Lesson Title: Exploring Perspectives with Three Cups of Tea

Subject: English Language Arts

Grade Level: 7th & 8th
Time Frame: 50 minutes (one middle school period)

Objective Students will gain experience considering different perspectives by writing a narrative
from the point of view of a character related to Three Cups of Tea (conclusion to
Three Cups of Tea unit).
Rationale One of the main goals of the book Three Cups of Tea is to increase the reader’s
understanding of diverse perspectives. This lesson, which requires students to learn
about a character and then write a narrative from that character’s point of view, aims
to improve this understanding—a skill that allow students to be better deliberators,
communicators, and proponents of tolerance and acceptance.
Prior Knowledge Reading of Three Cups of Tea. Understanding of the concepts of “narrative” and
“point of view.” Ability to write in complete sentences with correct use of grammar,
spelling, punctuation, etc. Understanding of the events that occurred on 9/11.
Completion of a “diversity wheel.”
Standards (from Apply strategies appropriate to type of reading material, including making inferences
ALEX) to determine bias or theme and using specific context clues, to comprehend eighth-
grade informational and functional reading materials (4)
Analyze works of literature for character motivation (6)
Write in narrative, expository, and persuasive modes with attention to descriptive
elements (8)
Apply mechanics in writing (9)
Essential What makes us who we are? How would your perspective change if a piece of your
Questions pie changed (diversity wheel)? What do we accomplish by trying to understand
another person’s perspective? Is it possible to truly understand the way someone
else thinks? Why are there so many different religions, races, cultures, and opinions?

Assessment/Differentiation/Accommodation
Formative Diversity wheel homework assignment and activity will assess student’s abilities to
Assessment follow directions and to think about the multiple characteristics that form every
individual.
Character webs will assess students’ understanding of the text, ability to select
specific information from text, and ability to draw their own conclusions based on
textual information.
Summative Narrative from character’s perspective. This will assess students’ understanding of
Assessment the text and other information presented (video clips, discussions), ability to explore
(attach example) a different perspective, and ability to select information from the text and further
extrapolate them creatively.
Differentiated Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no one with obvious language or academic
Instruction needs in my class. I have not observed the teacher making any specific
accommodations in this classroom. I will be employing specific modeling strategies,
 however, to ensure that students have a good understanding of how to complete
their assignments.

Lesson Plan
Lesson Overview Students will get a glimpse of diversity by discussing the diversity wheel, and then
will focus in on a specific point of view that is probably different from their own.
They will complete a character web for a randomly selected Three Cups of Tea
character or related fictional persona, which will require them to both gather textual
evidence and draw additional conclusions about the character’s thoughts and
opinions. The narrative will build upon these conclusions and require students to
synthesize all of their knowledge and thoughts up to this point.
Materials Completed diversity wheel, “ELMO” visual presenter, selected video clips, paper
strips with character names, character web and prompt handouts
Bell ringer/Review Discussion of diversity wheel to get students thinking about the various elements
Activity that compose each of us. Teacher will show the class her own diversity wheel,
discuss the symbolism, ask a student volunteer to share his or her diversity wheel
Activities and 1. Diversity Wheel (7 minutes)
Procedures (with a. Place teacher-completed diversity wheel under the ELMO. Explain that the
transitions and circle or “pie” represents who I am. It is not just one flavor of pie; it’s more
time allocations) like a Dr. Pepper pie with 23 flavors—many different things make up who I
am. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget about all the different pieces of the pie
and focus on just one. For example, when someone is sexist or racist, they
are focusing on one piece of the pie (gender or race), which isn’t fair.
b. Ask a student to volunteer to share his or her diversity wheel. Talk about
what it means to them. They should be proud to be who they are, and every
slice of the pie is a part of that. If you took away one slice, it would change
something about their identity. Also, if you focus only on one slice, you are
ignoring most of the pie, and you don’t see who they really are.
c. Reiterate the point that everyone is made up of many different slices. When
you think about a person who practices Islam, remember that there is more
to them than just their religion. Follow the example of Greg Mortenson
when he had tea with members of the Taliban in Chapter 20. Instead of
focusing just on the fact that they were Taliban members, he asked them
about other slices of their pies—their families and their children.
2. Video Clips (7 minutes)
a. What Do Americans Think of Muslims? http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KRS1sB5d7vw
b. A Land Called Paradise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbcmPe0z3Sc
3. Character Webs (15 minutes)
a. Keeping in mind the diversity of every individual, pass out the webs and
prompts (consider putting them on one piece of paper, front and back).
b. Ask a student to read the prompt aloud (Imagine that Greg Mortenson is
planning on building a school in or near your village, if you are a native of
Pakistan or Afghanistan. If the character you have chosen is an American,
you will respond to the news that Mortenson has been building schools in the
lands that harbor terrorists. How does this make you feel? If you approve of
this plan, explain why you are in favor of the school. If you object, explain
 why you disapprove. Based on evidence from the book, thoroughly explain
your reaction. Include page numbers to support your answer.)
c. Explain that the students will now investigate their character. They should
use the book to find some answers, such as quotes and actions.
d. Use the I Do, We Do, You All Do, You Do modeling strategy to fill out parts of
a character web in front of the class, demonstrating the use of an index.
e. Explain that if their character is not directly in the book, they may need to
rely more on the video clips, but they can still find evidence in the book to
help support their narratives (for example, an action for an American citizen
may be to send hate mail to Greg Mortenson, something that is actually
done in the book).
f. Once students are done with their character webs, they should move on to
their narratives. Remind them that they should use the ideas from their
character webs to create their narratives.
4. Narratives (20 minutes) – to be finished for homework or in a later class period.
Closure The students will probably not have enough time to finish their narratives in class, so
the closure will be a reminder to finish them at home. Remind them to be creative,
use the information they wrote in their character webs, and document the textual
evidence with page numbers.
References Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
What Do Americans Think of Muslims? (youtube video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRS1sB5d7vw
A Land Called Paradise (youtube video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=sbcmPe0z3Sc
Pennies for Peace Curriculum Resource Guide
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29171875/3-Cups-of-Tea-Unit-Guide

Each of the following materials will print on a separate page.

Prompt

Write from the point of view of your character. It is October, 2001. If your character is a native of
Pakistan or Afghanistan, imagine that Greg Mortenson is planning on building a school in or near your
village. If your character is an American, you will respond to the news that Mortenson has been building
schools in the lands that harbor terrorists. How does this make you feel? If you approve of this plan,
explain why you are in favor of the school. If you object, explain why you disapprove. Based on evidence
from the book, thoroughly explain your reaction. Include page numbers to support your answer.
Characters

Some of the individuals below are not characters in Three Cups of Tea, but are generic individuals related
to the issues the book presents.

Tara (Mortenson’s Wife) President Bush

Twa’Ha (Haji Ali’s son) Jahan (Haji Ali’s daughter)

Man with a high school

A child in Afghanistan
education from Mississippi

A Muslim citizen of New York A Christian citizen of New York

City City

An Army Veteran who fought

A survivor of 9/11
in Iraq