Wanda+Dillon-Stewart



My name is Wanda Dillon-Stewart. I'm a teacher at Chicago Vocational High. I've worked here since year 2000. I teach Special Ed. 9th grade English. Prior to this, I've taught regular primary grades for about six years. Later, I had an extreme interest in special education. I then pursued a Master in this area. After attaining my degree in 1992, I then began my journey in the Special Ed. classroom ,working with primary and middle grades. The topic for the unit that I'll be completing with my students will be titled "Facing Monsters". There are about six stories covered in this unit. The selection that we'll be working with first will be a story or rather, an autobiography written by Richard Wright titled "Black Boy". Similar to the other stories and selections covered in this unit, this excerpt revolves around a situation that presents conflicts representing literal or figurative types. Because my ninth graders may be faced with challenges and conflicts,maybe they can relate to the contents of the story. Also, the study of this selection and others in the unit can help improve the students' comprehension skills. They also may help the students absorb the courage, the strength, and wisdom that is needed to confront the conflicts that they may have to face. through reading and discussion**. analyzing characters,or drawing.
 * __Objectives:__**
 * Read and interpret short stories.
 * Generate relevant and interesting questions for discussion.
 * Recognize distinctive and shared characteristics of cultures
 * Express understanding through critical thinking/speaking,creative writing,
 * Understand and use new words.
 * Improve grammar uses.


 * __Curriculum__ __Framing Questions__**

Why do so many of our stories that been told in the past, and presently written deal wih conflict?
 * __Essential Question__**


 * __Unit Questions__**

1. How can a story being told force us to use our imagination? 2. Why do stories capture people's attention in a way telling mere facts cannot match? 3. How do individuals make meaning from a short story?


 * __Content__ __Questions__**

1. What is an autobiography? 2. What are the definitions of plot, conflict, climax, and resolution? 3. What internal conflict does the author of the autobiography, "Black Boy" experience? 4. Whay is external conflict? 5. Why can a small decision or action change a person"s life? 6. How can an increase of external conflict lead to internal conflict? 7. What is the climax of the story "Black Boy"? 2. Wright doesn’t want to go grocery shopping alone anymore, after telling his mother of his encounter with the gang of boys. She stayed home and insisted that he must continue his weekly responsibility. 3. One day a gang of boys knocked Wright down, beat him up and took the money that his mother had given to him buy groceries. 4. Richard’s mother gets a job to support her family. She works on a daily basis, spending long hours away from home. Richard and his siblings suffers from extreme fright and stress of not having the needed parental protection. 5. As a young boy, Richard and his siblings have got to prepare their own meals, dress themselves and Richard has to make sure that they walk to school together every day. 6. Because Richard’s mother needs to work, he has to shop for the family’s groceries. He feels like a grown-up. 7. The gang of boys approaches Wright again as he was walking to the grocery store to fulfill his shopping duty. They took the grocery money from him. Wright ran until he reached his apartment. His mother stopped him at the door, and gave him another grocery list with more money and she gave him a big stick to fight the gang of boys with. 8. Wright went back to the store carrying the big stick that his mother had given him. When the gang of boys approached him for the money, he fought them with the stick. He won. ||
 * **Visual Ranking Project Name **(For the //Visual Ranking// workspace) ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fighting Monsters <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Project Description **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> (For the //Visual Ranking// workspace) ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In the autobiography, “Black Boy”, the author Richard Wright tells of the struggles that he faced as a child being raised in poverty. The struggles that he had to constantly experience caused two types of conflicts. The main conflict that the story character faces is called external conflict, which is a struggle or fight with another person or thing; the other type is called an internal conflict in which a persons struggles with something within one’s own self. For example, Wright’s description of retreating into the house, instead of fighting with some boys who want to bully him to take money from him. You will use the Visual Ranking Tool to rank the situations that the main character faced throughout the story. Remember to label each identified conflict as being an external conflict or an internal conflict. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Prompt **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> (For the Visual Ranking workspace) ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Rank the list of situations that Richard faces that causes him the greater amount of conflict to the least amount of conflict. Use numbers in ranking the conflicts. starting with the greatest in intensity to the least in intensity. At the end of each statement, label the conflict as being external or internal. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sorting List **<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> (For the Visual Ranking workspace) ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Wright’s dad disappears and the family goes hungry. Wright wakes up many nights having hunger pains.