’m From” or “Found”
• Memoir Essay
• Reflection
If you want full credit on this assignment make sure that you adhere to the following
guidelines for each artifact…
Journal Entry (10 points)

• Answered in complete sentences
• Answered thoughtfully so I can tell you deeply considered what the question
asked
• Length: 1 page minimum
Diary Entry (10 points)

• Written in complete sentences
• Assume Rowdy’s point of view
Poem (10 points)

• Follow the correct format of whichever poem you choose
• Make sure poem is completed
Memoir Essay (20 points)

• Choose an example of a time you assimilated
• Tell the story linearly
• Use correct punctuation, spelling, grammar
• Explain how you felt in that situation
• Peer Reviewed Draft & any other drafts that lead up to your final
• Length: 3-5 pages
Reflection (20 points)

• Explain how each artifact supports your answer to the question: is
assimilation good or bad?
• Describe how you felt writing each artifact
• Discuss which artifact you feel is your strongest and which is your weakest and
explain why
• Explain how the process of writing drafts affected your writing
o Did peer review help? Did it hinder you?
• Write about what you would do differently in your writing if you had more time
to improve it
Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment, and students are
introduced to summative assessment.
Lesson 17: Brainstorm/Quickwrites (Summative)
Purpose: In this lesson, students will participate in a few brainstorming activities to get
their thoughts flowing
Preparation: Students will need their journals, writing utensils, and a handout of tips for
writing from our memories.
Procedure: Students will choose from a list of brainstorm questions to write about in
their journals:
I came to the important realization that…
I spent time with someone who was much different from me when…
A time when I did something differently from everyone else around me was...
The person or group that has had the biggest influence on me is...
An experience that challenged me was...
I changed myself in order to…
Once students have written for ten minutes about one question, they will exchange
stories with a partner. Each partner will write 3 questions they have after reading the
other’s work at the bottom of the page. The author will then answer the questions for
their partner. Once that’s done, students will be asked to re-write their response starting
with the answer to one of their partner’s questions. For example, if one’s partner asked:
“what time of day did this occur?” Then the author would begin their re-write with, “It
was 10:29 a.m. on a Tuesday”, or something to that degree. After that, students will
decide which line from their answer was the most significant, or their favorite. They will
then take that line and transport it to the beginning of their response. They will then
write from that line on. This gives students practice with hooking their reader in as well
as identifying strengths in their writing and interesting/compelling information for the
reader.
Students will receive a handout with this information on it regarding the process for
writing a memoir.
Write Your Own First-Person Account

USE A MEMORY FROM YOUR OWN CHILDHOOD AS A STARTING POINT FOR
THIS EXERCISE
1. Re-read note #1. Don’t forget that, even though you remember all the details, this
scene is entirely new to your reader. Take the time to describe the physical scene
and to give some context for your story.
2. Review note #2. Who are the other people in your scene? Try to remember their
voices—the things that they said and the way that they said them. Incorporate
their speech into your essay using either direct or indirect dialogue.
3. Note #3. Have you ever noticed how your thoughts run on and on without
punctuation or even logic? Try to capture some of your own unique thought
patterns in a sentence or two. You will likely discover connections to themes that
go beyond the immediate scene.
4. Note #4. Don’t forget to pace your scenes. If you have been racing through a lot of
dense material, try to give your reader a break by interspersing shorter sentences
or paragraphs. If your writing tends to be slow and expository, try to include
some action periodically to keep your reader’s interest.
5. Note #5. Although unconventional, one-word sentences are a great way to let
your voice shine through, imply action, or portray thoughts. If your teacher
doesn’t mind the grammar, try using this device.
6. Note #6. The best writing mixes multiple devices in the service of story. Don’t be
afraid to combine techniques in order to capture your own voice and experience.
7. Note #7. To finish your story, let memory be your guide . . .
We will discuss these tips and talk about examples of these we’ve seen in Diary, as well
as the other poems/essays we’ve looked at thus far. Tomorrow we’ll look at an example,
so bring this tip sheet along to see if we can notice any of these tips being applied!
Assessment: Quickwrites/brainstorm writing will serve as formative assessments,

