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Tess McNamara
TL525 Unit Plan
December 1, 2014
Rationale
This unit is designed for students in a 9th
or 10th
grade English class. There are some ELL
students integrated into the class, but their English language proficiency levels are advanced and
span across WIDA levels 4 (Expanding) to 6 (Reaching). Although the ELL students in the
classroom are rather advanced, some lack confidence in participating in oral communication with
other students during group work or whole class discussion. Additionally, they sometimes
struggle connecting their ideas (explicitly or implicitly) to the text, or articulating the process by
which they drew those conclusions from the text or discussion. Their reading comprehension is
generally good, but there are times when the lack of background knowledge (and lack of their
own awareness about lacking background knowledge) becomes an apparent obstacle in their
comprehension of texts or class discussions. This unit will provide the students with several
opportunities to improve and practice their oral and written communication skills, as well as the
opportunity to delve into reading and researching a variety of texts at different levels and with
related content.
In addition to building reading and communication skills, the purpose of this unit is also
to help students learn about the context and significance of the United States Civil Rights
Movement. The central text for the unit is The Help by Kathryn Stokett, but additional related
and supporting texts will be used in conjunction throughout the unit to build a well-rounded
knowledge base about the history of the civil rights era. The major language and content-area
skills that the unit will work to improve are not limited to, but include: inference-making, citing
textual evidence to support a claim, identifying main idea, identifying and analyzing point of
view, relating literature to outside historical context, and clearly expressing thoughts in verbal
and written communication formats. These skills directly relate to a wide range of Massachusetts
Common Core State Standards, which will be mentioned explicitly in the three detailed lesson
plans further along in this unit plan. Furthermore, the unit also addresses the following WIDA
English Language Development Standards: (1) English language learners communicate for social
and instructional purposes within the school setting, and (2) English language learners
communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area
of language arts.
Student Learning Outcomes
Major Concepts/Understandings
 Civil Rights Movement: key people, key places, causes, historical significance, etc.
 Importance of building background knowledge to improve comprehension while reading,
to draw contextual connections, and to become a better-rounded reader.

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 Ability to recognize and explain significance of point of view across various texts and
viewpoints.
 Appreciation for fiction and non-fiction literature that connect readers with historical
contexts, events, and various human/cultural experiences.
 Ability to form, develop, communicate, and defend personal opinions.
Content Goals
 SWBAT describe major causes/concepts/influences of the Civil Rights Movement.
 SWBAT identify/be familiar with major activists of the Civil Rights Era.
 SWBAT use background knowledge to draw contextual inferences about character
relationships, societal conflicts/tensions, racial divides, and/or significance of plot events
in the novel.
 SWBAT draw inferences about characters’ relationships with other characters, as well as
their surrounding society, and support their reasoning with textual evidence.
 SWBAT make inferences about Skeeter’s, Aibileen’s, Minnie’s, and Celia’s societal
constraints against their desires.
Language Goals
 SWBAT articulate (oral and written) their thinking process that drew them to make an
inference by naming their conclusions and the evidence they used to draw such
conclusions.
 SWBAT summarize (oral and written) key plot events of individual chapters, as well as
the entire novel.
 SWBAT form and communicate (oral and written) personal opinions about gender roles,
racial tensions, activism, and political injustice during the Civil Rights Movement.
 Identify and orally explain significance of various points of view across different texts.
Skills/Strategies
 Information unpacking: paraphrase, summarize, and identify main ideas and themes.
 Linking, tracking, comparing, and contrasting ideas: compare and contrast how different
characters, texts, or videos/films present opinions or information pertaining to similar
concepts or events.
 Recognize text structure: use list of text types and corresponding signal words to
determine text structure, then discuss which words/phrases in the text helped to identify
the structure, as well as how knowing the structure helps to understand the content and
main ideas of the text.
 Scaffolding – building vocabulary: identify difficult vocabulary in text, learn definition of
vocabulary, complete graphic organizer with various exercises to comprehend the proper
meaning and correct usage of the newly learned vocabulary.
 Scaffolding – building background knowledge: identify context of setting and/or key
figures/ideas in a text, then investigate and research the content further. After research
and learning relevant information about the text’s context, continue to discuss

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comprehension, significance, and relevance of learned information, as well as continue to
draw connections from text to learned background knowledge.
 Questioning the author/director: question an author of text or director of film about their
intentions, purposes, delivery, and effectiveness. Then consider critiques to the author or
director’s choices and assess if anything could be or should be done differently.
Student Products
 Introduction to Civil Rights Movement Mini Project (see details in unit calendar)
 Reader Reaction Journal
 Various graphic organizers, worksheets, and small classwork/homework assignments
 Various student writing samples expressing their opinions, reactions, formed arguments,
and/or critiques pertaining to various elements of The Help (novel and movie), the Civil
Rights Movements, and supplemental texts/materials
 Verbal contributions to various whole-class and small-group discussions
 Completion of occasional reading quizzes to assess comprehension

