Carson Vestergaard

Project 2 for TE 801

Includes elements of YPAR, multimodal literacy, and critical literacy

Inquiry Question: How can we incorporate more history lessons into English to better understand the context
of literature?

Readings from class (include page #) Readings from outside of class (include
citation)

#1 Pose, Wobble, Flow: A Culturally #1 Make Me! (Youth Development and

Proactive Approach to Literacy Instruction Education Series) by Eric Toshalis (page 178)
(Language and Literacy Series), page 341

#2 Inspiring Dialogue: Talking to Learn in
the English Classroom (Language and
Literacy Series), Chapter 1
#2 “The Pain and the Wounds: A Call for
Critical Race English Education in the Wake
of Racial Violence” by April Baker-Bell,
Tamara Butler, and Lamar Johnson, pages
123-126

Survey Questions (Surveyed 10 eighth grade students)

1. Do you talk about the news or current events at home?

Responses: Combined if repeats
● Sometimes
● We talk about shootings that happen, how to be safe at school, how my mom has to be safe when she
goes out with her friends.
● Immigration
● Mom and brother both follow the news. I don’t as much -- it’s always so negative and they throw in
some random positive story.
● I stay away from the news, but sometimes my parents talk about it.
● Yes.
● It depends on what’s happening. If it affects my mom or Grandma, they tell me what’s happening.
● We talk about the bad things that happen so that we are more aware.

2. How do you stay up-to-date on the news? TV, newspaper, social media, word of mouth, etc.
Responses: Combined if repeats
● Social media
● My mom tells me about it, and she gets it from social media and the news
● TV
● Hear it from family, and they get it from TV
● Social Studies class (CNN 10)
● My mom tells me, and she reads online news
● Online news and friends
 ● Twitter
● Listens to news
● My granny tells me
● Instagram ads
● Snapchat news stories

3. Do you talk about history in any classes besides Social Studies? What are a few historical events you
remember learning about? Think about Spanish, Art, or English, for example.
Responses: Combined if repeats
● Newton’s Laws in Science
● Learned about historical figures in Spanish
● Events, traditions and how they started, and Day of the Dead in Spanish
● Learned about John F. Kennedy in English
● Historical ways of doing art
● Famous civil rights activists for Hispanics and different traditions in Spanish
● World War II in English
● The Holocaust in English
● Not all the time - only when there’re connections. There’s a lot you can learn from the past.
● In Science we learned about how things have changed over time, like in foods and different chemical
changes.

4. Are there any places you don’t feel safe talking about current events, or any people you don’t feel
comfortable talking about current events with?
Responses: Combined if repeats
● Not really
● I wouldn’t talk about things in public because people bring up their opinions.
● I don’t talk to my religious friends about things, but they often bring them up.
● Most people I talk to are chill so they don’t really care and I talk to them about things.

5. Do you play any sports or participate in after-school activities?

Responses: Combined if repeats
● No
● Track and cross country, but we haven’t talked about the history
● I used to do cheer and band, and we learned about people who made music back then without an auto
tuner

6. Do you talk about current events with your friends?

Responses: Combined if repeats
● Not really
● Just the weather
● Kind of, but I don’t go into detail. I just ask them if they heard what happened.
● I joke about the news a lot because I hate it so much
● It depends on the friends. Not school friends, but I do with all my other friends.
● Only if something is cool or scary
 7. In your opinion, does learning about the time period of a book or text help you to better understand what
you read? Why or why not?
Responses: Combined if repeats
● Yes because…
○ We can use that information in the future to learn from the past
○ I really like poetry and like learning the history to see how old poems have changed
○ You can determine how a person during that time was thinking. There could be a joke during the
Hollocaust that meant something completely different, or we interpret it as something else now.
○ I like to research the time period of a book because you can get new perspectives
○ The time period is interesting
○ Knowing the background makes it easier to understand

Issues Assets

May not be able to decipher trustworthy new sources All students interviewed believe learning about the
background or history of a text is important

Students interviewed do not go into depth about these Students interviewed do hear about current events,
issues outside of their families whether they like to or not.

A few students were nervous to talk about political
and immigration news. They were more willing to
talk about uncontroversial topics, like the danger of
school shootings (the politics can be controversial but
not the issue itself).
Students learned about positive historical
contributions in class, such as traditions and Hispanic
figures.

Students do not remember most of their history Students remembered learning about history when the
lessons in other classes. I had to prompt them with lesson was intentional and engaging.
class ideas, and they only remembered recent
examples.

Students have a negative view of the news (which is Students interviewed were all worried about
fair, knowing most stories on TV/social media are judgement/opinions from friends if they talked about
negative). the news. This can also be an issue, but it could be a
commonality to get conversations started.

Community Asset Map: https://prezi.com/86cj9ophthak/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Summary Statement: Students hear news every day, both inside and outside of school. Some of this news
affects them or their community. They are also learning about historical events and people within school, but
my assumption is that this information is often told to them and students do not get a chance to discuss it or
reflect on how they are gaining new perspectives of content through a historical criticism lens. Therefore, my
project explores the question, “How can we incorporate more history lessons into English to better understand
the context of literature?”