though the exercise will help students think about a portion of their summative
assessment.
Source: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/memoir/brainstorm/pdfs/firstperson.pdf
Lesson 18: How to create Sensory Writing / Work Day (Summative)
Purpose: Once students have decided on their topic for the memoir essay, they will have
time in class to work on their essays after we discuss how to write in a way that will
engage the reader’s senses.
Preparation: Students will need a copy of the passage, the Sensory Writing Tips
handout, and a writing instrument
Procedure: In this lesson, we will analyze an excerpt from Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs
Tonight by Alexandra Fuller to identify sensory language. Sensory language will be
defined for students beforehand, so they know what to look for (Sensory language is the
use of details from the five senses to add color and depth to writing. It helps readers
visualize the scene a writer is setting.).
Passage:
“What I can’t know about Africa as a child (because I have no memory of any
other place) is her smell; hot, sweet, smoky, salty, sharp-soft. It is like black tea, cut
tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass1. When, years later, I leave the continent for
the first time and arrive in the damp wool sock of LondonHeathrow2, I am (as soon as I
poke my head up from the intestinal process of travel) most struck not by the sight, but
by the smell of England. How flat-empty it is; car fumes, concrete, street-wet3.
The other thing I can’t know about Africa until I have left (and heard the sound of
other, colder, quieter, more insulated places) is her noise. . . .
In the hot, slow time of day when time and sun and thought slow to a dragging,
shallow, pale crawl, there is the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and
whine. Dying grass crackles. Dogs pant4. There is the sound of breath and breathing, of
an entire world collapsed under the apathy of the tropics. And at four o’clock, when the
sun at last has started to slide west, and cool waves of air are mixed with the heat, there
is the shuffling sound of animals coming back into action to secure themselves for the
night. Cows lowing to their babies, the high-honeyed call of the cattle boys singing “Dip!
Dip-dip-dip-dip” as they herd the animals to the home paddocks5. Dogs rising from
stunned afternoon sleep and whining for their walk.
The night creatures (which take over from the chattering, roosting birds at dusk)
saw and hum with such persistence that the human brain is forced to translate the song
into pulse. Night apes, owls, nightjars, jackals, hyenas; these animals have the woo-
ooping, sweeping, landtravelling calls that add an eerie mystery to the night6. Frogs
throb, impossibly loud for such small bodies.”
1. Fuller begins with a series of adjectives, but follows up with a list of nouns that give
the reader a reference for the scent she wants to evoke.
2. The phrase “damp wool sock” calls up a distinct smell for anyone who’s ever been
near one, and also a tactile sense of cold next to the skin.
3. The short, industrial words used to describe London contrast sharply with the lush
language describing Africa.
4. “The sound of heat” is an example of synesthesia, the overlapping of two senses,
which Fuller enacts through onomatopoetic verbs.
5. Here, Fuller shows sound in action and brings the cacophony of farm life to the page.
The quotation is an attempt to reproduce the cattle boys’ call for the reader.
6. The words “saw and hum” convey the “pulse” of evening, while the list of animal
names creates a song of its own through the repetition of “n,” “l,” and long-vowel
sounds.
Students will not have the highlighted version. Once we’ve read this, I will ask students
to go through and highlight specific passages that they found particularly engaging to
their senses.
After we’ve read through and discussed the sensory language in Fuller’s passage, I will
give students a guide of advice for their own sensory writing. The tips will be:
Sensory Writing Tips
#1. Adjectives are fine, but they can sometimes be vague. Comparisons help your reader
to smell what you smell.
#2 Just because you are focusing on two senses doesn’t mean the others disappear. Pay
attention to sight, taste, and touch as well.
#3. Contrast is another helpful tool for the reader. Is there a place that’s the polar
opposite of the one you’re describing? How is it different?
#4. Verbs do the heavy lifting in description. Choose yours carefully, especially when
dealing with sound. Try to use at least one verb that sounds like what it means
(onomatopoeia).
#5. Sometimes you can make up words that reproduce a sound for the reader. Try it.
#6. If you choose and arrange them properly, the rhythm of your words will convey the
sounds they describe. Pay attention to your diction and flow.
#7 Once you’ve sketched a description, have a friend read it. If your friend can smell and
hear what you describe, you’re done. If not, revise until your scene comes to life.
Source: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/memoir/draft/pdfs/sensememory.pdf
Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment, skills that students
obtain through this lesson will be utilized in a portion of the summative assessment.
Lesson 19: Peer Review Day (Summative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to give students the chance to engage in peer
review for their memoir essays, and another piece of writing they will submit in their
portfolio if they want feedback on it.
Preparation: Students will need all of their writing for the portfolio: journal entry, diary
entry, poem, memoir essay, and reflection if they have that done at this point,
pens/pencils, and peer editing worksheets.
Procedure: In today’s lesson, students will engage in peer review with a partner. They
will exchange memoir essays and thoughtfully fill out the editing worksheet below:
Memoir Essay Peer Editing Sheet
Directions: Read a partner’s Memoir Essay rough draft and answer the following questions to
help your partner make necessary changes to their piece. Be honest in your feedback so your
partner has some corrections that they can make to improve their writing.
Questions to the Reader:
1. Summarize the story you read in a couple complete sentences. (Their story should be clear so
you know exactly what it’s about)
Response: ______________________________________________________________
Way(s) they could improve it: ______________________________________________
2. Do the details in the introduction capture your attention? Why or why not?
Response: ______________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think this experience was important to the writer? (Remember, the writer
should include a clear explanation of why this was a meaningful experience in their life)
Response:_______________________________________________________________
4. Find and change 2 run-on sentences (sentences that have more than one complete sentence
combined) and 2 sentence fragments (sentences that are not complete thoughts) in the space
below. Rewrite the sentences how they should be on the lines below.
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)
5. Pick 5 words from the writing that could be changed to sound more interesting or descriptive
(For example, change “big” to “humungous” or “good” to “outstanding”). Write the old word
and your suggestion for an improved word in the space below.
Original Word Your Suggestion for a New Word

