Exploring Identity and Bias Through Literature

Essential Question

How does bias affect our everyday lives?
How do our life experiences lead to the cultivation of our identity?

Texts

Literature

The Misfits

In this excerpt, the reader meets two characters from The Misfits: Addie, a girl who is exceptionally tall and smart for a middle schooler and Joe, who is creative and feminine in a way that makes his peers nervous.

James Howe

Grade Level

3-5 6-8 9-12

Topic

Gender & Sexual Identity

July 3, 2014

Multimedia

I Am Divided

Seventeen-year-old Itrat shares what it’s like to be a Muslim girl in America and explains why she chooses to wear a scarf.

I Learn America

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Religion Immigration Gender & Sexual Identity

December 11, 2014

Teaching Strategies

Close and Critical Reading

Challenge the Text

Challenge the Text helps students ask and answer their own text-dependent questions by taking multiple perspectives and uncovering assumptions and biases within the text.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.3, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.3, RI.6-12.6

July 19, 2014

Community Inquiry

Text Talk Time (6-8, 9-12)

A whole class discussion structured to facilitate rich dialogue, active listening and use of textual evidence.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.5, R.L.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.5, RI.6-12.6, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.6

July 13, 2014

Student Tasks

Write to the Source

Break It Down

Break it Down asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and descriptive writing skills.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

W.6-12.2, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9

July 19, 2014

Plan Built By

twinstincts

Exploring Identity and Bias Through Literature

The Misfits

I Am Divided

Challenge the Text

Text Talk Time (6-8, 9-12)

Break It Down

Print this Learning Plan

Sign in to save these resources.

Get the Learning for Justice Newsletter