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Timeline of Unit
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
Introduction to Civil
Rights Movement:
causes, timeline,
major locations,
influential people
-Group work mini-
project is introduced
-Students pick
groups of 3
Research day about
Civil Rights
Movement
-Student groups are
assigned a
person/topic to
research in the library
for the day
-Note-taking
handouts are provided
Introduce The Help
& continue research
-Provide
background info
about Kathryn
Stockett
-Research day 2 in
library/ computer
lab for group work
projects
Group project
presentations
-Each group gives
5-8 minute
presentation, must
print out of a class
handout of
summarized
information on their
topic for teacher to
make copies of &
distribute
The Help
Chpt. 1
-Relate known info
from presentations
to the setting
-Discuss characters
introduced thus far
-Discuss language
style
The Help
Chpt. 2-3
-Review what is an
inference
-Civil rights
photos/inference
making activity
-What is a typical
day like for the
main characters that
have been
introduced thus far?
What are the low
and high points of
their days? How do
they differ from one
another?
The Help
Chpt. 4-5
-Progress from photo-
based inferences to
text-based inferences
-Why isn’t Skeeter
married yet? Does
Skeeter “have what is
takes” to be a “good
Jackson wife”?
-What does Skeeter’s
relationship with her
mom tell us about
generational gaps of
the time?
-Introduction of
“Skeeter Scrapbook”
assignment
The Help
Chpt. 6
-Why does Celia
want to be included
so badly? How does
her background
affect how she is
judged by the other
white women?
-Why doesn’t
Minny like Celia? Is
Minny justified?
The Help
Chpt. 7
-What was the
dynamic of
Skeeter’s
relationship with
Constantine? What
happened to
Constantine?
-How is Skeeter’s
understanding of
Constantine’s point
of view limited?
-What do we think
of Skeeter’s new
Miss Myrna job?
The Help
Chpt. 8
-How do the Jim
Crow Laws relate
to the way Hilly
treats the maids?
-Why is Aibileen so
terrified to have
Skeeter come to her
house?
-What role does the
black church
community play in
the tensions
between white &
black people in the
society?

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The Help
Chpt. 9-11
-Does Skeeter’s
agreement to go on
Hilly’s blind date
strengthen or
weaken her
character’s
independence?
-Are Celia and
Minny true friends?
-Why does Aibileen
change her mind
(both times)?
-Skeeter Scrapbook
check-in
The Help
Chpt. 12
-How does Hilly
manipulate the
women of Jackson
with her newsletter?
-What does
Aibileen’s writing
ability and level of
respect that she has
from her church
suggest about her
level of intelligence
and
accomplishments?
The Help
Chpt. 13
-What are the roles
of men and women
in the novel?
-How is Skeeter
treated by Stuart?
What attracts her to
him? Is she satisfied
with the way he
treats her?
The Help
Chpt. 14-15
-How does the
murder of Medgar
Evers affect
characters in the
novel? How does it
affect Jacksons and
the U.S.?
-Build background
knowledge about
racial tensions by
reading primary
sources from Jim
Crow South
The Help
Chpt. 16-17
-What are Jim
Crow laws and why
is it controversial
for Skeeter to own
a copy?
-Why does Yule
May now want to
be a participant in
the book?
The Help
Chpt. 18-20
-Is it right for Celia
to befriend Minny?
-How is sense of
community
developed in the
white vs. black
communities?
The Help
Chpt. 21-22
-How have we seen
Skeeter’s confidence
grow?
-Is Skeeter fully
comfortable about her
beliefs yet?
-Why is Skeeter
exiled by Hilly?
-Skeeter Scrapbook
check-in
The Help
Chpt. 23-24
-What are your
reactions to Dr.
King’s march and
the church
bombings?
-Where do we see
sources of racial
tensions?
-How is violence
portrayed?
The Help
Chpt. 25-26
-Why does Hilly
hate Celia?
-In what ways has
Celia’s character
developed over the
course of the novel?
-How is chpt. 25’s
narration unique?
The Help
Chpt. 27
-What is the
“mammy” figure?
-“Mammy” Debate
-What was the
condition of the
U.S. after J.F.K.’s
death?
The Help
Chpt. 28-29
-Is Stuart a good
person?
-What purpose do
Aibileen’s stories to
Mae Mobly serve?
Are they effective?
-What makes Help
such a hit?
-Skeeter Scrapbook
check-in
The Help
Chpt. 30-32
-How do we view
Johnny and Celia’s
relationship? Are they
equals?
-What kinds of
tension rise as the
book’s popularity
spreads?
The Help
Chpt. 33-34
-Why does Skeeter
feel suffocated
while her book
gains success?
-Are the
consequences of the
book positive or
negative?
-Skeeter Scrapbook
due
Post-Reading The
Help
-Students given
instructions for
Socratic seminar
-Students select
their topics from
provided list
-Students use class
period to prepare
Post-Reading The
Help
-Students given 10
minutes to prepare
or ask last minute
questions
-Socratic seminar
-Wrap-up whole-
class discussion