1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)
5.)
6. Find at least three details that appeal to the sense. (If missing, share where you think details
should be added)
1.
2.
3.
7. Any last constructive comments? Does the essay flow in the logical order?
Once students have finished peer editing each other’s memoir essays, they can then
work on revising their own, or editing other work from their partner.
Assessment: Peer review will serve as formative assessment.
Lesson 20: Turn in Portfolios! / Wrap up Thematic Unit

(Summative/Formative)
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is for students to turn in portfolios and for us to
wrap up the unit with an exercise about diversity.
Preparation: Peer Review worksheet will
Procedure: Assimilation as a process tells us that our individual differences are not
acceptable or welcome according to the status quo. Today, we are going to wrap up the
unit by taking a look at teen writing that highlights our diversity and celebrates it.
Essays we will read (in appendix):
“I Refuse to Be Small” by Winona Gbedey
What happened in this essay?

What kind of diversity does this essay celebrate?
What is the tone of this essay?
Why is it important for us to read this essay?
“A Letter to My Brother” by Francesca Giardine

“Wilson, the Princess” by “Allie,”

Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment, summative

assessments will be handed in on this day.
Appendix:
The American Dream
by Lauren Stokes
age: 19
Our costumed interpreter is in the middle of a story about the scrap metal drive she and
her World War Two children held just last week when, abruptly, and in a manner
entirely unbefitting a war widow of the 1940s, her mouth falls open and she fixes her
eyes on my waist. “Why, I’ve never seen one of those before.”
Having no idea what she is talking about but wanting to get the tour back on track as
quickly as possible, and of course very conscious that somebody is staring at my waist, I
shift uncomfortably and squeak, “Maybe because they didn’t have it in 1944?”
She cranes her neck to keep up with my shifting. “No, no, that pin! The safety pins…and
the Canadian flag…however did you think of that?”
I look down past my waist to the Canadian flag made of beaded safety pins that had
seemed commonplace five minutes ago but was now apparently so disturbingly clever as
to unsettle a war widow. “Oh. Well. You know what they say about us Canadians.”
“And what might that be?”

