Understanding by Design
Curriculum Unit Plan
With Differentiated Instruction

Subject Area: English                                                                                                    Course/Grade Level: E5
Unit Title:   A Raisin in the Sun                                                                                     Number of Days: 15-20

| Enduring Understanding | Essential Questions | Skills & Knowledge | Assessment| Core Vocabulary | Critical Lens Essay |Enrichment Activities |
| Background Info Day 1| Day 2 | Day 3| Day 4| Day 5 |Day 6| Day 7| Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11Day 12|Day 13 | Day 14 |Day 15| Day 16|Day 17 | Day 18| Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22| Portfolio|

Unit Summary: 
During this unit, students will focus on reading and understanding for emotional impact. They will be required to read for literary response and expression, along with emotional impact. They will continue to improve their reading skills and comprehension through specific reading techniques. As the unit progresses, students will be able to analyze representations of masculinity and femininity through A Raisin in the Sun. Students will consider how persistent effects the Younger family throughout the play.


Desired Results

State Standards and or/ grade level benchmarks  addressed:

  • Students will be able to effectively complete a Critical Lens based on A Raisin in the Sun
  • Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression. (Standard 2) 
  • Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation. (Standard 3)

Enduring Understanding(s)
Students will understand that…

  • Maintaining and working towards a dream can provide a person a reason to live.
  • Families can be brought together by shared dreams or torn apart by conflicting dreams.
  • Individuals are constantly making choices that further their dreams or undermine them.
  •  Dreams can wither save or destroy a person.
  • It is crucial to develop and fight for your own values ans ideals.
  • Materialism and money, in themselves, are worthless.
  • The family is the most important relationship in most people's lives.
  • We do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before us and will come after us.
  • One can start at any age.
  • It is better to fight with dignity than surrender in shame.

 Topical Understanding(s)  Specific to  Unit:

  • Poverty plays a crucial role in the lives of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun.
  • Masculinity and Femininity are represented in many ways throughout the play.
  • Segregation restricts the lives of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun.

 Essential Questions: 
To understand, students will need to consider such questions as....

  • How do dreams help to pull us up from the struggles of everyday life?
  • How does the death of a dream affect an individual? How can families be pivotal in both supporting and undermining the dreams of individuals?
  • How far back do our cultural identities reach?
  • How does persistent poverty affect families?
  • How does materialism affect a person's attitude toward life?
  • Why is our family the utmost important part of our life?
  • How are people's personal lives affected by a nation's history?

Topical Essential Questions for Unit:

  • How is poverty affecting the Youngers?
  • How do Walter Lee Younger, Joseph Asagai and George Murchison represent different visions of manhood?
  • How do Ruth, Lena and Beneatha Younger represent different visions of womanhood?
  • How will the segregation of Chicago affect the Youngers in their new home?
  • Is A Raisin in the Sun a tragedy?
  • Which character do you think is most entitled to part of the insurance money? Why?
  • How are the dreams of Lindner and the white residents of Clybourne Park both similar and different from the dreams of the Younger family? Where do the two dreams clash?

 

To understand, students will need to know and be able to do the following…

know… Students will know the following in order to…(e.g., facts, vocabulary, rules, theories, principles)

  • The context of African American society in Chicago in the 1950s.
  • The structures of a play.
  • Archetypal representations of masculinity and femininity.
  • The definition and application of the term tragedy.
  • The importance of Hansberry as an author

Essential new vocabulary
Literary concepts-

  • Characterization
  • setting & mood
  • conflict
  • theme

Students will be able to-                                                                             

  • Write a paragraph using TEEIC
  • Interpret and respond to a critical lens
  • Read A Raisin in the Sun with dramatic interpretation.
  •  Analyze a main character and support the analysis with textual evidence
  •  Respond to a theme from the play
  • Write dialectical journals and use it as a method to look closely at a specific character
  • Use T-Chart to paraphrase the text
  • Use Venn Diagram to compare characters or ideas

Assessment Evidence

Diagnostic Assessment(s)  (To determine students’ readiness (based upon required knowledge and skills), interests, and learning profiles):

  •  Respond to questions related to the "what, where, when and how" of the play
  • Quiz on the required background knowledge of the play
  •  Synthesis journals
  •  vocabulary quiz   

Summative Performance Assessment Task(s) for Understandings  Using G.R.A.S.P.S.:
Goals:  To raise fund and find a Broadway producer to revive the play A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway ( the 1st production was on March 11, 1959 and a huge hit. Hansberry won the NY Drama Critics Award)
 Role(s): NYC HS Student , a member of New School for Research Organization
 Audience: Bill Gates Foundation, Broadway producers and directors
 Situation:  As Broadway shows today are all about budget and ticket sales, A Raisin in the Sun will not likely be revived on Broadway. As part of the mission of your organization, you will help promote books that have had profound influence on people and society. Your New School organization has decided to help raise fund and have the play revived on Broadway.
Product : You will write a letter to the Bill & Malinda Gates foundation and explain why it is important for NYC Youth to know about the play A Raisin in the Sun , not only for its historical values but also its relevancy to the world we live in- "The human condition, human aspiration and human relationships-the persistence of dreams, of the bonds and conflicts between men and women, parents and children, old ways and new, and the endless struggle against human oppression, whatever the forms it may take, and of individual fulfillment, recognition, and liberation "by Nemiroff, Rober.
Persuade the foundation to provide funding for a Broadway revival of the play.
Standards or Criteria for Evaluation/Traits for Rubrics:


Persuasive Essay : A Raisin in the Sun Should Be Revived on Broadway!
Teacher Name: Ms. D'Amato Student Name:     _________________

CATEGORY

A- Above Standards

B- Meets Standards

C- Approaching Standards

F - Below Standards

Position Statement

The position statement provides a clear, strong statement of the author's position on the topic.

