Kovacs_UnitRationale

A genre that is not so often seen in the classroom is the theme of redemption. However, there is a novel that closely follows this theme along with many others, //The Kite Runner// by Khaled Hosseini//.// A short synopsis of the book is that a young boy, Amir, is of one religious affiliation while his best friend and his best friend’s father, both of who lives with him and Amir’s father, are from another religious affiliation. This causes issues since the Hazara group is looked down upon. Amir witnesses his best friend endure a terrible situation because he is a Hazara, and is forced to live with it the rest of his life, having it haunt him. He moves to the United States to escape his problems, but is forced to go back to Afghanistan. Here he realizes that while he has gone, the country has suffered greatly and it is not the same place. It is now up to Amir to rekindle his love for the people he was closest with growing up.

Why is this important to students some may ask? The problems in this novel relate to upper level high school students: redemption, the meaning of relationships and loyalty, class and religious differences, and the persistence of the past. Intended for a senior year class, they are going to face new and diverse settings as they move to college. There are so many things to learn from Hossesini’s novel because it is diverse and focuses on another culture and makes the reader think about their own life from a different perspective.

For this unit plan, students will be evaluated in both individual and group settings. The diversity of this unit plan is for students of all learning levels to understand and comprehend the importance of this novel by using various instructions. Take home reading assignments followed by mini quizzes will be completed to make sure students are keeping up to the readings, and in-class discussion will be used to deliberate any confusion with the novel. Small projects leading up to a large presentation will be done with groups to incorporate collaborative work. A written short essay will be completed as well as multiple choice questions to adapt to all learning styles.

One of the benefits with instructing //The Kite Runner// is that there is also a movie that pairs with it. This is a great tool to use with having students also find the differences between the book and movie during class. The only problem that this novel might present is that there are scenes of rape and violence, so parental slips will be given out for both the book and the movie. If in fact a student will not be permitted to read this, adaptions to this unit will be made with alternative reading assignments. Being that this book does have graphic content, it will be taught in an upper level, advanced placement classroom. 