I chose critical literacy as my 25 point section because students will be engaging with a historical criticism lens
by learning about World War II and the Holocaust before reading The Diary of Anne Frank. They will then
compare and contrast this historical event to present-day North Korea through different forms of discussion. My
community asset map looks at where students are already talking about current events and where they get their
information.

Multimodal is my 10 point section because students will be engaging with computer technology, creating
posters, writing, and charting throughout this unit. My map is also multimodal, hosted on Prezi. Participatory is
5 points because this unit is teacher-led and I created the map myself based off of student responses.

For my survey, I asked eighth grade students about whether or not they keep up with the news, where they get
their news, if they talk about it with friends/family, and if they ever have history lessons outside of social
studies. My map then depicted places in green where students do discuss current events and places in orange
where they do not. Based off of quotes and details I received, I also listed assets and issues with each of the
categories.

The survey informed my lesson plan drafts in many ways. First, I wanted to make the history lessons intentional
and clear so students knew they’d be learning about the Holocaust in order to inform their reading of Anne
Frank. Instead of being told information, they will engage with it so that hopefully they remember it better. I’ve
also learned, from the survey and just from being with these students every day, that they are not used to
discussing information in a school environment and need a lot of scaffolding. There are different discussions --
silent, small group, large group -- built into these lessons that provide students a chance to ask questions and
connect ideas. They will need norms and facilitation to keep these discussions respectful.

Some issues I discovered through the survey is that students avoid certain topics at home, with friends, and in
the classroom for fear of judgement. Their view of history and news is mostly negative, and they can only seem
to remember learning about history during the recent school year months. Most students also get their news
from social media, so without discussion or research, I assume they cannot analyze the effectiveness of their
sources. An asset is that students find history interesting. I also hear in class and the halls all the time that Social
Studies is the favorite class and they like watching CNN 10 every day in there. There is also a common
agreement among students that it is important to learn about history and events, but no one wants to be judged
for their opinions. This could be a good commonality off of which to jump start conversations.

With this information and my draft lesson plans, I hope to allow students a safe place to discuss news and
history in relation to the literature we are reading.
Sections of lesson plans around this topic:

Day 1

15 mins Writing Prompt Two I will introduce students to the topic of the new
unit: The Holocaust.

They will have four minutes to answer the

question, “Why is it important to learn about the
past?” on a lined sheet of paper. They will then
turn to their table groups and discuss for four
minutes. One person in each group will make a list
of three reasons based on their discussion. Each
table will then share with the class while I write
ideas on the board.
10 mins Video Students will (silently) watch one video about the
Holocaust.

I will then quickly go over the who, what, when,

where, why of the Holocaust.
20 mins Holocaust Group Work Students will work in their five table groups. Each
group will be given an article -- one about
Auschwitz, who the Nazis were, who Hitler was,
how people went into hiding, and the story of a
survivor. I’ll recommend the groups split up the
article to decide who reads each part, and then
they can each share out.

Each group will put together two Google slides

which they will share to Ms. Haisma’s email.
Every person will have to talk once, so they
should structure this in bullet points and have at
least one picture per slide.
20 mins Holocaust Presentations Each group will present to the class. Every person
must talk once.

While a group is presenting, the other groups will

write down one thing they learned. In total, they’ll
have four things written down and this will be
their exit ticket out of class.
5 mins Dialogue vs. Debate I will go over chart on the board.
10 mins Dialogue vs. Debate activity Students will find a partner and then will have one
minute to have a debate about a chosen prompt
and then one minute to have a dialogue about that
same prompt.

We will debrief how they felt during each one and

what the classroom sounded like.
Day 2

20 mins Ann Frank Virtual House I will click through the house tour and play the
Tour videos while students follow along on their
worksheet to answer questions about the setting.
40 mins Timeline Jigsaw The class will be broken into groups, and each
group will create a poster around an event during
or leading up to World War II and the Holocaust.
Each group will then come up, tell us about their
poster, and hang it on the wall in order.

Day 3

5 mins Holocaust Propaganda I will talk about different forms of Holocaust

propaganda using pictures on slides.
20 mins Analyze Propaganda Posters I will model how to analyze a a Holocaust
propaganda poster to the class.

Students will then work in table groups to analyze

three more. They will have a worksheet to guide
them on what to look for.
10 mins Class Discussion We will discuss each poster and go over the
worksheet answers.

Day 4

5 mins Intro to Present-Day North I will talk about present-day North Korea using
Korea pictures on a slide. This will include their limit on
freedoms and genocide vs. holocaust.
15 mins Video On North Korea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj7kEZFvybk
15 mins Venn Diagram Students will practice comparing and contrasting
in small groups with a Venn Diagram on the
Holocaust vs. North Korea. Students will then add
answers to a large diagram on the board and we
will discuss.
20 mins Present-Day Propaganda I will model how to analyze present-day American
propaganda. Students will then look at propaganda
on the board and fill out a worksheet to decipher
how that ad makes them feel, who the audience is,
and what the ad is trying to achieve.