I make an attempt to smile an enigmatic smile even as I know that the final result will
only be tearful. “That every American dreams of being one.”
***
It is the first day of seventh grade at the American School of The Hague and our history
teacher shows us pictures of her twin sister digging ditches in Rwanda. Ms. Waverly
used to live in Rwanda too, and she shows us pictures of the school she built and the
well she dug and the children she taught to read. She is Canadian, she says, and so she
has a sense of civic duty.
Ms. Waverly asks us to take out our pens and write on an index card our name, our age,
our nationality, what we want to be when we grow up, and our personal role model. I
write that I might be an American but I still want to go to Rwanda and help the starving
children just like my role model, Ms. Waverly, because she is only twenty-five but she
has already done so much.
Kyle reads what I have written and shakes his head. “She may have saved those kids in
Rwanda by digging wells for them,” he says, pushing his glasses up his nose, “but if she
thinks she can save us by telling us about it, she’s wrong.”
By the middle of the school year Ms. Waverly is no longer anyone’s role model. She sits
on her swivel chair holding her globe and turning from side to side so that she can
scrutinize fifteen bodies each shrinking as far away from the front of the classroom as it
can manage. “Can anyone tell me who the Americans are bombing today?”
Nobody can. “They’re bombing Kosovo. Can anyone tell me where Kosovo is? Chris?
Why don’t you show me where you think it is?” Chris is the class clown. He saunters to
the front of the room, spins the globe, sticks out his finger, and closes his eyes.
“You’re not going to be able to find it with your eyes closed, Chris.”
“And I couldn’t find it very well with my eyes open either.” The braver students manage
a laugh or two because this is Chris and Chris is smart and Chris is confident and Chris
is funny but then in a moment Ms. Waverly is spitting acid and even Chris isn’t smiling
anymore.
“Excuse me, Chris, but I don’t think you ought to be treating your ignorance as a joke.
It’s really a pity that you don’t care to rise above the stupidity of your countrymen. It’s
typical of Americans to ruin other people’s lives without even knowing about it. That’s
not funny. It’s pathetic. People are dying, and it’s your fault. Anyone who thinks
otherwise has clearly been brainwashed by the American media conglomerates.” She
stops herself, smiles, and proceeds to turn the entire diatribe into a joke. “And so that’s
why I’m proud to be a Canadian.” At this point we are expected to laugh, and we do,
Melissa chewing on her pen and Kyle fiddling with his glasses and Chris biting his lip
and all of us wondering at what point Ms. Waverly had been replaced by her evil twin.
***
It’s not that Ms. Waverly’s class was the first time I had ever come in contact with guilt. I
was raised on guilt. I learned that if I didn’t eat my peas then African children would
starve and that if I wasted paper then Brazilian children would lose their homes in the
trees and that if I didn’t turn the lights off a child in China wouldn’t have enough
electricity.
I was responsible for everything. If the child in China died because there wasn’t enough
electricity to keep her dialysis machine running, I was responsible. I could have stopped
my habits of waste and extravagance and general Ugly-Americanism and spared some
money to buy electricity for China, but had I? No. So whose fault was it? Mine. An
exercise in exaggerated self-importance? Perhaps. But it was also a conviction that I
could not get rid of.
Ms. Waverly’s class was the first time that I realized that I could absolve myself of that
guilt. Absolution, it turns out, was as easy as becoming Canadian. Canadians were just
as consumed by consumption as Americans. Canadians don’t eat their peas and they
waste paper and they leave the lights on all night long but nothing is their fault because
they are Canadian. They are quiet and unassuming and they keep to themselves, so who
would ever think of blaming them?
***
On the one-year anniversary of Columbine the principal announces that we are going to
start bomb drills that afternoon. These are terrorism drills, not school-shooter drills, but
still the timing seems inappropriate. Ms. Waverly cancels class so that we can talk about
our feelings. We sprawl across the blue cushions at the back of the room and repeat
empty platitudes about Columbine and fear and lessons learned until she becomes
exasperated.
“But how would you feel if I told you that your school was the most likely to be bombed
by terrorists in all of Europe?” We fall silent, each struggling to formulate a coherent
statement about something so close to our own lives. We do not doubt her for a
moment; we have an uneasy feeling that it must be true because we are decadent
Americans and if anyone deserves to be bombed it is us and why would she lie about
something like that anyway?
“Well, I’ll tell you how I feel about it. I certainly wasn’t shocked when I heard about it. It
made sense. We are, after all, the American School of The Hague. We’re a very high-
profile school. Hundreds of Americans send their children here, Americans working for
oil companies and technology companies and consulates and ambassadors. The
ambassadors are especially important. Both the Israeli and the American ambassadors
have their children here.
“It’s never smart to flaunt being an American, you know. You’ll notice the school doesn’t
fly an American flag. I actually always try to wear a Canadian flag in public. Without it,
the unobservant might think that I look like an American and I talk like an American
and so I must be an American. But with the Canadian flag, they’ll know that I’m
Canadian. And nobody would ever hurt a Canadian.” There is some mumbling in the
cushions, perhaps about Robbie, our resident Canadian and general nuisance. Kyle
whispers to me that he’d gladly hurt Ms. Waverly.
“That’s why I like to say that the American Dream is to be Canadian.”
“She’s wrong,” hisses Kyle, “the American Dream is to Lose Weight.” I laugh a little too
loudly. Ms. Waverly’s eyes dart over to the laughter, to our corner where our heads are
still bent conspiratorially. “Would you like to share your little joke with the rest of the
class, Kyle?”
I look up and I gulp and I shake my head and I try to say no but I know that he has to
share. “I said that the American Dream was to Lose Weight.” There is snickering in the
corner. Kyle is a pudgy kid, and Chris is probably making some sort of crack about it. I
think that I should stand up for Kyle because I’m the one who got him into the whole
mess but there is no standing up to Ms. Waverly.
“Oh? That’s funny, Kyle, because I’d say that they’re one and the same.” She laughs as if
she has said something funny. But the classroom is silent. Kyle is red and flustered and
my eyes are screwed shut so that I can pretend it didn’t happen and even Chris chokes
on his laughter thinking that the woman has finally crossed the line.
We practice our terrorism drills for the rest of the afternoon.
***
I moved back to America in eighth grade. After eight years of being resented because I
was an American, of being blamed and hated and pointed at on the streets, I was back in
the one land where being an American is admired.
My Dream was to Be Canadian, but I quickly found out that Chris had been right — the
American Dream was to Lose Weight. I knew that my guilt was meaningful, that my
guilt came from pain, that it came from oppression, that it came from the tragedy of the
human condition. Why couldn’t the Americans — my Americans — see that their guilt
was not half so noble, not half so important, not half so difficult as mine? If you want to
lose weight in America, you go on a diet. But if you want to be Canadian, you hide your
Canadian flag in a dark closet and you sit and you cry and you don’t tell anyone about it
because you will only be scoffed at and called a traitor and told that it’s people like you
who are ruining the country.
I looked for alternate routes to absolution. I prayed every night to a God who I wasn’t
sure that I even believed in. I washed cars for charity and I tried to imagine myself
washing the children I had murdered. I read in one of my father’s scholarly journals that
Rousseau invented liberal guilt and I spent the next six weeks immersed in The Social
Contract, thinking that if I could only understand how it was created I could also
understand how to destroy it.
Slowly, surely, in a process that is inevitable when you live in America, my guilt began to
lose its edge. Instead of being disgusted by the supermarket’s excesses, I began to
consume and even relish them. Instead of trying to hide my American citizenship at any
cost, I learned to sing (and sign, in a last-ditch attempt at political correctness) “God
Bless the USA.” Instead of passing sleepless nights worrying about the children in Brazil,
I spent sleepless nights worrying about myself.
***
My Girl Scout troop goes traveling with a troop of Canadian Girl Guides. I talk with the
Canadians and I laugh at their anti-American jokes and I wear one of their flags and I
sing along with them to their song “The War of 1812”.
So if you come to Washington