The position statement provides a clear statement of the author's position on the topic.

A position statement is present, but does not make the author's position clear.

There is no position statement.

Evidence and Examples

All of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author's position.

Most of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author's position.

At least one of the pieces of evidence and examples is relevant and has an explanation that shows how that piece of evidence supports the author's position.

Evidence and examples are NOT relevant AND/OR are not explained.

Support for Position

Includes 3 or more pieces of evidence (textual evidence, facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement. The writer anticipates the reader's concerns, biases or arguments and has provided at least 1 counter-argument.

Includes 3 or more pieces of evidence (textual evidence,facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement.

Includes 2 pieces of evidence (textual evidence, facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support the position statement.

Includes 1 or fewer pieces of evidence (textual evidence,facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences).

Accuracy

All supportive evidence is reported accurately.

Almost all supportive evidence is reported accurately.

Most supportive evidence is reported accurately.

Most supportive evidence is inaccurately reported.

Audience

Demonstrates a clear understanding of the potential reader and uses appropriate vocabulary and arguments. Anticipates reader's questions and provides thorough answers appropriate for that audience.

Demonstrates a general understanding of the potential reader and uses vocabulary and arguments appropriate for that audience.

Demonstrates some understanding of the potential reader and uses arguments appropriate for that audience.

It is not clear who the author is writing for.

Grammar & Spelling

Author makes no errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

Author makes 1-2 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

Author makes 3-4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

Author makes more than 4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

Creativity

Convince the reader using original approach, such as tone, language, transition and argument

Persuade the reader using some original approach, such as tone, language, transition and argument

Inform the reader using few original approach, such as tone, language, transition and argument

Inform the reader using no original approach, such as tone, language, transition and argument

Student Directions for performance task:
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry
Critical Lens Essay Assignment
TASK:
Write an organized essay discussing the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, from the perspective of the following quote: “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” 
- Victor Hugo
  In your essay, be sure to address the following questions:

  • What does this quote mean?
  • Do you agree or disagree with this quote, and why?
  • How does this quote relate to the characters in the play and their dreams?
  • Avoid plot summary. 
  • Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner.
  • Don’t worry!  These are all things you will learn in the next two weeks!

GUIDELINES:

  • Please type your final draft in size 12 font and double-space the lines. If you do not have access to a computer, you may neatly handwrite your essay on looseleaf paper in blue or black inkDo not write in pencil!
  • Essay Organizer (this packet) due Wednesday, December 16 (50 points = 1/2 test grade)
  • First draft due Friday, December 18 (50 points = 1/2 test grade)
  • Final draft due Tuesday, December 22 (100 points = 1 test grade)

d
Other Evidence (Tests, Quizzes, Academic Prompts):                                                                                  

  •  Chapter  Quizzes
  •  Unit Test
  •  essays
  •  dialectical journals

Portfolio Building
Students will have many choices of types of assignments to select for their portfolios. Among these are the following:

  • Culminating Writing Assignments
  • Writing Prompts, found in the Discussion Starters
  • Multimodal Activities
  • Cross-Curricular Projects

Students will use some of the following questions as criteria in selecting which pieces to include in their portfolios.

  • Which shows my clearest thinking about the literature?
  • Which is or could become most complete?
  • Which shows a type of work not presently included in my portfolio?
  • Which am I proudest of?

Remind students to reflect on the pieces they choose and to attach a note explaining why they included each and how they would evaluate it.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Self-Assessment

  •    Self-Evaluations Using Rubrics                                       
  •    Reflective Journals : Respond the following quotations while and after reading the play-
    • Lorraine Hansberry on her own writing
      • "I say all of this to say that one cannot live with sighted eyes and feeling heart and not know and react to the miseries which afflict this world."
    • "She always saw the present and future in the light of the past-clear back to the slavery of the Old South and the new slavery that followed for black workers who migrated to the industrial ghettos of the North." (Rich, Frank. “Theater: Raisin in Sun, Anniversary in Chicago.” New York Times, October 5, 1983)
    • "Limited form of realism. She is a critical realist. She analyzes and assesses reality. All of Raisin’s characters speak to the text and are critical to its dramatic tensions. They are necessarily larger than life".(Baraka, Amiri. “A Critical Reevaluation: A Raisin in the Sun’s Enduring Passion.” A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. By Lorraine Hansberry. Ed. Robernemiroff. New York: Viking, 1995
    • "The human condition, human aspiration and human relationships-the persistence of dreams, of the bonds and conflicts between men and women, parents and children, old ways and new, and the endless struggle against human oppression, whatever the forms it may take, and of individual fulfillment, recognition, and liberation." ( Nemiroff, Rober. Introduction. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 1988)

Day 1 Pre-Reading Activities

Objective: Students will prepare to read A Raisin in the Sun. Students will understand the

Aim: How would my life be different if I were a teenager in the 1950s?
Key words: Segregation/Word Web
Do Now : When you think of "segregation", what words and images come to your mind? How do they connect to society today?
Agenda:

  1. Review Do Now
  2. What is a word web? (Acquisition) -define the concept, give examples to illustrate it and list consequences associated with it)

Homework – Create a word web on your own for the word “Family”
Day 2 Jigsaw Puzzle Activity -Building Up Prior Knowledge
Objective: Students will be prepared to

Aim: How would life be different in the 1950s in Chicago?
Key words: research/Great Migration/Back to Africa
Do Now: If your family were looking to change neighborhoods, how would you choose a place to live? What would you look for in neighbors?
Agenda:

  1. (Knowledge Acquisition)Teaching Point – Research:
  2. Meaning-Making

Homework : Write a paragraph – What miseries do you see in the world you live in? How could they be used as inspiration for a play, poem, book or short story?

