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Teacher(s) Petra Thomay, Preston Hoppers, Kathleen Dugan Subject group and course English A: Language and Literature

Areas of Time and space SL or HL/Year 1 or 2 Dates

Explorat ● How important is cultural or historical
ion context to the production and reception of
and topic a text?
● How do we approach texts from different
times and cultures to our own?
● To what extent do texts offer insight into
another culture?
● How does the meaning and impact of a text
change over time?

Topic: "How important is cultural or historical

context to the production and reception of a
text?"

Unit description and texts DP assessment(s) for unit

Searching for Cultural and Historical Context Paper 1: guided textual analysis

INQUIRY: establishing the purpose of the unit

Transfer goals
List here one to three big, overarching, long-term goals for this unit. Transfer goals are the major goals that ask students to “transfer” or apply,
their knowledge, skills, and concepts at the end of the unit under new/different circumstances, and on their own without scaffolding from the
teacher.
Students should learn to
1. formulate intriguing research questions, select and appraise sources and use them to synthesize information
2. analyze and evaluate a previously unseen non-literary passage and formulate a response as to how the writer’s external circumstances have
contributed to meaning
3. demonstrate clear communication skills by writing a formal, well-organized response using language appropriate to a formal essay

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ACTION: teaching and learning through inquiry

Content/skills/concepts—essential understandings Learning process
Check the boxes for any pedagogical approaches used during
Students will be guided to analyze an author’s background and look for "era markers"
the unit. Aim for a variety of approaches to help facilitate
the writer might have been influenced by. They will explore how the external conditions
learning.
may have been reflected in the author’s choices (theme, style, genre, lexis).

Key content: X Lecture

☐Socratic seminar
X Small group/pair work
1. Albert Einstein’s letter to President Roosevelt ☐Powerpoint lecture/notes
2. Hiroshima X Individual presentations
X Group presentations
3. Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
☐Student lecture/leading
4. Martin Luther King is Slain in Memphis X Interdisciplinary learning (critical thinking applied to the selection of
resources - ideas?)
Key skills:
Analyzing language to determine time period
Collect and organize historical data
Becoming aware of a writer’s possible agenda
Connect the efficacy of the non-literary text by studying it in a long-view historical
context

Students will grasp the following concepts:

How the context of time affects how someone expresses themselves.
How a person may change the way that they express themselves depending on who
their audience is
What the cultural effect of someone’s writing may have on the world around them
What the language of persuasion is compared to a journalistic piece that only presents
the facts

Formative assessment:

Students will get together in groups and compare the articles from Ida B.
Wells and the New York Times article about Martin Luther King Jr. They will
examine the context of Wells and her work as compared to the modern
‘lynching’ experienced by Martin Luther King Jr.

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Summative assessment:

Paper 1: the paper consists of two non-literary texts, each accompanied

by a guiding question. Students will be asked to choose one of the
passages and write an analysis of it focusing on the impact the writer’s
background might have had on their stylistic and semantic choices.
 Differentiation:

ESL students will need help understanding the differences

that exist in language of the present as opposed to language
of the past.
Students will be provided with audio when available
Google translate
Value prior knowledge
Scaffold learning
Extend learning
Details:

Approaches to learning (ATL)

Check the boxes for any explicit approaches to learning connections made during the unit. For more information on ATL, please see the guide.

X Thinking
Social
X Communication
Self-management
X Research
Details:

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Language and learning TOK connections CAS connections

Check the boxes for any explicit language and Check the boxes for any explicit TOK Check the boxes for any explicit CAS
learning connections made during the unit. For connections made during the unit connections. If you check any of the boxes,
more information on the IB’s approach to provide a brief note in the “details” section
language and learning, please see the guide. explaining how students engaged in CAS for
this unit.

Activating background knowledge Personal and shared knowledge Creativity

Scaffolding for new learning Ways of knowing Activity
Acquisition of new learning through Areas of knowledge Service
practice Demonstrating proficiency The knowledge framework Details:
Details: Details:

Resources

List and attach (if applicable) any resources used in this unit

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Stage 3: Reflection—considering the planning, process and impact of the inquiry

What worked well What didn’t work well Notes/changes/suggestions:
List the portions of the unit (content, assessment, List the portions of the unit (content, assessment, List any notes, suggestions, or considerations for the
planning) that were successful planning) that were not as successful as hoped future teaching of this unit

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