Its buildings clean and nice
Bring a pack of matches
And we’ll burn the White House twice!
My friends ask me what the hell I think I’m doing. “Stop it. Stop talking to them and
stop laughing with them and more than anything stop singing those horrible songs!
You’re an American, you don’t need to suck up to them.”
I want to tell them that I am not sucking up. I want to tell them that I dream of being
Canadian because to be Canadian is better than being American, that it is America
without America’s baggage, that it is to be rich without the resentment, to be gleeful
without the guilt, that it is to have your cake and eat it too and that because of this
perhaps it is not so far off the American Dream after all.
I do not say any of this. I smile, I shrug, I finger my beaded Canadian flag and I sigh
knowing that it is the closest I will ever be to Canadian.
I Refuse to Be Small by Winona Gbedey
As I lowered myself into my seat, my gaze zeroed in on the image at the front of
the room. The video, a CNN special on racial equality in America, was paused, but the
little girl on the screen intrigued me nonetheless. Her expression was one of sudden
realization, and she didn’t look happy. The culprits, I assumed, were the objects in front
of her: two dolls that looked exactly alike except for the color of their skin. The lights
dimmed. I waited for my teacher to press play.
The portion of the program that featured the girl and the dolls didn’t appear until
the end, and as it turned out, she was one of several children of various ethnicities
selected for a study that posed the question “Which doll is bad, the white or the black
one?”
I thought knew how they would answer; each child would point to the white doll,
because history demanded it. My mind brimmed with examples that I would use to
defend my point when my teacher inevitably switched to classroom discussion: the
Crusades, the enslavement of the Africans, the land stolen from the Native Americans.
But I was wrong. Each child wordlessly pointed to the black doll, causing
something painful and foreign to well up in my stomach. I live in 21st century America,
decades after Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and countless other men and women
who fought for change, yet being black is still synonymous with inferiority?
I was different. This knowledge plagued me. After that video, I took the role of an
actor, fitting into the character I thought society wanted me to play. I worked quietly like
my predecessors, hoping no one would pay close attention to me. Yet frustration tugged
at me whenever a peer begged for help with homework behind closed doors but ignored
me in public, whenever someone disregarded me after one fleeting look. By the end of
junior high, I was tired of being used and discarded like trash.
Things were going to be different in high school, I decided. I was surrounded by
so many different people with so many different backgrounds and interests. There were
Hispanics building robots for Tech Club; African Americans with Calculus textbooks in
their arms and weary, contented smiles on their faces; Asians in sparkly dresses,
flipping their hair and talking in teen jargon; white kids, some with SUVs, some with
babies. It made me realize what I wanted, and that wasn’t to succumb to racial
stereotypes. Anyway, acting was stupid. Why did I have to play the role of “black kid
who won’t amount to anything” when that wasn’t who I was? Why couldn’t I be “the
future president” or “the girl who’s going to cure cancer” or – even better – “your next
boss”?
My resolve grew. Finally, I let myself shine. Soon people sought me out for help.
Soon I was marching with the band on the nation’s grandest stages. Soon I was winning
academic awards for my school. I wasn’t afraid to let myself be heard. I was surpassing
even my own expectations.
If I had a time machine, I would go back to the day I saw that video. I would tell
my younger self, “Look, life is tough. People may make judgments based on your
appearance. It’s your job to prove them wrong. You have so much to offer this world,
and if you keep that in mind, your future will be bright. Don’t let anyone convince you
otherwise.”
And as I traveled back home, experiencing how things had changed, how much I
had achieved, I would smile – because I came, I saw, I conquered, and I refused to be
something small.
A Letter to My Brother by Francesca Giardine
Sure, it can be fun to mess with people. However, dear brother, it’s never okay to
mock what another person cannot control. Tonight at dinner you ridiculed my weight.
You called me fat in a tone that implied I was ugly, even disgusting.
In all 14 years of your existence, you never once crossed this line before tonight.
You looked me right in the eye and said it as though it were nothing less than fact. Have
you thought this about me all along?
Regardless of the fact that I am not your definition of skinny, I am quite healthy. I
eat well and am generally happy. My eyes are bright, and I have a capable brain. To me
this is plenty, as there is so much more to a person than appearance.
What did you hope to achieve by calling me fat? Did you want me to feel weak?
Years of insecurities have taught me to divert my brain to the positives whenever I begin
to feel plagued by nasty thoughts. It’s been only one of many battles against myself,
which are the hardest kind to fight. Although I found your comment hurtful, that is not
my main concern.
I am only one person of thousands you will observe and judge in your lifetime. If
you judge your own sister for her appearance, how will you see strangers? Will your