Day 3 Pre-reading activity- Listening and Understanding (excerpt of a critical essay on the play)
Objectives: Students will assess their listening skills. Students will build their prior knowledge for reading A Raisin in the Sun.
Aim: How can using note taking and listening skills help me succeed in every school subject?
Agenda:
A Raisin in the Sun Quiz #1:
Part I. Use your notes from yesterday to answer the following questions:

  1. What was the name of the case that ended segregation in schools?
  2. What year was the case?
  3. What year did Rosa Parks refuse to sit in the back of the bus?
  4. What years did African-Americans move north in the Great Migration?
  5. Where was Marcus Garvey born?
  6. What was the Back to Africa movement?
  7. What years did Lorraine Hansberry live?
  8. What award did Hansberry win for a Raisin in the Sun?

Part II Listen carefully as the review of the play is read to you and answer the following questions:

  1. What was Walter Younger looking for in A Raisin in the Sun?
  2. What frivolous act does Walter Younger commit?
  3. Walter Lee destroys one of Beneatha’s dreams. What dream is that?
  4. Walter Lee’s fears almost cause him to destroy another dream. What does he nearly do?
  5. Which two characters urge Walter to be his own man?
  6. Which two things did the family struggle over: _____________ and ______________

Exit Slip Reflect on the past two days of class, and answer the following question:
How do you think living life as a teenager in the 1950s would be different?
HW: Respond to the following thematic questions using a dialectical journal-

  1. Maintaining and working towards a dream can provide a person a reason to live.
  2. Families can be brought together by shared dreams or torn apart by conflicting dreams.
  3. Individuals are constantly making choices that further their dreams or undermine them.
  4.  Dreams can wither save or destroy a person.
  5. It is crucial to develop and fight for your own values and ideals.
  6. Materialism and money, in themselves, are worthless.
  7. The family is the most important relationship in most people's lives.
  8. We do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before us and will come after us.
  9. One can start at any age.
  10. It is better to fight with dignity than surrender in shame.

Day 4 Act One Scene 1

Objectives: Students will continue to develop their

Aim: How can answering QAR questions help me understand a text and help me recognize my confusion?
Do Now:  Describe a good parent.
Agenda:
Acquisition: Exposition- A Raisin in the Sun Setting:
Literary Concept- Stage Directions
Most plays include stage directions-instructions for the director, performers, and crew. These directions also may describe the scenery-decorations, props, or lightning that help create the setting. Hansberry uses her stage directions to describe the Youngers’ living room. This description not only tell what objects are in the room and where they are placed, but also reveals much about the family itself. For example, the sentence “Now the once-loved pattern of the upholstery has to fight to show itself from under acres of crocheted doilies and couch covers” reveals the pride with which the Youngers once furnished the room, the poverty that has prevented them from maintaining their surroundings, and their determination to keep things as nice as they can. As you read, be aware of what else you learn about the world of Hansberry’s characters through her stage directions.

  1. Read the setting as a class. What is the playwright's purpose of providing the Stage Directions?
  2. Answer the following QAR questions in your small groups. Everyone needs to answer every question in his notebook. (Notebooks will be checked at the end of the unit.)

Meaning-Making: A Raisin in the Sun Act 1, Scene 1:

  1. Read pages 6-21 as a class.
  2. Answer the following QAR questions in your small groups. Everyone needs to answer every question in his notebook. (Notebooks will be checked at the end of the unit.)
    1. In your notebook, create a family tree.
    2. What are the characteristics of Walter Lee Younger?
    3. What are the characteristics of Ruth Younger?
    4. Why do you think Walter give Travis the money? Why doesn’t Ruth?
    5. In your opinion, what are the advantages and the disadvantages of giving children everything they want?

Exit Slip: Transfer-How do Walter and Ruth react to the coming insurance money? How would you react if you were about to get a large sum of money?
HW: Answer the questions-
1. Which character do you think is most entitled to part of the insurance money? Why?
2. Do you think Mama is a good parent? Why or why not?
Day 5 Act One Scene 1

Objectives: Students will continue to develop their

Aim: How would you describe Walter Lee Younger and the dreams that motivate him?
Do Now: Are some dreams/life goals better than others? Could one have a dream that is destructive? How would that affect a person?
Agenda:
Acquisition: Act 1 Scene 1 Pages 6-16

  1. What is characterization? How does a playwright portray a main character?
  2. Read and act out the first part of the scene as a class. How does the playwright present the characters of Ruth and Walter Younger?

Meaning-Making: A Raisin in the Sun Act 1, Scene 1
Answer the following questions in your small groups or in pairs using QAR strategies:

Exit Slip: Transfer-How does Walter think his dream will help himself and his family? How is this a dream that will help pull Walter up? Or will it bring him down?
HW:  Answer the questions
1. Which character do you think is most entitled to part of the insurance money? Why?
2. Who do you think is a better parent, Walter or Ruth? Explain why.

