Vignette 7.3. Reading, Analyzing, and Discussing
Complex Texts in American Literature
Integrated ELA/Literacy, ELD, and History in Grade Eleven (cont.)Ms. Robertson and her colleagues understand that it is critical for high school students to
read multiple texts representing a variety of perspectives, in order to gain an understanding of
bias and learn about the objections of some people who did not want policies that supported
desegregation and other civil rights. For example, in history class, students read writings by and
view televised interviews of people who held divergent perspectives on various topics during the
Civil Rights Movement. The teachers have discussed how a simplistic presentation of history can
result in students’ limited understandings of historical events and lead them to ignore multiple
perspectives. Teachers therefore emphasize that human decision-making is complex and
depends on many different factors, including historical and cultural contexts.
In English class, Ms. Robertson guides her students to explore a range of perspectives
about various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement by reading literary texts (including
novels, short stories, and poems) and related informational texts. Students also view and
discuss documentaries and other multimedia, such as scenes from plays and films. The unit’s
culminating task asks students to write arguments that draw on evidence from the texts
and media they have examined to support their arguments regarding the responsibilities of
historians to depict history from multiple perspectives. One goal is for students to think critically
about how documents represent people and events differently depending on who is writing the
text.
The unit includes reading and discussion of a variety of literary and informational genres
representing diverse perspectives, including a selection of the following:- Tracks, by Louise Erdrich, which is a novel that addresses tensions between traditional
Native American cultures and the westernizing influence of white America - The Bluest Eye, by Alice Walker, which is the story of a young African American girl dealing
with racism, poverty, and other issues - Novellas from I Hotel, by Karen Tei Yamashita, Leland Wong, and Sina Grace, which tell
the stories of Asian Americans in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s - The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez, which is a
collection of autobiographical short stories about the life of an immigrant in the U.S. - A National Farm Workers Association speech given by Dolores Huerta in Sacramento, April
10, 1966 (https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/185999). - Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which advocated for the philosophy of
non-violence as a political strategy - The play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, which explores, among other things,
African American identity, racism, and social status in the 1950s - Several poems, including “Let America Be America Again,” by Langston Hughes (http://
http://www.crmvet.org/poetry/fhughes.htm),,) and an excerpt from I am Joaquin: Yo Soy
Joaquin, by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales (http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/joaquin.
htm). (The students may also write original poems from the perspective of an individual
engaged in the struggle for civil rights)
Ms. Robertson’s English class includes students who experience challenges with reading and
writing grade-level texts, as well as students who are reading at and above grade level. Her
class also includes three ELs at the late Emerging and early Expanding levels, and several ELs at
the Bridging level. All students are capable of and accustomed to engaging in collaborative
Grades 11 and 12 Chapter 7 | 793