biases prevent interaction with them? If so, then you will miss out on meeting a lot of
amazing people. Some day you may marry. What if your wife gains weight? Will your
perceptions about her change?
Our society is in a constant fight between harmful standards and the genuine
need to abandon them. The double standards that envelop women are atrocious, and it
saddens me that my own sibling conforms to and perpetuates them. When we label
people as fat or skinny, it is as though we measure them and give them value. What if
they learn to measure their own worth from the judgments of people like you? The value
they give themselves won’t be very big, and that is a terrible way to live. Please don’t
measure others as you have measured me.
I have forgiven you, brother. You are still my sibling and will continue to be
tomorrow. As soon as I condemned you, I also forgave. It is not entirely your fault that
you think this way. Society is a brutal and erroneous teacher. I would be proud if you
could learn this lesson. It’s rather difficult to learn another person’s lesson, because it
isn’t always intended for you. Because society wants me to be a size 2 and I’m not, I have
been forced to teach myself.
I want you to learn the lessons taught to all of the people out there who aren’t
blessed with nice bodies, pretty faces, able minds, and other assorted privileges. Loving
yourself comes first. Measure yourself before you let others measure you. Are you kind?
Do you care? Do you love? Those are some things you should ask yourself before you try
to figure out if you’re what others want you to be. Chances are, if you answer honestly,
you won’t care what everyone else thinks.
Please, though, learn to not judge others too quickly. Look beyond their
appearance to inform your opinions. They will appreciate it.
Wilson, the Princess by “Allie,”
When I was in preschool, I knew this kid named Wilson. We were best friends.
And he was, to put it simply, a princess.
Or at least, he wanted to be. I think that he believed he was one.
He didn’t like Transformers, or toy cars, or superheroes like the other boys. He
liked to play with Barbies, and he loved pink. And, of course, he didn’t play with the boys
during recess. He played with the girls.
At the time I was the girliest, sparkliest, princess-iest little girl ever, and Wilson
was my perfect companion. I knew he was different from the other boys, but I didn’t see
anything wrong with that. The only way I could explain it was, “He likes girl toys.” I did
too, so as far as I was concerned, he had the right idea.
Wilson didn’t mind being identified as a boy. He was fine being referred to as
Wilson or “he.” I don’t think it mattered to him, because I don’t think he thought that
Wilsons were supposed to be boys, and boys were supposed to like Transformers. And
toy cars. And superheroes.
I think, looking back now, that some of the adults thought he was weird. Not
normal. Or maybe they thought he was going through a phase. I remember how they
laughed, not exactly at him, but at the way he held himself, the way he played with the
girls. They didn’t object to his feminine preferences, and they didn’t dislike him in any
way. It’s hard to hate a four-year-old.
Then, as I got older, I lost some of my innocence. “Wilsons are boys,” society told
me. “And boys like Transformers and toy cars and superheroes. Boys don’t like Barbies
and princesses and pink things.” I guess I accepted it. I mean, that was the way the
world worked, right? But I didn’t buy it deep down, and I still don’t. Wilson was
perfectly normal just as he was, and this belief that he couldn’t like “girl” toys was
wrong.
Now I’ve lost even more of that innocence. I know how people are treated when
they don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. And I have realized that
there are stereotypes most people unconsciously accept – and enforce.
“You need to wear more skirts. How pretty you look in a skirt!”
“Honey, stop slouching; act like a lady.”
“Eww! Why do you play with boy toys?”
I’m not saying that I don’t identify as a girl, or that I refuse to touch pink. I am
very much a female, and I identify as one. But because of that, I’m told everything about
me has to be feminine, feminine, feminine. And it’s really annoying.
Sometimes I wonder about Wilson. Does he want to be called “Willow” and be
referred to as “she” now? Does he (or she) still like to wear dresses? Does Wilson like
girls or boys? Or was it really just a “phase”?
Maybe it was a phase. Sometimes I hope it was. Because if it wasn’t, I know what
Wilson might be going through now. Maybe he’s being shoved into lockers at school.
Maybe the other kids call him “pu**y” or “fag.” Maybe he’s had to hide who he really is
and act like someone he’s not – a masculine, superhero-admiring, rough-and-tumble
someone. Or maybe he’s just fine. Maybe people are more accepting of him. I doubt it.
He’s not four anymore; he’s 15. It’s easier to hate someone of that age.
I wish we were all in preschool again. I wish we were all innocent, little kids and
had no idea what a cruel, terrible world it is. I wish that we were little again and didn’t
know how to hate and didn’t know, or particularly care, that Wilsons are boys and boys
should like boy toys.
I wish everyone were like that. Maybe then we wouldn’t live in such a despicable
place.
Student Friendly Summative Assessment
Greta Niethammer
3/25/18
Reflective Portfolio
Hello students! As we come to the end of our unit on assimilation, I would like for us to
create a portfolio of the writing we’ve done. In this portfolio, I ask that you include the
following artifacts:
• ONE Journal Entry