Day 6 Annotating/Locating Details
Objectives: Students will be able to take notes while reading. Students will understand the importance of annotating a text. Students will be able to read for emotional impact.
Aim: Why does taking notes matter?
Do Now : How far back do our cultural identities reach? Our parents? Our grandparents? Further? How do you know?
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. Why do teachers want students to take notes in every subject?
  2. How is taking notes helpful?
  3. How do we take notes?

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

In the first act of the play, you met the members of the Younger family and learned what each person’s dream was. Fill in the chart below describing each character’s dream and how the insurance money will help him or her make that dream a reality.



Walter’s Dream:
  

How Money Will Fulfill it:
  

Beneatha’s Dream:
  

How Money Will Fulfill It:
  

Mama’s Dream:

How Money Will Fulfill it:
  

Ruth’s Dream:
  

How Money Will Fulfill It:

Exit slip: (Transfer) Which character do you think is most entitled to part of the insurance money? Why?
Homework : Review your notes from the day. Using your notes, which character’s dreams are most similar to your own?
Day 7 (Recall Details)
Objective: Students will be able to retell main details from the reading passage.
Aim: Why is it important to prioritize details while reading?
Do Now: Journal- Think of a story you have read and describe one detail in the story that stands out for you . Explain why.
Agenda:
1. Teaching Point: (Acquisition) Literary Concept: Characterization pages 17-35 Scene 1, Act I
A. When Beneatha first appears, we are told that she is different from the rest of her family. What are some of the specific ways Hansberry shows us that she is different?
Consider

B. Mama's character -
Consider



-Her hopes and dreams for her family
-How well she understands her children
-The way she involves herself in their lives
-The values she tries to pass on

2. Meaning -Making:

Act One, Scene 1
WALTER This morning, I was lookin’ in the mirror and thinking about … I’m thirty-five years old, I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room-and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live …
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
ii. Ruth (to WALTER) So you would rather be Mr. Arnold than be his chauffeur. So-I would rather be living in Buckingham Palace.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. Exit Slip (Transfer): This play was first produced in 1959. To what extent do you think the issues and problems portrayed in the play are still relevant today?
Homework: Write a Letter to Walter Lee explaining whether you agree with him that “Money is life” and why.

Day 8 Theme 
Objectives: Students will be able to identify themes in A Raisin in the Sun. Students will be able to analyze themes and make connections to deeper meanings. Students will be able to use textual evidence to support their discussions.
Aim: How do playwrights talk about really controversial topics?
Do Now : How do you deal with differences in beliefs or opinions in your family?
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. How can we identify theme as we read?
  2. When we discuss theme, what do we need to do to support our conclusions?
  3. How can we know if our conclusions about theme are right or wrong?
  4. As a class, we will read pages 26-35

The theme of a literary work is an insight about life or human nature that the writer presents to the reader. In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry shares some of her ideas about love, identity, dreams, values and prejudice. Use the chart below to understand the themes she presents. Before you read, write down a real-life example of the theme. After you read, present an example from the play.

 

Real Life Examples
Before Reading

Examples From Play
After Reading

Dreams can either save or destroy a person.

 

 

 

Values and ideals are worth fighting for.

 

 

 

We do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before and will come after us.

 

 

 

Only through self-respect and self-esteem can people live with themselves.

 

 

Materialism and money, in themselves, are worthless.

 

 

 Families can survive any catastrophe if the members love one another share a common goal.

 

 

Dreams are necessary and important, even if we don’t completely realize them

 

 

It is never too late to start over.

 

 

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

  1. In your groups or in pairs, identify two or three themes in the section of reading.
  2. Create a T chart. List the theme at the top, quotes on the left and responses on the right.

Transfer: Exit Slip How does materialism affect a person's attitude toward life?
Homework – Create sentences using the vocabulary words from Act 1, Assimilation through Graft.
Day 9 Discussing Culture
Objectives: Students will be able to identify cultural differences and similarities in A Raisin in the Sun. Students will be able to analyze characters’ culture using Venn Diagrams. Students will be able to use textual evidence to support their discussions.
Aim: How complicated can a family’s culture be?
Do Now : Read the following quote, and write two to three sentences. Does everyone in your family live the same way? How is culture different in your family?
“Culture is a term used by social scientists for a people's whole way of life. In everyday conversation the word 'culture' may refer to activities in such fields as art, literature, and music. But to social scientists, a people's culture consists of all the ideas, objects, and ways of doing things created by the group. Culture includes arts, beliefs, customs, inventions, language, technology and traditions.”
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. What have you learned about culture in social studies class?
  2. When we read how do we recognize culture?
    1. Attitudes
    2. Interests in arts, literature or music
    3. Activities
    4. Education
    5. Beliefs or Customs
  3. When we discuss culture, what do we need to do to support our conclusions?
  4. How can we know if our conclusions about culture are right or wrong?
  5. Did you know? (Act I Scene 2)
    1. Are You Assimilated?
      When Joseph Asagai, An African, accused Beneatha of trying to assimilate into white society, he was expressing the feelings of millions of African Americans, who strongly believe that assimilation is a negation of the individual’s African identity and heritage. “Conking,” straightening naturally curly hair with lye and other chemicals, was a common practice for many African Americans. Also common was the use of skin crèmes designed to correct discoloration, but which had the effect of creating lighter skin tone.

With the civil rights movement of the 1950s and the black power movement of the late 1960s, more and more young Afro-Americans, as they called themselves then, refused to adopt white styles and wore African hair styles and fashions as a proud badge of their heritage.

