1. Rites of Passage and Other Ideas
Ms. Luehrs
Themes

2. Day 2: Rites of Passage Article Reading/Notes/Discussion Activity
SWBAT: Understand the significance of a rite of passage
Article Reading/Notes/Discussion
Activity

3. Rite of Passage Activity
As a senior, you have experienced many rites of passage. For this activity, you will create a visual representation of your top five rites of passage. Some ways that you can do this are (but not limited to):
Time line
Character sketch
Acrostic poem
Picture diagram
Now, on the back of your poster, choose your top three rites of passage that you have experienced and compose a reflection about why these rites were so important to shaping you as a young adult. Then, list and explain three rites of passage that you have not yet experienced and reflect about why you are looking forward to these rites and how they will shape you as an individual.

4. Day 2: Sit with your Number Groups
SWBAT: understand the significance of the past, tradition, and personal desires when experiencing a rite of passage.
“A Late Encounter with the Enemy”
Foldable (RS)
Reflection (LS): How important is your graduation to you? Is the ceremony that you will participate in more significant to you or to your family? Who gets the most out of walking across the stage?

5. Day 3: Sit in your Sticker Groups
SWBAT: understand the idea of white privilege.
Journal (LS)
“White Privilege…” (RS)
“This is Us” Season 1 Ep 4 (RS)
HW: Read and Annotate “Black Men and Public Spaces”
Reflection (LS): What did you learn about your own biases? Do you agree with what you have experienced? What part about today’s discussion made you feel uncomfortable?

6. Journal #3
Why do we allow stereotypes to determine who we do or do not trust? Why do some people check their car door locks when we see someone at a bus stop or holding a sign that says that they are hungry? How can a person use their privilege in a positive manner?

7. On the Right….
Read “White Privilege..” and make a note of three-five privileges that you either take for granted, see people take for granted, or have experienced as something that you do not get to enjoy regularly.

8. This Is Us
While watching the clips from the episode, note on the Right Side any examples of White Privilege that you see. Do you think that this is an accurate portrayal of White Privilege?

9. Day 4: Sit with your Color Groups
SWBAT: understand the purpose of Staples’ essay and debate its relevance to their culture.
Discussion (Staple Article to the RS)
“On the Subway” (RS)
Reflection (LS): How relevant is Staples’ essay (written in 1986) today? How do personal biases affect how we treat people or how we are treated?

10. “On the Subway” (RS)
Boy Woman

11. Day 5: Sit with your Number Groups
SWBAT: identify and connect the biases discussed in “Indian Education” as well as discuss Junior’s own rights of passage.
Journal (LS)
Biases/Rites of Passage T-Chart (RS)
Reflection (LS): How well would you say Alexie follows his own advice to “write about the pain and anger without having it consume us”? What is the importance of sharing your pain through writing?

12. Journal
What are some of your own positive or negative experiences from school (K-12). What kind of memories dominate? Are the experiences connected? Have those experiences changed the way that you handle situations now?

13. “Indian Education”
Biases Rites of Passage

14. Day 6: Sit with your Sticker Groups
SWBAT: make connections between selections from In our Shoes and the issues that have been discussed this unit.
Jigsaw day 1
Reflection: What were the connections and ah-ha moments that you gained from today’s small group discussion? What parts of the stories were you able to connect to?

15. Jigsaw Day 1
In your small groups, read and annotate your short story. On the right side of your notebook:
Three quotes
Two Ah-ha moments
One Author and Me question
When there is 15 minutes left of class, we will be discussing these stories in our small groups and preparing for day 2.

16. Day 7: Sit with your Color Groups
SWBAT: compare their stories with the other short stories that were read.
Reflection: What was the greatest thing that you learned during this unit? How important is it that we experience rites of passage and acknowledge our personal biases?

17. Jigsaw
Take a large piece of white paper and divide it into five quadrants
Label three quadrants with the title of the story that you read yesterday, and the other two with any of other of the stories that we have read in this unit.
Share your main ideas, ah-ha moments, quotes, etc., and create a visual representation of the connections that you see between the various stories.
Be sure that you draw arrows between each of the stories to connect the similarities between each of them and write the similarities on the arrow.

18. Jigsaw concl.
7 minutes until the bell: Hang up your posters on one of the walls. Then take three large sticky notes.
Walk around the room, and look at three other posters. On your sticky note, write down any other connections/responses that you can think of as a reaction to the short stories. This could be a personal, literary, cultural, or observational connection. Stick those connections that you have written down onto the posters.