• ONE Diary entry from Rowdy’s point of view
• ONE Poem
o Either “Where I’m From” or “Found”
• Memoir Essay
• Reflection
If you want full credit on this assignment make sure that you adhere to the following
guidelines for each artifact…
Journal Entry (10 points)

• Answered in complete sentences
• Answered thoughtfully so I can tell you really thought about the question
Diary Entry (10 points)
• Written in complete sentences
• Assume Rowdy’s point of view
Poem (10 points)

• Follow the correct format of whichever poem you choose
• Make sure poem is completed
Memoir Essay (20 points)

• Choose an example of a time you assimilated
• Tell the story linearly
• Use correct punctuation, spelling, grammar
• Explain how you felt in that situation
• Peer reviewed draft and any other draft that lead to your final draft
Reflection (20 points)

• Explain how each artifact supports your answer to the question: is
assimilation good or bad?
• Describe how you felt writing each artifact
• Discuss which artifact you feel is your strongest and which is your weakest and
explain why
• Explain how the process of writing drafts affected your writing
o Did peer review help? Did it hinder you?
• Write about what you would do differently in your writing if you had more time
to improve it
Below are some examples of the artifacts should you wish to see a model for what is
expected of you. You will recognize a few of them as works we’ve already studied in
class. The journal entry and the diary entry are absent because those are based on your
thoughts and beliefs, and should not be influenced by someone else’s work. There is an
example of a portfolio reflection written by me. You will want yours to assess your
artifacts as critically as I did my own.
Examples of Artifacts
Journal Entry
Question: Why is it important to belong to a community?
Answer: It is extremely important to belong to a community because…. (Answers

will vary).
Rowdy’s Diary Entry
Dear Diary,
Hi, I’m Rowdy, and today I’m really, really mad. My idiot best friend just told me
he’s going to the white school tomorrow…. (Answers will vary)
Where I’m From (Poem)
Example: George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as if
they were my own.
I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,

from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons,
From Perk up! and Pipe down!
I'm from He restoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb
And ten verses I can say myself.
I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,

Fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger,
The eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box spilling old pictures,

A sift of lost faces to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments-- snapped before I budded -- leaf-fall from the family tree.
Memoir Essay
Superman and Me
By Sherman Alexie
I learned to read with a Superman comic book. Simple enough, I suppose. I

cannot recall which particular Superman comic book I read, nor can I remember which
villain he fought in that issue. I cannot remember the plot, nor the means by which I
obtained the comic book. What I can remember is this: I was 3 years old, a Spokane
Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern
Washington state. We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually
managed to find some minimum-wage job or another, which made us middle-class by
reservation standards. I had a brother and three sisters. We lived on a combination of
irregular paychecks, hope, fear and government surplus food.
My father, who is one of the few Indians who went to Catholic school on purpose,
was an avid reader of westerns, spy thrillers, murder mysteries, gangster epics,
basketball player biographies and anything else he could find. He bought his books by
the pound at Dutch's Pawn Shop, Goodwill, Salvation Army and Value Village. When he
had extra money, he bought new novels at supermarkets, convenience stores and
hospital gift shops. Our house was filled with books. They were stacked in crazy piles in
the bathroom, bedrooms and living room. In a fit of unemployment-inspired creative
energy, my father built a set of bookshelves and soon filled them with a random
assortment of books about the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, the Vietnam War and
the entire 23-book series of the Apache westerns. My father loved books, and since I
loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well.
I can remember picking up my father's books before I could read. The words
themselves were mostly foreign, but I still remember the exact moment when I first
understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph. I didn't have the
vocabulary to say "paragraph," but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held
words. The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose. They had
some specific reason for being inside the same fence. This knowledge delighted me. I
began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs. Our reservation was a small
paragraph within the United States. My family's house was a paragraph, distinct from
the other paragraphs of the LeBrets to the north, the Fords to our south and the Tribal
School to the west. Inside our house, each family member existed as a separate
paragraph but still had genetics and common experiences to link us. Now, using this
logic, I can see my changed family as an essay of seven paragraphs: mother, father, older
brother, the deceased sister, my younger twin sisters and our adopted little brother.
At the same time I was seeing the world in paragraphs, I also picked up that
Superman comic book. Each panel, complete with picture, dialogue and narrative was a
three-dimensional paragraph. In one panel, Superman breaks through a door. His suit is
red, blue and yellow. The brown door shatters into many pieces. I look at the narrative
above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that "Superman is
breaking down the door." Aloud, I pretend to read the words and say, "Superman is
breaking down the door." Words, dialogue, also float out of Superman's mouth. Because
he is breaking down the door, I assume he says, "I am breaking down the door." Once
again, I pretend to read the words and say aloud, "I am breaking down the door" In this
way, I learned to read.
This might be an interesting story all by itself. A little Indian boy teaches himself
to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads "Grapes of Wrath" in
kindergarten when other children are struggling through "Dick and Jane." If he'd been
anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a
prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity. He
grows into a man who often speaks of his childhood in the third-person, as if it will
somehow dull the pain and make him sound more modest about his talents.
A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and
non-Indians alike. I fought with my classmates on a daily basis. They wanted me to stay
quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were
Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to those expectations
inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside. They struggled with basic
reading in school but could remember how to sing a few dozen powwow songs. They
were monosyllabic in front of their non-Indian teachers but could tell complicated
stories and jokes at the dinner table. They submissively ducked their heads when
confronted by a non-Indian adult but would slug it out with the Indian bully who was 10
years older. As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world. Those
who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by
non-Indians.
I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read books late into
the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open. I read books at recess, then during
lunch, and in the few minutes left after I had finished my classroom assignments. I read
books in the car when my family traveled to powwows or basketball games. In shopping
malls, I ran to the bookstores and read bits and pieces of as many books as I could. I
read the books my father brought home from the pawnshops and secondhand. I read the
books I borrowed from the library. I read the backs of cereal boxes. I read the
newspaper. I read the bulletins posted on the walls of the school, the clinic, the tribal
offices, the post office. I read junk mail. I read auto-repair manuals. I read magazines. I
read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and
desperation. I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was
trying to save my life.
Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer. I was going to be a
pediatrician. These days, I write novels, short stories, and poems. I visit schools and
teach creative writing to Indian kids. In all my years in the reservation school system, I
was never taught how to write poetry, short stories or novels. I was certainly never
taught that Indians wrote poetry, short stories and novels. Writing was something
beyond Indians. I cannot recall a single time that a guest teacher visited the reservation.
There must have been visiting teachers. Who were they? Where are they now? Do they
exist? I visit the schools as often as possible. The Indian kids crowd the classroom. Many
are writing their own poems, short stories and novels. They have read my books. They
have read many other books. They look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder.
They are trying to save their lives. Then there are the sullen and already defeated Indian
kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision. The pages of their
notebooks are empty. They carry neither pencil nor pen. They stare out the window.
They refuse and resist. "Books," I say to them. "Books," I say. I throw my weight against
their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I