    1. Is There a Doctor in the House?
      To become a doctor, Beneatha will have to go through years of training. First, she must complete four years of undergraduate study, concentrating on such subjects as biology and chemistry. Then she will have to go through four years of medical school. After graduating from medical school, she will have to serve at least a year as a hospital intern, working under the supervision of experienced doctors. Finally, to become a surgeon or other specialist, she would have to train a year or more as a hospital resident. Becoming a doctor requires intelligence, hard work, determination- and a lot of money!
  1. As a class, we will read pages 36-46.
    1. Take notes.
    2. Look for signs of culture.
  2. After reading, we will create a list of all the signs of culture we found through the reading.

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

  1. In your groups or in pairs, identify create a blank Venn Diagram.
  2. Over the left side, write Mama.
  3. Over the right side, write Beneatha.
  4. Looking through your notes and at the list the class created, compare Mama’s culture with Beneatha’s. Where are there similarities? Where are there differences?

Transfer: Exit Slip We do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before us and will come after us. How does this quote reflect culture?
Homework – Create sentences using the vocabulary words from Act 1, Graphically through Vindicate.
Day 10 Dialogue
Objectives: Students will be able to understand how dialogue aids in characterization in A Raisin in the Sun. Students will be able to analyze characters using their dialogues. Students will be able to use textual evidence to support their discussions.
Aim: How does the way we speak characterize us?
Do Now : Mr. Asagai calls Beneatha ‘Alaiyo:’ “One for Whom Bread—Food—Is not Enough.” What do you think he means by this quote? How do you think this quote applies to Beneatha’s character?
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. Dialogue is the conversation between characters in a play. It is the only way, other than stage directions, that we learn about characters and their relationships. Read each bit of dialogue from the play. Then tell what it reveals about the two characters talking and their relationship towards one another.

2. As a class, we will read pages 46-56.

3. How has the dialogue in the past ten pages led to the characterization of Beneatha, Walter, Mama and Ruth?
Group work: (Meaning-Making)
In your small group, analyze the dialogue from this section of reading. What do we learn about the characters? What is important to Walter and what is important to Mama? What is the conflict between these two characters?

Transfer: Exit Slip- How is poverty affecting the Youngers?
Homework  – Write a paragraph: Based on what you have read so far, do you think that A Raisin in the Sun will end in tragedy?
Day 11 Conflict  
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim: How can conflicts affect personal relationships in families?
Do Now : How has religion been a major cause of conflict in the world? Give one example. How has religion become a conflict in Mama and Beneatha’s relationship?
Agenda:
1. Teaching Point: (Acquisition)
What Is $10,000 Worth Today?
In 1959, the year A Raisin in the Sun was first produced, $10,000 was worth much more than it is worth today. Have students look up inflation rates for each year since 1959 and use that information to calculate how much $10,000 would be worth today. Suggest that students display their results on a graph.
A. (Informal Assessment)Pick three questions from below and respond. You need to copy the questions you have selected to respond.

B. We’ve seen how characters in this play-Beneatha, George, Walter, Mama, the Youngers, and Mr.Lindner-encounter conflicts with each other and within themselves. In Act Two of A Raisin in the Sun, a number of conflicts develop and are resolved. Describe each conflict and how it is resolved in this act.
2. As a class, we will read pages 57-66.

3. Group work: (Meaning-Making)
Individually or with your small group, complete the following chart with the information we have so far:

 

Conflict

Resolution

Beneatha vs. George Murchinson

George’s efforts to change Beneatha

 

Walter vs. Mama

 

 

The Youngers vs. Lindner and the Neighborhood Association

 

 

Mama vs. herself

 

 

4. Transfer: Exit Slip How do Walter Lee Younger, Joseph Asagai and George Murchison represent different visions of manhood?
Homework  – Draw or paint a picture of the sole setting of the play- the Younger living room. Use the stage directions at the beginning of Act One to make their model or picture as accurate as possible.
“The younger living room would be a comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being. Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished, and their primary feature is that they have clearly had to accommodate the living of too many people for too many years—and they are tired. Still, we can see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered by the family (except perhaps for Mama), the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope—and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride.
“That was a long time ago. Now the once loved pattern of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself from under acres of crocheted doilies and couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery. And here a table or a chair has been moved to disguise the worn places in the carpet; but the carpet has fought back by showing its weariness, with depressing uniformity, elsewhere on its surface.

“Weariness has, in fact, won in this room. Everything has been polished, washed, sat on, used, scrubbed too often. All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of the room.
“Moreover, a section of this room, for it is not really a room unto itself, though the landlord's lease would make it seem so, slopes backward to provide a small kitchen area, where the family prepares the meals that are eaten in the living room proper, which must also serve as dining room.

Day 12 Literary Concept-Mood
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim: How does an author create mood for a story?
Do Now: Answer the following questions in your notebook:

  1. Draw a family tree.
  2. Who are George Murchison and Asagai?
  3. What does Walter Lee want to use Mama’s money for?
  4. What is Ruth thinking about doing?

Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)
Background Information of Act II, Scene 1
Scene 1
The Great Empires of Western Africa

Literary Concept:

  1. Mood is the feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader. Descriptive words, setting, dialogue and character’s actions contribute to the mood. Read excerpts from the stage directions and describe the mood created in the scene.
  2. As a class, we will read pages 66-78.
  3. What lines did we find that expressed mood in this passage?

