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Lesson 4

We will work with partners to identify themes in The Book of Unknown Americans in order to deepen our understanding of how authors use literary elements and narrative techniques to illuminate meaning and themes.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in texts?

  • Can I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?

  • Can I think about and evaluate personal development?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015
  • Unit Reader
    • “Immigrants in Our Own Land,” Jimmy Santiago Baca, New Directions Publishing Corp., 1979

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will use guiding questions to discuss emerging themes in The Book of Unknown Americans.

Theme is the overriding message in a literary text; novels often have multiple prevalent themes. Consider the following questions to determine themes in The Book of Unknown Americans. Work with a partner to discuss the questions, which can also be found on the Section 2 Question Set, and write your answers in your Learning Logs.

  1. What emotion do many of the characters share? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

  2. What conflicts are common to most characters in the novel? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

  3. How do the characters fit into their community? Do they have more than one community? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

  4. What issues surface in most chapters? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will determine emerging themes in the novel.

With your partner, discuss the emerging themes you identified in the homework reading. Add to or revise your Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool based on new insights gleaned from the discussion.

Discuss your responses as a whole class.

Activity 3: Write – Discuss

We will use a graphic organizer to compare themes in two texts.

With your partner, use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast themes in "Immigrants in Our Own Land" to those of The Book of Unknown Americans.

Discuss as a whole class.

Activity 4: Write

We will reflect, in writing, about our understanding of literary elements and narrative techniques.

Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. How well do I understand setting, plot, conflict, theme, tone, mood, and the role of descriptive language (imagery) in narrative writing? Provide an example for each element from one of the texts you have studied.

  2. On which concepts do I need additional instruction?

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read and annotate pages 144–155 of the novel and make six new entries in our literary elements and narrative techniques Note-Taking Tools.

Read and annotate pages 144-155 of The Book of Unknown Americans.

Write down seven new entries in your Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool, one for each literary element and narrative technique studied so far:

  • setting

  • plot

  • conflict

  • theme

  • tone

  • mood

  • imagery