Diary Unit Upper High School

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Diary Unit Upper High School

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Portfolio/Memoir/Narrative Writing Unit adapted for 11th grade

Lesson 1: Introduce the novel (Engagement)

Preparation: Students will need their novels, pens/pencils, and paper.

Preparation: Students will need access to computers to conduct research, paper,

Lesson 3: Hope Against Hope (Engagement)

Preparation: Students will need paper and pen/pencil.

Assessment: Journals and class discussion will serve as formative assessments.

Lesson 4: What is assimilation?

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with assimilation.

Preparation: Students will need paper and pencils.

Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment.

Lesson 5: Rowdy and Reardan (Formative)

Preparation: Students will need paper and pencils.

Lesson 6: Who is Junior? Who is Arnold? (Formative)

1. Is there a difference between “Junior” and “Arnold”?

Lesson 7: David and Goliath (Formative)

Lesson 8: Your Tribes (Formative)

Assessment: Discussion, list, and reflective response will serve as formative

Lesson 9: Where I’m From

Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,

I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,

Under my bed was a dress box

From ________________________ and __________________________

I am from the ______________________________________________

___________________ , _________________ , ________________________________

I'm from ____________________________ and ______________________________

From ______________________________ and _________________________

I'm from the ____________________________ and ______________________

From _________________________________ and ________________________

I'm from ___________________________ , __________________________________

I'm from _______________________________________________

From the ______________________________________________________________

Lesson 10: Debate: is assimilation good? (Formative)

Lesson 11: Superman and Me (Formative)

Reflection/Discussion questions after reading:

What do you think of his explanation of paragraphing? Is there anything interesting

Assessment: Class discussion will serve as formative assessment.

Lesson 12: Poem #1 (Formative)

“How I Got That Name”

Oh, how trustworthy our daughters,

Then, one redolent spring morning

So here lies Marilyn Mei Ling Chin,

Brief Discussion Questions:

What makes you say that?

Assessment: Found poem will serve as a formative assessment.

Lesson 13: Poem #2

Procedure: As a class, we will listen to this poem on Youtube

1. What happened in this poem?

Lesson 14: Articles (Formative)

Lesson 15: Other kinds of Assimilation & Identity (Formative)

Students will be asked to write in their journals about these questions:

Assessment: Class discussion will serve as a formative assessment.

Lesson 16: What is a memoir essay? / Introduce Portfolio (Summative)

• ONE Journal Entry

Journal Entry (10 points)

Diary Entry (10 points)

Poem (10 points)

Memoir Essay (20 points)

Reflection (20 points)

Lesson 17: Brainstorm/Quickwrites (Summative)

From and __

___________ , _ , ________________________

I'm from and __

From ______ and _

I'm from the ______ and

From _________ and

I'm from _ , ________