Group work: (Meaning-Making)
What mood does the following quote display?
Act One, Scene 1
Now the once loved pattern of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself from under acres of crocheted doilies and couch covers which they have finally come to be more important than the upholstery. And here a table or a chair has been moved to disguise the worn places in the carpet; but the carpet has fought back by showing its weariness, with depressing uniformity, elsewhere on its surface.
Act Two, Scene 3(Stage Directions page 83)
"Before the curtain rises, RUTH’s voice, a strident, dramatic church alto, cuts through the silence. It is, in the darkness, a triumphant surge, a penetrating statement of expectation: “oh lord, I don’t feel no ways tired! Children, oh, glory hallelujah!”
"As the curtain rises we see that RUTH is alone in the living room, finishing up the family’s packing. It is moving day. She is nailing crates and tying cartons. BENEATHA enters, carrying a guitar case, and watches her exuberant."
Transfer: Exit Slip

  1. How do Walter Lee Younger, Joseph Asagai and George Murchison represent different visions of manhood?
  2. Do you think the problem of discrimination against African Americans who move into white neighborhoods had improved, worsened, or stayed the same? Why?

Homework  – Answer the following questions to the best of your ability?

  1. Who does Beneatha like more, Asagai or George? Why?
  2. What is Mama’s dream for the money?
  3. What does Beneatha consider assimilationist? What does she embrace instead?

If you didn't answer the question in your exit slip, please respond-
4. Do you think the problem of discrimination against African Americans who move into white neighborhoods had improved, worsened, or stayed the same? Why?
Day 13 Literary Concept Dialect
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim:

  1. How can we tell where people are from? What's the author's purpose of using dialect in writing?
  2. How are the dreams of Lindner and the white residents of Clybourne Park both similar and different from the dreams of the Younger family? Where do the two dreams clash?

Do Now :

Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. Dialect is the particular variety of a language spoken in one geo-graphical area by a distinct group. Dialect includes the pronunciations, vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical constructions used by the people of a region. When Mama says, “much baking powder as she done borrowed from me all these years, she could of done gone into the baking business!” Hansberry uses her dialect to reveal Mama’s wry humor, her frustration, her educational level, and her social background. As you read, look for examples in the play’s dialogue where dialect helps to reveal character.
  2. As a class, we will read pages 78-90.
  3. What dialects did we find in this reading?

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

    1. Beneatha
    2. George Murchison
    3. Asagai
    4. Walter

Transfer: Exit Slip – How would you feel if someone wanted to give you a lot of money to NOT live near them?
Homework  – Answer the following questions to the best of your ability?

Day 14 Author's Purpose
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim: How do authors' express meaning?
Do Now : Are you optimistic about the family’s future? Explain.
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)- How did Hansberry use her real life story and social occurrances of her time in Act III?

  1. Literary Concept: Mood How does the mood of the play change when Walter meets with Lindner again? Why?
  2. Act III Scene 1 “That’s My Man, Kenyatta!”
    Walter’s admiration for Jomo Kenyatta (1890?-1978) is an understandable one. Jomo means “flaming spear,” which is what Walter calls himself in this scene. The first president of the east African nation of Kenya, Kenyatta was a major spokesman for African nationalism and helping lead the fight against British colonialism in his country. Under his leadership, Kenya which won its independence in 1963, progressed both politically and economically. Perhaps Kenyatta’s greatest legacy for the African continent was his attempt to unite a diverse population of Africans, Asians, and Europeans to work together for the common good of their country.
  3. Act III Scene 2 Literary Concept: Allusion-Who Was Prometheus?
    George may have been joking when he called Walter “Prometheus,” but the name was not wholly unflattering. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus was an early god, one of the Titans. When Zeus, king of the gods, schemed to destroy humanity by denying them fire, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. For his “crime,” Prometheus was chained to a rock and his liver daily eaten by an eagle. Each night the liver grew back. He was finally freed from his ordeal by the hero Hercules, who killed the eagle and broke his chains.
  4. Act III Scene 3 Carl Hansberry, Hero
    Lorraine Hansberry’s family, like the Youngers, had attempted to live in an all-white neighborhood when she was a child. Carl Hansberry, her crusading father, moved the family into a white neighborhood to challenge Chicago’s discriminatory housing laws. One night, a mob of angry white residents gathered on the family’s front lawn, and someone hurled a brick through the living room window. It barely missed striking nine-year-old Lorraine.

A suit filed by Carl Hansberry against the city was rejected by the state court, but the United States Supreme Court later ruled in his favor. Chicago’s politicians, however, managed to the skirt the law, and Chicago remained a largely segregated city. Disillusioned and bitter, Carl Hansberry bought a house in Mexico and was planning to relocate his family there when he died of a stroke in 1945.

  1. Capital City
    The reason that Bobo and Willie plan to go to Springfield “to spread money around” so they can get their liquor license is that Springfield is the capital city of Illinois. The city houses the state government and the officials and politicians wwho run it. Approximately 190 miles from Chicago, Springfield was home to Abraham Lincoln from 1837 to 1861. Imagine what “Honest Abe” would say to the idea that it’s a common practice to bribe state officials to get what you want.

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

  1. As a class, we will read pages 91-105 of A Raisin in the Sun (Act II-Act III)
    1. Take notes.
    2. Look for specific lines that reveal information about the author’s intention.
  2. (Review) What kind of mood is revealed in the stage direction of Act III?