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Specific Assessments & Instructional Activities throughout Unit
A) Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement Mini-Project: Before beginning the novel,
students will divide into groups of three. Given a list of selected topics related to the
American Civil Rights Movement, they will choose one to research for three class
periods. On the fourth day, students will submit a class handout with an organized
summary of their gathered information, as well as present their findings to the class in a
5-8 minute informal presentation.
B) Reaction Journal: At the beginning of the unit, I will distribute a “reaction journal” to
each student in the class. Every few days, I will chunk out a block of class time to extract
a significant quote from the reading. Sometimes I will offer a selection of quotes from the
assigned reading for the day. After posting the quote on the board or on a projector in the
room, I will ask the students to write in silence for five to ten minutes about their genuine
reactions to the excerpt. Their responses will be based on completion rather than the
quality of writing. The exercise is meant to engage the students in the text on an
emotional, deeper level of thinking and reasoning. It also gives them a low-pressure
opportunity to practice their writing skills.
C) Skeeter Scrapbook: As students read the novel, ask them to outline the coming of age of
Skeeter by gathering quotes that show the three stages of this process: (1) Inexperience,
innocence, or lack of knowledge; (2) Confrontations or trails that affect one’s views; and
(3) Growth, new maturity, and an enlarged concept of right and wrong (McGlin, J.M.,
2012, p. 11). Students can organize their thoughts using a graphic organizer, then create
or draw symbolic visual representations to correspond with the gathered quotes or
paraphrases about Skeeter’s developed maturity. There will be several check-ins
throughout the unit to make sure that students are given specific time to work on their
scrapbooks. Moreover, this is a gradual work in progress, not a final unit project.
Students will ultimately submit a well-crafted scrapbook-style journal, binder, or poster
with their quotes, visual representations, and brief explanations about the reasoning
behind each visual representation they chose to include. On the day of submission,
students will split into small groups to share, discuss, and compare their scrapbooks.
D) “Mammy” Debate: Students will read critiques of the novel that suggest that the African
American maids depicted in The Help resurrect the Mammy figure. After further
discussion about the Mammy figure, “a mythical stereotype of black women who were
compelled, either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families,” (McGlin, J.M.,
2012, p. 11), the students of the class will be divided in half. Half of the class will stand
on one side of the room, while the other half stands on the other. One side will argue how
Stockett’s depiction of African American women resurrects the Mammy figure, and the
other side will argue how it does not Stockett’s depiction of the women presents their
lives in an original way that does not resurrect the Mammy figure. Students must support
their arguments with textual evidence from the novel. The in-class debate will be
informal, however, students should participate in the conversation with their team or

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against the other team with their best efforts. For homework, students will revise the
graphic organizers they began during class to support the opposing sides of the argument
with textual evidence. Therefore, assessment will be measured by class participation and
by submission of written work.
E) Film Comparison: Throughout the unit, I will play key scenes from the film version of
The Help. Students then review the text in the novel from which the film scene was
based. In whole-class and small-group discussion, students will assess the choices made
by the director – whether they agree or disagree with the director’s visualization of the
scene, what they might have done differently, and if any of the changes substantially
affect the ideas of the novel. Occasionally, students will generate their personal responses
in their response journal, while other times they may submit graphic organizers or
worksheets with their responses, and other times students may only orally discuss their
reactions in small-group or whole-class discussions.
F) End of Unit Socratic Seminar: After finishing the novel and having gathered a well-
rounded knowledge base of the Civil Rights Movement, students will be given a list of
topics represented in the novel. The list of topics will include various characters, themes,
political issues, and moral issues. The students will choose their topic, and will then be
given one class period and one night to review their notes and resources in order to gather
as much information as possible about how their topic is represented in the novel. More
specifically, the students should analyze how Stockett represents and develops the
respective character, theme, or issue, as well as the significance of that topic to the
overall purpose of the novel. Ultimately, the students will form an opinion about
Stockett’s intended purpose of the novel, why or why not she reached her purpose, and
what purpose the novel actually served. During a Socratic Seminar-styled forum, the
students will represent their stance about the purpose(s) of the novel. Because each
student involved in the discussion will act as an “expert representative” of a different
character, theme, or issue, the students will be able to learn from their peers and take into
account various viewpoints about how topics were represented in the novel. Thus, by the
end of the Socratic seminar, students will be able to conclude what they believe are the
purposes that the novel did and did not maintain.
Three Detailed Lesson Plans
 Lesson Plan #1: Making Inferences from The Help, used while teaching chapters 4-5
 Lesson Plan #2: Building background knowledge of activism during Civil Rights
Movement, used while teaching chapters 14-15
 Lesson Plan #3: Analyzing sources of race and portrayal of violence in The Help, used
while teaching chapters 23-24
*See attached full lesson plans.

