Media Use: Differentiation

Lesson Plan Activities:

1. Jigsaw Activity: Instruct students about how jigsaw works, letting them know each of them will be responsible for reporting to a different group, so pay attention in this first group! Students will sit with their numbered groups and discuss the following board prompts:
a. Give a brief summary of the story.
b. Find one interesting thing about this story to share with the other group. After students have discussed these prompts in their groups, each student in that group will number 1-5 (or 6 depending on attendance numbers). Students will find their new groups (all 1's together, all 2's, etc) and discuss their story. Students will take notes on the other stories while they are being presented. These will be turned in, compiled, and posted to the blog. The class will come back together and discuss parallels between the two stories. Roles in a family will be highlighted during this entire class discussion.

2. Tu Pac “Dear Mama” dissection: Play 'Dear Mama' for students, with lyrics, up on the board. When finished, ask students about Tu Pac's mother's role in the family. Have students evaluate her role as either helpful or harmful to the family unit.

3. “Sylvia Plath- Daddy Poem”: Read this poem aloud with students. Dissect her relationship with her father, and her role in the family unit. Have students evaluate her role as either helpful or harmful to the family unit.

4. Class Discussion: Using what they have gathered from the multiple texts, have students describe the family roles being illustrated. How do these characters fit into these families? Is this structure 'healthy' for their identity? Why/Why not?

Implications:

The Tu Pac video and lyrics help to create a wide variety of leveled texts for students. Struggling students will use 'House on Mango Street' as a jump off point for discussion. Main stream ability students will refer to Tu Pac lyrics when discussing family roles. Higher ability students will be referencing Sylvia Plath regarding family dynamics. In this lesson, each level of ability is given a foundation for the class discussion. Ultimately, this media clip has given mainstream students something to reference when discussing family units, roles, and responsibilities.