 

Conflict

Resolution

Beneatha vs. George Murchinson

George’s efforts to change Beneatha

 

Walter vs. Mama

 

 

The Youngers vs. Lindner and the Neighborhood Association

 

 

Mama vs. herself

 

 

Transfer: Exit Slip – How do you think the Younger family will fare in their new home?  Write an extended scene to the play that shows how they are treated when the move in and how they respond.
Homework – Answer the following questions to the best of your ability based on the scene we read today-

  1. What happened to Mama’s $10,000?
  2. How do you think Walter feels at the beginning of Act 3?
  3. What do you think of Walter’s character? Evaluate his good and bad points.
  4. Do you agree with Mama that Walter has “come into his manhood”? Why or why not?
  5. Why do you think Walter changes his mind in regard to Lindner’s offer?  Do you think this change is realistic? Why or why not?

Day 15 Theme
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim: What are the themes of A Raisin in the Sun?
Do Now #51: What do you think were Walter’s reasons for giving the money to Willy?  Write an internal monologue, showing his thoughts as he decides to invest in the liquor store.
Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. Theme – What do you remember about theme from the short story unit?
  2. What themes can you find in A Raisin in the Sun? How are they revealed?

 

Real Life Examples
Before Reading

Examples From Play
After Reading

Events or Characters that Reveal the Theme from the Play

1. Dreams can either save or destroy a person.

 

 

 

a. __________
b. _________
c. __________
3. Share the background information and identify the purpose of the playwright's of writing the play-

Upon her arrival in New York City in the early 1950s, she participated in political rallies and demonstrations. She met her future husband, Robert Nemiroff, on a picket line at New York University.
After fame came with the success of A Raisin in the Sun, she appeared frequently on television and radio programs, expounding her views on civil rights and world peace.
In 1964, she wrote the text for a book of photographs about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a civil rights organization. The book was called The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality.

Dear Mother,
Well-here we are. I am sitting alone in a nice hotel room in New Haven, Conn. Downstairs, next door in the Shubert Theater; technicians are putting the finishing touches on a living room that is supposed to be a Chicago living room….
The actors are very good and the director is a very talented man-so if it is a poor show I won’t be able to blame a soul but your youngest daughter. Mama, it is a play that tells the truth about people, Negroes and life and I think it will help a lot of people to understand how we are just as complicated as they are-and just as mixed up-but above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks-people who are the very essences of human dignity. That is what, after all the laughter and tears, the play is supposed to say. I hope it will make you very proud. See you soon. Love to all.

Langston Hughes, best known today for his poetry, wrote numerous plays and even had his own theater company at one time.
Poet Countee Cullen’s last work was the book (written play or libretto) of the Broadway musical St. Louis Women.
James Baldwin, a good friend of Hansberry’s, wrote several plays in the 1960s, including the powerful indictment of racism, Blue for Mister Charlie.
Today, the African-American experience continues to be celebrated on stage in the stirring plays of August Wilson. Many of his works have been initially directed by Lloyd Richards, the man who brought A Raisin in the Sun to Broadway.
4. As a class, we will read pages 103-116.

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

  1. Review: Go back to your notes from Day 11, the chart on conflict. Complete the chart with the conflict and the resolution.
  2. Group discussion: Write down two or three reasons why the author resolved every conflict the way she did? What themes do these resolutions convey?
  3. Literary Concept-The theme of a literary work is an insight about life or human nature that the writer presents to the reader. In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry shares some of her ideas about love, identity, dreams, values and prejudice. Use the chart below to understand the themes she presents. Before you read, write down a real-life example of the theme. After you read, present an example from the play.

 

Real Life Examples
Before Reading

Examples From Play
After Reading

Events or Characters that Reveal the Theme from the Play

1. Dreams can either save or destroy a person.

 

 

 

 

2. Values and ideals are worth fighting for.

 

 

 

 

3. We do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before and will come after us.

 

 

 

 

4. It is never too late to start over.

 

 

 

 

5. Only through self-respect and self-esteem can people live with themselves.

 

 

 

 

6.Materialism and money, in themselves, are worthless.

 

 

 

 

7. Families can survive any catastrophe if the members love one another share a common goal.

 

 

 

 

 

8. Dreams are necessary and important, even if we don’t completely realize them.

 

 

 

 

 

Transfer: Exit Slip – Do you think Beneatha and Asagai have a future together? Text Box: C O N S I D E RText Box: üWhether their dreams are compatible  üTheir views on progress and human nature  üHow they respond to adversity and defeat

 

Homework – Answer the following questions to the best of your ability based on p 103-116

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Day 16 Theme
Objectives: Students will be able to

Aim: What are the themes of A Raisin in the Sun?
Do Now : Who is your favorite character and why?

Agenda:
Teaching Point: (Acquisition)

  1. What themes can you find in A Raisin in the Sun?
    1. __________
    2. __________
    3. __________
    4. __________
  2. As a class, we will read pages 111-121.
    1. Take notes.
    2. Look for specific lines that reveal information about the author’s intention.

Group work: (Meaning-Making)

  1. Gift giving is an important part of many cultures and many families. What gifts would you give the following characters?
    1. Walter?
    2. Ruth?
    3. Travis?
    4. Beneatha?
    5. Asagai?
    6. Mama?
    7. Travis?
    8. George Murchison?

