PBA ( Performance-Based Assessment)

In this unit, we’ll read texts focusing on the topic of “Shifts in Power”. We’ll read texts of various genres and mediums but the purpose of such reading is to write an argumentative essay in a letter form on whether a citizen who defies his/her government can become a threat to that government’s stability.

Enduring understanding

Students will understand that-

• Individual rebellion may serve to help a society progress.
• Obeying societal laws may be our legal obligations but not our moral obligations.
• There are fundamental differences between civil disobedience and riots.
• Questioning and analyzing what’s around you deepens your understanding of it.
• Clear writing flows from clarity of thoughts.
• People will risk their security and demand change if those in power abuse it in excess.
• An argument is more convincing if backed up by evidence.
• When situations are serious and will not change, people will demand a shift in power.

Essential Questions-

• Why do people disobey laws?
• Does a person who breaks a lay always indicate s/he is our enemy? Why or why not?
• Why is it important that individuals dare defy conventional beliefs?
• Does civil disobedience cause government’s instability?
• How do shift in power in government affect the lives of individuals?
• What causes people to risk losing their security to make changes in their community?
• How does having a discussion on a common text deepen our understanding of what we read?
• What connections can you make between the themes across texts?

CCS

RI.9-10.1,

Citing strong and thorough evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences draw from the text

RI.9-10.

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in details its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Texts: See handouts

Materials:

• Copies of texts
• copies of summative assessment task
• copies of rubric
• copies of check list
• copies of lesson tools

Lesson 1

Objectives: Students will examine the image and analyze the details they will observe. They will also be able to draw a claim based on the patterns that exit among the details.

Aim: What claim can we make by observing the image?

Do Now: Examine the image and make a list of details you have observed.

Mini Lesson

Avoid jumping into a conclusion-

How to read an image?

1. Write down as many details as you can that stand out for you for any reason.
2. Rank the details.
3. What pattern or repetition or connection you can see among the top three details?
4. What do the details suggest to you? What questions do you have after examining the details?
5. What point can you make by putting the three details together?
6. Write a caption that summarize what you think the image is about( point).

Guiding Questions:

1. What stands out when I first examine this text?

How does this text make me feel?

Text-Specific questions:

1. What emotions does the image evoke?

2.What details stand out for you?

Independent Practice

Listen to a TED speech  by Dalia Mogahed “The Attitudes that Sparked Arab Spring”

Independent Practice:

Listen to the speech and do the following ( Using Question Tool)-

1. What idea does the text present?
2. Write a brief response.
3. Cite details from the text to support your response.
4. What words or phrases stand out as I read? Annotate the text as you listen.
5. Compare the details you have collected.
6. Discuss what the details suggest to you.
7. Identify questions you may have after examining and discussing the details.

Assessment: What is the speech mainly about? What stands out when I first examine the text?What internal and external conflicts are described in the speech?

Homework: What is the connection between the speech in Ted and the image in the NYTimes? What claim can you make based on the two texts? Use evidence from both sources to support your claim.

Lesson 2

Objectives: Students learn to use questions to guide their approach to reading and deeper analysis of texts.

Aim: What does the quotation ” I must become the action of my fate” mean?

Text: An excerpt of a speech by Angola, Angostinho Neto

Materials:

• Reading closely for details: Guiding questions tool
• analyzing DETAILS TOOL
• Reading Closely checklist
• Copies of the text

Do now:

• Share the homework : making connections between the two texts. What is the claim you have made based on both texts? Evidence?
• About Angostinho Neto
• About Angola

Mini Lesson

What ideas does the text present? What stands out when I first examine the text? What internal and external conflict are described in the speech?

Reading with a purpose-

1. Why am I reading the text? Should I focus on the content and information,or the structure or the author’s view?
2. Compare the details you have notices and annotated in the text.
3. Discuss what the details suggest to you.
4. Come up with text-related questions
5. Identify any new questions you have after examining and discussing the details?

Independent PRACTICE

• In pairs, read the rest of the text guided by the Questioning Text Tool.
• Use different guiding questions as a lens to examine and come up with related text-specific questions

Assessment: What’s the point Neto makes in his speech?

Homework: Find evidence and specific word choice Neto uses to make the point as expressed in today’s assessment.

Lesson 3

Objectives: Students will examine how ,in the poem “I must become a menace to my enemies”, June Jordan conveys her view on the relationship between personal “menace” and society ( government).

Aim: How does develop her claim on the relationship between personal “menace” and the society?

Text: http://www.junejordan.net/i-must-become-a-menace-to-my-enemies.html

Vocabulary Words:

1. fulminate: v. express vehement protest.
2. extirpate: root out and destroy completely.

Do Now:

Who is June Jordan? What has she written? When did she write this poem “I must become a menace to my enemies” and why did she dedicate it to Neto?

Mini Lesson:

How to find connections between texts?

• What are some of the claims Neto makes in his speech in respect to the question:  Can a citizen who defies his/her government become a threat to that government’s stability?

Read Antigone and write short responses to respond to the following questions. Be sure to provide specific evidence ( Quotations from the play) to support your argument-

1. Why does Antigone disobey Creon’s law that no one can bury a traitor’s body?
2. Why does Creon, the king, believe that Antigone should be punished for disobeying his creed?
3. Why does Creon’s son Haemon say about why Antigone should be pardoned?

 

Comparing and contrasting Five Sources

1. What tis the general topic of the five articles you read?

What is the relationship between civil disobedience and governmental stability?

2. What claim does each author make about the topic?

Source 1 ( image)	Source 2 ( Neto’s Speech)	Source 3 ( Ted Talk)	Source 4 ( poem)	Source 5 ( play)
Claim:	Claim:	Claim:	Claim:	Claim:

 

3. What argumentative opinions are expresses in each source?

Source 1 ( image)	Source 2 ( Neto’s Speech)	Source 3 ( Ted Talk)	Source 4 ( poem)	Source 5 ( play)
Point 1:	Point 1:	Point 1:	Point 1:	Point 1:
Point 2:	Point 2:	Point 2:	Point 2:	Point 2:
Point 3	Point 3	Point 3	Point 3	Point 3

4. What evidence can be cited to support each author’s point of view?

Source 1 ( image)	Source 2 ( Neto’s Speech)	Source 3 ( Ted Talk)	Source 4 ( poem)	Source 5 ( play)
Point 1 Evidence:	Point 1 Evidence:	Point 1 Evidence:	Point 1 Evidence:	Point 1 Evidence:
Point 2 Evidence	Point 2 Evidence	Point 2 Evidence	Point 2 Evidence	Point 2 Evidence
Point 3  Evidence	Point 3  Evidence	Point 3  Evidence	Point 3  Evidence	Point 3  Evidence

 

 

5. Is there any counter-augmentative opinion and opposing evidence ( for counter argument)  cited in the texts? Give some examples.

Source 1 ( image)	Source 2 ( Neto’s Speech)	Source 3 ( Ted Talk)	Source 4 ( poem)	Source 5 ( play)
Counter Argument:           (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:           (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:           (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:           (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:           (Opposing) Evidence:
Counter Argument:       (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:       (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:       (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:       (Opposing) Evidence:	Counter Argument:       (Opposing) Evidence: