Day: 4/20/16 (Wednesday)

Course: English I
Block: A3
Standards:
RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in
two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent
in each treatment.
RL. 9-10.9: Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source
material in a specific work.
Objectives:
*Students will be able to:
--link different texts (their themes and topics) to many different types
of texts and figure out what influence culture may have on each.
Differentiation:
*Appeals to different learning types by integrating various art forms
into the lesson.
*Serves as hook, implicit anticipation guide, and scaffolding for both
novel and meeting the unit standard.
*Words/Things We Leave Unsaid activity is differentiated by student
interest and comfort level.
Lesson Sequence:
1. Introduce Speak (approx. 35 min. total)
a) Trigger Warning (1 min.)
--Dont give away important plot details, but explain to students
that while Speak is often a funny book and contains nothing
explicit, it deals with some heavy subject matter that is meant to
make readers uncomfortable, to make them think. That said, if
anyone thinks they might be triggered by the content, please
come talk to me after class and we will work out an arrangement.
(i.e. Warn students before the parts of the book that might be
triggering and arrange for them to be elsewhere/skip those parts
when they are read in class.)
b) Speech, Silence, and Catharsis Intro (2 min.)
--Speak is a book about finding your voice. The main character,
Melinda, has, prior to the start of the novel, experienced
something that causes her to suffer a kind of PTSD and renders
her unable to tell anyone what happened to herand indeed,
sometimes everything she bottles up inside her prevents her
from speaking at all. The book builds to the moment when
Melinda is finally able to speak, to find her voice: But Melinda has

been shouting throughout the novel, expressing herself through

her art, even though she never says anything aloud.
--To introduce the novel, were going to explore some of the ways
in which different forms of art can be used as catharsis. We will
return to this idea throughout the unit, investigating the ways in
which similar themes are interpreted across different written,
spoken, and visual texts.
c) Show students the slam poem Alexandra by Devin Samuels (5-10
min.)
--Art forms like slam poetry are a form of catharsis that allows
performers to find their voices and express things they wouldnt
otherwise discuss.
--As illustrated by the poem Alexandra, slam became a way for
the poet to be heard, to let the world know he was breaking and
get help, while his cousin, who could not speak or act out,
suffered in silence until she couldnt see a way out.
--Not everyone is comfortable baring his/her soul before an
audience. Not everyone expresses him/herself aloud.
d) Maya Angelous Caged Bird (5-10 min.)
--Some people are more comfortable expressing themselves in
writing. They can say things on the page that they cant say
aloud. In the book, Melinda is drawn to Maya Angelou.
--Have students read Caged Bird
--Bird imagery, like tree imagery, will be important to Melinda
later in the book. See if students can make connections between
the themes in Alexandra, the themes in Caged Bird, and what
they know about the novel so far.
e) Pablo Picasso, La Rue des Bois, Small House in the Garden, Tree
Study (5-10 min.)
--Some people cant (or choose not to) express themselves in
words at all. They do it through instrumental music, or through
art.
--Even though Melinda is drawn to Maya Angelou, she is not
inclined to express herself in words. Melinda subconsciously tries
to explain whats happening to her through her art: drawings,
sculptures, and carvings of trees. Her main artistic influence is
Pablo Picasso.
--Show students four of Picassos tree pictures (two color
paintings, two black and white sketches). Ask them what
emotions they feel looking at each trees. Do any of the pictures
tell a story? Using the last picture (Tree Study), probe deeper
and show students how you can read an image as a text.
2. Words We Leave Unspoken (All remaining time)
a) Set-up (Before Class)

--Draw tree trunks on the navy blue paper covering the former
chalkboard on the side wall; draw three different sizes of leaves
on a piece of paper and photocopy them onto light green paper
(need at least 42); Number the leaves on the back; Write
confessions (some true, some from books/other media) on 3-4
leaves to emphasize anonymity and make students more
comfortable. Staple these leaves onto the trees.
b) Intro: Like Melinda, whose trees represented all the things she cant
say aloud in the novel, were going to anonymously write down the
words/things we leave unsaid.
***DISCLAIMERS:
1. Let students know that despite the anonymity safeguards built
into the activity, teachers are required to report certain things,
like if they think a student is being abused or is in danger of
hurting themselves or others. With that in mind, each leaf has a
number on the back. When students turn in their leaves upsidedown I will not look at the writing on the front, but I will jot down
the leafs number next to their name on the roster. If and only if I
see something that concerns me, I will check the number on the
back of the leaf and look up the student who authored it.
2. Students do not have to divulge anything they are
uncomfortable with. The things we leave unsaid dont have to
be deep, dark secrets. They can be hopes, dreams, goals that
they havent told anyone about. They can be about nameless
crushes they wish theyd spoken to.
--Take advantage of extra space in the room to make sure
students are spread out and no one can see what they write on
their leaves. Allow students to go into the hallway to write if they
want to. If theyre worried about someone recognizing their
handwriting, tell them to write with their opposite hand.
--Students may write on one leaf or several
--Collect leaves upside-down and shuffle before stapling to the
board to preserve anonymity. Mix up the two classes leaves
when stapling them to the trees to make it even harder to tell
whose is whose.