Functional Texts

1
Real People/Discrimination
2
Unit Title
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
Major Work
Literary Texts
Functional Texts
Informational Texts
Poetry Picture books Historical fiction Film/video
Web sites Newspapers Charts/timelines Graphs
Travel brochure Menus Directions Maps Instructions
2
Identify Desired Results
For students to understand the Holocaust from a
young persons perspective. To explore the nature
of some people and also learn some history of the
Holocaust.
Why are people prejudiced? Why would people
behave in these ways?
Students will develop a deeper respect for human
decency. They will have a better understanding
of people who are different and learn to reject
indifference to human suffering. Have a better
understanding of a historical event the
Holocaust. Students may also acquire a moral
ethic code, and learn what it means to have an
emotional connection to a piece of literature.
The Holocaust was the pinnacle of anti-Semitism
and prejudice against Jews. But it was not the
first time Jews became the scapegoats and targets
of irrational hate and fear. Why is there such a
long history of anti-Semitism in the world? How
did Hitler limit the freedom of the Jewish
population? What were some of the dangers they
faced? The Holocaust is perhaps the saddest
chapter in world history. Over six million Jews
died. How was this able to happen?
3
Cross-Curricular Connections
What are they learning in language arts?
What are they learning in History?
Acquire and evaluate data Organize and maintain
files Interpret and communicate
information Understand social, organizational,
technological systems Possess good reading,
writing, speaking, listening, communication
skills Think creatively Make decisions Solve
problems Know how to learn and reason Self-esteem,
sociability, self-management, and integrity
Diary of Anne Frank Write about the possibilities
for a recurrence of the Holocaust Teach
others Acquire and evaluate data Organize and
maintain files Interpret and communicate
information Understand social, organizational,
and technical systems Possess good reading,
writing, speaking, listening, communication
skills Think creatively Make decisions Solve
problems Know how to learn and reason Self-esteem,
sociability, self-management, and integrity
Research World War II Allocate time, money,
materials, space, and staff Work on
teams Demonstrate leadership ability Negotiate
effectively Work well with others Acquire and
evaluate data Organize and maintain
files Interpret and communicate
information Understand social, organizational,
and technical systems Apply technology to
specific tasks Possess good reading, writing,
speaking, listening, computation skills Think
creatively Make decisions Solve problems Know how
to learn and reason Demonstrate individual
responsibility, self-esteem, sociability,
self-management and integrity
4
Read the Book The Diary of Anne Frank Poetry
about the Holocaust Short Stories book talks
about I am a Star, Child of the Holocaust by
Inge Auerbacher Claras Story by Clara
Isaacman Night by Elie Wiesel Read some
books History of the Holocaust
One person in each group can give results or
present that groups ideas about what they have
written and discussed in their groups.
The Movie The Diary of Anne Frank
Core Curriculum
Write about the possibilities for a recurrence of
the Holocaust. What if it really happened to you?
Host a guest speaker about the Holocaust. Check
with Holocaust Centers in your city or with
Jewish synagogues.
Get into groups of four and discuss what they
have written about the possibilities for a
recurrence of the Holocaust. Afterward have a
whole-class discussion.
5
An EXPOSITORY Writing Assignment With a Six Trait
Component
What is a stereotype? Create your own definition.
How did stereotypes contribute to the
dehumanization process that happened in Annes
world? Do any of the stereotypes that Anne wrote
about still exist?
Prompt
Prewriting Activities
Composing Activities
Revision Activities
Teach introduction, body and con-clusion or the
five-paragraph essay. Create a strong,
interesting introduction by taking a stand and
organizing thoughts logically. Outline/organizatio
n for composing Reason 1 - supporting facts and
examples Reason 2 - supporting facts and
examples Reason 3 - supporting facts and
examples Possible objection - examples Possible
objection authors answer Strong
conclusion Summary restating authors opinion or
a call for action or change.
Brainstorm Split the class into four groups.
Have each group discuss one of these questions
and make a list of answers. Present to the
class. Use the computer to do a meta search for
information,teacher guided with URLs. Use
History books, and The Diary of Anne Frank,
dictionaries. Before you write, think
of Purpose/audience Subject Structure (speech,
letter, essay, etc.)
Self-evaluation paper with a checklist. Revise
after this. Teacher evaluation from a
checklist Ideas 20-points Organization-12
points Voice-12 points Sentence fluency
8-points Word choice 4-points Conventions
4-points After teacher evaluates students,
students revise. Peer group evaluation. Get into
groups and read paper. Evaluate and pass to the
next person. Always use a checklist for students.
6
Speaking
Strand
Ask for four volunteers. Hand two students a
voice poem called Book Lice. Have the other
two read Fireflies. These are voice poems.
One student reads the right side and the other
reads the left side. If the lines are
simultaneous then they read their lines together
at the same time. These are fun poems to read in
front of a class or audience. Teach the students
the structure of these poems by asking questions
about each poem. In Book Lice each louse takes
a different perspective about the quality of
their life.
Have all the students in the class pair up into
groups of two. Have them pick two characters
from the book The Diary of Anne Frank. Have them
create a voice poem using two characters with two
different perspectives about life or the
situation they are in. For instance, you could
compare Anne to her sister. When students are
finished creating their voice poems, they can
read them to the class.
7
Detailed Revision of Activity Ideas,
Organization, Voice, Word Choice, or Sentence
Fluency (Choose One)
Trait
Writers notebook as a tool for revision to help
the student with individual problems. Find the
problem and use the strategy to help fix the
writing problem.
Content Strategy
Content Strategy
Content
Strategy
8
Reading Activity to Teach Text Structure Other
Than Narrative
Text Type
Students Have the students get into groups of
five. Give each group the text sections and have
them organize it, or place it in the order of
introduction body, and conclusion. Give each
group a different diary entry. Have each group
read their sections together out loud to the
class. Teacher determines whether they have put
the selection together correctly.
Teacher Photocopy one of Anne Franks diary
entries. Cut the entry into text sections, such
as Introduction Three sections of the
body Conclusion Explain to students that
every type of writing will have an introduction,
body paragraphs, and conclusion - even diary
entries.