This unit seeks to develop an awareness of and the application of a Critical Race Theory lens to the reading and analysis of literature and films. Using an Inquiry based learning approach, it asks students to notice and wonder about the visual images that barrage their daily lives and the coded language they are complicit in use or acquiescence. The unit requires that students guide the inquiry by generating questions about the world as depicted in literature, seek voices not heard or ways that interests may converge. It asks students to try to make sense of their discoveries by explaining and debating positions on issues or concepts based on reflection, research and analysis. This unit seeks to empower middle and high school students to not only question the status quo but challenges them to create/recreate counternarratives reflective of utopians for the world they failed to discover in literature.

This unit will examine the genre of science fiction—specifically Afrofuturism. The genre of Afrofuturism will allow students freedom to creatively write about worlds of utopia not limited by one’s current reality and seek to modify the future by going back to alter one’s future using tools of science, mysticism, and social justice.

Lesson Title:  Using Setting to study the meaning of Home in The One and Only Ivan Grade level: 6 Standard: RL 6.2, 6.6 Time: Objectives: Students will analyze the elements of setting in each of Ivan’s homes throughout the novel.Students will work in groups to find textual examples and evidence.Students will use setting analysis to write a paragraph about the meaning of Home in the novel. Materials: The One and Only Ivan novelsPoster board (1 per pair of students)Markers, crayons, colored pencils of choicePaper and writing utensils Procedures: Assign students their partner pairings, and have them spread out around the room, sitting with their partners.Pass out poster boards (one per pair).  Students should draw two lines through the center of the poster, one horizontally and one vertically to create four equal quadrants on the poster.In a large group discussion, students should help identify the four settings described in the novel which served as HOME for Ivan at some point.  They should then label each quadrant with one of the settings (Mack’s house, jungle, circus, zoo)Give them time to work with their partners to identify as least four textual examples describing each of the four settings.  (four examples x four settings = at least 16 textual references) Students should record these examples in the corresponding quadrant of the poster.  They should also create a drawing or visual representation of each setting in the corresponding quadrant.Students will then present their posters to the class, sharing at least one example for each setting, so as not to take up too much class time and become too repetitive.Discuss as a full group those details that made each setting either positive or negative.  Have students reflect on what they think HOME means to the author that is conveyed through the character of Ivan.Assign students (individually, no longer in partners) a paragraph writing assignment describing the meaning of HOME in the novel.  They should reference at least four textual examples from their partner projects in their paragraphs.

This collection of Victorian Poetry and Fiction on the Great Writers Inspire site includes a selection of writers we feel to be particularly inspiring in an age dominated by authors and literature. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. This landing page allows users to explore topics such as The Victorian Gothic, Victorian Publishing History, Literature and Religion as well as majors authors.