Title: Identity and Community:  Interviewing Our Families

 

Overview

Lesson Overview  September 15-October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month.  During the Identity and Community Unit we will interview family members.  We will “Tell their Stories” about what it means to be a member of the community.  Students will interview family members and write a narrative essay. 
Grade Level/

Course

 6-8 grades
Standards
  • CDE Standard 6.1.a.    Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. (CCSS: SL.6.4)
  • CDE Standard 6.3.1.a  Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. (CCSS: W.6.3)
  • WIDA Can do Descriptors by language domain (grades 6-8) – Listening, Writing, and Oral Language 
  • Colorado English Language Proficiency Standards – ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts.
Time Required  3 full class periods (between 2 ½ -3 hours total)
Topic
  • Culture/identity issues
  • Families
Time Period 1900 – present
Tags (keywords) Primary sources, interviews, identity, community, belonging, families, photographs

 

Preparation (Links to worksheets, primary sources and other materials):

 

Materials
Use these Primary Source Sets from Trinidad for comparative material

 

Lesson Procedure (Step by Step Instructions): These lessons focus on oral practice first then moving to written products.

 

  • Start with an explanation of the method of interviewing people for their narrative paragraphs around community membership. What stories count as community membership? What kind of communities are we discussing (church, sports, political, social, working, government, civil etc.)? These kind of questions need to be hashed out well before kids start developing questions. Reading and analyzing some examples from the 2018 Interviews with Trinidad Residents will help. 
  • In addition, browsing through the Primary Source sets for Trinidad above will help students gather ideas about the type of information that is relevant when interviewing.
    • Go through the PSS with students while using an anchor chart to model and identify the main information needed to have a successful interview
    • Then, have students do the same process with a partner and a different source
    • These anchor charts should help students design their own interview
  •  Tips and strategy – The Life Story Interview
  • Students will brainstorm questions to use for interviewing parents, grandparents, or someone in their family.  Questions will be related to the topic of belonging in our community. Students will inquire about where their families came from, their role in our community, and their sense of belonging in that community.
  • Students will interview one family member.
  • Students will use the narrative essay writing template to write their rough drafts telling the stories of a family member’s journey becoming a member of our community.
  • Students will revise and edit with a peer, using a peer editing worksheet as the teacher’s discretion.
  • Students will write their final copies of a narrative essay on the story of a family member’s sense of belonging and becoming a member in our community.  
  • Rubric –http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=PrintRubric&rubric_id=2713890&

 

Evaluation/Assessment:  (Methods for collecting evidence of student learning)

 

Narrative Essay – Students will write an essay describing a family member’s story of becoming a person in our community.  Students will gather information from their interview and write their essay in narrative form.  

Writing Rubric – http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=PrintRubric&rubric_id=2713890&

Students can earn these badges.