Multi-Genre Research Unit

Explain Yourself!
Unit Overview

Context
▫ This unit is designed as a culminating unit for an accelerated English 9 course at Carman-
Ainsworth High School in Flint, MI. Students in this urban district, and in this
classroom, are from a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is a
roughly equal split between minority and non-minority students, and a variety of racial
backgrounds are represented.
▫ During the school year, students have read such works as To Kill a Mockingbird, The
Odyssey, Warriors Don’t Cry, and Romeo & Juliet. They’ve also studied poetry and short
stories in depth. This combination of texts has exposed students to a variety of literary
genres (narrative, epic poetry, memoir, and drama). It has also exposed them to a number
of different perspectives of essential themes centering on individuals coming of age,
experiencing personal growth, and struggling.

Unit
▫ This unit will be 4-5 weeks long.
▫ This unit will be focused around the production of a multi-genre culminating text, which
will incorporate students’ personal experiences, as well as their experiences with the
course texts.
▫ In this unit, students will be asked to examine their own identities in a number of ways,
determining along the way what their own coming-of-age tale or personal journey
towards growth might look like.

Themes/Concepts
▫ Identity
▫ Identity formation
▫ Personal journeys
▫ Growth
▫ Self-Representation
▫ Form = Audience + Purpose
▫ Perspective
Essential Questions
▫ Who am I? How do I identify myself?
▫ How do I want to portray myself to others? In which genres might I best portray
myself? And who is my audience anyway?
▫ How has my identity evolved over the course of the year? How is it still evolving?
▫ How does my identity formation relate to the identity formation that I have seen in
the course texts throughout the school year?
Rationale
▫ Concepts that are central to the topic of this unit are those of identity and identity
formation. In this unit, students are asked to form an inquiry around their own personal
identities, in order to determine how they identify themselves and how their identities
have changed and are changing as they mature. This is relevant to the ninth-grade
student’s life, and with hope, engaging for the student, as it asks him/her to draw on
personal experience, personal interests, and personal relationships.
▫ This unit is designed around a multi-genre research project that will allow students to
explore and inquire about their own developing identities. They will do this by
incorporating elements into their final assessment that they have conducted research to
find, and to relate to. They will learn how to engage with credible sources and how to cite
material that is not originally theirs.
▫ This unit will also ask students to discover how their developing identities relate to the
texts and overarching course themes/concepts that they have encountered throughout the
school year. They will draw connections in their final assessment to concepts, themes,
and texts that we have been working with all year long.
▫ The final assessment for the unit allows students to experiment with a variety of genres of
writing and representation and asks students to make choices about how best to represent
themselves and their identities through a creative project. This helps students to learn
how the form that their communication takes will be heavily influenced by whom they
are talking to and what message they are trying to convey.
▫ The final assessment requires exploration of multiple genres, but at the same time, it
allows students to make the choices about production and presentation. In this way, the
final assessment engages multiple intelligences.
▫ The structure of the classroom during this unit will be highly collaborative, and in this
way, students will be engaged in a dialogic, generative, creative environment with their
peers.

Goals
▫ To engage students in research and inquiry about their own identities and personal
growth
▫ To engage students in exploration of a variety of genres of representation
▫ To engage students in making choices about self-representation
▫ To engage students in a collaborative writing and research environment

Standards
▫ Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style,
vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different
purposes. (NCTE Standard 4)
▫ Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process
elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
(NCTE Standard 5)
▫ Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and
punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and
discuss print and non-print texts. (NCTE Standard 6)
 ▫ Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and
by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources
(e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in
ways that suit their purpose and audience. (NCTE Standard 7)
▫ Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries,
databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create
and communicate knowledge. (NCTE Standard 8)
▫ Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a
variety of literacy communities. (NCTE Standard 11)
▫ Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g.,
for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). (NCTE Standard
12)

References
▫ Burke, Jim. “Chapter 11: Measuring Student Progress.” The English Teacher’s
Companion. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2008.
 Used for informing my thinking on planning Peer Review sessions, and in
creating my “Peer Review Questions” handout
▫ Dickson, Randi, Jon DeGraff, and Mark Foard. “Learning about Self and Others through
Multigenre Research Projects.” The English Journal 92.2 (Nov 2002): 82-90.
 Used for examples of planning multi-genre research projects, to inform my
thinking on planning
▫ Dornan, Reade W., Lois Matz Rosen, and Marilyn Wilson. Within and Beyond the
Writing Process in the Secondary English Classroom. Pearson Education Group, 2003.
 Used for “loop writing” and “Reader Response” concepts for lessons
▫ Romano, Tom. “The Multigenre Research Paper: Melding Fact, Interpretation, and
Imagination.”
 Used for examples of multi-genre research projects
▫ Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry Out
Instructional Units. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2008.
 Used to inform unit planning and especially, to inform my unit rationale.