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=Title: Explore History Through Literature =


 * Grade: 10**


 * Topic**: Fulcrum Text; //The Help//, by Kathryn Stockett. Tools of literary analysis will be used to experience history through the critical lens of race, feminism, New Historicism, and Reader-response.


 * Rationale**: By reading //The Help// as a fulcrum text, students will experience a view of history they may feel familiar with; the Civil Rights Movement. Through the use of English Language Arts skills and analysis techniques, students will gain a deeper knowledge of the intricate challenges people faced. Through Stockett's well developed characters, students will begin to understand the ways literature enhances the exploration of the human experience. Reading a novel like //The Help// will provide insight and humanize the history of racialization and oppression in our not-too-distant past. Students will experience how literature places a "face" on the facts.

//Reading//: Students will demonstrate progress in their ability to actively read with a New Historic lens. //Writing//: Through research, students will apply factual evidence to demonstrate a connection to //The Help// and the challenges people faced//.//
 * Objective:** Students will begin to understand ways literature enhances their knowledge of the human experience.

RL 10 - 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL 10 - 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings: analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. RI 10 - 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. a. Develop factual, interpretive, and evaluative questions for further exploration of the topic(s). L 10 - 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. a. Write and edit work so that it conforms to the guidelines in a style manual appropriate for the discipline and writing type. SL 10 - 4. Present information, finding, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. W 10 - 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. W 10 **-** 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research project to answer a question or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
 * Common Core Standards**:
 * Reading:**
 * Language:**
 * Speaking and Listening:**
 * Writing:**

> Elizabeth, you could surely use __**The Help**__ as a fulcrum text. I'm sorry--I guess I hadn't answered this post when you put it up. What direction might you take with it? I see a number of ways in. Keep those ELA standards front and center. The novel is interesting as "historical" fiction surely. It's also interesting as a novel with a text within a text--in other words it's a novel //**about**// writing. Voice is important in the novel and representations. Who has the dominant voice in the novel? And how might we critique particular representations of "the times" Southern women, black maids, etc. Depending on what tack you take you have an option to assign the Jim Crow laws to students as well as other texts that focus on this time period. A good YA title would be William-Garcia's award winning **One Crazy Summer.** Another YA title of interest is **The Rock and the River** which takes place in the north (Chicago) in the late 60's and offers up a view of the Civil Right movement through a young black male's eyes. There's also the wonderful "crown" of sonnets devoted to the murder of Emmett till,**A Wreath for Emmett TIll.** Another suggestion is **Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice**, a beautiful picture/text book which tells the story of a teenage girl who challenges the Jim Crow laws in the south before Rosa Parks. This non-fiction title won the National Book Award 2 years ago I think it is. > Also If you were looking at the pre-Civil Rights era that's where __**To Kill a Mockingbird**__ fits if you chose to make it fit. > Obviously this is all too much text for a short sequence and that's why focusing is so important. I would "use" __The Help__ with a fairly narrow focus so that the emphasis is not on "studying" this novel but on some aspect of text and textuality. Hope this helps ...do share your ideas.
 * Understanding:** Students will understand that historical literary fiction deepens our knowledge of the complexity of the past and allows us to experience empathy for human side of history by:
 * understanding the benefits of performing a close reading
 * understanding the benefits cross-textual references from from other genres in the layering of background knowledge
 * understanding how a symbiotic relationship between literature and informational texts exits and broadens our knowledge base, enhances factual knowledge and deepens our understanding of the world.