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Reflection: unit meets needs of ELs at variety of English language proficiency
levels
As explicitly mentioned throughout the detailed lesson plans, each lesson in the unit
provides several examples and supports for students at varying levels of English language
proficiency because each lesson offers opportunities for incorporation of SIOP components.
Because the unit is grounded in background knowledge of the American Civil Right Movement,
I made sure to begin the unit with a low-pressure, yet very informative research project where
students become experts on a single topic from the Civil Rights Movement. Not only do students
become experts in one key figure or topics from the movement, but then they learn from their
peers in verbal presentations communicating their findings. Because it can be difficult for
learners at lower levels of language proficiency to retain verbal information, I made sure to
include a written component that the students could keep, which was the class handout that each
student had to make to go along with their presentation.
As the unit progresses, there are other forms of formal and summative assessments that
ensure to track the students’ comprehension of the development of characters and ideas in the
novel. Examples of these assessments include the “Skeeter Scrapbook” and the personal reaction
journal that each student will complete. The Skeeter Scrapbook allows for students to show their
content understanding in a format that relieves pressure off of having to submit a lot of formal
writing because it asks students to choose visual representations of major topics in the novel.
However, in order to do well on the scrapbook and choose well thought out visuals, students
need to understand the concepts discussed in class, so it would allow the teacher to assess how
well the student has been following along the significance of the main characters and topics in
the text.
As mentioned in the unit rationale, the students in this class are often shy to participate in
oral communication and they struggle to form and communicate clear connections between text
and discussion. To improve these struggles, I made sure to include a lot of opportunities for
small-group and whole-class discussions. Because the novel and the Civil Rights Movement
offers so many timeless moral controversies, the unit is great at providing students with naturally
forming arguments. However, the students then need to support their opinions and emotional
reactions to the novel with textual evidence. Additionally, all of the background knowledge
about the context of the movement will serve to fuel these reactions and strengthen student
responses to events in the novel. With these benefits of the content in mind, I created the current
event lesson plan, the Mammy Debate, and the end of unit Socratic Seminar. These lessons and
assessments are perfect for getting students to draw personal and contextual connections with the
text, forming arguments about the content, and then using textual evidence to support their
stance.
Overall, the unit builds on content and strategies logically, cumulatively, and effectively.
It allows a variety of activities that would eventually appeal to all learner preferences and give
students of different language levels opportunities to improve and thrive. It also exposes students
to a variety of texts in content, form, and complexity. There is consistent scaffolding and

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assessing student progress and comprehension. The unit is well suited to help learners of all
levels improve a wide set of language and content area skills.
Resources
Association of Black Women Historians. (2009). An Open Statement to the Fans of The Help.
Maryland.
Hand, L. (1999). The “Spirit of Liberty” Speech. Retrieved from
http://www.providenceforum.org/spiritoflibertyspeech
Illinois State Board of Education. (2012, May). Common Core Teaching and Learning
Strategies: English and Language Arts Reading Informational Text Grades 6-12.
Chicago, Illinois.
King Jr., M.L. (1963, August). The Negro Is Your Brother. The Atlantic Monthly, 212 (2), 78-88.
Martin Luther King Jr. Online. (2014). Martin Luther King’s Letter From the Birmingham City
Jail (aka “The Negro Is Your Brother.”).
Maslin, J. (2009, February). Racial Insults and Quiet Bravery in 1960s Mississippi. New York
Times.
McGlinn, J. M. (2012). A Teacher’s Guide to The Help by Kathryn Stockett. New York: Penguin
Group.
Rich, M. (2009). A Southern Mirrored Window. New York: New York Times.
Stockett, K. (2009). The Help. New York: Berkley Books.