If a Butterfly Beats Its Wings: Choice and Consequence

Unit Designer: Kristina Wiles

Concept/Big Idea: Choice and Consequence
21st Century Skill Focus: Word Choice
Enduring Understandings:
Authors choose words purposefully in order to evoke specific
emotions in readers.
Every choice has intended and unintended consequences.
We influence our future by the choices we make.
Essential Questions:
Do we always need to consider the consequences or our actions?
How do choices shape our identity?
Can we always predict the consequences of our choices?
Unit Objectives
Cognitive (know/understand):
1. Students will understand how word choice connects to the
emotion the author wants to create in the reader.
a. Students will know that certain words are used to convey a
certain emotion. (Lesson 1, Lesson 5)
b. Students will know how to apply word choice to their own
writing in a fiction piece. (Lesson 3)
2. Students will understand the types of choices people in society
make.
a. Students will understand that people in society will
persuade others with words in order to convince them to
make a choice. (Lesson 2, Lesson 4)
3. Students will understand the connection between choices and
consequences, both in text and in their lives.
a. Students will know that choices have consequences, both
expected and unexpected. (Lesson 6)
b. Students will know how to think critically about a choice
they made. (Lesson 7, Lesson 8, Lesson 9)
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
4. Students will be able to reflect on their own choices.

a. Students will examine their choices in specific scenarios

and reflect on the consequences that came from that
choice. (Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 4, Lesson 6)
5. Students will value their choices as much as their consequences.
a. Students will value the choices they make creatively.
(Lesson 3, Lesson 5)
b. Students will put equal weight on both choices and
consequences. (Lesson 7, Lesson 8, Lesson 9)

Performative (do):
6. Students will able to apply word choice in their own writing.
a. Students will be able to choose an emotion and choose
words that then reflect that emotion. (Lesson 1)
b. Students will write a short fiction piece where they
demonstrate clear word choice. (Lesson 3)
7. Students will be able to write a reflective piece on the process of
examining a choice they made. (Lesson 9)
8. Students will be able to write a memoir in which they examine a
life choice they have made.
a. Students will apply word choice to their memoir. (Lesson 6,
Lesson 7, Lesson 8, Lesson 9)
9. Students will examine texts, both their own and others, for word
choice.
a. Students will explain the connection between a choice and
the consequence in a piece of fiction. (Lesson 2)
b. Students will explain the connection between word choice
and persuasive in nonfiction texts. (Lesson 4)
c. Students will explain the word choice in a memoir. (Lesson
5)