Transfer: Exit Slip – How did Walter’s actions help to further his dreams and undermine them?
HW-Multimodal Activities
Pick only ONE assignment to complete-
Broadcast News
Imagine you are producing an investigative report for a TV news magazine on the Younger family after they moved into all-white Clybourne Park. Write a skit with your fellow classmates playing members of the Younger family, their new neighbors, and the investigative reporter who interviews them all. Include stage directions and dialogues.
The African Way
Africa is a powerful force in the play through the character of Joseph Asagai. Create a map of Nigeria. You may want to focus your maps in a variety of ways-emphasizing the country’s population, terrain, imports and exports, or other factors.
Speaking Out
Write a monologue for your favorite character in the play and include the thoughts and feelings of that person. Set the monologue at a critical moment of the play, such as when the family learns that Walter has lost their money or when Walter tells Mr. Lindner to leave the first time. A monologue is a speech given by only one character. You will deliver the monologues to the class and prepare to discuss them.
Folk Dance
Learn an African folk dance, such as the one Beneatha does in the play, and perform it. Pick out a music to accompany your dance.
Day 17 Strategic Reading Act Three -Making Inferences (pages 122-124)
Objectives: Students will be able to read between the lines.
Aim: Why do you think Walter changes his mind in regard to Lindner’s offer?  Do you think this change is realistic? Why or why not?
Do Now: What signifies "manhood" or maturity? Do you agree with Mama that Walter has “come into his manhood”? Why or why not?
Agenda-
1. Acquisition- Skill: Inferencing ; Concept: Loss vs. Gains
a. How does the mood of the play change when Walter meets with Lindner again? Why?
b. By the end of the play, each main character has lost something but has gained in other ways. Fill in the lines below with the losses and gains after Walter has rejected Linder’s offer.

Meaning Making
Why do you think Walter changes his mind in regard to Lindner’s offer?  Do you think this change is realistic? Why or why not?
Transfer- Do you think the problem of discrimination against African Americans who move into white neighborhoods had improved, worsened, or stayed the same? Why?
HW-Respond: Would you live in a neighborhood that is resided by a different race? Why or why not? Do you believe the world has changed for the better? Explain your answer.
Day 18 Culminating Writing Assignments
Objective: Students will be to use their understanding of the play and its characters to provide a reasonable alternative ending of the play.
Aim: If Walter had accepted the offer by Mr. Lindner, how would have the play ended?
Do Now: If a friend betrayed you once, would you trust him/her again? Explain the situation in which you may show your trust again.
Agenda-
Acquisition: character analysis of Walter Lee Younger

  1. Make a T-Chart to show Walter's character and the corresponding actions or speeches shown in the play.
  2. Did Walter change toward the end of the play? How? Explain
  3. Why didn't he take the offer from Mr. Lindner? What does it say about his character?
  4. Is Walter a tragic character? Why or why not?
  5. If you were Mama, would you trust him again? Explain.

Meaning Making- With a partner, discuss the following situation-
Imagine that Walter decided to take the money offered by Linder and sell back the house Mama bought. How would this change the ending of the play? Write a new final scene based on this idea
Tansfer: (Exit Slip)- In your notebook, state whether you like Walter ot not. Provide three reasons for your response.
Homework Assignment-Complete the imaginery new ending.

Day 19 Assessement#2 Multiple Choice Questions

Day 20 Exploratory Writing -Pick one of the assignments to do.
Objective: Students will use their understanding of the play to explore furthur the characters through writing.
Aim: What would happen now to the Youngers after having moved to an all white neighborhood? WHat impact would this new environment have on the family?

Agenda-
Aquisition: Discuss the meaning of each writing assignment below.

  1. Suppose that after the play ends, Beneatha marries Joseph Asagai and return with him to his beloved Nigeria. Think about what she might experience there-as a woman and a doctor. Write a series of diary entries Beneatha might compose regarding her life in Africa.
  2. Think about what could happen to the members of the Younger Family after living in their new home for a year. Write a description of each character’s goals and dreams at the end of this time.

Meaning Making-
1. Students pick one writing prompt and start writing.
2. Share in class their written responses.
Homework : Complete and refine the written response.

Day 21 - Research
Objective: Students will find out more about the social background of A Raisin in the Sun through reserasch.
Aim: How important was the social background of A Raisin in the Sun to the meaning of the play itself?
Agenda-
Do Now: Respond to the importance of social background of a literary work. Give an example.
Aquisition: Research Skills

  1. How to do research?
  2. What information do we collect to help us write an expository essay?

Meaning Making-
1. Do research on the following subject
The civil rights movement forms an important background to the story of the Younger family, who are searching for an identity and dealing with prejudice. Research the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s and write an expository essay about one aspect of it-either about a major event, like the Montgomery bus boycott, or about a person like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. Share in small groups of your research on the topic.

Transfer- Exit Slip: How does the research help you gain new understanding of the play, A Raisin in the Sun?
HW  Research another African-American woman writer, such as Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, or Alice Walker. Write a comparison between the life and work of Lorraine Hansberry and that writer. Note similarities and differences in their work and how it reflects their feelings about such issues as civil rights and the African-American family.

Day 22 Literary Analysis
Objectives: Students will be able to write a theme analysis.
Aim: What themes are implied in the play? How does Hansberry use characters and conflict to reveal them to her readers?
Do Now: Draw one theme from the play and describe how you came to this conclusion.

Agenda-
1.Acquisition-
*What’s a theme? How does an author reveal it to the reader?
*Share your theme with the class.
2. Meaning-Making- In your group,
*Choose one of the following themes and describe how it is described in the play.:

Transfer- How do the themes in the play help you understand that A Raisin in the Sun is still relevant today?

HW:  Complete the Summative Performance Assessment Task-
Write a Persuasive Essay: A Raisin in the Sun Should Be Revived on Broadway!