RichLopez4

1 Unit Plan Rationale

The proccess of growing up is by far one of the most difficult times in a persons life. Really it is the first challenge many people have to face in thier lives. It is safe to say that not everyone expiernces growing up the same way, and some may have a more difficult time dealing with the changes happening to them and their world around them. My theme for my unit plan is //The Teen and Psychological Distress //. Using five novels I will examine this theme through the main protagonist and exslpore some of the issues and stresses of everyday young adults caused by psychological stress. I will be using novels that vary in many diffrent aspects. Aspects like location, sex of protagonist, age, SES, ideology and more. The novels are "The Bell Jar" by Slyvia Plath, "The Outsiders" be S.E Hinton, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry and "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D Salinger. I belive each novel shows well the problems of growing up and the psychological distress that is associated with it. Through reading the novels I will help students exsplore their own stressfull lives and hopefully learn to deal with problems occuring in their own lives. It will also open them up to a wide varriety of authors and themes.

2 Unit Plan Rationale The 1930's was a very lively time for many people. It was also a time of change for America. Prohibition, War, Suffrage and Racial Diversity are all things that began to influence society and shape the way Americans thought and lived their lives. Through the novel __The Great Gatsby__ students will read and begin to form an understadning of the era. While reading the great Gatsby students will also read selected poems by Langston Hughes and E.E Cumings to form an idea of poetry and to better understand the three themes stated earlier. They will also read short story's by Hemingway and Faulkner to gain even more insight. Students will be exposed to all types of artistic expression of the time, not just literature. Some things include art Picaso (paintings/ Drawings) Music Jazz/ Blues (Louis Armstrong/ Billie Holiday) Movies (The Great Gatsby) TV Gangsters (BoardWalk Empire). All of these will better help the students understand the times and relate it to present day entertainment to keep them interested. Each lesson will contain part of the novel but also introduce other aspects of the era and the big problems associated with it. Back