Reflection and Awareness

Awareness and Reflection unit focuses on student reflection of personal beliefs and social awareness. Students will study various psychological theories, approaches, and texts.  Texts for this unit may include the following: The Oxford Project, This I Believe, Blink, Outliers, Mindset, Predictably Irrational, Mutant Message Down Under, Last Lecture. Films for this unit may include the following: Wasteland, The Brain, Powers of Time. Unit assessments will include the following: daily reflection journal, reader response paragraphs, and a blog with personal statement and collection of various information (a multi-genre paper). To see Mrs. Schroeder's example click on the image.

• Examine, explain, and evaluate, orally and in writing, various perspectives concerning individual, community, national, and world issues reflected in literary and nonliterary texts
• Develop and articulate, orally and in writing, defensible points of view on individual, community, national, and world issues reflected in literary and nonliterary texts
• Identify the devices an author uses to influence readers and critique the effectiveness of their use
• Identify philosophical assumptions and basic beliefs underlying selected texts
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E.12.3 Create media products appropriate to audience and purpose.

• Create multimedia presentations in connection with major projects, such as research reports or exhibitions
• Develop various media products to inform or entertain others in school or the community such as slide shows, videos, newspapers, sound recordings, literary publications, and brochures

B.12.1 Create or produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

• Write a coherent argument that takes a position, accurately summarizes an opposing position, refutes that position, and cites persuasive evidence
• Compose and publish analytic and reflective writing that conveys knowledge, experience, insights, and opinions to an intended audience
• Use rhetorical structures that divide complex thoughts into simpler ones, logical transitions from one thought to another, and language appropriate to the intended audience
• Write creative fiction that includes an authentic setting, discernible tone, coherent plot, distinct characters, effective detail, believable dialogue, and reasonable resolution of conflict
• Write summaries of complex information (such as information in a lengthy text or a sequence of events), expand or reduce the summaries by adding or deleting detail, and integrate appropriately summarized information into reviews, reports, or essays, with correct citations
• Write autobiographical and biographical narratives in a mature style characterized by suitable vocabulary, descriptive detail, effective syntax, an appropriate voice, a variety of sentence structures, clear coordination and subordination of ideas, and rhetorical devices that help establish tone and reinforce meaning
• Prepare and publish technical writing such as memos, applications, letters, reports and resumes for various audiences, attending to details of layout and format as appropriate to purpose
• Write in a variety of situations (impromptu, over time, in collaboration or alone) and adapt strategies, such as revision, technology, and the use of reference materials, to the situation
• Use a variety of writing technologies, including pen and paper as well as computers
• Write for a variety of readers, including peers, teachers, and other adults, adapting content, style, and structure to audience and situation